Paddle vs Lemon Squeezy for Solo Developers

Comparing Paddle and Lemon Squeezy for solo developers. Features, pricing, pros and cons, and which one to pick for your next project.

Quick Comparison

Feature	Paddle	Lemon Squeezy
Type	Merchant of Record for SaaS	Merchant of Record for indie products (Stripe-owned since July 2024)
Base fee	5% + 50c per checkout transaction	5% + 50c per transaction
Stacked fees	None advertised; products under $10 need custom pricing	+1.5% international, +1.5% PayPal, +0.5% subscriptions, +5% abandoned-cart recovery, +3% affiliate
Onboarding	Account verification, manual reviews target 1 to 7 business days	Sign up and sell same day
Official Node SDK	@paddle/paddle-node-sdk v3.8.0, last published May 2026	@lemonsqueezy/lemonsqueezy.js v4.0.0, last published Nov 2024
SDK weekly npm installs	~80,900 (node-sdk) + ~98,300 (paddle-js)	~89,700 (lemonsqueezy.js)
GitHub stars	100 (node-sdk), 74 (paddle-js-wrapper)	530 (lemonsqueezy.js), 737 (nextjs-billing starter)
Best For	Established SaaS with global sales	Indie hackers selling digital products
Solo Dev Rating	9/10	9/10

All figures above are sourced and dated in the By the Numbers and Sources sections below.

Paddle Overview

Paddle is the established Merchant of Record platform built for SaaS businesses. They handle global tax compliance, invoicing, and payment processing so you can sell subscriptions worldwide without worrying about VAT, GST, or US state sales tax.

Paddle's platform is mature and battle-tested. They process payments for thousands of software companies and have built robust systems for subscription management, revenue recovery (dunning), and analytics. The Paddle Billing API (their newer product) offers a modern developer experience with webhooks, SDKs, and a clean dashboard.

The approval process is the main friction point. Paddle reviews every new account before activation. They want to ensure you're selling legitimate software products. This review can take a few days, which means you can't go from zero to accepting payments in an afternoon like you can with Stripe or Lemon Squeezy.

Lemon Squeezy Overview

Lemon Squeezy was built specifically for indie hackers and solo developers. The entire experience is designed around the solo founder use case: selling digital products, SaaS subscriptions, and software licenses with minimal setup.

Getting started takes minutes. Create an account, add a product, configure pricing, and embed a checkout button on your site. Lemon Squeezy handles tax compliance globally, generates invoices, and manages subscriptions. The checkout pages look great out of the box and are customizable.

What I appreciate about Lemon Squeezy is the built-in license key system. If you're selling desktop software, plugins, or any product that needs license validation, it's included. No third-party license server, no custom implementation. Create a product, enable license keys, and your customers get them automatically on purchase.

Key Differences

Target audience. Paddle targets SaaS businesses of all sizes, from startups to enterprises. Their feature set reflects this: advanced dunning, revenue recognition, and multi-currency support. Lemon Squeezy targets indie hackers and solo developers. Their features focus on simplicity: quick setup, beautiful checkouts, and license key management. Both can serve solo developers, but Lemon Squeezy feels more purpose-built for the one-person business.

Onboarding experience. Lemon Squeezy lets you set up an account and start selling immediately. Paddle requires an approval process that can take days. For a solo developer who wants to start accepting payments today, Lemon Squeezy's instant access is a significant advantage.

License key management. Lemon Squeezy includes built-in license key generation and validation. You can create products that issue license keys on purchase, set activation limits, and validate keys through their API. Paddle doesn't offer built-in license management. If you're selling software that needs license keys, Lemon Squeezy saves you from building or integrating a separate system.

Checkout experience. Lemon Squeezy's checkout pages are polished and look native to modern indie products. They support overlays and hosted pages with customizable colors and branding. Paddle's checkout has improved with Paddle Billing, offering inline and overlay options. Both are good, but Lemon Squeezy's checkout tends to look better for small products.

API maturity. Paddle's API is more mature and comprehensive. It handles complex scenarios like prorations, mid-cycle upgrades, quantity-based pricing, and revenue recognition. Lemon Squeezy's API covers the basics well but has fewer options for complex billing scenarios. If your pricing model is simple, this doesn't matter. If it's complex, Paddle handles more edge cases.

Dunning and revenue recovery. Paddle has sophisticated retry logic and dunning flows for failed subscription payments. They'll automatically retry charges, send payment update reminders, and manage the recovery process. Lemon Squeezy handles basic retry logic but the dunning system is less configurable. For subscription businesses where churn reduction matters, Paddle's revenue recovery is more advanced.

Analytics and reporting. Paddle provides detailed revenue analytics, MRR tracking, churn analysis, and tax reports. Lemon Squeezy offers a clean analytics dashboard with revenue tracking and basic metrics. Paddle's reporting is more comprehensive for making business decisions.

By the Numbers (2026)

I pulled these from vendor pages and the public package registries on 2026-05-29. Where a number could not be confirmed I left it out rather than guess.

Headline pricing. Both platforms charge the same base rate of 5% + 50c per transaction with no monthly fee. Paddle states this on its pricing page as "5% + 50c per Checkout transaction" with no migration fees, monthly fees, or hidden extras, and notes that products under $10 require custom pricing. Lemon Squeezy publishes the same 5% + 50c base.

Where the costs diverge. Lemon Squeezy stacks situational add-ons on top of the base fee: +1.5% for international (non-US) transactions, +1.5% for PayPal, +0.5% for subscription payments, +5% for payments recovered through abandoned-cart emails, and +3% for affiliate-referred orders. Paddle does not publish equivalent per-feature surcharges on its pricing page, though its all-in rate can be affected by currency conversion when your sale currency differs from your payout currency.

