Payment providers compared

[dannytaurus]

Payment providers for plugin sellers compared: fees on real sales, plus features

WARNING: long post!

I use Gumroad and although I'm fairly happy with it, I feel like it's time to move. I've spent the last few weeks looking at other services. I ended up going through eight options in more detail than I planned, so here is the write-up in case it saves someone else the time.

What the numbers are. I took several thousand of my real 2026 sales (price, VAT / sales tax, buyer country, card or PayPal, affiliate or not) and replayed each one through every provider's published fee schedule.

To keep my own revenue out of it, everything below is expressed as fees per $1,000 of pre-tax sales, with every one of those real buyers "buying" a $10, $50 or $100 product instead of what they actually bought.

Note: fee pages were checked in August and September 2026. They can change over time. I am in the UK, which matters for a few rows (noted below). Absolutely none of this is tax advice, of course.

TL;DR

• Everything I looked at is cheaper than Gumroad (about 17% all-in for me).
• The flat per-sale fee matters more than the percentage for cheap products. At $10, Moonbase's €1 is 12% of the price on its own - at $100 it's only 1%.
• Moonbase is the most complete for plugins (licensing, PayPal, currencies, affiliates, migration) and the most expensive of the alternatives: about 12-15% depending on which currencies I set prices in. It's also the only one that charges per-payout fee (€5) and they have the highest fixed per-sale fee (€1).
• Stripe Managed Payments, Polar and Fungies all land around 7-9%. Stripe and Polar have no PayPal. Stripe is payments and tax only, not a store.
• Lemon Squeezy has the best feature match after Moonbase, but Stripe owns it now and its own CEO says the future is Stripe Managed Payments. It's no longer a contender.
• Payhip is the cheapest with a store attached (roughly 5-10% depending on plan and turnover), because it is not a merchant of record: you stay the seller and part of the tax problem stays yours.
• SoundSync has the friendliest fee shape for small sales (flat 10%, no per-sale fee) but is very new and I could not find the legal and tax basics on the site yet.

Costs

Fees on $1,000 of pre-tax sales, made up four different ways. The 'mixed basket' is 30 x $10 + 8 x $50 + 3 x $100.

Provider	100 x $10	20 x $50	10 x $100	Mixed basket	Not in the figure
Gumroad (direct sales)	$226	$155	$146	$174	Discover sales cost a flat 30% instead
Moonbase, one GBP price	$218	$125	$114	$150	€5 per payout
Moonbase, GBP + EUR + USD prices	$200	$108	$96	$132	€5 per payout
Moonbase, one USD price	$196	$103	$91	$127	€5 per payout
Moonbase, one EUR price	$184	$91	$80	$116	€5 per payout
SoundSync	$100	$100	$100	$100	$10/month minimum, $9.99 minimum price
Lemon Squeezy	$127	$87	$82	$98	1% of every payout to a non-US bank (about $9 more)
Payhip Free	$114	$89	$86	$96	currency conversion, see below
Polar Starter	$120	$80	$75	$91	Stripe payout + conversion fees outside the US (about $14 more)
Stripe Managed Payments	$94	$72	$70	$78	possibly up to $87, see below
Fungies	$107	$67	$62	$77	possibly Stripe's 2% conversion on payout (about $15 more), unconfirmed
Polar Pro	$97	$65	$61	$73	+ $20/month
Payhip Plus	$84	$59	$56	$66	+ $29/month
Payhip Pro	$64	$39	$36	$46	+ $99/month
Stripe on its own, no merchant of record	$59	$37	$35	$43	you register, collect and file the tax yourself

The same figures as a percentage of pre-tax sales. The "not in the figure" notes above apply here too, and monthly plan fees are still on top. "My savings" is how much of the Gumroad fee bill each option would cut on the mixed basket, with Gumroad's fees as 100%.

