Payment processor fee calculator

The pricing pages are misleading. Stripe says “2.9% + 30¢” on the homepage. Lemon Squeezy says “5% + 50¢” and looks worse. But Stripe’s real cost includes Stripe Tax (0.5%), FX fees on international cards (1%), and the time you spend handling VAT compliance. Lemon Squeezy’s 5% bundles all of that. This calculator does the apples-to-apples math at your actual numbers.

What this calculator does (and doesn’t) include

Five line items get computed:

• Stripe base fee = revenue × 2.9% + transactions × $0.30. The headline rate from Stripe’s pricing page for US-based businesses.
• Stripe Tax = revenue × 0.5%. Stripe Tax is an add-on that calculates and collects sales tax / VAT but doesn’t remit it — you (or your accountant) still file. It’s 0.5% per transaction in jurisdictions where you’re registered. Most international solo SaaS need this.
• Stripe FX fee = revenue × international % × 1%. Stripe charges 1% extra for cross-border card payments. If 30% of your customers are outside the US, this applies to roughly 30% of your revenue.
• Lemon Squeezy fee = revenue × 5% + transactions × $0.50. Per Lemon Squeezy’s pricing. Includes tax compliance, chargebacks, and FX as a merchant of record.
• Paddle fee = revenue × 5% + transactions × $0.50. Paddle is also a merchant of record with similar all-in pricing for solo founders.

What this calculator doesn’t include: Stripe’s 0.4% fee for instant payouts (we assume standard payouts), Stripe Radar fraud fees ($0.05 per transaction if you opt in), chargeback fees ($15 each on Stripe), or your time spent on VAT compliance if you go the Stripe route. Those last two are the ones that bite founders who optimize purely on the headline rate.

Why “lower transaction fee” doesn’t mean lower total cost

Read Stripe’s page and you’d think 2.9% + 30¢ vs Lemon Squeezy’s 5% + 50¢ is a 2x cost difference. It isn’t. Once you’re selling internationally:

• Stripe’s effective rate climbs to 3.4% on cards from outside your home country (the 1% FX fee).
• Add Stripe Tax at 0.5% and you’re at 3.9% effective on international transactions.
• You’re still personally liable for VAT registration in every jurisdiction where you cross thresholds — that’s a $50–$200/month tooling line (Quaderno, Anrok, Sphere) plus your accountant’s time at quarter-end.
• Lemon Squeezy’s 5% is the all-in number. No additional VAT line, no FX surcharge, no tax filings on your side. They’re the merchant of record — the customer’s receipt has Lemon Squeezy’s name on it, not yours.

So the real comparison for an international solo SaaS is closer to 3.9% (Stripe with tax) plus $50–$200/month in tooling vs 5.0% (Lemon Squeezy, all in). The break-even on tooling cost alone is around $4,500–$18,000 in monthly revenue. Below that, Lemon Squeezy is usually cheaper. Above that, Stripe pulls ahead. Above $50K/month, Stripe is meaningfully cheaper but the operational cost of compliance has gone up too.

Tax compliance is the hidden cost most calculators ignore

If you sell to consumers in the EU, you owe VAT from your first euro of revenue (the EU OSS scheme has no de minimis threshold for digital services to consumers). If you sell to US states beyond your home state, you owe sales tax once you cross economic nexus thresholds, which start at $100K of in-state sales but vary by state. If you sell to Canada, GST/HST applies. Australia, GST. UK, VAT.

Stripe Tax automates the calculation. It does not file returns. It does not remit. Filing happens through your accountant or through a layer like Quaderno ($49–$149/month), Anrok ($499/month and up), or Sphere ($199/month and up). So “Stripe + Stripe Tax” is not a complete VAT solution — it’s the calculation half. The other half costs money or your time, and neither is free. We covered the trade-off in detail in best payment processor for SaaS.

When Stripe wins

• You’re US-only B2B. No VAT, minimal sales tax exposure if you stay in your home state. Stripe’s 2.9% + 30¢ is the cheapest path.
• You’re large enough to negotiate. Above ~$80K MRR you can ask Stripe for custom pricing. They typically come down to 2.4–2.7% for high-volume merchants.
• You need extreme control over the checkout. Stripe Elements and Checkout give you complete UI flexibility. Lemon Squeezy’s checkout is hosted and customizable but not as deep.
• You’re running complex billing. Usage-based pricing, metered components, ACH transfers, invoicing, marketplace splits — Stripe’s API is more mature here.

When Lemon Squeezy wins

• You’re selling globally and you’re solo. The compliance you don’t have to do is worth more than 1% in fees. We’d argue this is true for almost every founder under $20K MRR.
• Average ticket size is small. The flat 50¢ on Lemon Squeezy is more than Stripe’s 30¢ per transaction, but if you’re selling $9 products, the percentage spread between them isn’t huge and the merchant-of-record protection still applies.
• You don’t want to set up a corporate entity for tax reasons. Lemon Squeezy can sell on behalf of any entity including a personal account; the corp setup decision becomes purely about liability, not tax.
• You want chargeback handling outsourced. Chargebacks happen. On Stripe each one is $15 and your problem; Lemon Squeezy absorbs them as part of the merchant-of-record arrangement.

When Paddle is the right choice

Paddle and Lemon Squeezy are similar enough at the solo-founder scale that they’re mostly interchangeable in this calculator. Paddle skews more enterprise — it has stronger billing features, better invoice support for B2B, and it’s where you go if you’re selling to corporates with procurement processes. Lemon Squeezy is built more for the indie hacker shape: simple, fast, license-key support out of the box. For a solo founder selling self-serve to small businesses or consumers, Lemon Squeezy is usually the right starting point.

The math at $5K MRR (default in the calculator)

$5,000 monthly revenue, $49 average ticket = ~102 transactions per month. 30% international.

• Stripe base: $5,000 × 2.9% + 102 × $0.30 = $145 + $30.60 = $175.60.
• Stripe Tax: $5,000 × 0.5% = $25.
• Stripe FX: $5,000 × 30% × 1% = $15.
• Stripe total: $215.60 (4.3% effective).
• Lemon Squeezy: $5,000 × 5% + 102 × $0.50 = $250 + $51 = $301 (6.0% effective).

Headline difference at $5K MRR: Lemon Squeezy is $85/month more expensive on the surface. But you have to add the cost of tax compliance to make Stripe an apples-to-apples comparison. At $50/month for Quaderno and 4 hours/quarter of your time on filing, the picture flips for most founders selling internationally.

One last thing: don’t over-optimize processor choice early

Below $1K MRR, the difference between Stripe and Lemon Squeezy is $20–$40/month. Pick the one you can integrate fastest and ship the product. Re-evaluate every six months as your revenue grows — both platforms let you migrate, and the switching cost is one weekend of work for a typical solo SaaS. The decision matters more at $20K MRR than at $200 MRR.

Related guides

• Lemon Squeezy vs Stripe — full comparison
• Best payment processor for SaaS
• Stripe pricing explained
• Total SaaS cost at $1K MRR
• The solo founder tech stack