What payment gateways really cost your SaaS.

Enter your monthly revenue and average sale price to compare real monthly fees for Stripe, PayPal, Paddle, Lemon Squeezy, Gumroad, and Mollie — including the effective rate and what actually lands in your account.

Results

Monthly fees by gateway

$10,000 / month

Good to know

Paddle, Lemon Squeezy, and Gumroad are merchants of record — their higher fee includes global sales tax/VAT handling and chargeback liability.
Stripe, PayPal, and Mollie leave tax compliance to you; budget for tax tooling when comparing against MoR platforms.
Low sale prices raise every effective rate — the fixed per-transaction fee bites hardest on small payments.
Foreign-currency sales add conversion fees — Stripe +1%, Mollie +1.2%, Lemon Squeezy +1.5%, PayPal +3%; Paddle and Gumroad include conversion in their flat fee.

Detail

Fee-by-fee comparison

Based on $10,000/mo across ≈200 sales

Provider	Transaction fees	Conversion fee	Total fees	Effective rate	Final payout

Pricing notes

Rates are published standard online-card prices (US where regional) as of early 2026 and exclude negotiated discounts, cross-border card surcharges, disputes, payout fees, and add-ons. Conversion fees apply each provider's published currency-conversion rate to all revenue when "Needs conversion" is selected. Mollie quotes per-method pricing in EUR; it is shown here as a USD estimate. Always confirm current pricing with the provider.

The basics

Payment gateways, explained in plain English

Before comparing fees, it helps to know what you're actually buying — and where a gateway ends and a payment processor or merchant of record begins.

01 What is a payment gateway?

The service that authorizes a card payment and moves it from your customer to your bank account — the online equivalent of the card terminal at a checkout counter. It encrypts card details, talks to the card networks, and tells your app whether the charge succeeded.

02 Who needs one?

Anyone charging money online: SaaS subscriptions, digital products, courses, services, and eCommerce stores. If you invoice a handful of clients a month you can survive on bank transfers — the moment customers self-serve checkout, you need a gateway.

03 Types of payment gateways

Hosted gateways redirect customers to the provider’s page (PayPal, Gumroad). Embedded or API gateways keep checkout on your site (Stripe, Mollie). Merchant-of-record platforms (Paddle, Lemon Squeezy) go further and legally resell your product for you.

Gateway vs. payment processor

The gateway is the customer-facing layer that captures and encrypts card details and requests authorization; the processor is the behind-the-scenes service that actually moves money between banks. Modern providers like Stripe and Mollie bundle both into one product, which is why the terms get used interchangeably — what matters for your costs is the combined per-transaction price.

Gateway vs. merchant of record

With a plain gateway you are the legal seller: sales tax and VAT registration, collection, remittance, refunds, and fraud liability all sit with you. A merchant of record resells your product in its own name and takes that burden on. The roughly two-point fee gap between Stripe and Paddle is really the price of outsourced tax compliance — for a global SaaS, that can be a bargain.

The contenders

Popular payment gateways at a glance

The six providers in the calculator, what each is best at, and the published pricing the estimates are built on.

Stripe

45+ countries

SaaS, eCommerce, and subscription businesses that want full API control.

Fees: 2.9% + $0.30 per US card transaction; no setup or monthly fees.

PayPal

200+ countries

Freelancers, small businesses, and marketplaces where buyers expect the PayPal button.

Fees: 3.49% + $0.49 per PayPal checkout transaction; no setup fees.

Paddle

Global (Europe and US focus)

SaaS companies selling subscriptions that want tax and compliance handled for them.

Fees: 5% + $0.50 per transaction as merchant of record.

Lemon Squeezy

Global

Digital product creators and indie SaaS that want the simplest possible setup.

Fees: 5% + $0.50 per transaction as merchant of record.

Gumroad

Worldwide

Creators selling eBooks, courses, art, and other digital downloads.

Fees: 10% flat plus card processing per sale, as merchant of record.

Mollie

Europe (Netherlands, Germany, France)

European eCommerce and subscription services that need local payment methods like iDEAL.

Fees: Per-method pricing from €0.29 per card transaction; no monthly minimum.

Choosing the right payment gateway

Start with where your customers are and how they expect to pay — local methods like iDEAL or the PayPal button can move conversion more than a half-point of fees. Then weigh the effective rate at your real average sale price, the compliance work each option leaves with you, and how well it supports subscriptions, trials, and upgrades if you sell SaaS.

How we estimate these costs

Your monthly revenue divided by average sale price gives an estimated transaction count. For each provider we apply its published percentage to revenue and its fixed fee to every transaction, then rank by total monthly fees. The effective rate is total fees as a share of revenue — the single best number for comparing gateways with different fee shapes.

FAQ

Payment gateway questions, answered

Common questions about gateway fees, effective rates, and the merchant-of-record model.

What fees do payment gateways charge?

Almost all of them charge a percentage of each sale plus a fixed amount per transaction — Stripe’s 2.9% + $0.30 is the best-known example. On top of that, watch for currency conversion fees, cross-border surcharges, payout fees, chargeback fees, and add-ons like billing or tax tooling. The headline rate is the floor, not the ceiling.

What is an effective rate?

Your total fees divided by your total revenue. Because of the fixed per-transaction fee, the effective rate depends heavily on your average sale price: $0.30 is 0.6% of a $50 sale but 3% of a $10 sale. That is why a low-priced product can quietly pay 5–6% to a gateway advertising 2.9%.

What is the difference between a payment gateway and a merchant of record?

A gateway like Stripe processes payments on your behalf — you remain the seller, responsible for sales tax, VAT, refunds, and fraud liability. A merchant of record like Paddle or Lemon Squeezy legally resells your product: they appear on the customer’s statement, collect and remit tax worldwide, and absorb most compliance work in exchange for a higher fee.

Why are Paddle and Lemon Squeezy more expensive than Stripe?

Their roughly 5% + $0.50 fee includes things Stripe charges extra for or leaves to you entirely: global sales tax and VAT registration, collection, and remittance, fraud and chargeback liability, and invoicing. If you would otherwise pay for Stripe Tax plus a compliance service plus the hours to manage them, the gap narrows quickly — that is the comparison worth running, not just the headline rates.

Which payment gateway is best for SaaS?

There is no universal winner. Stripe is the default for control and ecosystem; Paddle and Lemon Squeezy trade a higher fee for not having to think about global tax; PayPal increases conversion with buyers who trust the button; Mollie wins on European local payment methods. Run your real revenue and average sale price through the calculator above, then weigh the fee gap against the compliance work each option leaves on your plate.

Is this calculator free? How accurate are the numbers?

Free, no signup, and everything runs in your browser. The rates are published standard online-card prices as of early 2026 and exclude negotiated discounts, currency conversion, disputes, and add-ons — treat the results as a like-for-like estimate for shortlisting, then confirm exact pricing with the provider.