Stripe or a merchant of record: what do you keep at your monthly revenue?

Stripe or a merchant of record: what do you actually keep?

Enter your monthly revenue, average sale price and international share. Get Stripe, Stripe Tax, Paddle, Lemon Squeezy and Polar priced side by side, with the cost of filing sales tax and VAT yourself counted where the platform is not the seller, plus the monthly revenue where the cheapest option changes.

Nothing is uploaded. Calculated in this browser from numbers you enter and approximate list prices you can edit. It cannot see your account and is not tax advice.

1. Your sales

Revenue per month (USD)

Average sale price (USD)

International share of sales (%)

Cost of filing sales tax and VAT yourself (USD/month)

Revenue growth per month (%)

Fee ceiling, effective % of revenue (optional)

Ceiling applies to

2. Comparison

Option	Fees per month	Your tax filing	Total per month	Effective %	You keep per month	12-month cost with growth

Where the lowest-cost option changes

Revenue per month (USD)	Lowest total cost

At small revenue the fixed monthly cost of registering and filing yourself dominates, which favours a merchant of record. As revenue grows the platform's higher percentage costs more than a filing service, which favours Stripe. Fixed per-sale fees also hit small tickets hardest. Set the filing cost to what a bookkeeper or tax service would really charge you.

Rate cards (editable)

Option	% of each sale	Fixed per sale (USD)	Extra % on international	Other % add-ons

Merchant-of-record options (Paddle, Lemon Squeezy, Polar) are treated as the seller, so no filing cost is added. Press Compare after changing a value.

Prefer a CLI, or want a fee ceiling in CI?

node cli.mjs compare --revenue 5000 --price 29 --intl 60 --growth 5
node cli.mjs compare --revenue 5000 --provider paddle --max-fee-pct 6   # exit 1 over ceiling
node cli.mjs crossover --price 29 --tax 150
node cli.mjs compare --revenue 5000 --prices prices.json --json

Get cli.mjs and engine.mjs — Node 18+, nothing to install, no network call. More: Stripe vs a merchant of record for indie SaaS.

Common questions

Does this read my payment account?

No. It uses only the monthly revenue, average sale price and percentages you type, and rate cards you can edit. It cannot see your processor, country, payout settings or statements. Treat every figure as a way to compare options, never as what you will be charged.

Where do the fee rates come from?

They are approximate public list prices as best known in 2025, shown with an as-of line, and every number is editable. Providers add payout, currency-conversion, dispute and subscription charges and change packaging often, so check each pricing page before deciding.

What does merchant of record change?

A merchant of record is the legal seller to your customer, so it calculates, collects and files sales tax and VAT itself. With Stripe you stay the seller and either file yourself or pay a service to; the calculator models that as a monthly filing cost you enter. Whether a platform removes a specific obligation for your business is a question for your accountant, not this tool.

Is my data uploaded anywhere?

No. The page calculates in your browser and sends nothing. The CLI reads local files and makes no network call.