Payments & POS
Paddle
Merchant of record for SaaS — handles payments, billing, and global tax.
3.5· 17 reviews· via CapterraFounded 2012 · London, United Kingdom
What is Paddle?
Paddle is a merchant-of-record payments platform for software and SaaS companies. It handles checkout, subscription billing, sales tax, and compliance globally so vendors do not have to manage payment infrastructure themselves.
Best known for: Merchant of record for SaaS billing
Key features
- Merchant-of-record billing
- Global sales tax and VAT handling
- Subscription and recurring billing
- Checkout and payment processing
- Fraud and chargeback management
- Revenue analytics
Who Paddle is best for
- SaaS and software sellers who want tax and compliance handled for them
- Teams that would rather outsource being the merchant of record
- Global digital businesses needing sales-tax/VAT collected automatically
Ideal team: SaaS and digital-product companies that want a single fee covering payments, subscription billing, and worldwide tax compliance.
Paddle pricing
Popular
Standard (merchant of record)
$0
- 5% + 50¢ per transaction
- Global sales tax / VAT handled for you
- No monthly or setup fees
Costs to watch before you commit
- Currency conversion adds a ~2%–3% margin, pushing the effective rate above 5% on cross-border sales.
- The all-in 5% + 50¢ is higher than raw card processing because it bundles tax and MoR services.
- Onboarding has approval requirements — some accounts are rejected without prior processing history.
- Payout timing and currency options can add friction versus a direct processor.
Top Paddle alternatives
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GoCardlessBank debit and ACH collection built for recurring and invoice payments.
Lemon SqueezyMerchant of record for digital products, SaaS, and subscriptions.
Authorize.netLong-standing payment gateway that plugs into existing merchant accounts.