Payments · working at 10,000 users · rates as read 25 Sept 2026
Take Stripe if you are selling into the United States and will be for a while: 2.9% + 30¢ against Paddle's 5% + 50¢ is real money, and sales tax in a handful of states is a far smaller job than global VAT. Take Paddle when you are selling worldwide at scale and the thing that would genuinely hurt is a tax authority asking questions: Paddle becomes the merchant of record, files everywhere, and has the longest record of standing behind that when it is tested. What you should not do is treat those as the only two options. If the reason you are considering Paddle is worldwide VAT rather than Paddle specifically, Creem is 3.9% + $0.40 and Polar's Starter is the same 5% + 50¢ with paid tiers that fall to 3.4% + 30¢: both at the same merchant-of-record service, both cheaper. And read the surcharges, not the headline: Stripe's 2.9% is domestic-card only, with "+ 1.5% for international cards" and "+ 1% if currency conversion is required" on top. StackTab takes no referral fee from any processor in this table.
Priced for an app where 2% of users pay $20 a month, on the usage a user of that kind typically implies, on the cheapest plan of each service that can carry it.
| Service | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| StripeThe default PSP. You stay the merchant, so sales tax and VAT stay yours.verified 24 Sept 2026stripe.com/pricing | $ | $ | $ |
| PaddleMerchant of record: Paddle is the seller and files the tax.verified 24 Sept 2026paddle.com/pricing | $ | $ | $ |
| PolarMerchant of record built for developers, with paid tiers that cut the rate.verified 24 Sept 2026polar.sh/docs/merchant-of-record/fees | $ | $ | $ |
| CreemMerchant of record at a flat 3.9%, aimed squarely at indie SaaS.drifted, last true 17 Sept 2026creem.io/pricing | $ | $ | $ |
- Sorted by the total at
- The default PSP. You stay the merchant, so sales tax and VAT stay yours.verified 24 Sept 2026stripe.com/pricing
- 1,000 users
- $
2121 Standard - 10,000 users
- $
214214 Standard - 100,000 users
- $
2,1402,140 Standard
- Merchant of record: Paddle is the seller and files the tax.verified 24 Sept 2026paddle.com/pricing
- 1,000 users
- $
3030 Standard - 10,000 users
- $
300300 Standard - 100,000 users
- $
3,0003,000 Standard
- Merchant of record built for developers, with paid tiers that cut the rate.verified 24 Sept 2026polar.sh/docs/merchant-of-record/fees
- 1,000 users
- $
3232 Starter - 10,000 users
- $
270270 Pro - 100,000 users
- $
2,4202,420 Growth
- Merchant of record at a flat 3.9%, aimed squarely at indie SaaS.drifted, last true 17 Sept 2026creem.io/pricing
- 1,000 users
- $
2424 Standard · drifted - 10,000 users
- $
236236 Standard · drifted - 100,000 users
- $
2,3602,360 Standard · drifted
Change any of those assumptions in the calculator.
This is not a comparison of payment processors. Paddle runs on the same card networks Stripe does, and the checkout experience is broadly the same.
You are comparing two points of margin against the job of registering for and filing sales tax in every jurisdiction you sell into.
- Who is the seller. On Stripe, you are. Your name is on the invoice, and the obligation to register for VAT in the EU, UK, Australia and a growing list of others is yours from the first sale. With Paddle, Paddle is the seller. It collects the tax, files it, and handles the audit if one comes.
- What the two points cost in dollars. The table prices both on the same revenue. At small scale the difference is a rounding error against an accountant’s fee. At $50,000/mo it is around $1,000 a month, which is comfortably the cost of somebody competent handling tax compliance, and this is the crossover most people are actually looking for.
- Stripe Tax is not the same thing. Stripe Tax adds 0.5% and calculates what is owed. It does not become the seller, does not register you anywhere, and does not file anything. It makes the job tractable; it does not remove it.
- Control and data. Stripe gives you the customer relationship, the full API and every event. A merchant of record sits between you and the buyer, which means less flexibility in dunning, discounting and reporting, and a migration that is harder if you leave.
| If | Then |
|---|---|
| Selling into the US only | Stripe: the tax job is small, and two points is real money. |
| Selling worldwide and small | A merchant of record: Creem or Polar are cheaper than Paddle at the same service. |
| Selling worldwide at scale with real audit risk | Paddle: the premium buys the longest record of handling it. |
Some do: Stripe for domestic sales, a merchant of record internationally. It works, and it doubles your reconciliation, webhook handling and subscription logic. Worth it only when the saved percentage clearly exceeds the engineering.
Yes, and knowingly so: 5% + 50¢ per Checkout transaction against Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢ for domestic cards. The gap narrows once you add Stripe's published surcharges: "+ 1.5% for international cards" and "+ 1% if currency conversion is required", and it narrows further once you count what you would pay an accountant to file VAT in the EU and UK. It does not close.
It becomes the legal seller of your product, so the customer buys from Paddle rather than from you. That means Paddle collects, files and remits VAT, GST and sales tax everywhere it is owed, and carries the liability if that is wrong. Stripe processes the payment and leaves all of that with you.
Yes, from the first euro: there is no small-seller threshold for non-EU businesses selling digital services into the EU. That obligation is the entire reason the merchant-of-record category exists. Whether anyone comes looking is a different question from whether it is owed.