Top Lemon Squeezy Alternatives for SaaS in 2025: What to Use Instead
Looking for alternatives to Lemon Squeezy after the Stripe acquisition? Explore the best payment platforms for SaaS in 2025 with full MoR support, subscriptions, and affiliate tracking.
Lemon Squeezy quickly became a favorite in the SaaS world thanks to its beautiful interface, built-in subscription billing, and all-in-one Merchant of Record (MoR) functionality. It made launching and scaling a global SaaS product easier than ever, especially for indie developers and small teams who wanted to skip the tax headaches and complex integrations.
But in July 2024, something big happened, Stripe acquired Lemon Squeezy. While the platform still operates independently for now, the future is less certain. Some teams worry about pricing changes, vendor lock-in, or tighter integration with Stripe’s ecosystem. Others just prefer to avoid being tied too closely to one of the industry giants.
If you’re considering a move, or simply exploring what else is out there, this guide covers the top Lemon Squeezy alternatives for SaaS businesses in 2025. We’ll look at each platform’s strengths, how they compare to Lemon Squeezy, and why they might be a better fit depending on your growth goals.
What is Lemon Squeezy?
Lemon Squeezy is a Merchant of Record platform that handles payments, global taxes, compliance, and customer billing for SaaS and digital product companies. It's known for its elegant UI, built-in affiliate tracking, subscription billing, license key delivery, and no-code integrations.
Its pricing is set at 5% plus $0.50 per transaction, with an additional 1.5% for international payments. While that’s fairly standard in the MoR space, it does add up, especially for higher-volume businesses.
Since the Stripe acquisition on July 26, 2024, the Lemon Squeezy roadmap has become a question mark. Will the brand remain separate? Will Stripe's MoR beta eventually absorb Lemon Squeezy into a broader product suite? Those uncertainties are exactly why some SaaS teams are now looking for alternatives.
Paddle
Paddle is one of the closest like-for-like alternatives to Lemon Squeezy and has long been a leader in the MoR space. It handles global tax compliance, chargebacks, and payment processing while also offering subscription billing and localized checkout for international users.
Its pricing is transparent, 5% plus $0.50 per transaction, with no added fees for global sales. Paddle integrates natively with Affonso, allowing SaaS companies to easily set up and manage affiliate programs. That’s a big plus if your business relies on partner-driven growth.
Paddle is especially appealing to teams that want enterprise-level MoR functionality without giving up control or predictability in pricing.
Polar
Polar is a developer-friendly MoR platform that delivers flexibility without compromising on compliance. Like Lemon Squeezy, it offers subscription support, global tax handling, and seamless checkout experiences, but it also gives developers access to a clean, well-documented API, plus webhook support.
Its pricing starts at 4% plus $0.40 per transaction, with small fees for subscriptions and international transactions. Polar also integrates with Affonso for a native affiliate solution, giving SaaS companies the tools they need to scale through referrals and partnerships.
If you loved Lemon Squeezy’s simplicity but want something more customizable, Polar is a serious contender.
Creem
Creem combines modern design with serious MoR functionality. It supports everything from subscriptions and wallets to real-time customer analytics and compliance reporting—all within a beautifully designed interface.
Its pricing is 3.9% plus $0.40 per transaction. SEPA payouts are free for EU businesses, and there’s wide support for payment methods like UPI, PayPal, Apple Pay, and iDEAL. Creem also uses Affonso for affiliate tracking, giving SaaS founders a ready-to-go marketing stack.
For European SaaS teams or anyone who appreciates great UX alongside full MoR coverage, Creem is a fantastic Lemon Squeezy alternative.
Dodo Payments
Dodo Payments offers a creator-first experience with global payment coverage, subscriptions, and digital delivery features built-in. It’s a full MoR provider with a growing customer base among SaaS startups that prioritize flexibility and international readiness.
Pricing starts at 4% plus $0.40 per transaction, with 1.5% for non-US transactions and 0.5% for recurring payments. Payouts are available in USD, USDC, INR, and more.
DodoPayments also integrates with Affonso, making it easy to set up affiliate marketing campaigns without relying on external tracking tools.
For early-stage SaaS teams aiming for international growth, DodoPayments is a flexible, full-featured alternative.
Stripe
Stripe, the new parent company of Lemon Squeezy, is a dominant force in global payments. It offers unmatched flexibility, deep developer tooling, and an ecosystem of integrations.
The big news? In 2025, Stripe announced the private beta of its own Merchant of Record solution, aiming to compete with Paddle and the very product it acquired. The pricing for MoR through Stripe is expected to include an additional 3.5% fee on top of standard transaction fees, which pushes it toward the higher end of the market.
Still, for technical teams that want maximum control and are already integrated into the Stripe ecosystem, this MoR beta could become a powerful option, especially since Stripe also supports Affonso for affiliate tracking.
That said, if you're not already committed to Stripe, it might be worth considering more transparent and specialized MoR platforms instead.
Gumroad
Gumroad is a simple, creator-first MoR platform that supports subscriptions, global VAT, and customer management. It’s not as feature-rich as Lemon Squeezy or Paddle, but it gets the job done with minimal setup or technical requirements.
It charges 10% plus $0.50 per transaction, plus Stripe or PayPal processing fees, so it’s not the cheapest. But it includes affiliate tracking, product delivery, and tax handling out of the box, making it great for solo developers or smaller SaaS tools.
If you're prioritizing ease over customization, Gumroad is a hands-off alternative to Lemon Squeezy.
Payhip
Payhip is another affordable alternative that doesn’t offer MoR, but it does handle VAT, subscriptions, and digital delivery. It has a built-in affiliate system and offers a free plan (5% per sale) and two paid tiers ($29/month and $99/month) that reduce the transaction fee to 2% or 0%.
While it doesn’t include full tax or compliance handling like Paddle or Polar, Payhip is a great option for SaaS businesses with simpler needs or those who want to keep costs low while validating a product.
BagelPay
BagelPay is a newer MoR player with a focus on international payments, subscriptions, and transparent pricing. It charges 5% plus $0.50 per transaction but doesn’t add extra fees for subscriptions or most international payouts.
Although affiliate support isn’t included yet, BagelPay does offer wide payment method coverage (UPI, SEPA, PayPal, Google Pay) and localized checkout flows.
It’s a strong alternative for SaaS teams operating in global markets, especially across India and Southeast Asia.
Mollie
Mollie isn’t a MoR, but for SaaS companies based in Europe, it’s a great option for collecting payments with support for all major EU-focused methods like SEPA, iDEAL, and Bancontact.
You’ll need to handle tax compliance and subscription logic yourself, but Mollie’s API is developer-friendly, and its pricing is competitive. If Lemon Squeezy’s acquisition made you nervous and you're looking for a lightweight EU-native solution, Mollie might be the right pick.
Final Thoughts
Lemon Squeezy raised the bar for what a modern SaaS billing solution could look like, and its acquisition by Stripe only confirms how valuable MoR platforms have become. But with that acquisition also comes uncertainty. If you’re looking to regain control, reduce fees, or explore tools with more transparency and flexibility, the time to explore alternatives is now.
Whether it’s Paddle for enterprise-grade MoR, Polar for developer control, or Creem for clean design and EU payouts, there’s no shortage of strong Lemon Squeezy alternatives in 2025. And if affiliate marketing is part of your growth strategy, most of these tools, including Stripe, Paddle, Polar, Creem, and DodoPayments, integrate natively with Affonso, offering a complete marketing and billing stack out of the box.