A Detailed Comparison of Stripe and. Paddle vs.

to help you decide between Stripe or. Paddle vs. , this guide compares:

• What aspects of the lifecycle of payments each one provides a solution for (e.g., payment processing, gathering and remitting taxes as well as subscription management) and what other software you'll need to add to your technology stack.
• Which industries and businesses each serves.

Then, we provide details of how to compare key options like checkout and reporting. Finally, we share several customer reviews and cases studies of each service.

In a nutshell, Stripe primarily deals in payment processing. Paddle and Paddle handle payment processing, subscription management, collecting and remitting tax, fraud protection, and more with no the need for extra software.

 Table of Contents

•   What parts in the process of payment will you be able to control and what additional software will you need to have a comprehensive payment solution?
•   What types of businesses and what industries are able to use the various platforms?
•   Features and functionality comparisons
•     Payment Processing
•     Input and payment of sales tax, VAT, and GST
•     Checkout
•     Subscription Management
•     Analytics and Reporting
•   Pricing
•   Customer Reviews

Note: Information in this article is correct as of the time of writing but may change.

Which areas of the lifecycle of payments are you able to manage and what other software do you require for a comprehensive payment solution?

Stripe is a payment processing company.

Stripe is most well-known for payment processing, meaning they help you collect payment details and get payments authorized. They also offer a few basic features to manage your subscription, fraud detection, invoicing, and more.

These extra features may meet the needs of some early-stage start-ups, however, the majority of companies will require greater options. In the end, you'll require additional software to handle the complex payment requirements, take on more payment methods around the globe, or even create an individual checkout procedure. Luckily, most developers are able to integrate Stripe with other programs (however, you have to pay for each software separately).

Most companies using Stripe will also require staff in charge of sales tax (and VAT) and compliance with regulatory requirements. While Stripe collects sales tax and VAT on behalf of your company, you are responsible for remitting it. If you make a mistake in remitting these taxes in the wrong amount, at the wrong time or with the incorrect method, you could face penalities and losses in money. (More on this later. )

In addition, you'll have to be accountable for staying up to date and adhering to the local laws and regulations in which you have customers. It's a big undertaking for any company which is why the majority of companies allocate an entire section to the work.

: The Entire Payment Lifecycle

• Many payment processors (which improves authorization rates and allows you to conduct transactions globally).
• Flexible management of subscriptions and tools for recurring billing.
• B2B digital invoicing.
• Advanced methods of fraud detection.
• Fully customizable checkout (down to the pixel).
• Analytics and reports that are detailed.
• Plus much plus.

You'll have the ability to handle every aspect of the payment lifecycle from your account without adding extra headcount or software.

Paddle: The majority of the lifecycle of a payment

Paddle provides solutions for payment processing, subscription management, and detection of fraud, and offers more advanced features than Stripe's solutions. However, some of its features are less robust than  Stripe's capabilities. In particular, the checkout option is more flexible in comparison to Paddle's checkout choices (more on this later).

If Paddle isn't able to provide the capabilities it needs, you could have to install additional software or move to a different software or.

As with Paddle , Paddle is an MoR.

What kinds of businesses and Which Industries Can Use the Platforms?

Stripe: Nearly Any Business

It is a great choice for virtually any business in nearly any industry. But, SaaS companies will inevitably run into a few struggles when using Stripe.

Like we said earlier, companies using Stripe are solely responsible for paying sales tax and VAT. It used to be true that SaaS companies didn't have to remit sales tax or VAT; but many states and countries are creating (and rigorously enforcement of) law changes that require SaaS companies to remit VAT or sales tax.

Here are two examples:

• 1 January 2015 on the 1st of January, 2015, the European Union began requiring software sellers to collect and pay VAT based on the location of the buyer and not on the location of the seller's company or employees.
• In the year 2018 in 2018, The United States Supreme Court decided that states can impose sales tax for purchases through sellers who are not in the state (including sellers on the internet) however the seller is not located in any physical presence within the state that taxes.