Provider	100 x $10	20 x $50	10 x $100	Mixed basket	My savings
Gumroad (direct sales)	22.6%	15.5%	14.6%	17.4%	baseline
Moonbase, one GBP price	21.8%	12.5%	11.4%	15.0%	14%
Moonbase, GBP + EUR + USD prices	20.0%	10.8%	9.6%	13.2%	24%
Moonbase, one USD price	19.6%	10.3%	9.1%	12.7%	27%
Moonbase, one EUR price	18.4%	9.1%	8.0%	11.6%	33%
SoundSync	10.0%	10.0%	10.0%	10.0%	43%
Lemon Squeezy	12.7%	8.7%	8.2%	9.8%	44%
Payhip Free	11.4%	8.9%	8.6%	9.6%	45%
Polar Starter	12.0%	8.0%	7.5%	9.1%	48%
Stripe Managed Payments	9.4%	7.2%	7.0%	7.8%	55%
Fungies	10.7%	6.7%	6.2%	7.7%	56%
Polar Pro	9.7%	6.5%	6.1%	7.3%	58%
Payhip Plus	8.4%	5.9%	5.6%	6.6%	62%
Payhip Pro	6.4%	3.9%	3.6%	4.6%	74%
Stripe on its own, no merchant of record	5.9%	3.7%	3.5%	4.3%	75%

How to read it:

• My buyer mix, which drives the surcharges: roughly a third UK, a quarter EU, a quarter US, the rest mostly Australia and Canada. About a third pay with PayPal, about 5% arrive through an affiliate link, and three quarters of sales have VAT or sales tax added (14% on top on average). That last one matters because most providers take their percentage on the tax-inclusive total, so "5%" is really 5.7% of what you priced. A US-heavy customer base will see lower numbers almost everywhere (less tax in the total), and especially on Polar and Lemon Squeezy, whose +1.5% is on every non-US card.
• Monthly plans only pay off above a certain turnover. Payhip Plus beats Free above about $1,000/month, Pro beats Plus above about $3,500/month. Polar Pro beats Starter above about $1,100/month at a $25 average sale.
• Moonbase charges 0% extra for EUR, +1% for USD and +3% for any other currency you set a price in. The "GBP + EUR + USD" row is my planned setup (GBP for UK buyers, fixed EUR and USD prices for everyone else, all surcharges absorbed by me). If you set a single price, use the row for its currency. One GBP price is the most expensive way to run it, because the +3% then lands on every sale and not only on the UK ones.
• Stripe rows use UK Stripe card rates (1.5% UK, 2.5% EEA, 3.15% international, + 20p). Under Managed Payments a Stripe entity becomes the seller and I could not confirm whether domestic rates still apply; if everything is charged as international the basket is $87. US sellers should redo this with 2.9% + 30¢.
• Payhip rows assume the store is priced in the currency of your own bank account. Payhip allows one currency per store, so if you price in USD and bank in GBP or EUR, Stripe (2%) and PayPal (3%) convert every sale: add about $24 per $1,000.
• Gumroad is measured from my actual fees, not modelled: 10% + 50¢, plus 2.9% + 30¢ for cards or PayPal's own cut (which averaged nearer 5% + 60¢ for me).
• Refunds, chargebacks and free downloads are not included. The model reproduces the worked examples on Polar's and Lemon Squeezy's fee pages to the cent.

Published fees, for reference

Provider	Headline	Surcharges
Gumroad	10% + 50¢ + card processing (2.9% + 30¢)	30% flat on Discover sales
Moonbase	5% + €1, on the tax-inclusive total	+1% non-European card, +1.5% PayPal, +1% USD / +3% other non-EUR currency, +3% affiliate sale, +€5 per payout
Stripe Managed Payments	3.5% on the tax-inclusive total, on top of normal Stripe processing	none (no currency fee with Adaptive Pricing on)
Polar	Starter 5% + 50¢, Pro $20/month, 3.8% + 40¢	+1.5% on every non-US card, Stripe payout fees
Fungies	5% + 50¢	none published
Lemon Squeezy	5% + 50¢, on the tax-inclusive total	+1.5% non-US buyer, +1.5% PayPal, +3% affiliate sale, 1% payout to a non-US bank
Payhip	Free 5%, Plus $29/month + 2%, Pro $99/month + 0%, on the pre-tax price	your own Stripe and PayPal fees on top
SoundSync	10% of the pre-tax price, processing included	$10/month minimum

What about losing PayPal?

Stripe Managed Payments and Polar do not take PayPal, and SoundSync doesn't mention it either. A third of my buyers use it. I happen to have a natural experiment: Gumroad inexplicably switched PayPal off for four months in late 2024, when it was well over 40% of my sales. Revenue in those months, leaving out December, was about 4% below the four months before, which is inside my normal month-to-month noise. PayPal buyers mostly paid by card instead. This was just me, so treat it as a data point and not a law, but the cost was a lot smaller than I expected.

