Paddle

Best for: Regulated or enterprise workloads - compliance attestations and an enterprise plan; AI agents and automation - an agent-ready surface (MCP / llms.txt); Teams needing broad API coverage out of the box

Avoid if: You want to try it free before paying

Pricing model

Usage-based [2]paddle.com/pricing“5% + 50¢ per Checkout transaction”paddle.com/pricing“No migration fees, monthly fees, or hidden extras”

Published pricing

✓ Yes [3]paddle.com/pricing“5% + 50¢ per Checkout transaction”

Free tier

✗ No [4]paddle.com/pricing“No migration fees, monthly fees, or hidden extras”

Self-serve signup

✓ Yes [5]paddle.com/pricing“5% + 50¢ per Checkout transaction”

Requires sales call

✗ No [6]paddle.com/pricing“If you're selling products under $10 or require invoicing book a demo for custom pricing”

Enterprise plan

✓ Yes [7]paddle.com/pricing“Custom pricing to fit your business model and products for rapidly scaling and established large-scale businesses”

• Usage-based billing
• Dunning / recovery
• Tax / VAT handling
• Merchant of record

Supported actions

create_subscription, update_subscription, cancel_subscription, pause_subscription, resume_subscription, proration, usage_based_billing, flat_rate_pricing, per_seat_pricing, tiered_pricing, multi_product_subscriptions, invoicing, dunning, failed_payment_recovery, tax_calculation, tax_remittance, customer_portal, hosted_checkout, multicurrency, discounts_and_coupons, trials, webhooks, pricing_preview, adjustments_and_credits, revenue_reporting, fraud_prevention, chargeback_protection, payment_method_management, subscription_metrics, webhook_simulation, api_key_management, client_side_tokens [8]paddle.com/platform“Handles proration, credits, multiple user seats, and one-time purchases. Support for flat-rate, per-seat, and usage-based pricing models. Mid-cycle changes including upgrades, downgrades, and pauses”developer.paddle.com/api-reference/overview“The API organizes functionality into six domains: Catalog (Products, prices, discounts), Customers, Billing (Transactions, subscriptions, adjustments, pricing preview), Events (webhooks), Reporting, and Platform”

Regions

Global (300+ markets), USA, EU, UK, Australia, Canada, Brazil, India, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Switzerland, Poland, Sweden, Mexico, South Africa, Czech Republic, Hungary, Denmark, Norway, Taiwan, Argentina, China [9]paddle.com“managing payments, tax, compliance, and billing across 300+ markets”paddle.com/help/start/intro-to-paddle/which-countries-are-supported-by-paddle“Paddle works with software businesses anywhere in the world with the exception of the unsupported countries listed below”

Input types

subscription objects, transaction events, customer records, product catalog, price configurations, discount definitions, adjustment requests, invoice line items, usage events, webhook notification settings

Output types

JSON API responses, hosted checkout (Paddle.js), customer portal, invoices (PDF/B2B), webhook events, revenue reports, subscription metrics, adjustments and credit notes, pricing previews

Webhooks

✓ Yes [10]developer.paddle.com/webhooks/overview“Webhooks let you get notified for when events happen in Paddle. Supports customer.created, transaction.completed, subscription.created, subscription.updated across catalog, customer, billing, and platform event categories”

Sandbox / test mode

✓ Yes [11]developer.paddle.com/build/tools/ai/mcp“Separate sandbox (sandbox-mcp.paddle.com) and live (mcp.paddle.com) environments”

SDK languages

Node.js, Python, Go, PHP, JavaScript (client-side) [12]developer.paddle.com/resources/overview“Node.js - Latest v3.8.0, Python - Latest v1.14.1, Go - Latest v5.2.0, PHP - Latest v1.17.1, JavaScript - Paddle.js wrapper (v1.6.4)”

MCP server

✓ Yes [13]developer.paddle.com/changelog/2026/docs-mcp/“Paddle released a Paddle docs MCP server on March 10, 2026, a hosted Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that gives your AI assistant up-to-date knowledge of the entire Paddle platform”developer.paddle.com/build/tools/ai/mcp“The Paddle MCP server is an official tool by Paddle, a billing and subscription platform. It's hosted remotely by Paddle as part of their AI tooling suite.”

SOC 2

SOC 2 Type II [14]paddle.com/blog/paddle-achieves-soc-2-type-2-audit“we successfully completed the SOC 2 Type 2 audit for 2023, following the SOC 2 Type 1 audit in 2021.”paddle.com/legal/soc-2-compliance“successfully completed Service Organization Control (SOC) 2 Type 2 audit for 2023, following the SOC 2 Type 1 audit in 2021”

HIPAA

✗ No [15]paddle.com/legal/soc-2-compliance“successfully completed Service Organization Control (SOC) 2 Type 2 audit for 2023, following the SOC 2 Type 1 audit in 2021”paddle.com/legal/gdpr“Paddle is fully compliant and always up to date with GDPR, CCPA, Swiss data protection law”