Maintaining track of and adhering to ever shifting tax law isn't an easy task. It's the reason SaaS businesses (and those selling digital goods) are better off choosing a solution like that will take care of remitting sales tax as well as VAT on your behalf.

: B2C and B2B SaaS or Digital Goods Companies

For nearly 20 years, has been serving B2B and B2C companies that sell SaaS and digital products and software that is downloadable:

Paddle B2C SaaS

Paddle has been serving SaaS companies for about ten years. Paddle's platform is more suitable for B2C businesses, but they're working to add additional features to B2B companies, such as automatized billing.

If the addition of B2B services are in the future, these features may be established at the point you'll need they. But, if you're already selling B2B products then you might want to look into a different solution that comes with fully functioning B2B features ('s Digital Invoicing tool for B2B has been running for some time).

We will then look at Stripe vs. and. Paddle, according to particular attributes.

Functions and feature comparisons

Payment Processing (Payment Methods, Currencies and more)

Stripe

For Stripe to start accepting payments Stripe it is necessary to set up each location to use the currency and payment methods you want to offer for that specific area. Once set to go live, Stripe will automatically convert price of products and show the correct option for payment and currency at checkout.

Stripe supports 135+ currencies.

It will be possible to accept payments from major credit card networks (including MasterCard and Visa) as well as bank transfers, vouchers along with popular wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay. They don't, however, offer support for PayPal.

Stripe can also support in-person transactions using the Stripe Terminal and mobile SDKs.

It makes it easy for SaaS as well as e-commerce businesses to accept payment in a variety of types of currencies and popular payments methods across the globe. Instead of setting up each payment method separately, merchants can switch on localized payment and start accepting global payments right away.

While Stripe automatically converts prices into local currency for you, provides more flexibility:

• It is possible to let the conversions on your behalf, oryou can decide on a set price for each of your products in every one of the currencies.
• It is possible to let the user select the right currency for the user based on their location, you can choose a specific currency for each location, or you can let the customer pick their preferred currency. supports 23+ currencies.

 With , customers can make payment through:

• Credit cards including Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, JCB and UnionPay.
• ACH.
• SEPA Direct Debit.
• Wire transfers.
• Wallets including PayPal, Apple Pay, Amazon, Alipay, and many more.

Payments have a higher success rate when the gateway is in the exact location as the buyer. Automatically routes online payments to the payment gateway that offers the highest rate of authorization for the payment method and the location.

Furthermore, the use of multiple payment gateways solves most failed payment issues that are caused by network issues. When a gateway for payment is experiencing a technical failure it will automatically try to make the payment with a different payment gatewayand without the team needing move a finger.

Bonus: Partner with Sift

takes the lead on the risk and fraud aspects (including chargebacks). We collaborate in partnership with Sift, a global leader in risk analysis and fraud prevention, in order to make your transactions secure. Sift uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to:

• Improve the accuracy of fraud-related decisions.
• Enhance approval rate and result in fewer false positives.
• Make sure that bad actors are stopped before a transaction is even completed.

Additionally, the bloc also prohibits transactions with countries and jurisdictions where companies are currently not allowed to engage in business.

Paddle

Paddle also utilizes multiple payment options and allows companies to accept international payments without any configuration.

Paddle is compatible with 20 currencies, popular credit cards (including MasterCard, Union Pay and many more) as well as wire transfers and money-saving wallets (including Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, and Alipay) (although some of these options are still in beta testing.

Inputing and submitting Sales Tax, VAT, and GST

Stripe

Stripe acquired TaxJar for the purpose of helping you calculate VAT, sales tax, and GST. But, they provide instructions for enabling tax features and the assignment of tax codes. The user is responsible for all decision-making and the implications when using the features (e.g. being aware of the classification of your product according to tax law, and knowing if and where you are nexus-related, you must to be registered, collect the, file and pay the consumption tax). If you have questions about how to optimize tax rates, qualify for reduced tax rates, or other tax-related issue, you'll likely be told to speak with your tax professional or go through the assistance documents.

