A Detailed Comparison of Stripe as compared to. Paddle vs.

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

• What areas that each one provides a solution for (e.g., payment processing collection and remitting taxes, and subscription management) and what additional software you'll need to add to your tech stack.
• Which industries and companies each one serves.

In the next section, we present an in-depth comparison of the most important features such as checkout and reports. In addition, we provide user reviews as well as examples of the various solutions.

In simple terms, Stripe primarily deals in payment processing. Paddle and Paddle deal with payment processing, subscription management, collecting and remitting tax, fraud protection, and much more without the requirement for any additional software.

 Table of Contents

•   What aspects of the payment lifecycle are you able to manage and what other software are you going to require for a complete payment solution?
•   What kind of business and what industries are able to use every platform?
•   Comparison of features and functionalities
•     Payment Processing
•     Calculating and remitting GST, sales tax, and GST
•     Checkout
•     Subscription Management
•     Reporting and Analytics
•   Pricing
•   Customer Review

NOTE: Information in this article is true as of the date of publication but is subject to change.

Which aspects that are part of the payment cycle will you be able to control and what additional software will you need for a complete payment solution?

Stripe: Payment Processing

Stripe is best known for payment processing, meaning they assist you in collecting information about payments and have them approved. They also offer a few basic features to manage your subscription and fraud detection, invoices and much more.

These additional features can satisfy the needs of some early-stage startups, but the majority of companies will require greater options. Eventually, you'll need additional software to handle the complex requirements for billing, to accept different payment options around the globe, or even create an individual checkout procedure. Luckily, most developers are able to incorporate Stripe with other programs (however, you have to be able to pay for each program in its own way).

Many companies that utilize Stripe also need additional staff in charge of taxation of sales (and VAT) as well as regulatory compliance. Even though Stripe takes taxes on sales and VAT for the company, it is your responsibility for remitting it. If you remit these taxes with the incorrect amount, at the wrong time, or with the incorrect method there's a chance that you'll be liable for financial loss and penalties. (More about this in the future. )

In addition, you'll have to be accountable for staying up to date as well as observing local laws and regulations in which you have customers. This is a huge undertaking for any organization, and that's the reason why many companies devote an entire division to this work.

: The Entire Payment Lifecycle

• Multi-payment processors (which increases authorization rates and helps transfer money internationally).
• Flexible subscription management and tools for recurring billing.
• B2B digital invoicing.
• Advanced methods of fraud detection.
• A fully customizable checkout (down to the last pixel).
• Detailed reports and analytics.
• Plus much plus.

It will be possible to control all aspects of your payment lifecycle from your account without having to install additional programs or heads.

Paddle: The majority of the lifecycle of a payment

Paddle offers options for processing payments as well as subscription management as well as fraud detection. It is more feature-rich than Stripe's offerings. However, some of its capabilities aren't as strong as  the features of. In particular, the checkout is more customizable as are the checkout options on Paddle's (more on this later).

If Paddle isn't able to provide the capabilities it needs, you could need to add additional software or switch to a different software or.

As with Paddle , Paddle is a MoR.

Which types of companies and Which Industries Can Use Each Platform?

Stripe: Nearly Any Business

The Stripe platform is used by nearly any type of business in nearly any industry. But, SaaS companies will inevitably encounter some issues while using Stripe.

As we mentioned earlier, the companies that use Stripe have the sole responsibility of paying sales tax and VAT. The old rule was that SaaS businesses didn't need to remit sales tax or VAT; however, many states and countries are creating (and rigorously enforcement of) new laws that force SaaS firms to pay taxes on sales or VAT.

Here are two examples:

• Since January 1st, 2015 on the 1st of January, 2015, the European Union began requiring software sellers to collect and pay VAT according to the location of the purchaser rather than the location of the company's employees or of its headquarters.
• In the year 2018 it was the year that in 2018, the United States Supreme Court has ruled that states may charge sales tax for purchases by sellers outside of the state (including online sellers) however the seller doesn't have a physical presence in the state in which tax is levied.

