Lemon Squeezy vs Payhip
We give Lemon Squeezy a 2.8 GPA and Payhip a 2.6, out of 4.0. Lemon Squeezy grades higher on features. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Lemon Squeezy
Merchant of record checkout for software, subscriptions and downloads
Payhip
Store for downloads, courses and memberships, with a free plan
How we grade them
| 2.8GPALemon SqueezyGood | 2.6GPAPayhipGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CNo monthly fee. Each order costs 5% + 50¢, which covers card fees and sales tax, so $1,000 of sales costs $50 plus 50¢ an order. Buyers abroad add 1.5%, PayPal 1.5% and subscriptions 0.5%. That's above this category's dearer quarter, short of its dearest tenth. | CPlus at $29 a month plus its 2% fee ($20 on $1,000) comes to $49, a dollar under the free plan's 5% ($50). Pro at $99 drops the fee but costs more at this size. No yearly price is on record, and PayPal or Stripe fees come on top (not counted). |
| Free plan and trial | ASelling is free to start with every ecommerce feature, and you only pay as orders come in. Email marketing is free up to 500 subscribers too, then $10 a month at 1,000. | AFree Forever has every feature, unlimited products and unlimited revenue, with no cap you'd reach. Payhip takes 5% of each sale instead, and the value grade counts that. |
| Features | BMerchant of record, subscriptions with usage billing, license keys, signed download links, a store on your own domain, affiliates, upsells, cart recovery and email marketing. It covers the whole job. | CDownloads, courses, coaching, memberships, physical products and bundles, plus coupons, affiliates and PDF stamping. The gap the listing names is email: there are no built-in campaigns, so buyers sync to ConvertKit or another service. |
| Ease of use | CNo App Store rating on record. It's a web dashboard where you set up products, checkouts and a store before your first sale, with nothing in the listing to say it's quicker than that. | CNo App Store rating on record. Every plan has every feature, so there's nothing to unlock, but you still set up the store, your products and a PayPal or Stripe account. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, with Zapier, ConvertKit, Mailchimp, WordPress and Laravel, checkout overlays for any site and a public API. No phone or desktop app is listed. | BWeb, with Stripe, PayPal, Zapier, Zoom, Calendly and ConvertKit, plus buy buttons for WordPress, Squarespace, Wix and Shopify sites. No phone or desktop app is listed. |
| Best for | selling software and subscriptions worldwide | a free store for downloads, courses and coaching |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Lemon Squeezy and Payhip. How we grade
Price against what you get
Lemon Squeezy starts at $10 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Payhip starts at $29 a month and scores 2.3.
Lemon Squeezy scores higher and starts $19 a month lower. Of the other tools for selling digital products on the chart, 2 score higher than Lemon Squeezy for less, and 6 score higher than Payhip for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Lemon Squeezy starts at $10 per month for email marketing to 1,000 subscribers. Payhip starts at $29 per month.
- Lemon Squeezy also covers email campaigns and merchant of record.
- Payhip also covers online courses.
At a glance
| Lemon Squeezy | Payhip | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $10 per month for email marketing to 1,000 subscribers | $29 per month |
| Free plan | Selling is free to start with every ecommerce feature included; Lemon Squeezy keeps 5% + 50¢ of each order. Email marketing is free up to 500 subscribers. | Free Forever plan with all features, unlimited products and unlimited revenue; Payhip takes 5% of each sale on top of PayPal or Stripe fees. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Link, LLC (formerly Lemon Squeezy LLC) | Payhip |
| Price read from | lemonsqueezy.com | payhip.com |
| Checked | Oct 18, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Lemon Squeezy
- Software makers selling licenses or subscriptions worldwide
- Sellers who want sales tax and VAT filed for them
- Creators who want no monthly fee until they make sales
Payhip
- New sellers who want a free store and pay only when they sell
- Creators selling downloads, courses and coaching from one store
- Sellers who want EU, UK and US sales tax taken care of
Worth knowing
Lemon Squeezy
- Stripe's 2026 update admits slower support and fewer updates while the team builds Stripe Managed Payments, and plans a migration path for users.
- Each order costs 5% + 50¢, plus 1.5% for buyers outside the US, 1.5% for PayPal and 0.5% for subscription payments.
- Recovered abandoned carts add 5% and affiliate referrals add 3% to the fee; payouts to non-US banks cost 1% each.
- Products priced under $10 and high-volume sellers are asked to contact sales for custom pricing.
Payhip
- The free plan takes 5% of each sale and Plus takes 2%, on top of PayPal or Stripe fees; only Pro at $99 a month removes Payhip's fee.
- Payhip has no built-in email campaigns: a newsletter block collects followers for export, and buyers sync to a separate email service.
- Payments go through the seller's own PayPal, Stripe or regional gateway account, such as Square, Razorpay or Paystack.
- Sellers with a physical presence in a US state may still have to file a zero-dollar sales tax return there, Payhip's help center says.
Key features
Lemon Squeezy
- Merchant of record
- Lemon Squeezy is the seller on each order: it calculates, collects, files and pays sales tax and VAT, and takes on the tax liability.
- Subscriptions and usage billing
- Weekly, monthly or yearly plans with upgrades, downgrades, free trials, PayPal subscriptions, usage-based billing and a customer portal.
- License keys and secure files
- License keys are issued after each sale and can be deactivated or reissued; download links are signed and throttled.
- Checkout anywhere
- Hosted checkout links, an overlay checkout for any website, or a store on a custom domain, taking cards, PayPal and payments in many currencies.
- Email marketing
- Broadcasts, signup forms, segments that update from purchase behavior and email reports, free up to 500 subscribers.
- Affiliates and recovery
- A built-in affiliate program, discount codes, bundles and upsells, plus abandoned cart emails and failed payment recovery.
Payhip
- Many product types
- Digital downloads with variants, online courses, coaching with Calendly or Zoom scheduling, memberships, physical products and bundles.
- Sales tax handled
- Payhip collects and remits EU and UK VAT on digital sales and, from July 1, 2026, US sales tax as a marketplace facilitator, at no extra charge.
- Marketing tools
- Coupons, running sales, cross-selling, upgrade discounts, a referral system, customer reviews and an affiliate program.
- Store or embedded buttons
- A hosted store on a custom domain, or buy buttons added to WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, Weebly or Shopify sites.
- File protection
- Download limits, set to 5 by default, and PDF stamping that prints the buyer's email and purchase date on every page.
- Mailing list sync
- Buyers are added to lists in ConvertKit, ActiveCampaign, AWeber, Drip, Flodesk, Klaviyo and other email services after a purchase.
Plans
Lemon Squeezy
Ecommerce$0
No monthly charge. The seller pays 5% + 50¢ of each order, covering card fees and tax, plus 1.5% abroad, 1.5% on PayPal and 0.5% on subscriptions.
Email marketing$10
per month for up to 1,000 subscribers, billed monthly
Free up to 500 subscribers. The price rises with the list: $24 a month at 3,000 subscribers and $60 a month at 10,000.
Payhip
Free Forever$0
All features, unlimited products and revenue. Payhip takes a 5% transaction fee on each sale; PayPal and Stripe charge their own fees too.
Plus$29
per month
The same features as Free Forever, with Payhip's transaction fee cut from 5% to 2% of each sale.
Pro$99
per month
The same features with no transaction fee from Payhip; only PayPal or Stripe processing fees apply.
Ways to pay less
Lemon Squeezy
- Annual discount
Two months free on yearly email marketing
Lemon Squeezy prices yearly email marketing at ten times the monthly rate: $100 a year instead of $10 a month at 1,000 subscribers.
Payhip
No public discounts listed.
