# Stripe vs Lemon Squeezy

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/compare/stripe-vs-lemon-squeezy/

Every value below is read from Stripe's and Lemon Squeezy's own documentation. See https://inetgeek.com/methodology/ for how.

## At a glance

| Criterion | Stripe | Lemon Squeezy |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free tier | No | No |
| Pricing model | Pay-as-you-go per successful charge, with no setup fee, no monthly fee and rates set per country. Volume discounts, multi-product discounts and interchange-plus pricing are offered on a custom package. | A cut of each sale and nothing else: no monthly charge for ecommerce features, no trial and no contract. |
| Per-transaction fee | 1.5% + 20p for standard UK cards and 2.5% + 20p for EU cards, on the UK pricing page. Rates are per-country: the same URL family prints 2% for cards issued in India on stripe.com/in/pricing. | 5% + 50 cents per sale, with no monthly charge for ecommerce features. |
| Countries served | 195 countries for cardholders, listed as available out of the box. That is where a buyer can pay, not where a business can incorporate — Stripe accounts are available in far fewer. | Not given as a number. Lemon Squeezy says payments are accepted globally and that it handles tax collection, calculation and payment on your behalf, without stating a country count. |
| Support on entry paid plan | Technical support through the official Stripe Developer Discord server, listed among the features available out of the box on the pricing page. | No support tier is published on the pricing page: the single 5% + 50 cents rate carries whatever support exists, with none described or differentiated. |
| Merchant of record | Not supported | Supported |

## Where they differ

### Pricing model

- Stripe: Pay-as-you-go per successful charge, with no setup fee, no monthly fee and rates set per country. Volume discounts, multi-product discounts and interchange-plus pricing are offered on a custom package. ([source](https://stripe.com/gb/pricing))
- Lemon Squeezy: A cut of each sale and nothing else: no monthly charge for ecommerce features, no trial and no contract. ([source](https://www.lemonsqueezy.com/pricing))

### Per-transaction fee

- Stripe: 1.5% + 20p for standard UK cards and 2.5% + 20p for EU cards, on the UK pricing page. Rates are per-country: the same URL family prints 2% for cards issued in India on stripe.com/in/pricing. ([source](https://stripe.com/gb/pricing))
- Lemon Squeezy: 5% + 50 cents per sale, with no monthly charge for ecommerce features. ([source](https://www.lemonsqueezy.com/pricing))

### Support on entry paid plan

- Stripe: Technical support through the official Stripe Developer Discord server, listed among the features available out of the box on the pricing page. ([source](https://stripe.com/gb/pricing))
- Lemon Squeezy: No support tier is published on the pricing page: the single 5% + 50 cents rate carries whatever support exists, with none described or differentiated. ([source](https://www.lemonsqueezy.com/pricing))

### Merchant of record

- Stripe: Not supported ([source](https://stripe.com/gb/pricing))
- Lemon Squeezy: Supported ([source](https://www.lemonsqueezy.com/pricing))

### Countries served

- Stripe: 195 countries for cardholders, listed as available out of the box. That is where a buyer can pay, not where a business can incorporate — Stripe accounts are available in far fewer. ([source](https://stripe.com/gb/pricing))
- Lemon Squeezy: Not given as a number. Lemon Squeezy says payments are accepted globally and that it handles tax collection, calculation and payment on your behalf, without stating a country count. ([source](https://www.lemonsqueezy.com/pricing))

## Which should you choose?

Pick Stripe if Selling where you already handle your own tax registrations. At 1.5% + 20p on a standard UK card, Stripe is roughly three and a half points cheaper than every merchant of record here, and that gap is the whole reason to take on the VAT work yourself.

Pick Lemon Squeezy if Digital products and small SaaS that want checkout, subscriptions and global tax compliance with nothing to configure and no monthly charge — a flat 5% + 50¢ of each sale and no trial or contract to start.

Consider something else: Stripe — You sell internationally and do not want to register for sales tax in each jurisdiction. Stripe moves the money and leaves the liability with you — and its rate is set per country, so the number you budget from is not the number a buyer elsewhere generates.

Consider something else: Lemon Squeezy — The rate is the cost you are optimising. It is the category's standard number rather than its lowest: Dodo Payments publishes 4% + 40¢, and Polar's paid tier buys the percentage down to 3.8%.

## Questions this comparison answers

**Should I choose Stripe or Lemon Squeezy?**

Pick Stripe if Selling where you already handle your own tax registrations. At 1.5% + 20p on a standard UK card, Stripe is roughly three and a half points cheaper than every merchant of record here, and that gap is the whole reason to take on the VAT work yourself.
Pick Lemon Squeezy if Digital products and small SaaS that want checkout, subscriptions and global tax compliance with nothing to configure and no monthly charge — a flat 5% + 50¢ of each sale and no trial or contract to start.