Being aware of and observing constantly shifting tax law isn't an easy task. This is why SaaS firms (and businesses that sell digital product) are better off choosing an option that can take care of remitting sales tax as well as VAT for you.

: B2C and B2B SaaS or Digital Goods Companies

For more than 20 years the company has provided services to B2B and B2C companies that sell SaaS, digital products, as well as software downloads:

Paddle B2C SaaS

Paddle is serving SaaS firms for around ten years. Paddle's platform is more suitable for B2C companies, however, they're working to add additional features to B2B businesses, like automated invoices.

If the addition of B2B services is in your in the near future, these services could be in place at the point you'll need these features. But, if you're already offering B2B-specific products, you may want to consider another option with B2B functions that are fully functional ('s Digital Invoicing tool that is B2B-specific has been in operation for a number of years).

Then, we will look at Stripe against. vs. Paddle, according to particular attributes.

Functions and feature comparisons

Process Payments (Payment methods, currencies, and More)

Stripe

To start processing payments with Stripe, you have to configure each location with the currency and payment methods you wish to provide at that particular location. After you have set it up, Stripe will automatically convert price of products and show the correct option for payment and currency at check-out.

Stripe supports 135+ currencies.

You'll be able to accept credit card payments from the major credit card networks (including MasterCard and Visa), bank transfers, vouchers, and popular wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay. But, they're not able to accept PayPal.

Stripe also supports in-person transactions using the Stripe Terminal as well as mobile SDKs.

This makes it easier makes it easy for SaaS as well as e-commerce businesses to accept transactions in all currencies and preferred payments methods across the globe. Instead of configuring each one in isolation, retailers can switch on localized payment and start accepting global payments as soon as they are ready.

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

• You could let your company handle your conversions, oryou can fix a price fixed per product for each country.
• It is possible to let the user select the right currency based on the user's place of residence. You can also select the appropriate currency for each location, or you allow the user to select the currency they prefer. supports 23+ currencies.

 With , customers can pay by using:

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

Payouts are more successful rate when the payment gateway is in the same area as the buyer. automatically routes online payments through the payment gateway that offers the highest rate of authorization for the type of payment and its location.

Additionally, having several payment gateways can solve the majority of failures in payment that occur due to network errors. When a gateway for payment encounters a technical issue then it automatically attempts to retry the transaction with a different payment gatewayand without the team needing move a finger.

Bonus: Sift Partners as Sift

is the leader in risks and fraud (including chargesbacks). We collaborate together with Sift the world's market leader in risk analysis as well as fraud prevention, to keep your transactions safe. Sift utilizes artificial intelligence and machine learning to:

• Increase accuracy in fraud decisions.
• Enhance approval rate and result in less false positives.
• Stop bad actors before the transaction has even been being processed.

Also, it blocks transactions coming from nations and countries where companies are currently not allowed to conduct business.

Paddle

Paddle is also a payment processors, allowing companies to accept payments from all over the world with only a few set-up.

Paddle works with more than 20 different currencies, most popular credit cards (including MasterCard, Union Pay, and more) wire transfers and the wallet (including Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, and Alipay) -- although some of these options are in the process of being tested.

Making Sales Tax Calculation and Payment, VAT, and GST

Stripe

Stripe purchased TaxJar for the purpose of helping you calculate sales tax, VAT, and GST. But, they provide instructions for enabling taxes features as well as giving tax codes. The user is responsible for all choices and consequences that result from using these features (e.g., knowing the classification of your product according to tax law, and knowing if and where you have nexus, need to be registered, collect the, file and pay the consumption tax). If you're unsure about the best way to maximize tax rates or qualify for lower tax rates, or any other tax-related question You'll probably be advised to speak with your tax professional or look through the article.

 If you've made a mistake in setting it up and pay the wrong amount (or kind) in tax you'll be held accountable.