 If you've created it incorrectly and collect the wrong amount (or the wrong type) of tax, you'll be responsible.

Plus, remitting sales taxes is often more involved than simply filling in a spreadsheet and writing a check. As the years progress, countries are mandating further conditions for compliance. As an example:

• Some countries like Colombia, Japan, Mexico, Serbia, and others are governed by local representation, meaning you have to hire someone with physically present in the country to be responsible for your tax liability. This can cost anywhere from $5k-$15k annually.
• Certain countries such as India, Indonesia, Japan, and others require the account to be "pre-funded" meaning you must determine the tax amount you will owe and keep the money until it's time to submit your tax return (up up to three months in advance).
• Countries such as Serbia, United Kingdom, Taiwan as well as others need electronic invoices (it also applies to companies that are not resident and other companies, too). This typically costs companies $2k-$5k per year. Notice: E-invoicing mandates are increasing at an alarming rate and the EU outlining the universal requirement for electronic invoices by 2028..
• Countries such as Taiwan, Indonesia, Nigeria, Vietnam, and others have you file tax returns on income in addition to indirect tax (this can be as high as $5-$10k per year).

Finally, wiring tax-related payments internationally isn't simple or cost-free. The banks that process the tax payments and those who receive them each charge fees, and then there's an added risk with foreign transactions.

So, while Stripe has taken an important move towards helping to collect sales tax buying TaxJar however, they're still a long distance from providing an end-to-end solution for sales tax and international tax.

takes care of the entire procedure of collecting and paying taxes on sales, VAT, and GST for you. .

With more than 20 years' experience filing 1,200+ tax returns each year, our team ensures the correct amount (and the correct type) in indirect taxes collection when you pay your bill -- we also handle tax-exempt transactions within the U.S. and 0% reverse charge when permitted internationally.

files and collects taxes in over 52 countries, 13 provinces as well as all of the U.S. states that collect sales tax (five states do not collect sales tax).

Then, our team remits those taxes for you and makes sure that all necessary processes are in place for you to remain compliant. If a state or country confronts you regarding tax compliance the team from our firm will guide on the appropriate response in the same way as providing responses using copy-and-paste.

We maintain and build relationships with tax professionals around the globe, to ensure we are aware of the latest laws and regulations that alter.

Bonus: Tax Codes Customized

Tools like TaxJar, Avalara, and other tax software supply users with tax codes applicable to the majority of products and services. However, most companies will ultimately want to provide a product or service which doesn't fall into the description of any tax code provided (e.g. for example, an in-person conference with some participants and speakers who are virtual). If you use a program like TaxJar it will be yourself to determine and calculate the appropriate amount and type of indirect tax as they won't have an appropriate tax code to suit the specific situation you're in.

This isn't an issue for sellers as we've just released a function that lets us make unique tax codes for each product customized by use case -- within minutes. Just tell us about your service or product and we'll generate your tax code.

Paddle

Like , Paddle takes the lead on gathering and remitting taxes on sales, VAT, and GST for the benefit of you. In contrast , Paddle doesn't support tax exempted situations within the U.S.

Check out

Stripe

Stripe Checkout can be described as a built-in payment page designed for use with any mobile device. There are a variety of options for customization (e.g., font forms, block patterns, colors and more.) but it's pretty restricted. Stripe automatically translates Checkout to the appropriate language (35plus options) in accordance with the purchaser's location.

You can customize all aspects of your checkout process, including custom fields and colors. You also have the flexibility to choose whether you want to give your developer complete control of checkout, or allow them to handle it all for you (or something in between).

This is a brief overview of the check-out options:

• Three different versions: You have the option of embedding checkout directly on your webpage or utilize a popup checkout or redirect your clients to an Web Storefront managed by .

