What it's for
The standard payments layer for our micro-SaaS note.
- Subscriptions for SaaS and memberships
- One-off payments
- Invoices
Plans and prices
| Plan | Price (USD unless shown) | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Standard (US) | 2.9% + 30¢ per successful domestic card charge | No monthly fee |
| Manual card entry | +0.5% | |
| International cards | +1.5% | |
| Currency conversion | +1% | When conversion is required |
| Klarna | 5.99% + 30¢ | Buy now, pay later |
Read on the official pricing page on . Prices change; check before you buy.
Free plan in real output
No monthly fee; you pay per successful transaction.
- A $29 subscription paid with a US card: 2.9% × $29 + $0.30 = $1.14, so you keep $27.86.
- The same charge on an international card that needs conversion: 2.9% + 1.5% + 1% = 5.4% × $29 + $0.30 = $1.87.
Cost at your stage
| Plan | Monthly cost | |
|---|---|---|
| Month 1 (testing, low volume) | Pay per transaction | $0 |
| Month 12 (working volume) | Pay per transaction | $0 |
Break-even: No fixed cost.
Month-12 plan is our estimate of what a solo seller at steady weekly output needs, based on the plan limits above. Costs exclude tax.
Commercial use and output rights
Not a content generator. A payments processor.
Your data and AI training: Not applicable.
This is a summary of public terms, not legal advice. Terms change; re-read the clause before client work.
First-hour setup
- Create an account and verify the business.
- Turn on test mode and create a product and price.
- Use a Payment Link or Checkout for the first sale.
- Set up webhooks for subscription events.
- Switch to live mode after a test purchase.
Competitors compared
| Tool | Pricing model | Free plan | Starting price | Difficulty | Output rights | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stripe | Pay as you go | Yes | 2.9% + 30¢ per successful domestic card charge | 2/5 | Not a content generator | Taking card payments and subscriptions |
| Lemon Squeezy | Free to join, fee per sale | Yes | See official site | 2/5 | – | Selling software with tax handled |
| PayPal Business | Pay as you go | Yes | See official site | 1/5 | – | Clients who prefer PayPal |
| Gumroad | Free to join, fee per sale | Yes | 10% + $0.50 per transaction | 1/5 | Not a content generator | Selling a first digital product today |
| RevenueCat | Free plan + paid plans | Yes | $0 · then 1% of tracked revenue | 3/5 | Not a content generator | Mobile app subscriptions |
| Wave | Free plan + paid plans | Yes | See official site | 2/5 | – | Free bookkeeping for a solo business |
| Wise Business | Pay as you go | Yes | See official site | 2/5 | – | Getting paid in other currencies |
Learning difficulty
2/5: Payment Links are easy; webhooks and subscriptions take developer work.
When not to use it
If you sell digital goods globally and don't want to handle sales tax, a merchant of record (Lemon Squeezy, Gumroad) handles that for you.
Cheaper or free alternatives:
- Lemon Squeezy: Selling software with tax handled (yes free plan)
- PayPal Business: Clients who prefer PayPal (yes free plan)
- Gumroad: Selling a first digital product today (yes free plan)
Which of our hustles use it
- Micro-SaaS on an LLM API: Subscriptions and payments
Price history
Each monthly check adds rows here. Older rows are never edited, so you can see when prices changed.
Sources
- Stripe pricing (read 17 October 2026)
Last verified . Anything we couldn't confirm on an official page is marked "not published", "not shown" or "not verified".