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Lowest Fee on One $50 Digital Sale, by Platform

What a single $50 digital product sale to a US card buyer costs in fees on 12 payment platforms, from $1.75 on Stripe to $7.25 on Gumroad, and which of them collect and file the sales tax for you.

Fee on one $50 digital sale, US card, USD
Stripe$1.75
Square$1.95
Stripe + Tax$2.00
PayPal$2.24
Creem$2.35
Dodo Payments$2.40
Polar$3.00
Paddle$3.00
Lemon Squeezy$3.00
Stripe Managed Pay.$3.50
Payhip$4.25
Gumroad$7.25
Honey bars: processors and storefronts. Walnut bars: merchants of record. Published rates, our calculation, as of 2026-10-13.
Chart: the fee on one $50 sale on each of the 12 platforms in the table, from $1.75 (Stripe) to $7.25 (Gumroad); walnut bars mark the merchants of record that file sales tax for you.

As of · each platform’s published standard rate, one $50 domestic US card sale, our calculation1

Lowest Fee on One $50 Digital Sale, by Platform, as of 2026-10-13
Rank Platform Type Fee formula as published Fee on $50 (USD) Relative to the largest Tax & VAT done for you Source
1 StripeStandard pricing, payments only Processor 2.9% + 30¢ $1.75 No 1
2 SquareSquare Free plan, online Processor 3.3% + 30¢ $1.95 No 4
3 Stripe + Stripe TaxTax Basic, no-code integration Processor 2.9% + 30¢, plus 0.5% for Tax $2.00 No (calculates and collects) 1, 2
4 PayPalPayPal Checkout or Guest Checkout Processor 3.49% + 49¢ $2.24 No 5
5 CreemPay as you go Merchant of record 3.9% + 40¢ $2.35 Yes 6
6 Dodo PaymentsStandard plan Merchant of record 4% + 40¢ $2.40 Yes 7
7= PolarStarter plan (free) Merchant of record 5% + 50¢ $3.00 Yes 8
7= PaddlePay-as-you-go Merchant of record 5% + 50¢ $3.00 Yes 9
7= Lemon SqueezyEcommerce Merchant of record 5% + 50¢ $3.00 Yes 10
10 Stripe Managed PaymentsStandard pricing Merchant of record 2.9% + 30¢, plus 3.5% $3.50 Yes 1, 3
11 PayhipFree Forever plan, paid by card via Stripe Storefront 5%, plus Stripe 2.9% + 30¢ $4.25 EU and UK VAT only 12, 1
12 GumroadDirect sales (profile or link) Merchant of record 10% + 50¢, plus card processing 2.9% + 30¢ $7.25 Yes 13, 14

Fee on $50 is each platform’s published standard rate applied to one $50 one-off digital product sale to a US buyer paying with a domestic card, in USD, with no currency conversion, before any sales tax, on the default plan named under each platform (our calculation; PayPal’s $2.235 is rounded to $2.24). A merchant of record is the business that legally sells to your customer, so it collects and files sales tax or VAT and handles chargebacks; a processor only moves the money, and the tax stays with you. Stripe Tax’s 0.5% is applied to the full $50, on the assumption that you’re registered to collect tax where the buyer is (Stripe charges it only there); it calculates and collects but doesn’t file.2 Payhip’s row adds its 5% Free-plan fee to Stripe’s standard card rate, since Payhip says Stripe and PayPal charge their standard rates on top; Payhip collects and remits EU and UK VAT, not US sales tax.12 Gumroad’s row is a direct sale (10% + 50¢ plus 2.9% + 30¢ card processing); a sale through its Discover marketplace carries a flat 30% that includes processing, or $15.00 on $50.14 Left out: payout and withdrawal fees, dispute fees, international card and currency-conversion surcharges, subscription and billing add-ons, and volume or custom pricing. FastSpring is left out because it publishes no rate (it quotes on request)15, and Ko-fi because its pricing page couldn’t be opened from our checks. Ties share a rank. All figures are vendor-published list prices, not measured costs.

The top 10

#1

Stripe

$1.75

Stripe’s standard rate for a domestic card is 2.9% + 30¢ per successful transaction, with no setup or monthly fee, so a $50 sale costs $1.75.1 The same page adds 1.5% for an international card and 1% when currency conversion is needed.1

What it leaves on your plate: Stripe here is a payment processor, not a merchant of record, so working out, collecting and filing sales tax or VAT stays with you. Stripe sells two add-ons for that, which appear further down this table as their own rows.23

#2

Square

$1.95

On the Square Free plan ($0 a month), card payments taken online or through an invoice cost 3.3% + 30¢, which comes to $1.95 on $50.4 Square Plus ($49 a month per location) and Square Premium ($149 a month per location) lower the online rate to 2.9% + 30¢.4

Square is a processor too: the seller remains responsible for sales tax on what they sell. Square’s pricing page lists no tax-filing service among its fees.4

#3

Stripe + Stripe Tax

$2.00

Stripe Tax Basic has no monthly fee and charges 0.5% per transaction on its no-code integration (Checkout, Payment Links, Billing and Invoicing), but only where you’re registered to collect tax. Added to the 2.9% + 30¢ card fee, that makes $2.00 on $50.12 Through the API it’s 50¢ per transaction instead.2