Onboarding speed. Lemon Squeezy lets you create an account and start selling the same day. Paddle runs identity, business, and domain verification. Per Paddle's own help center, identity and business checks are often instant, but manual reviews target an estimated 1 to 3 business days for identity, 2 to 4 for business, and 5 to 7 for domain review. So worst case you are looking at over a week before your first sale clears.

Official Node SDKs and how alive they are. Paddle ships @paddle/paddle-node-sdk at v3.8.0 and @paddle/paddle-js at v1.6.4, both last published 2026-05-12. Lemon Squeezy ships @lemonsqueezy/lemonsqueezy.js at v4.0.0, last published 2024-11-05. That is the single most telling number in this comparison. The Lemon Squeezy JS SDK has not had a release in roughly 18 months, and the GitHub repo's last push is the same 2024-11-05 date. Paddle's SDKs were updated this month.

Adoption (npm weekly installs, week of 2026-05-21 to 2026-05-27). Paddle's node-sdk pulled ~80,900 weekly downloads and paddle-js ~98,300. Lemon Squeezy's lemonsqueezy.js pulled ~89,700. Install volume is comparable, which tells you Lemon Squeezy still has a large installed base even with a frozen SDK.

GitHub stars. Lemon Squeezy's lemonsqueezy.js sits at 530 stars and its nextjs-billing starter at 737. Paddle's paddle-node-sdk is at 100 stars and the paddle-js-wrapper at 74. Lemon Squeezy wins the popularity contest among indie developers, which fits its origin story, but stars measure mindshare, not maintenance.

The acquisition context. Stripe acquired Lemon Squeezy in July 2024. The platform still runs independently with its own dashboard and API, but the development pace shows in that frozen SDK, and Stripe is rolling out its own merchant-of-record product (Stripe Managed Payments) that covers the same ground. If you are betting on long-term API investment, that is a real variable to weigh.

Real Cost at Solo-Dev Scale

Identical 5% + 50c headline rates do not mean identical bills, because Lemon Squeezy's situational add-ons land exactly where solo-dev revenue tends to come from. Here is a worked example.

Assumptions. You sell a $29/month SaaS subscription. You make 100 sales in a month. 60% of buyers are outside the US (international). All 100 are subscription payments. None come through abandoned-cart recovery or affiliates. These rates are the public ones cited below; your real mix will differ.

Lemon Squeezy, per international subscription sale of $29:

Base 5%: $1.45
Fixed: $0.50
International +1.5%: $0.435
Subscription +0.5%: $0.145
Per sale total: about $2.53 (8.7% effective)

Lemon Squeezy, per US subscription sale of $29:

Base 5%: $1.45
Fixed: $0.50
Subscription +0.5%: $0.145
Per sale total: about $2.10 (7.2% effective)

Monthly Lemon Squeezy: 60 international at $2.53 = $151.80, plus 40 US at $2.10 = $83.80, for about $235.60 on $2,900 of revenue (8.1% blended).

Paddle, per sale of $29: 5% + 50c = $1.95 flat, regardless of country or that it is a subscription, since Paddle does not publish those surcharges. 100 sales = $195.00 on $2,900 (6.7%).

The gap. On this specific mix Paddle costs about $40.60 less per month, roughly $487 a year, driven entirely by Lemon Squeezy's international and subscription add-ons. Flip the assumptions (mostly US, one-time digital products, no subscriptions) and the two converge to within a few dollars, because the only thing separating them is the fixed 5% + 50c base. The lesson is not that one is cheaper, it is that Lemon Squeezy gets more expensive precisely as you go global and recurring, which is the direction most SaaS grows. Always model your own buyer mix against the per-feature rates in the Sources list rather than trusting the matching headline number.

When to Choose Paddle

You're building a SaaS with complex subscription billing
Revenue recovery and dunning optimization matter for reducing churn
You need detailed analytics and MRR reporting
You're selling to businesses and need proper invoicing
Your pricing model includes prorations, quantity billing, or usage-based components

When to Choose Lemon Squeezy

You want to start selling immediately without an approval process
You're selling digital products, courses, or software with license keys
Simple setup and beautiful checkout pages are priorities
Your billing model is straightforward (subscriptions or one-time purchases)
You identify as an indie hacker and want a platform built for your workflow

The Verdict

The headline pricing is identical (5% + 50c), but as the cost breakdown above shows, that is only the base. Lemon Squeezy stacks international, PayPal, subscription, abandoned-cart, and affiliate add-ons on top, so its effective rate climbs as you go global and recurring while Paddle's stays flat. Beyond price, this decision comes down to your product type and complexity needs. Both are Merchants of Record that handle global tax compliance. Both eliminate the tax headache that Stripe puts on your shoulders.

Lemon Squeezy is the better choice for solo developers selling digital products, indie SaaS, or anything that needs license keys. The instant onboarding, clean checkout, and built-in license system make it purpose-built for the solo founder workflow.

Paddle is the better choice for SaaS businesses with complex billing needs, higher revenue, and the need for advanced dunning and analytics. If you're optimizing for churn reduction and revenue recovery, Paddle's maturity matters.

My recommendation: start with Lemon Squeezy. It gets you to market faster, the checkout looks great, and the simplicity lets you focus on building instead of configuring payment infrastructure. If your SaaS grows to the point where you need advanced dunning, analytics, or complex billing, or where the international and subscription add-ons start eating real margin, migrate to Paddle. That migration is a good problem to have. One caveat worth knowing going in: Lemon Squeezy's official JavaScript SDK has not shipped a release since November 2024, so if your integration depends on an actively maintained client library, factor that in.