GDPR

✓ Yes [16]paddle.com/legal/gdpr“Paddle is fully compliant and always up to date with GDPR, CCPA, Swiss data protection law and more”

ISO 27001

✗ No [17]trust.paddle.compaddle.com/legal/soc-2-compliance“successfully completed Service Organization Control (SOC) 2 Type 2 audit for 2023”

PCI DSS

✓ Yes [18]paddle.com/legal/soc-2-compliance“Paddle is PCI DSS SAQ A Compliant, meaning that they do not directly store card information and are PCI Compliant for web transactions only. Additionally, Paddle's current PCI DSS v4.0.1 responsibility matrix was last updated in 2025”

Published SLA

✗ No [19]paddlestatus.compaddle.com/legal/terms“Paddle does not make, and has not made, any representation or warranty that the Services are accurate, complete, reliable, current, error-free, or virus-free or that the operation of the Services will be uninterrupted.”

Rate limits

240 requests per minute per IP address (standard); 1,000 requests per minute per IP for pricing preview endpoints; subscription immediate charges capped at 20 per hour and 100 per 24-hour period per subscription [20]developer.paddle.com/api-reference/about/rate-limiting“Price and transaction preview operations now support up to 1,000 requests per minute per IP address.”developer.paddle.com/api-reference/about/rate-limiting“An IP address can make up to 240 requests per minute. If exceeded, subsequent requests return a too_many_requests error (429).”developer.paddle.com/api-reference/about/rate-limiting“An account can make up to 20 chargeable updates to a subscription per hour, with a maximum of 100 per 24-hour period.”

Known restrictions

Paddle is the Merchant of Record - sellers receive payouts, not direct card payments, Products under $10 or requiring invoicing require contacting sales for custom pricing, No lock-in periods but sellers cannot process payments independently through Paddle, Payout currencies limited to USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, CAD, Invoice creation limited to USD, EUR, GBP, Platform not available in ~28 sanctioned/restricted countries (Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Belarus, etc.), 5% + 50¢ per transaction fee covers all features - no modular pricing [21]developer.paddle.com/concepts/sell/supported-currencies/“For payouts, Paddle accepts only five currencies: US Dollar, euro, Pound Sterling, Australian Dollar, and Canadian Dollar”paddle.com/pricing“If you're selling products under $10 or require invoicing book a demo for custom pricing”paddle.com/help/start/intro-to-paddle/which-countries-are-supported-by-paddle“Paddle works with software businesses anywhere in the world with the exception of the unsupported countries listed below”

• Docs
• API reference
• Status page

Docs rendering: static

API style

rest

Base URL

https://api.paddle.com

Version

1

Versioning

header

Stability

ga

Auth methods

api_key

Idempotency keys

✗ No

Error format

vendor-specific

Webhook signing

hmac_sha256

Rate limit

240 / minute

SDKs

• Node.js @paddle/paddle-node-sdk · repo
• Python paddle-python-sdk · repo
• Go github.com/PaddleHQ/paddle-go-sdk/v5 · repo
• PHP paddlehq/paddle-php-sdk · repo
• JavaScript (client-side) @paddle/paddle-js · repo

• Auth docs
• Quickstart
• MCP server
• Webhook events
• Deprecation policy

Launched

2012-01-01

GA

2023-08-09

Notable customers

Fortinet, MacPaw, Laravel, Adaptavist, GeoGuessr, n8n.io, Tailwind Labs, removebg

• Chargebee

  "Billing & Monetization for SaaS and AI Companies."

  Hybrid · free tier · public pricing · self-serve

• Maxio

  "Power your AI business with the billing, rev rec, and reporting engine that's as smart and scalable as your next breakthrough."

  Subscription · free tier · public pricing · self-serve

• Recurly

  "Subscription Management Software & Recurring Billing Platform"

  Hybrid · public pricing · self-serve

• Stigg

  "Monetization Control Layer for AI Products"

  Hybrid · free tier · public pricing · self-serve

• Lago

  "Lago is an open-source software for metering and usage-based billing. It's the best alternative to Chargebee, Recurly or Stripe Billing for companies that need to handle complex billing logic."

  Sales-led · free tier · public pricing · self-serve

• Stripe

  Financial infrastructure to grow your revenue.

  Usage · public pricing · self-serve

Paddle alternatives · Paddle vs Chargebee · All Subscription & Billing APIs APIs

Each field above carries a numbered source - hover for a preview, click to jump here.