Features

Provider	Merchant of record	PayPal	Licence keys	File delivery	Affiliates	Free / pay-what-you-want	Email marketing
Gumroad	Yes	Yes	Basic (key + verify API)	Yes	Native	Yes / yes	Built in
Moonbase	Yes	Yes (+1.5%)	Full licensing: online and offline activation, JUCE module, works alongside iLok	Yes, no size limit	Native (+3%)	Yes, no fee / no	No; syncs to Klaviyo, Mailchimp, MailerLite, Brevo, Mailjet
Stripe Managed Payments	Yes	No	No	No	No	Not a store	No
Polar	Yes	No ("planned")	Yes: activation limit, expiry, activate / validate API	Yes, 10 GB per file	Third-party only	Yes / yes	No
Fungies	Yes	Yes, no surcharge	Pre-generated key lists only, no activation	Yes, 50 GB	Separate paid product	Yes / only through the API	No ("coming soon")
Lemon Squeezy	Yes	Yes (+1.5%)	Yes: activation limit, activate / validate / deactivate API	Yes, 5 GB per product	Native (+3%)	Yes / yes	Built in, free to 500 subscribers
Payhip	No (see below)	Yes, your own account	Key + verify + usage counter, no enforced activation limit	Yes, 5 GB per file	Native and free, but you pay affiliates by hand	Yes / yes	Built in, plus sync to Mailchimp, Kit, MailerLite, Klaviyo
SoundSync	Stated, but the docs hedge	Not documented	Serial activation, login, offline grace, deactivation; HISE and JUCE integrations	Yes	By approval	Yes / no, and paid products start at $9.99	Built in, 1,000 sends/month included

Money / Currencies / Payouts

Provider	Currencies	Where your money sits	Checkout on your own site	Import from Gumroad
Moonbase	100+, with fixed prices per currency	With Moonbase, paid monthly (biweekly on request), €50 minimum + €5 fee	Embedded	Yes, assisted migration incl. licences
Stripe Managed Payments	Local currency via Adaptive Pricing	Your Stripe balance, normal payouts	Hosted Stripe Checkout only, no custom domain, buyer sees "Sold through Link"	n/a
Polar	130+, fixed price per currency, tax-inclusive by region	With Polar in USD, 7-day settlement, manual withdrawals	Embedded or hosted	No
Fungies	One currency per offer	With Fungies; daily payouts to a Stripe Express account, PayPal weekly	Embedded, overlay or hosted	No
Lemon Squeezy	One display currency, every charge in USD	With Lemon Squeezy in USD; paid twice a month after a 13-day hold	Overlay, or hosted on a custom domain	Yes, done by their support from a CSV
Payhip	One currency per store	In your own Stripe / PayPal from the moment of sale	Embed button or direct link; custom domain	No
SoundSync	USD; others not documented	Stripe Connect transfers, schedule not stated	Embed or hosted storefront on a custom domain	Mentioned, no procedure documented

Payhip and tax. Payhip is not a merchant of record and does not claim to be. It acts as reseller for EU and UK VAT, as marketplace facilitator for US and Canadian sales tax (since July 2026), and does nothing for the rest of the world, which was 15% of my sales across 48 countries. Refunds and disputes are yours. If you are a UK seller, ask an accountant how the reseller arrangement with a UK company affects your own VAT position before going near it. I have not had that answer yet.

Who is behind each one

Trustpilot figures are as of September 2026. Review sites over-sample angry people, but with a merchant of record the provider holds your money, so held payouts and silent support are exactly what I was looking for.

