Paddle
Merchant of record for SaaS
About
Payments as a merchant of record for software companies: handles global payments plus sales-tax/VAT compliance and billing, so you avoid registering for tax everywhere.
Pros
- - Acts as merchant of record, taking on tax liability and VAT/sales-tax compliance across many jurisdictions
- - All-inclusive pricing that bundles payments, billing, fraud protection, chargeback handling, and support into one fee
- - Built specifically for SaaS with subscription billing, checkout, and revenue analytics tools included
- - Handles chargebacks and disputes directly since Paddle is the seller of record
- - Straightforward integration with clear documentation and embeddable checkout flows
Cons
- - Transaction fees (5% + 0,50 $) are higher than standard processors like Stripe, and effective rates can climb further with currency conversion
- - Customer support responsiveness is inconsistent, with some users reporting multi-day response times for urgent issues
- - Onboarding, account verification, and risk reviews can be slow or strict, and some sellers report fund holds or account suspensions
What it solves
Paddle solves the problem of collecting global payments while staying compliant with VAT and sales tax in many countries, removing the need for a SaaS founder to register for tax in every market they sell into.
When not to use it
Avoid Paddle if you need full control over the checkout branding and customer relationship, or if you sell mainly domestically at high volume where a lower-cost processor like Stripe would be cheaper.
