Joshua D'Costa
Growth & Marketing
Jan 7, 2025
|
6
min
The recent acquisition of Lemon Squeezy by Stripe has left many creators and SaaS founders wondering about the future of the platform. The current users are painting a concerning picture of prolonged onboarding times and a decline in customer support.
SaaS Founders are wondering whether the platform will continue catering to them or will its focus shift to Stripe’s larger merchant base? And what does this mean for merchants who initially chose Lemon Squeezy as an alternative to Stripe?
Many merchants, Unaware of Stripe's plans for the platform, are actively exploring other options. Alternatives that provide better onboarding experiences, robust customer support and features tailored for indie hackers and Micro-SaaS Founders, aiming to fill the gaps that Lemon Squeezy may leave behind.
In this blog, we’ll explore why Lemon Squeezy may not work for all SaaS founders and discuss three strong alternatives: Dodo Payments, Stripe, and Paddle.
Lemon Squeezy
Lemon Squeezy is often known for its ease of use, modern design, and support for digital products, but for SaaS founders, its offerings can feel limited. Its basic feature set might leave you searching for better options.
Advantages
User-friendly interface tailored for creators and digital product sellers.
Offers customizable storefronts, making it simple to set up a professional presence.
Supports digital goods like software, ebooks, and design assets.
Disadvantages
Limited support for localized payment methods outside the United States
The platform caters to content creators rather than focusing on the specific needs of SaaS companies.
Randomly stops supporting products and unstable onboarding criteria.
What to Look for in a Lemon Squeezy Alternative?
When searching for alternatives to Lemon Squeezy, consider the following:
SaaS-specific advanced subscription management, automated retries.
Transparent and competitive transaction fee
Quick and efficient Onboarding
Supports Localised payment methods
Dodo Payments
Dodo Payments is an all-in-one MoR platform tailored for SaaS founders, Indie Hackers, and Micro-SaaS businesses. It simplifies global sales by managing payments, tax compliance, chargebacks, and license key provisioning.
Features
Localized Payment Options: Supports UPI in India, SEPA in Europe, and other regional payment methods.
Global Tax Compliance: Automated VAT, GST, and sales tax calculations and remittance in over 150+ countries.
Subscription Management: Automated retries, customizable plans, and localized payment options to reduce churn.
Why It’s the Perfect Alternative for Lemon Squeezy
Unlike Lemon Squeezy, Dodo Payments is purpose-built for micro SaaS businesses, indie hackers and solopreneurs offering;
Advanced subscription tools
Secure license key provisioning
Easy onboarding
Personalised Customer Experience
Transparent pricing, no hidden fees.
These features make it a more scalable and cost-effective option for SaaS founders.
Pricing
Dodo Payments offers a competitive pricing model. Its Beta users offer for early users:
4%+40c transaction fee for Beta users (reduced from 5%+50c)
Including:
Cross-border sales tax compliance,
Inbuilt tools for Billing, Churn, Fraud etc
Zero fixed costs
Advantages
Dodo Payments has Transparent and competitive pricing.
It provides Advanced features tailored for SaaS founders, such as Subscription management for SaaS, License key management for one time creators.
24/7 personalized support for Micro SaaS and Indie Hackers.
Disadvantages
Limited analytics compared to larger platforms.
Stripe
Stripe is a payment processing platform offering tools to manage online payments and subscriptions. While not a Merchant of Record, it provides robust APIs for developers to integrate payment solutions seamlessly.
Advantages
Excellent developer tools and APIs.
Support for localized payment methods in India and other regions.
Transparent pricing for various payment types.
Disadvantages
Stripe is not a Merchant of Record, so businesses must handle chargebacks, compliance and tax separately.
Limited accessibility in emerging markets, as it operates on an invite-only basis.
Requires additional tools for tax compliance and subscription management.
Pricing
2% to 4.3% depending on whether the card is domestic or international.
With Additional fees for currency conversions, international cards, billing, tax compliance, invoicing, fraud management, and other services.
Paddle
Paddle is a Merchant of Record platform, ideal for established SaaS companies with large-scale operations. It offers comprehensive tools for subscription management, analytics, and global tax compliance.
Advantages
Advanced analytics for tracking and optimizing performance.
Strong focus on subscription-based SaaS businesses.
Simplifies tax compliance for global operations.
Disadvantages
High fees compared to other options like Dodo Payments.
Optimized primarily for larger SaaS companies, making it less accessible for smaller businesses.
Delay in onboarding new businesses
Pricing
Paddle charges 5% + $0.50 per transaction + additional fees.
Conclusion
When choosing the right platform for your SaaS business, it’s important to consider your specific needs and goals.
Dodo Payments is perfect for SaaS founders looking for advanced tools like global tax compliance, and lower fees, Stripe best for developers needing flexible APIs for payment integrations and Paddle is ideal for established SaaS companies with robust operational needs.
Choosing the right alternative to Lemon Squeezy can be the game-changer your SaaS business needs.
Want to scale your SaaS globally with efficiency?
Sign up with Dodo Payments today and transform your SaaS journey.