• Moonbase - Oslo, founded 2023, audio software only. Named customers include Black Salt Audio, Nextmidi and The Audio Programmer. It comes up as a recommendation in the KVR and JUCE forum threads on this subject.
• Stripe Managed Payments - Stripe's own merchant-of-record product, generally available since early 2026. Digital products only. Stripe can refund a buyer without asking you if you do not answer an escalation within 48 hours.
• Polar - Delaware company run from Stockholm, founded 2022, $10M seed led by Accel in 2025, open source. Trustpilot 2.0 from 17 reviews, mostly accounts rejected or closed by automated review and payouts held. Raised its fees in May 2026 and now markets itself mainly as usage billing for AI products, with digital downloads as a side feature.
• Fungies - Delaware company with a team in Warsaw, founded 2023, $850k pre-seed, four or five people. Trustpilot 3.1 from 32 reviews, just over half of them one-star, mostly about withheld funds and unanswered support. There were KVR and JUCE forum threads in August 2026 about its sales reps spamming plugin developers.
• Lemon Squeezy - bought by Stripe in July 2024. Its team built Stripe Managed Payments, and the CEO's January 2026 update says support is slower, updates are fewer and the goal is a migration path to Managed Payments. No changelog entry since August 2025. Trustpilot 1.2 from 178 reviews: rejected stores, held payouts, unanswered tickets. My reading is that it is being wound down, though nobody has said so.
• Payhip - London, trading since 2011, bootstrapped, about ten people, mostly ebook and course sellers. Trustpilot 4.5 from 539 reviews; the complaints are about stores closed without warning. It never holds your money, so a closure costs you the store and not a balance.
• SoundSync - built by one developer (Aaron, who is on this forum) and live since mid-2026. The flat 10% is on the pre-tax price after discounts, which he confirmed to me. When I last checked on 30 September the site named no company or jurisdiction, the terms page had headings but no text, the tax / merchant-of-record docs were explicitly cautious about what is covered, and refunds could not be issued by the seller. Those are things I need settled from whoever holds my money and owes my customers' VAT. The fee shape is the best here for cheap products and I will look again when they are in place.

Things I couldn't pin down

• Whether Polar, Fungies and Lemon Squeezy charge their 50¢ on a free ($0) download. None of them says. If you give away a lot of free products, ask first.
• Which card rates apply under Stripe Managed Payments once a Stripe entity is the seller.
• Whether Fungies takes its 5% before or after tax, and whether Stripe's conversion fee lands on payouts in another currency.
• Moonbase's help centre says +3% for prices set in currencies other than EUR and USD, while my account settings show a single 1% line.

Where I've landed

Not decided, but it has come down to three rather than eight:

1. Moonbase - it's the most expensive below Gumroad, but everything is included and it's built for plugins. You certainly pay for it, mostly through the €1 per sale, so it suits $50+ products far better than $10 ones.
2. SoundSync - the fee structure is much better, and cheaper, than Moonbase for a similar feature spread, but it's a very young setup with some missing vital documentation.
3. Stripe Managed Payments - around half the cost with full tax cover. Downsides: no PayPal and it means building my own delivery and licensing.

User experience

The next step for me is to examine the user-facing side of each of these. The Moonbase system I know quite well after buying plugins from Jungle Audio and ZAK Sound. I need to see SoundSync in real use and figure out what my own user system would look like if I went with Stripe Managed Payments.

What do I want to build?

Here's the thing: Moonbase, SoundSync and some of the others have all the features I want, but at varying cost above the basic Stripe Managed Payments fees. So how much work am I willing to do (with AI, of course) to build my own cart, checkout, fulfilment, licensing, user accounts, discounts, refunds and email marketing?

Basically: do I want to build web app and marketing tech, or do I want to build plugins?

By the way, email marketing is an important factor. Gumroad includes it in the fee, and so do a couple of the others, but some don't and for large lists it can get expensive using Mailchimp, Klavyio, etc.

Merchant of Record

I definitely want to go with a Merchant of Record system, because no amount of time invested or AI-assistance is better than having someone else taking care of all the sales tax for me.

Parting thought

If Moonbase added support for GBP-holding, halved the fixed per-sale fee, the €5 payout fee and consolidated some of the other fees, they would be a no-brainer.

Corrections welcome, especially from anyone actually selling through one of these.

[David Healey]

@dannytaurus Really nice and detailed summary, another option you might want to check is Paddle, I use them for AudioDevSchool because my LMS software includes built in integration, not sure how easy it is to setup for plugins but I seem to recall there is a WooCommerce plugin.

Regarding marketing, there is some stuff on Moonbase roadmap. What I use is FluentCRM + Amazon SES, it's very cheap and all the data stays on my server. I use webhooks from Moonbase to update records in FluentCRM automatically.