# Freemius review (2026): is the free plan enough? > Merchant of record, licensing and payments for software sellers Checked Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA. Freemius is a selling platform for software makers: SaaS, desktop apps, Chrome extensions and WordPress plugins and themes. As merchant of record it handles payments, global tax, fraud and disputes, and it adds software licensing, a customer portal, an affiliate platform and cart recovery. - **Category:** Selling Digital Products - **Made by:** Freemius - **Website:** https://freemius.com - **Runs on:** Web - **Who should skip it:** Pricey if you sell WordPress products, as 2.3% is added to 3.8% + 50¢ and gateway fees come on top. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 12, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 12, 2026, Freemius has a free plan. - **Pricing model:** Free plan - **Free plan:** No setup or monthly fees: 3.8% + 50¢ per transaction plus gateway fees, with a further 2.3% for WordPress and templates. - **Free trial:** None listed. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | Per transaction | $0 | No setup or monthly fee. Pay 3.8% + 50¢ per transaction plus gateway fees; WordPress and templates add 2.3%. Wire payouts are free. | Read from https://freemius.com/pricing/ on Nov 12, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Freemius before buying. ## Key features - **Merchant of record:** Freemius becomes the seller on record and manages sales tax and VAT, fraud protection, chargebacks and disputes. - **Software licensing:** Controls access by plan, feature and activation, with multi-site licenses and automatic updates. - **Subscriptions and recovery:** Recurring billing with renewal reminders, trials and failed-renewal recovery, plus cart abandonment emails at no extra fee. - **Customer portal and affiliates:** A self-serve portal for plan changes and payment updates, and an affiliate platform that lets customers earn by promoting your product. - **Payout options:** Earnings can be paid through wire, Wise, Payoneer or PayPal. ## Good for - WordPress plugin and theme sellers - SaaS, desktop app and Chrome extension makers - Sellers who want licensing and payments in one platform ## Worth knowing - Gateway fees are charged on top of the 3.8% + 50¢ rate. - WordPress and templates carry an additional 2.3%. - Wire payouts may incur intermediate bank fees, and high-volume sellers are directed to separate growth pricing. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 2.4 out of 4**, graded Nov 12, 2026. Freemius is a merchant-of-record and licensing service for software sellers, with no monthly fee and 3.8% + 50¢ a transaction. The catch is what sits on top: gateway fees, a further 2.3% on WordPress products and templates, and growth pricing for big sellers kept off the page. - **Value for money: C.** 3.8% + 50¢ a transaction plus gateway fees, and another 2.3% for WordPress and templates. That is not below the 2.9% + $1 Digistore24 lists, so it lands in the middle. - **Free plan and trial: B.** No setup or monthly fee, and you can set up products and licensing without paying until you make a sale. No trial is listed, because the fee only applies to sales. - **Features: B.** Merchant of record, software licensing by plan and activation, subscriptions with recovery, a customer portal, affiliates and payouts by wire and other routes. The core job is covered. - **Ease of use: C.** No store rating on record. Licensing means integrating its SDK into your product, so a developer has to do the work. - **Platforms and integrations: C.** Web only. Payment and payout routes run through Stripe, PayPal, Wise and Payoneer, and nothing else is listed. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Freemius's own pages on 12 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among tools for selling digital products - Freemius's GPA of 2.4 is higher than 9 of the 28 other tools for selling digital products we grade, and level with 8. - It stands best on features (B, above 15 of 28) and worst on platforms and integrations (C, above 0). The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/digital-products ## Keep it, or make your own? **Keep it.** To replace Freemius you would be making selling as the merchant of record, so sales tax and VAT are handled everywhere. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 11 of the 28 other tools for selling digital products grade higher. - You could make: Digital downloads: an app builder makes this well. - You could not: Selling as the merchant of record, so sales tax and VAT are handled everywhere. - You could not: Checkout, card payments and sales tax handled for you. - You could not: Every click and sale traced back to the right partner. - You could not: It plugs into other products, Stripe, PayPal and Wise among them, and has an API. - You could not: The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with Stripe, PayPal, Wise, Payoneer **Tags:** Merchant of record, Digital downloads, Affiliate tracking, Online store, Public API ## Alternatives - [Paddle](https://toolgpa.com/tools/paddle): Merchant of record billing for SaaS and software. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/freemius-vs-paddle) - [Lemon Squeezy](https://toolgpa.com/tools/lemon-squeezy): Merchant of record checkout for software, subscriptions and downloads. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/freemius-vs-lemon-squeezy) - [FastSpring](https://toolgpa.com/tools/fastspring): Merchant of record checkout and billing for software and digital goods. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/fastspring-vs-freemius) - [Easy Digital Downloads](https://toolgpa.com/tools/easy-digital-downloads): WordPress plugin for selling digital downloads from your own site. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/easy-digital-downloads-vs-freemius) - [Polar](https://toolgpa.com/tools/polar): Open-source billing and merchant of record for software sellers. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/freemius-vs-polar) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 12, 2026: - https://freemius.com/pricing/ - https://freemius.com/ - https://freemius.com/about/ Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/freemius Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).