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Finance

6 products in finance, ranked by the votes people cast.

Lemon Squeezy

A merchant of record, so sales tax stops being your problem.

FinancePaid

Wise

Send money across currencies at a rate you can check yourself.

FinancePaid

Dodo Payments

Merchant-of-record billing for AI products, with usage and credits built in.

FinancePaid

Stripe

Payments, billing and invoicing with documentation people copy from.

FinancePaid

Polar

Merchant-of-record billing for software, with tax and entitlements handled.

FinanceFreemium

Paddle

Billing and tax compliance for software sold across borders.

FinancePaid

Taking money, and the compliance that arrives with it. The important distinction here is the merchant of record. Stripe is a payment processor: you are the seller, and calculating, collecting and remitting sales tax in every jurisdiction you sell into is your responsibility. Paddle and Lemon Squeezy act as the merchant of record instead, selling to the customer on your behalf and taking that obligation on, at a higher percentage. For a solo developer selling software internationally, that difference is usually worth more than the rate. Stripe wins on flexibility, documentation and the sheer number of things it can be made to do. Wise is the other kind of tool here, moving money between currencies at a rate you can check yourself.

Questions about finance tools

What is a merchant of record?
The legal seller of the product. When a platform acts as merchant of record, it handles sales tax and VAT registration, collection and remittance in the buyer's country, and appears on the customer's statement. You are paid out as a supplier rather than selling directly.
Do I need a merchant of record?
If you sell digital products across borders and do not want to register for VAT in multiple jurisdictions, it removes a genuine burden. If you sell in one country, or already have finance people handling this, a payment processor is cheaper and more flexible.
Which is cheaper, Stripe or a merchant of record?
Stripe's percentage is lower. A merchant of record charges more and absorbs tax compliance, chargebacks and invoicing. Compare the total cost including the hours and the accountant, not the headline rate.
Can I switch payment providers later?
Yes, but active subscriptions are the hard part: card details generally cannot be moved between merchants of record, so existing customers may have to re-subscribe. Migrating between processors is easier than migrating away from a merchant of record.

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