• Store Builder Library (SBL):  The SBL allows you to have complete control over the look and experience of your checkout right up to the last pixelregardless of the payment method you pick.
• Localized Checkouts:Let customers choose their preferred language, or let them choose the appropriate one based on their place of residence. Supports 19and more languages.
• Built-in tracking and testing instruments: With 's built-in tracking tools, you are able to quickly identify ways to increase the rate of conversion. Many companies who use this tool are able to boost their conversion rate up to 30.
• Personalized customer service:Although we offer you total control over the checkout process Our team will be available to help you build the best checkout experience for your business. Certain companies provide only personal support for their biggest clients and practically ignore small companies. We aren't one of them. favorites. Our team is always happy to be of assistance in whatever way that they are able to.

Paddle

Paddle offers two different versions of checkout:

• It is embedded on your site
• Popup overlay

In these two formats, you can choose from 50 different options to customize. Paddle can support 16 languages, and can automatically translate your payment.

Subscription Management

Stripe

Stripe Billing includes a few distinct subscription options

• Flat-rate bill (for a monthly or annual price)
• Multiple price billing (where one item is offered at different rates in various locations)
• Per-seat bill (based on active customers during the billing cycle)
• Usage-based charging (single unit or tiered)
• Flat-rate and overage (a mixture of usage-based and flat-rate billing)

The options are suitable for businesses that have only a few simple subscription-based products but companies that have more complicated recurring billing requirements (e.g., SaaS) generally require an additional tool. To this end, Stripe has developed a close relationship with Chargebee to make it easier for customers to obtain the subscription billing software they require. It's not difficult to integrate these two tools, you will have be able to manage and purchase each separately.

Additionally, Stripe offers a customer portal where customers can manage their accounts (both as well as Paddle also offer this).

It offers an array of options for managing subscriptions that are designed specifically designed for SaaS firms.

Plus, most of these solutions are able to be setup without having to write any codes. For example, you can set up:

• Monthly, weekly, or yearly recurring billing.
• The prorated bill allows for upgrades -- and downgrades in during the mid-cycle.
• Free or paid trials for any duration.
• Trials with or without collecting the payment information (by not collecting details about payment You're less likely to experience friction at check-out, which usually leads to higher percentages of sales).
• Automatic or manual renewal.
• Cross-sells, upsells, once-off additions and discounts.
• And there's and more...

You will also have access to our API and webhooks library , which will allow you further possibilities to customize your site.

 A major aspect that frequently overlooks is whether or no your recurring billing model follows local transaction laws and regulations.

For example, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has very specific regulations for recurring payments. In the moment of writing the RBI restricts automatic recurring payments to the amount of Rs15,000 (approximately one hundred dollars). If a purchase exceeds that amount, the customer has to sign off on each transaction by hand. Additionally, you need to make an official request to the RBI to outline the steps that you must follow to ensure that you are in compliance. If you fail to file a mandate or let customers approve the large transactions, you'll be liable to massive fines, or even be barred from selling products to consumers within India.

Though some subscription management software provide community updates when they are informed of new rules However, you're ultimately accountable for keeping track of and adhering to all applicable laws and regulations. If you do not adhere to the rules, you may face fines or be banned from operating in the jurisdiction. The majority of companies will require more staff in order to handle this.

 Customers don't need to be concerned about this since we'll accept the transaction responsibility on behalf of you.

Our team of experts in legal matters is up-to-date on all relevant legalities, ensures all the procedures required are in place, take the lead on audits, and offers individual guidance regarding how to remain in compliance -- and all this without additional charge.

Bonus: Digital Invoicing

The Digital Invoicing (DI) can help you handle B2B orders alongside B2C purchases. Through DI, you are able to:

• Manage and create custom quotes that are updated in real-time (including personalized tags coupons, discounts, and much more).
• Set quote expiration dates.
• Accept and request the payment.
• Create custom notes to your prospect or customer.
• Create a widget for self-service quotes (this is particularly useful when customers need approval before purchasing).
• and many plus.

Paddle

Utilizing a set of webhooks and their APIs, Paddle supports the following subscription models:

• Fixed
• Tiered
• Per-seat
• Metered

Plus, some of these choices can be mixed. As an example, you can make a tiered design that allows each tier a different number of seats.

