Paddle

The complete payments infrastructure for SaaS

From $0/mo

About Paddle

Paddle is a merchant of record (MoR) for SaaS companies, meaning Paddle legally sells your product on your behalf, handling all the complexity of global payments, sales tax/VAT collection, and compliance. Unlike Stripe where you're the merchant (and responsible for tax compliance in 130+ countries), Paddle acts as your reseller—they collect payment, remit taxes, and pay you net of fees. This is massive for SaaS selling globally: no need for VAT registrations in every EU country or navigating US sales tax. Paddle handles subscriptions, one-time purchases, and upgrades/downgrades natively. Pricing is 5% + $0.50 per transaction (including all payment processing and compliance)—higher than Stripe's ~2.9% but includes tax handling that would cost thousands in accounting/software otherwise. Paddle Retain helps recover failed payments. The trade-off: less flexibility than Stripe, Paddle controls the checkout experience, and you receive net payments (not gross). Best for B2B SaaS selling globally who don't want to deal with tax compliance—especially popular with indie developers and bootstrapped startups.

Key Features

Merchant of record—Paddle handles all compliance

Global tax collection and remittance (VAT, GST, sales tax)

Subscription billing with upgrades/downgrades

Localized checkout in 30+ languages and currencies

Paddle Retain for failed payment recovery

Revenue recognition and reporting

Checkout overlays or hosted pages

Fraud protection included

Payouts in your preferred currency

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Eliminates global tax compliance burden completely
• No VAT registrations or sales tax filings needed
• Subscription management built-in
• Failed payment recovery included
• Great for indie developers and small teams
• Simpler than managing tax yourself with Stripe

Cons

• Higher fees than Stripe (5% vs ~2.9%)
• Less flexibility—you don't control the checkout
• Paddle is the merchant—some customers notice
• Receive net payments, not gross
• Fewer integrations than Stripe ecosystem
• Reporting can be less detailed

Best For

SaaS companies selling globally without tax expertise Indie developers who don't want compliance headaches B2B software with international customers Bootstrapped startups prioritizing simplicity Teams without dedicated finance/accounting