In addition, the process of submitting sales tax is often more involved than just filling out a spreadsheet and then writing a check. In the last few years, more and more nations have imposed more conditions in order to be compliant. For example:

• Some countries like Colombia, Japan, Mexico, Serbia, and others require the presence of a local representative, meaning you have employ someone who has an actual presence in the nation to take care of the tax liabilities. The cost can vary from $5k to $15k each year.
• Countries such as India, Indonesia, Japan, and others require your account to be "pre-funded" meaning you have to predict the amount of tax you will owe and keep funds in your account until you are ready to file (up up to three months prior to filing).
• Countries such as Serbia, United Kingdom, Taiwan and many others have electronic invoices (it applies to non-resident companies, as well). The typical cost for companies is $2k to $5k annually. Note: E-invoicing mandates are rising at an alarming pace and the EU rolling out the universal requirement for electronic invoices by 2028..
• Countries like Taiwan, Indonesia, Nigeria, Vietnam, and others have you submit income tax in addition to indirect taxes (this can add up to 5-10k dollars per year).

In the end, sending international tax payments isn't easy or 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.

Thus, even though Stripe has taken an important step towards helping to collect sales tax buying TaxJar, they're a long distance from providing an end-to-end solution to sales tax as well as international tax.

handles the entire process of collecting and paying sales tax, VAT, along with GST to you .

Over 20 years of experience filing 1,200+ annual tax returns Our team makes sure the right amount (and type) of tax indirect is being collected at checkout -- we can even manage tax-free transactions in the U.S. and 0% reverse charge when permitted internationally.

The tax collection agency files taxes and records them in over 52 countries, 13 provinces, and in all the 45 U.S. states that collect sales tax (five states do not collect taxes on sales).

Then, our team remits these taxes for you, and makes sure that all necessary procedures are in place for you to remain compliant. If a government or state confronts you regarding tax compliance Our team can advise you on how to respond -- even as far as providing copy-and-paste responses.

We build and maintain relationships with tax professionals around the globe, to ensure we're informed of new the latest laws and regulations that evolve.

Bonus: Custom Tax Codes

Tools such as TaxJar, Avalara, and other tax software provide you with tax codes for all kinds of services and products. But, the majority of companies at some point want to offer services or products that doesn't fit neatly into the description of any tax code provided (e.g. for example, an in-person conference with some online attendees and speakers). By using a tool like TaxJar and TaxJar, you'll be on your own to figure out and collect the right amount and kind of indirect tax since TaxJar doesn't provide a tax code for the specific situation you're in.

It's not a problem for sellers as we've recently rolled out a function that lets us create unique tax codes for products customized by use case -and in just only a few minutes. Tell us the details of the product or service you offer and we will create your tax code.

Paddle

As with other companies , Paddle takes the lead on gathering and remitting the sales tax, VAT, and GST on behalf of the benefit of you. Contrary to the other , Paddle doesn't support tax exempt cases within the U.S.

Checkout

Stripe

Stripe Checkout can be described as a prebuilt payment webpage that is designed to be used with any mobile device. You have a few choices for personalization (e.g. the font forms, block shapes colours, shapes and more.) However, the options are pretty limited. Stripe automatically translates Checkout to the appropriate the language (35+ choices) in accordance with the purchaser's place of residence.

You can customize all aspects of your checkout process, from custom fields to branded colors. There's also the option to decide whether to provide your developer with complete control over checkout or let handle it all for you (or somewhere within the middle).

Here's an overview of 's checkout choices:

• Three different versions: You have the possibility of embedding checkout directly on your webpage you can also utilize a popup checkout or redirect your customers to an Web Storefront managed by .