What it does for you: Tax Basic monitors thresholds and calculates and collects tax; registrations and filings come with Tax Complete, which starts at $90 a month on a 1-year contract.2 Stripe’s own comparison puts it plainly: with Tax you remain the merchant of record and are responsible for remittance and audits.3

#4

PayPal

$2.24

PayPal’s US merchant fee page lists 3.49% plus a fixed fee for PayPal Checkout and PayPal Guest Checkout (where a buyer can pay by card without a PayPal account), and the fixed fee for a US dollar sale is 0.49 USD. On $50 that’s $2.235, or $2.24 rounded.5

Sellers who take cards through PayPal’s “Standard Credit and Debit Card Payments” rate pay 2.99% plus the fixed fee instead, which would be $1.99 on $50.5 Either way PayPal processes the payment and nothing more: tax stays with the seller. The page was last updated October 1, 2026.5

#5

Creem

$2.35

Creem charges one rate, 3.9% + 40¢ per successful transaction, with no monthly or setup fee: $2.35 on $50.6

What it takes off your plate: Creem is a merchant of record, and its pricing page says it collects and remits VAT, GST and sales tax in 50+ countries, generates invoices, and handles refunds and chargebacks. Payouts run on the 1st and 15th of each month.6 The country count is Creem’s own.

#6

Dodo Payments

$2.40

Dodo Payments’ Standard plan is 4% + 40¢ for US cards and wallets, or $2.40 on $50. International cards add 1.5%, and a PayPal payment adds 3%.7

Its price list marks tax management (“automated tax calculation, filling and reporting in 190+ countries”, in Dodo’s words), invoicing and digital product delivery as included. It charges $30 per dispute and a $5 fee on payouts under $1,000.7

#7

Polar

$3.00

Polar repriced on May 27, 2026. Organizations created on or after that date start on the free Starter plan at 5% + 50¢ per transaction, or $3.00 on $50; ones created earlier keep the Early Member rate of 4% + 40¢.8 Paid plans swap a monthly fee for a lower rate: Pro $20 / mo · 3.8% + 40¢, Growth $100 a month at 3.6% + 35¢ and Scale $400 a month at 3.4% + 30¢.8

Polar acts as the merchant of record. International cards add 1.5%, and disputes cost $15 each whatever the outcome.8

#7

Paddle

$3.00

Paddle’s pay-as-you-go price is 5% + 50¢ per Checkout transaction, with no monthly fee: $3.00 on $50.9

Paddle sells as your merchant of record, and the page lists global tax and regulatory compliance, fraud protection, chargebacks and buyer support as part of that price.9

#7

Lemon Squeezy

$3.00

Lemon Squeezy’s pricing page still lists 5% + 50¢ per transaction for its ecommerce features, $3.00 on $50, noting that some payments may be subject to additional fees.10 It describes itself as your merchant of record, taking on the liability of tax collection and paying taxes on your behalf.10

In a January 28, 2026 update, Lemon Squeezy’s co-founder wrote that the team is building Stripe Managed Payments, Stripe’s merchant of record product; that Managed Payments then supported merchants in 35+ countries; and that the goal is to give Lemon Squeezy users an easy way to migrate to it.11 The post names no date for any change to Lemon Squeezy itself.11

#10

Stripe Managed Payments

$3.50

Stripe Managed Payments adds 3.5% per successful transaction on top of standard Stripe processing fees, so a $50 sale costs $1.75 plus $1.75, or $3.50.13

What it takes off your plate: Stripe (through Link) becomes the merchant of record and, in supported jurisdictions, handles sales tax, VAT and GST calculation, collection, filing and remittance, plus fraud prevention, dispute responses and transaction-level customer support. Stripe says that means no tax registrations or filings on your end.3

Sources

  1. Stripe, Pricing & fees, retrieved 2026-10-13.
  2. Stripe, Stripe Tax pricing, retrieved 2026-10-13.
  3. Stripe, Stripe Managed Payments: your merchant of record provider, retrieved 2026-10-13.
  4. Square, Pricing, retrieved 2026-10-13.
  5. PayPal, Merchant fees (last updated October 1, 2026), retrieved 2026-10-13.
  6. Creem, Pricing, retrieved 2026-10-13.
  7. Dodo Payments, Pricing, retrieved 2026-10-13.
  8. Polar, Fees (Merchant of Record documentation), retrieved 2026-10-13.
  9. Paddle, Our pricing, retrieved 2026-10-13.
  10. Lemon Squeezy, Pricing, retrieved 2026-10-13.
  11. Lemon Squeezy, 2026 Update: Lemon Squeezy + Stripe Managed Payments, January 28, 2026, retrieved 2026-10-13.
  12. Payhip, Pricing, retrieved 2026-10-13.
  13. Gumroad, Pricing, retrieved 2026-10-13.
  14. Gumroad Help Center, Gumroad’s fees, retrieved 2026-10-13.
  15. FastSpring, Pricing, retrieved 2026-10-13.