Paddle
Paddle is an all-in-one payments and billing platform for SaaS, apps and digital products, acting as merchant of record so it handles payment processing, subscription billing, global tax compliance, fraud prevention and customer support for payments. It charges a single flat fee, 5% plus 50 cents per transaction, with no separate monthly or migration fees. Paddle has partnered with RevenueCat to extend merchant-of-record web payments to mobile app developers.
Facts checked on against the sources listed at the end of this page.
- Pricing
- Pay as you goPaid from 5% + 50 cents per transaction
- Open source
- NoProprietary
- npm downloads a week
- 255kup 18% on the week before
A good fit for
- SaaS and digital product companies that want someone else to handle global sales tax and VAT
- Teams that want one flat, predictable fee rather than assembling billing, tax and fraud tools separately
- Mobile app developers who want to add merchant-of-record web payments alongside RevenueCat
- Founders who want subscription billing and payments in one product with no monthly platform fee
Not a good fit for
- Businesses that want to be the merchant of record themselves for more control over their payment processor relationship
- High-volume sellers where a negotiated payments contract might cost less than a flat 5% + 50 cents per transaction
- Products priced under $10 or requiring invoicing without contacting Paddle for custom terms first
Paddle pricing
Paddle charges a single flat fee of 5% plus 50 cents per checkout transaction, with no monthly, setup or migration fees. Businesses selling items under $10 or needing invoicing should contact Paddle for custom pricing, and larger or rapidly scaling businesses can get custom enterprise pricing.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | 5% + 50 cents per transaction | Checkout, subscription billing, merchant-of-record tax handling, fraud protection, customer support. |
| Enterprise | Custom pricing | For rapidly scaling or large-scale businesses, with optional premium services. |
Prices in USD, checked on 27 September 2026. Current prices on paddle.com.
Main features
- Merchant of record
- Paddle is the seller of record, handling global sales tax and VAT compliance.
- Hosted checkout
- Prebuilt checkout flows for subscriptions and one-time digital product purchases.
- Subscription billing
- Recurring billing, plan changes and dunning for failed payments.
- Fraud and chargeback handling
- Fraud prevention and chargeback dispute management included in the flat fee.
- Reporting and analytics
- Financial reporting and subscription analytics, building on the acquired ProfitWell tooling.
- RevenueCat integration
- Mobile app developers can offer merchant-of-record web payments through Paddle alongside RevenueCat.
About Paddle
Paddle acts as merchant of record for its customers, taking on legal responsibility for each sale, which means it collects and remits sales tax and VAT across jurisdictions, handles fraud prevention and chargeback disputes, and provides customer support for payment issues, so the seller doesn't have to register for tax in every country themselves.
It bundles subscription billing, hosted checkout, and financial reporting and analytics in one platform, and previously acquired ProfitWell (2022) to add subscription analytics and retention tooling to its product.
In 2025 Paddle partnered with RevenueCat, letting mobile app developers using RevenueCat also offer merchant-of-record web payments through Paddle, aimed at helping apps capture revenue outside app store fees.
- Made by
- Paddle
- Free plan
- No monthly fee on the standard plan; you only pay per transaction
- Available on
- Web checkout, REST API, Webhooks
Usage and activity
Weekly npm downloads of @paddle/paddle-js, last 12 months.
Paddle alternatives
Paddle compared
PaddlevsPolar
Polar and Paddle both act as merchant of record, so they collect and remit sales tax and VAT on your behalf.
PaddlevsStripe
Stripe processes payments while you remain the seller of record, responsible for your own sales tax and VAT unless you add Stripe Tax or its merchant-of-record option, Stripe Managed Payments.
PaddlevsStripe Billing
Stripe Billing is Stripe's subscription and invoicing product, layered on Stripe's payment processing and priced as a share of billing volume on top of card fees, with your business staying the seller of record by default.
Questions about Paddle
What does Paddle charge?
A flat 5% plus 50 cents per transaction, with no separate monthly, setup or migration fees.
What does merchant of record mean for Paddle?
Paddle is legally the seller on each transaction, so it collects and remits sales tax and VAT on the merchant's behalf across the countries it serves.
Does Paddle work with RevenueCat?
Yes, since 2025 Paddle and RevenueCat have partnered so mobile app developers can add merchant-of-record web payments through Paddle alongside their existing RevenueCat setup.
Did Paddle acquire another company?
Yes, Paddle acquired ProfitWell in 2022 for about $200 million, adding subscription analytics and retention tools to its platform.
Sources and links
Work on Paddle? Claim this listing. Something wrong or out of date? Suggest a correction. Stats come from the public GitHub and npm APIs and update every day.