• Store Builder Library (SBL):  It's SBL allows you to have full control over the design and feel of your check-out all the way down to the pixel- regardless of which checkout method you select.
• Localized Checkout:Let customers choose their preferred language or let select the right language based on the buyer's location. supports 19+ languages.
• built-in tracking and test devices: With 's built-in tracking tools, you will be able to find ways to boost the rate of conversion. The majority of companies using this tool are able to improve their conversion rates up to 30.
• Personalized customer service:Although we give you complete control over the checkout process and payment options, our support team is available to help you build an optimal checkout experience possible for your business. Certain companies provide only personal support for their biggest customers, and hardly ever provide support to smaller companies. We aren't one of them. with our clients' interests. Our team is ready to be of assistance in whatever way they are able to.

Paddle

Paddle has two options for payment options:

• It is embedded on your site
• Popup overlay

With these two formats they offer 50+ options for customization. Paddle supports 16 languages and can automatically translate your payment.

Subscription Management

Stripe

Stripe Billing includes a few various subscription options:

• Flat-rate billing (for an annual or monthly price) annual fee)
• Multi-price billing (where the same product is sold for different prices in different locations)
• Per seat billing (based on active users during the billing cycle)
• Usage-based bill (single unit or tied)
• Flat-rate + overage (a mixture of flat-rate and usage-based billing)

These options work for some businesses that have only just a handful of subscription-based services However, businesses with more complicated recurring billing requirements (e.g., SaaS) generally require an additional tool. In this regard, Stripe has developed a strong collaboration with Chargebee to make it easier for customers to obtain the subscription billing software they require. It's not difficult to connect these two services but you'll have to manage and pay for each separately.

Additionally, Stripe offers a customer website where users can control their accounts (both and Paddle provide this feature as well).

It offers an array of subscription management options built specifically designed for SaaS companies.

Additionally, the majority of these choices can be created without having to write any programming. As an example, you could set up:

• Automatic weekly, monthly, or annual recurring billing.
• The prorated bill allows for changes -- as well as downgrades during the during the mid-cycle.
• Trials that are free or for a fee that are of any length.
• Trials without or with the payment information (by not collecting payment details, you're reducing friction at checkout, which typically leads to higher conversion rates).
• Manual or automatic renewal.
• One-time discount, add-ons.
• And much More...

Access to our API and webhooks library for additional 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.

In particular for instance, for instance, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has very specific regulations concerning recurring payment. As of the date of this article, the RBI restricts automatic recurring payments to Rs15,000 (approximately one hundred dollars). If a payment is over that amount, the customer has to approve the transaction in person. Additionally, you need to submit an official directive to the RBI which outlines the procedure that you must follow for ensuring compliance. If you fail to file a mandate or have customers manually approve large transactions, you'll be liable to massive fines, or even be barred from selling products to consumers in India.

Although some tools for managing subscriptions provide community updates when they are informed of new rules However, you're ultimately responsible for keeping track the applicable laws and regulations. If you fail to adhere to the rules, you may face fines or be banned from doing business in that jurisdiction. Many companies require additional staff in order to handle this.

 customers don't have to worry about this because we accept the transaction responsibility on behalf of our customers.

Our team of legal experts stays up to date on every legal aspect, and ensures the necessary procedures are in place, take the lead on audits, and provides individual advice regarding how to remain in compliance -- and all this for no cost.

Bonus: Invoicing via digital

The Digital Invoicing (DI) lets you manage B2B orders along with B2C purchases. Through DI, you are able to:

• Customize and manage quotes that are updated in real-time (including customized tags, coupons, discounts, and more).
• Set quote expiration dates.
• Pay and ask for payment.
• Make notes that are specific to your customer/prospect.
• Provide a self-service quote widget (this is especially useful when customers need approval before purchasing).
• And much plus.

Paddle

Through a variety of webhooks, and APIs, Paddle supports the following subscription model:

• Fixed
• Tiered
• Per-seat
• Metered

Furthermore, certain choices could be combined. You could, for instance, make a tiered design with each level allowing an individual number of seats.

