Paddle
Paddle is a merchant of record for software: it sells your SaaS, app or game to the buyer, takes the payment, charges and files the sales tax and VAT, and handles fraud, chargebacks and billing questions.
It suits founders selling software subscriptions to buyers in many countries who want the tax paperwork off their desk.
It costs 5% + 50¢ per checkout transaction, with no monthly fee, as checked on 30 October 2026.
Reviewed by the IndieHacked team
- What it does
- Sell software and subscriptions with Paddle as the merchant of record: it charges and files the sales tax and VAT, handles fraud and answers buyers, for one fee per sale.
- Our take
- Founders selling software subscriptions worldwide who want someone else to be the seller. Paddle collects the tax, files the returns, screens for fraud and answers buyers' billing questions, all inside one fee of 5% + 50¢, and Claude Code or Cursor can work in your account through Paddle's MCP server.
- Pricing
- Paid5% + 50¢ per checkout transaction, with no monthly, setup or migration fee, as checked on 30 October 2026. Paddle says the fee covers payments, extra payment methods, moving your subscriptions over and payment-related buyer support, and it collects, files and pays the sales tax. Products priced under $10 and high-volume businesses can ask for custom pricing. A $20 monthly subscription costs $1.50 a payment.
The IndieHacked breakdown
What it does
Paddle is the merchant of record: the buyer purchases from Paddle, which takes the payment, charges the right sales tax or VAT, files the returns and pays the tax, and handles fraud screening, chargebacks and buyers' questions about payments, subscriptions and cancellations. You get a checkout embedded in your app or hosted by Paddle, in local currencies, and subscriptions you can pause, upgrade, downgrade or move to invoice billing, with a customer portal for buyers.
Retain, Paddle's churn tools, is built into Paddle Billing for failed-payment recovery, cancellation flows and moving monthly subscribers to longer terms. You build against a sandbox with SDKs for Node.js, Python, Go and PHP, and Paddle's hosted MCP server lets Claude Code, Cursor, Codex or VS Code read the account, change pricing and simulate webhooks. Before the first live sale Paddle verifies the business and approves your domain; the review typically takes about 10 minutes.
Who it suits
Founders selling SaaS, apps or games to buyers in many countries. Paddle collects the right tax, tracks the filing deadlines and submits the returns, so the paperwork of selling abroad stays with Paddle, and it says there is no lock-in period and your data can move to another provider.
It also fits a founder with an iOS app. In the United States an app can now link buyers to an outside checkout, and Paddle's docs show how to build that with Paddle Checkout and RevenueCat or webhooks; Paddle sets its 5% + 50¢ beside the App Store's 15% to 30%.
Not the right fit for
Founders selling downloads that are not software, such as ebooks, templates or design assets, or anything with a human service in it. Paddle says it is built to serve software companies and bars human services not tied to software, and Paddle Billing leaves file delivery and licence keys to your own webhooks. Lemon Squeezy, reviewed here, approves most digital goods and delivers the files and keys itself.
Founders selling mostly to buyers at home who will handle sales tax themselves. A US card payment on Stripe, reviewed here, is 2.9% + 30¢ against Paddle's 5% + 50¢, and Stripe Tax adds 0.5% of each transaction where you are registered.
Also on the shortlist
- StripePaymentsYou stay the seller from 2.9% + 30¢ a US card, adding Billing and Tax as you go, or make Stripe the merchant of record for 3.5% more.2.9% + 30¢ a US card payment, no monthly fee, as checked on 30 October 2026
- Lemon SqueezyPaymentsThe seller for downloads as well as software, with licence keys, file delivery and a storefront, from 5% + 50¢; part of Stripe since 2024.5% + 50¢ a transaction, no monthly fee, as checked on 30 October 2026
Report an error. Spotted a factual or language mistake? .