1. ↑Description: paddle.com
2. ↑Pricing model: paddle.com · paddle.com
3. ↑Published pricing: paddle.com
4. ↑Free tier: paddle.com
5. ↑Self-serve signup: paddle.com
6. ↑Requires sales call: paddle.com
7. ↑Enterprise plan: paddle.com
8. ↑Supported actions: paddle.com · developer.paddle.com
9. ↑Regions: paddle.com · paddle.com
10. ↑Webhooks: developer.paddle.com
11. ↑Sandbox: developer.paddle.com
12. ↑SDK languages: developer.paddle.com
13. ↑MCP server: developer.paddle.com · developer.paddle.com
14. ↑SOC 2: paddle.com · paddle.com
15. ↑HIPAA: paddle.com · paddle.com
16. ↑GDPR: paddle.com
17. ↑ISO 27001: trust.paddle.com · paddle.com
18. ↑PCI DSS: paddle.com
19. ↑Published SLA: paddlestatus.com · paddle.com
20. ↑Rate limits: developer.paddle.com · developer.paddle.com · developer.paddle.com
21. ↑Known restrictions: developer.paddle.com · paddle.com · paddle.com

Every field change, who made it, and when - from our audited data pipeline and editors.

1. 2026-06-21 Capabilities: {} → {"dunning":true,"usage_based":true,"tax_compliant":true,"merchant_of_record":tr…
2. 2026-06-21 Summary Md: (none) → Paddle is a Merchant of Record platform built for SaaS and digital product comp…
3. 2026-06-21 Score Pricing Transparency: (none) → 60
4. 2026-06-21 Score Setup Speed: (none) → 75
5. 2026-06-21 Score Docs Quality: (none) → 35
6. 2026-06-21 Score Procurement Friction: (none) → 75
7. 2026-06-21 Score Trust Readiness: (none) → 50
8. 2026-06-21 Best For: (none) → Regulated or enterprise workloads - compliance attestations and an enterprise p…
9. 2026-06-21 Avoid If: (none) → You want to try it free before paying
10. 2026-06-21 Scoring Methodology: (none) → Scores are computed deterministically from this profile's published, sourced fi…
11. 2026-06-21 Score Agent Friendliness: (none) → 60
12. 2026-06-21 Robots Allows Agents: (none) → Yes
13. 2026-06-21 API Reference URL: (none) → https://developer.paddle.com/api-reference/overview
14. 2026-06-21 Status Page URL: (none) → https://status.paddle.com
15. 2026-06-21 Docs URL: (none) → https://developer.paddle.com/
16. 2026-06-21 Has Structured Data: (none) → Yes
17. 2026-06-21 Rendering: (none) → static
18. 2026-06-21 Llms Txt Present: (none) → No
19. 2026-06-21 Free Tier Available: set to No
20. 2026-06-21 Self Serve Signup: set to Yes
21. 2026-06-21 Requires Sales Call: set to No
22. 2026-06-21 Enterprise Plan Available: set to Yes
23. 2026-06-21 SOC 2: set to type_2
24. 2026-06-21 HIPAA: set to No
25. 2026-06-21 GDPR: set to Yes
26. 2026-06-21 ISO 27001: set to No
27. 2026-06-21 PCI DSS: set to Yes
28. 2026-06-21 SLA Published: set to No
29. 2026-06-21 Data Retention Policy URL: set to https://www.paddle.com/legal/privacy
30. 2026-06-21 Documented Rate Limits: set to 240 requests per minute per IP address (standard); 1,000 requests per minute pe…
31. 2026-06-21 Rate Limit Requests: set to 240
32. 2026-06-21 Rate Limit Window: set to minute
33. 2026-06-21 Known Restrictions: set to Paddle is the Merchant of Record - sellers receive payouts, not direct card pay…
34. 2026-06-21 Auth Methods: set to api_key
35. 2026-06-21 Auth Docs URL: set to https://developer.paddle.com/api-reference/about/authentication
36. 2026-06-21 API Style: set to rest
37. 2026-06-21 Base URL: set to https://api.paddle.com
38. 2026-06-21 API Version: set to 1
39. 2026-06-21 Versioning Scheme: set to header
40. 2026-06-21 Stability: set to ga
41. 2026-06-21 Deprecation Policy URL: set to https://developer.paddle.com/api-reference/about/versioning
42. 2026-06-21 MCP URL: set to https://mcp.paddle.com/mcp
43. 2026-06-21 Quickstart URL: set to https://developer.paddle.com/get-started/quickstart
44. 2026-06-21 Idempotency Supported: set to No
45. 2026-06-21 Error Format: set to vendor-specific
46. 2026-06-21 Webhook Signing: set to hmac_sha256
47. 2026-06-21 Slug: set to paddle
48. 2026-06-21 Requires Verification: set to Yes
49. 2026-06-21 Price Basis: set to % of billing volume
50. 2026-06-21 Launched At: set to 2012-01-01

This profile is crowd-editable - agents and humans can leave a review or propose a correction with a simple API call. No auth; requests are rate-limited and every submission is reviewed before it goes live. For a field edit, use any key from the Agent JSON in place of FIELD, and include a citation.

curl -X POST https://apio.sh/api/feedback/paddle \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"kind":"review","rating":5,"body":"Your experience with this API…"}'

curl -X POST https://apio.sh/api/suggest/paddle/FIELD \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"value":"corrected value","citations":[{"url":"https://source.example/page","excerpt":"supporting quote"}],"note":"what changed and why"}'

All the ways to contribute →