Paddle
Streamline payments, tax, subscriptions; global compliance managed.. [Contact for Pricing]
Last verified:
What is Paddle?
Paddle is the Merchant of Record for digital product businesses, providing a complete payment infrastructure platform that manages payments, tax, compliance, and billing across 300+ markets globally. It serves as a unified solution for SaaS companies, mobile app developers, AI companies, and digital product businesses to sell their products worldwide without handling complex tax regulations or payment compliance themselves.
Key features include Billing (the only complete billing solution for digital products with payments, subscriptions, localized checkout, sales tax and regulatory compliance fully managed), ProfitWell Metrics (real-time metrics across subscriptions, retention, and growth), and Retain (automatically recovers failed payments, reduces cancellations, and optimizes subscriptions to protect revenue). The platform offers a unified API for payments, tax, subscriptions, and metrics, along with SDKs for popular programming languages, Paddle.js for frontend checkouts, fraud protection, intelligent dunning, and support for 30 currencies across 200+ markets.
Paddle is designed for modern SaaS companies, mobile app developers, AI companies, and digital product businesses that want to sell globally without adding operational complexity. It serves over 6,000+ software companies including notable customers like n8n, Letterboxd, AdGuard, Renderforest, Kaleido, and MacPaw, processing 190 million transactions with $130 million in sales taxes remitted last year.
Paddle pricing
Pricing model: Freemium
Pay-as-you-go pricing at 5% + 50¢ per Checkout transaction with no monthly fees, migration fees, or hidden extras. This all-inclusive price covers global payments and billing, cross-border sales tax compliance, fraud and chargeback protection, tax and compliance, unified billing, churn prevention tools, and 24/7 customer support. Custom pricing is available for rapidly scaling and established large-scale businesses, including tailored pricing for business model and products, optional premium services and success management, and custom migration services with implementation support. Products under $10 or those requiring invoicing require contacting for bespoke pricing.
Paddle pros
- Merchant of Record handles all tax and compliance automatically
- Sells in 300+ markets globally with managed payments
- No monthly fees, migration fees, or hidden costs
- Unified API for payments, billing, tax, and subscriptions
- 24/7 customer support with 93% CSAT score
- Automatic revenue recovery from failed payments with Retain
- Built-in fraud protection and chargeback liability coverage
- Localized checkout in 30 currencies across 200+ markets
- Hand-crafted SDKs for popular programming languages
- Real-time subscription metrics with ProfitWell Metrics
- No lock-in contracts, data is 100% yours and portable
- High-performing branded checkout flows embeddable in website
- Supports cards, digital wallets, and local payment methods
- Intelligent dunning with optimized payment retries
- Billing support handles customer payment and subscription queries
Paddle cons
- 5% + 50¢ per transaction fee is higher than some payment processors
- Custom pricing required for products under $10 value
- Requires approval before processing real transactions in live account
- Not a traditional payment gateway, acts as reseller of products
- Limited to digital products and software companies only
- Customer support is not live chat, responds during business hours Monday-Friday 9am-11pm UTC
- Migration from Paddle Classic to Paddle Billing requires data mapping
- Premium advisory services only available for large transaction volume businesses
Frequently asked questions about Paddle
What is Paddle?
Paddle is the developer-first Merchant of Record built for modern SaaS, mobile app, AI, and digital product companies. As the Merchant of Record, Paddle provides payment infrastructure to thousands of software companies worldwide, managing payments, tax, compliance, and billing across 300+ markets. When you buy a product or subscription from a company using Paddle, Paddle is the company you are purchasing from and is responsible for charging you for the product.
How does Paddle's pricing work?
Paddle uses an all-inclusive pay-as-you-go pricing model at 5% + 50¢ per Checkout transaction with no monthly fee. There's no additional cost for managing payments, providing additional payment methods, migrating subscriptions, or payment-related buyer support. Tax and compliance, unified billing, churn prevention tools, and customer support are all included. Custom pricing is available for large-scale businesses and products under $10.
Does Paddle handle tax remittance?
Yes, Paddle collects the correct rate of tax, tracks filing deadlines, prepares records, submits sales tax returns with all necessary documentation and payments to stay compliant, so you don't have to. As Merchant of Record, Paddle manages total adherence to sales tax and VAT rules, international laws, and payment regulations across all markets.
Is Paddle legitimate and safe?
Yes, Paddle is a legitimate company and safe platform used by thousands of businesses worldwide. As a Merchant of Record, Paddle provides secure payment infrastructure following strict security rules like GDPR and PCI compliance to protect personal and payment information. Paddle uses advanced tools to spot and stop fraud before it happens, with strong encryption and privacy protections keeping data secure.
What payment methods does Paddle accept?
Paddle accepts cards, digital wallets, and local payment methods with one-click enablement. You don't need to sign up for multiple merchant accounts, and no additional code is required. The platform has built-in intelligent routing across acquirers for payment success and supports 30 currencies across 200+ markets with automatic localization.
Am I locked into a contract with Paddle?
No, Paddle doesn't do any lock-in periods. Your data is 100% yours and can be migrated to another provider if needed. You can cancel and change payment infrastructure providers at any time without penalty.
How do I request a refund from Paddle?
If you're eligible for a refund, you can request it through the virtual assistant on paddle.net. You can also get help with refund requests via the Order Support team on paddle.net, which solves 94% of queries in minutes.
What is the difference between Paddle and a payment service provider?
Paddle is a Merchant of Record, not just a payment service provider. As Merchant of Record, Paddle is an authorized reseller of products rather than just a payment provider. Paddle manages order processing, payment, VAT/sales tax collection filing and payment, fraud protection, and billing support. Compared to payment service providers, Paddle includes full tax registration filing and remittance, advanced churn recovery, subscription billing and payments, international card payments, chargebacks and fraud protection, localized checkout, and billing support all in one price.
How do I contact Paddle support?
Existing customers can email Customer Support at [email protected] using an email address linked to their existing Paddle account, or sign in to the Paddle dashboard and use the chat widget in the bottom-right of the page. The team is available Monday to Friday, 9am to 11pm UTC. Buyers can get help with transactions immediately by visiting paddle.net. Sales team contact is available at paddle.com/demo.
What is Paddle Retain?
Paddle Retain automatically recovers failed payments, reduces cancellations, and optimizes subscriptions to protect revenue at every stage of the customer lifecycle. It uses intelligent dunning with optimized payment retries and data-driven retention strategies to win back failed payments and keep more subscribers without manual work, helping businesses recover revenue they've already earned.