Paddle offers free and paid trial, but users will need to submit payment details prior to starting the trial. Paddle also automatically applies the prorated amount when users change their plans mid-cycle (e.g. or add new users or make an upgrade).

Analytics and Reporting

Stripe

Stripe provides a range of revenue recognition tools to simplify your accounting processes with the following tools:

• Standard accounting reports, like balance sheets, or income statement.
• Flexible revenue rules for example, such as excluding passthrough fees and auto-adjusting time-to-receive.
• Revenue overview reports.
• and more...

The reports are all accessible within the Stripe dashboard. Some reports are available for download in an CSV file. You can also integrate the most popular accounting tools, like QuickBooks Desktop and Xero. However, the ability to import data from revenue recognition companies into Stripe is currently in beta.

The Reporting and Analytics suite is an extensive tool that can help you comprehend:

• How each product contributes to your bottom line.
• When customers are most likely to abandon.
• What promotions or coupons have been successful.
• Which subscription model generates the highest amount of revenue.
• The location of your clients.
• What currencies and payment methods consumers prefer.
• Plus much and more...

The majority of the information available is available in either of the dashboards that include both the revenue overview dashboard or the subscription overview dashboard.

The dashboard for revenue overview provides more information like total transactions per country, as well as net sales per product.

The dashboard of subscription overview lets you drill to more specific information such as active customers, or monthly recurring revenue (MRR) as time passes.

If you can't find the report you require within these dashboards, you are able to make and save your own custom reports. Or, you can get in touch with our team and we'll assist you in finding (or create) the report that you want. All reports can be seen on your dashboard, or downloaded in an CSV or PNG file or XLSX files.

Paddle

Paddle recently acquired ProfitWell for the purpose of providing reports and analytics capabilities. The integration, however, isn't complete, so there could be some differences between the two platforms. As an example, they will show distinct MRR.

After integration, Paddle will be able to:

• Automatically track and report on key performance indicators such as MRR.
• Track user engagement and reduce churn.
• Offer benchmarking tools and segmentation techniques.
• Plus...

Pricing

Stripe

As a DIY platform the pricing of Stripe works differently than or Paddle. When using Stripe you'll have to purchase additional software and headcount to manage other aspects of the payment lifecycle, including advanced security measures for fraud and subscription management, as well as remitting VAT and sales tax and much more.

Stripe has a price structure that currently rates the wallets and cards differently as compared to other payment methods, including ACH or SEPA.

In all of these payment methods, you'll have access to many of their services but they're not all available. For example, Stripe charges additional fees for transactions that are 3D secure as well as invoicing, tax features and many more.

To learn more regarding Stripe, visit their site.

Through this, you'll get access to the whole platform (and every service) with a single flat-rate cost. Because we assume all responsibility for your transactions and lead the charge on VAT and sales tax, you won't need any additional software or staffing.

Our team will work with you to find an affordable rate dependent on the amount of transactions you move through . In addition, you'll only be charged when transactions take place.

Paddle

Paddle advertises a flat-rate fee for their main product, which comprises the majority of options you'll require -for example, payment processing payment, check-out, subscriptions global fiscal and regulatory compliance fraud protection and reporting, and more -- but it doesn't contain everything.

In this case, Paddle collects a 10% profit to help recover abandoning carts.

To learn more about Paddle, visit their site.

Customer Review

Stripe

Stripe is currently rated 4.4 stars at G2 (a famous software review site) with over 82 reviews.

currently has 4.5 ratings on G2 with reviews of 184+.

Here's what some of our customers had to say:

Paddle

Paddle currently has 4.5 five stars on G2 with 145+ reviews.

The conclusion. Paddle vs. Stripe

In the case of selling physical items or services, and Paddle isn't the best option, then Stripe the ideal choice of the three options described in this article. If you're selling digital goods, Stripe may not be the most suitable option as it's your responsibility in constructing a full payment solution (which can be expensive and takes a long time).

It has served SaaS businesses longer than Paddle and provides greater capabilities and features. It is also more prepared to assist B2B firms.