Stripe vs Paddle vs Polar: what an indie SaaS pays in fees
On a $20 subscription payment from a US card, Stripe's standard fee is $0.88. Paddle and Polar's free plan each take $1.50. The difference is mostly who sells to your customer. Paddle and Polar are the merchant of record and handle sales tax and VAT for you. With standard Stripe payments you are the seller and the tax work is yours.
This post puts the three fee schedules side by side and runs the same $20 payment through each. All figures come from the providers' own pricing pages, read on 5 November 2026. Fees change, so check the linked pages before you commit.
What merchant of record changes
The merchant of record is the company that legally sells to your customer. It collects sales tax and VAT, files and remits them, shows up on the card statement, and handles chargebacks.
With standard Stripe payments that company is you. Stripe moves the money. Stripe Tax can calculate the tax for an extra fee, and the basic version is priced at 0.5% of a transaction in places where you are registered to collect tax. The registering and filing remain your job.
Paddle sells as merchant of record. Its page lists tax and regulatory compliance, fraud protection, chargebacks and buyer support as part of the fee. Polar also acts as merchant of record. Stripe has a merchant-of-record product too, called Managed Payments, which adds 3.5% per successful transaction on top of its payments fees.
The published fees
| Provider and plan | Published rate | Seller of record |
|---|---|---|
| Stripe payments | 2.9% + 30¢ for US cards; +1.5% international cards; +1% if currency conversion is needed | You |
| Stripe Billing (optional) | 0.7% of Billing volume | You |
| Stripe Tax Basic | 0.5% per transaction where you are registered | You |
| Stripe Managed Payments | +3.5% per successful transaction, on top of payments fees | Stripe |
| Paddle | 5% + 50¢ per Checkout transaction | Paddle |
| Polar Starter (free) | 5% + 50¢ | Polar |
| Polar Pro ($20/month) | 3.8% + 40¢ | Polar |
| Polar Growth ($100/month) | 3.6% + 35¢ | Polar |
| Polar Scale ($400/month) | 3.4% + 30¢ | Polar |
| Polar Early Member (orgs created before 27 May 2026) | 4% + 40¢, plus 0.5% on subscription payments | Polar |
Polar adds 1.5% for non-US cards, and its paid plans replace the per-transaction merchant-of-record premium with the flat monthly fee and a lower rate.
The same $20 payment through each
This assumes a US card and a $20 monthly subscription. It leaves out tax, which depends on where your customer lives and how you handle it.
| Setup | Fee on $20 | Share of the payment |
|---|---|---|
| Stripe payments only | $0.88 | 4.4% |
| Stripe payments plus Billing | $1.02 | 5.1% |
| Stripe payments plus Managed Payments | $1.58 | 7.9% |
| Paddle | $1.50 | 7.5% |
| Polar Starter | $1.50 | 7.5% |
| Polar Early Member | $1.30 | 6.5% |
| Polar Pro (plus the $20 monthly plan fee) | $1.16 | 5.8% |
A non-US card adds $0.30 at Stripe and at Polar. Paddle's pricing page does not mention an international surcharge.
The cheapest row is plain Stripe, and it is cheapest because it leaves the tax work with you. If you were going to pay an accountant or a tax tool to register and file in other countries, that cost belongs next to the 4.4%.
When Polar's paid plans pay off
Polar Pro charges $1.16 on a $20 payment where Starter charges $1.50, so each payment saves $0.34. The $20 monthly fee is recovered at about 59 payments of $20 a month, or roughly $1,180 in monthly volume.
Growth saves a further $0.09 per $20 payment over Pro. The extra $80 a month takes about 890 payments to earn back, so it only makes sense for a product with real volume.
Costs outside the percentage
A few charges do not show up in the headline rate.
Polar charges $15 per dispute whatever the outcome, and it cannot refund that fee. It also keeps the original transaction fee when you refund a customer. Payouts run through Stripe's payout fees with no Polar markup: $2 a month for active payouts, 0.25% + 25¢ per payout, and 0.25% to 1% for cross-border conversion.
Paddle's page says chargebacks are covered in its fee. It does not give payout terms, so ask before you choose it. It also says products priced under $10 can get custom pricing, which matters because of the next section.
Low prices make the fixed fee hurt
The fixed part of each fee does not shrink with the price. On a $5 monthly plan, Stripe's standard fee is about 45¢, or 8.9%. Paddle's and Polar Starter's rate is 75¢, or 15%. A $5 product on a merchant of record needs either the custom pricing Paddle mentions or a higher price.
Discounts work the same way. Take 50% off a $20 payment and the charge is $10, but Stripe's fixed 30¢ stays. The Stripe fee on that payment is $0.59, or 5.9%. If you plan launch discounts, read Stripe coupons vs promotion codes first.
Which one to pick
If most customers are in the US and you are happy to register for tax as you grow, standard Stripe is the cheapest. Add Billing only if you want Stripe to run subscriptions and invoices, since it costs 0.7% of that volume.
If you sell worldwide and do not want to file VAT in other countries, compare Paddle, Polar and Stripe Managed Payments on your actual price points. Check that Managed Payments is available for your country before building around it.
If your price is under $10, run the numbers at your real price before anything else, because the fixed fee will decide it.
The billing provider you choose also affects how you meter usage later. The post on usage-based billing after Metronome and Orb covers that side. Whichever you pick, a product that bills through Stripe, Paddle or Polar can list its coupons on Dealpuffin without changing providers.
Frequently asked questions
Is Paddle cheaper than Stripe?
Per transaction, no. Stripe's standard card fee is lower than Paddle's 5% + 50¢. Paddle's fee includes tax compliance as merchant of record, so compare it against Stripe plus what you would pay for tax handling, or against Stripe Managed Payments.
Does Polar charge extra for being merchant of record?
Polar's fees page says its paid plans replace a per-transaction merchant-of-record premium with a flat monthly fee and a lower percentage.
Which provider is best for a $5 subscription?
Standard Stripe has the lowest fee at that price, about 8.9% on a US card. A merchant of record at 5% + 50¢ takes about 15%, so ask Paddle about custom pricing for products under $10 or raise the price.
Do these fees change?
Yes. Polar's own page says it may pass on future Stripe fees, and its Early Member plan only exists for organizations created before 27 May 2026. Check the provider pages before you decide.