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Merchant of record for digital products · by Stripe

Lemon Squeezy

Merchant of record for digital products and SaaS, owned by Stripe since 2024, still selling at 5% + 50¢ while its team builds Stripe Managed Payments as the successor.

Visit lemonsqueezy.com ↗ Alternatives Paid
Lemon Squeezy homepage
§1

Overview

Lemon Squeezy is a merchant of record aimed at indie makers selling software, digital downloads, courses and subscriptions. It handles sales tax and VAT as the legal seller and bundles checkout, a hosted storefront, license keys, secure downloads, discounts, affiliates and email marketing.

The base fee is 5% + 50¢ per transaction, but it is charged on the tax-inclusive total and has surcharges: 1.5% for non-US buyers, 1.5% for PayPal and 0.5% for subscription renewals. A $20 sale to a French customer with 20% VAT costs $2.06 in fees in Lemon Squeezy's own example.

Stripe acquired Lemon Squeezy in July 2024. In April 2025 the team announced Stripe Managed Payments, describing it as everything users like about Lemon Squeezy built into Stripe, and said existing users need no action. Lemon Squeezy's 2026 blog update again points users to Managed Payments. No shutdown date has been announced, but new features now land in Stripe's product, so weigh that before building on it.

§2

Pricing and plans

Plan Price What you get
Standard 5% + 50¢ Per transaction, charged on the order total including tax; no monthly fee
Email marketing $0/mo up to 500 subscribers Paid monthly or annually above 500 subscribers
Custom Custom Volume pricing, products under $10, high transaction counts

The platform fee is calculated on the total order value including tax. Surcharges: +1.5% for transactions outside the US, +1.5% for PayPal, +0.5% for subscription payments. Payouts via Stripe are free to US banks and 1% elsewhere; PayPal payouts $0.50 in the US or 3% capped at $30 elsewhere. Marketing fees: +5% on abandoned-cart recoveries, +3% on affiliate referrals. Supported seller countries were not listed on the pages read.

Source: www.lemonsqueezy.com/pricing · prices as published, excluding tax.

§3

What it does

Merchant of record
Lemon Squeezy collects and remits sales tax and VAT on your behalf.
License keys
Issues, deactivates and re-issues software license keys after each sale.
Storefront and checkout
Hosted store, custom domain and embeddable no-code checkout overlays.
Subscriptions and usage billing
Weekly, monthly or yearly plans, trials and usage-based billing.
Affiliates
Built-in affiliate program with a 3% merchant fee on referred sales.
Email marketing
Newsletters and automations, free up to 500 subscribers.
§4

Strengths and limitations

Strengths

  • Store, license keys, affiliates and email in one product
  • No monthly fee and tax handled as merchant of record
  • Supports PayPal and up to 21 payment methods
  • Simple onboarding for solo makers

Limitations

  • Surcharges push international subscription sales to about 7% + 50¢
  • Fees are charged on the tax-inclusive order total
  • Owned by Stripe, whose MoR roadmap now runs through Stripe Managed Payments
  • Payouts outside the US cost 1% via Stripe
§5

Who it suits

Good for

  • Indie makers selling templates, plugins and downloads
  • Small SaaS products wanting license keys and a storefront
  • Creators who want store and newsletter together

Look elsewhere if

  • Teams choosing a long-term MoR who want an actively developed roadmap (compare Stripe Managed Payments, Paddle, Polar)
  • High-volume international subscriptions where surcharges add up
§6

Alternatives to Lemon Squeezy

Tool From Free option Stages
Razorpay Payment gateway (India, plus US, Singapore, Malaysia)
Usage-based Paid
Stripe Payments Payment processor (API-first)
Usage-based Paid
Autumn Open-source billing layer on Stripe
$375/mo Free tier
PayPal Checkout Payment processor and wallet
Usage-based Paid
Creem Merchant of record for software
Usage-based Paid
Polar Merchant of record with usage billing
Usage-based Paid

All payments and billing →

§7

Questions

Is Lemon Squeezy owned by Stripe?

Yes. Stripe acquired Lemon Squeezy in July 2024, and its team built Stripe Managed Payments.

Is Lemon Squeezy shutting down?

No shutdown date has been announced and the product still operates, but Lemon Squeezy's own updates point users toward Stripe Managed Payments.

What does Lemon Squeezy charge?

5% + 50¢ per transaction on the order total, plus 1.5% for non-US buyers, 1.5% for PayPal and 0.5% for subscription payments.

Sources read for this page