Paddle offers free and paid trials. However, clients will have to supply payment information prior to starting the trial. Paddle additionally automatically adjusts the prorated amount when users change their plan mid-cycle (e.g. or add new users or upgrade).

Analytics and reporting

Stripe

Stripe offers a suite of tools for revenue recognition to assist you in reducing your expenses, including:

• Basic accounting reports such as balance sheets or income statement.
• Configurable revenue rules like excluding passthrough fees and auto-adjusting timings for recognition.
• Revenue overview reports.
• Plus...

The reports are all accessible in the Stripe dashboard, and certain reports can be downloaded in an CSV file. It is also possible to integrate the most popular accounting tools, such as QuickBooks Desktop and Xero. However, the ability to import information from other revenue recognition providers into Stripe is currently in beta.

The Reporting and Analytics suite is a robust software that will help you to understand:

• What each product does to the bottom line of your business.
• When customers are most likely to abandon.
• What promotions or coupons are working.
• Which subscription model generates the highest revenues.
• Your customers' locations.
• Which payment options and currencies do clients prefer.
• And many More...

The majority of the information available is available in either of the dashboards either the income overview dashboard or the subscription overview dashboard.

The dashboard for revenue overview contains more general information like total transactions per country or net sales by product.

The dashboard for subscriptions lets you drill into more specific details such as active customers, or monthly recurring revenue (MRR) in the course of time.

If you can't find the exact report you need in these dashboards, you can make and save your own custom reports. Or, you can get in touch with our team to help you locate (or build) the report you require. All reports can be seen in your dashboard or downloaded as an CSV or PNG file, or XLSX file.

Paddle

Paddle has recently purchased ProfitWell in order to provide reports and analytics capabilities. However, the integration isn't complete, so there may be some variances between these two platforms. For example, they will show different MRR.

When fully integrated, Paddle will be able to:

• Automatically keep track of and publish key performance indicators, such as MRR.
• Check user engagement, churn and.
• Use benchmarking and segmentation tools to help you.
• And more...

Pricing

Stripe

Being a platform for DIY the pricing of Stripe works different than Paddle's. In the case of Stripe, you'll need pay for extra software and an additional headcount for managing other aspects of the billing process, such as fraud detection payment management, subscription management, VAT and sales tax and many more.

Stripe is also pricing the wallets and cards differently as compared to other payment methods, like ACH and SEPA.

With all of these payment methods You'll be able to access some of their features, but not all of them. For example, Stripe charges additional fees for transactions that are 3D secure, invoicing, tax features as well as other features.

To learn more regarding Stripe, visit their website.

Through this, you'll get accessibility to entire platform (and every service) with a single flat-rate cost. Since we take on the responsibility for transactions on your behalf and take the lead on sales tax and VAT so you don't need additional software or headcount.

Our team will work with you to find an affordable rate based on the volume of transactions that you conduct . In addition, you'll only be charged for transactions that occur.

Paddle

Paddle offers a flat-rate price for their basic product that includes most of the features you will need -- payments processing and checkout, subscriptions, global fiscal and regulatory compliance fraud protection and reporting, and more -- but it doesn't include everything.

In this case, Paddle collects a 10% fee to reclaim abandoning carts.

To learn more about Paddle, visit their site.

Customer Review

Stripe

Stripe currently has 4.4 stars at G2 (a well-known software review website) with 82+ reviews.

currently has 4.5 stars on G2 with more than 184 reviews.

Below is what some of our clients said about us:

Paddle

Paddle is currently rated 4.5 stars on G2 with more than 145 reviews.

The conclusion. Paddle vs. Stripe

In the case of selling physical items or services, or services, then Paddle is not an option, making Stripe the most suitable choice of the three options discussed here. If you are selling digital goods, Stripe may not be your best option since it's your responsibility to build out a complete payment platform (which costs a lot of time and money).

is serving SaaS enterprises longer than Paddle and offers more features and capabilities. It is also more prepared to support B2B companies.