ByteSell vs Lemon Squeezy
- Published
- July 31, 2026
TL;DR
Start with what is not true. No Lemon Squeezy page announces a shutdown, a migration deadline or closed signups. Stripe acquired the company in 2024 and positions Stripe Managed Payments as the successor, and that is the whole of what is documented. A store selling there today can keep selling there.
The front door changed and the pricing did not. Lemon Squeezy takes 5% + 50¢ of every sale, calculated on the total order value including tax, with a stack of surcharges above that. ByteSell Free costs nothing a month and takes 0%, at every volume and on every plan.
ByteSell never touches the money. Card payments land in the seller’s own Stripe or PayPal and crypto settles to the seller’s own wallet, so there is no balance to hold and no payout to schedule.
On the published rates, ByteSell Free charges less than Lemon Squeezy at every volume, at an average order value of $50. There is no revenue figure where the other one comes out cheaper.
What you would pay on each
What each platform charges you, at your own numbers.
You save
$150
a month on $2,500 of sales, against Lemon Squeezy
no monthly fee, 0% of sales
no monthly fee, 5% + $0.50 per sale
How ByteSell compares to Lemon Squeezy
The capabilities a digital seller actually feels, side by side. A check with a note is a yes with a condition worth knowing about.
| Compare | ByteSell | Lemon Squeezy |
|---|---|---|
| Platform fee on each sale | Yes.0% on every plan | No.5% + 50¢ of the total, including tax |
| Your own branded storefront | Yes.Free storefront, your own domain from Pro | Partial.A hosted store page |
| Use your own Stripe or PayPal | Yes.Included | No.Lemon Squeezy collects the money |
| Your money is never held | Yes.Non-custodial | No.Sales held 13 days before payout |
| You stay the merchant of record | Yes.You stay the seller | No.Lemon Squeezy is the merchant of record |
| Subscriptions and recurring billing | Yes.Included | Partial.+0.5% on subscription payments |
| Affiliate program | Yes.Free on every plan | Partial.+3% on affiliate referrals |
| Fee to pay you out | Yes.None, the money is already yours | No.1% to a bank outside the US, more for PayPal |
| Fixed, predictable cost | Yes.Free, or a flat monthly price | No.A percentage that grows with you |
| Sales tax handled for you | No.You stay the merchant of record | Yes.Worldwide, as merchant of record |
Every Lemon Squeezy figure and limit is quoted from its own pages, linked in the fee breakdown above.
What the acquisition changed
Stripe bought Lemon Squeezy in 2024. Lemon Squeezy’s own blog is direct about where the product is heading.
Our goal is to provide Lemon Squeezy users an easy way to migrate to Stripe Managed Payments.
The word is migrate, and it carries no date. Nothing in it obliges an existing seller to move, and no page published since sets a deadline. The visible change is at signup.
Stripe offers merchant of record products for digital businesses selling globally. Tell us a bit about your business and we’ll recommend the best path for you.
That form is where a new seller now lands. It is a reasonable thing for Stripe to build, and it is not the screen someone expects when they come to open a store.
The rate is charged on the total, including tax
Lemon Squeezy’s pricing page frames the model plainly.
There are no monthly charges for ecommerce features, and we only take a small cut of each sale
Both halves of that are accurate. There is no monthly bill, and a seller with no sales owes nothing. The cut is 5% + 50¢, and the base it applies to is wider than the pricing page suggests.
The platform fee is calculated on the total order value and collected when the order is placed.
Total order value includes the tax collected from the buyer, so the seller pays 5% of the VAT as well as of the price. Lemon Squeezy prints the worked example itself: a $20 product plus $4 of VAT costs $2.06 in fees.
Above that sit the surcharges, each one quoted from the same fee page.
- +1.5% for international (outside of the US) transactions
- +1.5% for PayPal transactions
- +0.5% for subscription payments
- +5% for payments recovered through abandoned cart emails
- +3% for affiliate referrals (merchants)
A subscription sold to an overseas buyer through PayPal meets four of those lines at once, and every renewal meets them again. ByteSell Free charges 0% on all of it, subscriptions and affiliate sales included.
Thirteen days, then the 14th and the 28th
Lemon Squeezy holds the money before it releases it, and the schedule is documented.
Payouts are created twice monthly on the 1st and 15th of the month and include all sales since the last payout. Net sales are held for 13 days before becoming available for payout on the 14th and 28th of the month.
Underneath that is a minimum payout threshold of $50, so a seller below it waits another cycle. A bank payout outside the US costs 1%, and a PayPal payout costs $0.50 in the US or 3% capped at $30 elsewhere.
ByteSell has no schedule and no threshold, because there is no middle for the money to sit in. The buyer pays into the seller’s own account, so a sale made on a Tuesday is money you hold on Tuesday.
What a refund and a dispute cost
A refunded sale does not give the platform fee back, and a dispute adds a charge of its own.
we will offer a full refund on your behalf and deduct the refunded amount (minus our platform fee) plus a $15 dispute fee from your next payout.
The seller returns what they received and Lemon Squeezy keeps its cut of a sale that no longer exists, with $15 added to the deduction when it went to a dispute. On ByteSell there is no platform fee to keep back and no dispute fee, because the money never passed through us.
One limit worth checking before you commit: Lemon Squeezy cannot accept payments from buyers in eighteen listed countries.
Everything Lemon Squeezy charges
ByteSell takes 0% per sale and nothing to pay you out, because your buyers pay your own Stripe, PayPal or wallet directly. Here is what Lemon Squeezy charges, each line quoted from its own pages with a link to where it was read.
- Platform fee5% + $0.50
On every sale
ecommerce / 5% + 50¢
Source for Platform feeRead July 22, 2026
- International transaction1.5%
On every sale
+1.5% for international (outside of the US) transactions
Source for International transactionRead July 22, 2026
- PayPal transactionconditional1.5%
On every sale
+1.5% for PayPal transactions
Source for PayPal transactionRead July 22, 2026
- Subscription paymentconditional0.5%
On every sale
+0.5% for subscription payments
Source for Subscription paymentRead July 22, 2026
- Abandoned-cart recoveryconditional5%
On every sale
+5% for payments recovered through abandoned cart emails
Source for Abandoned-cart recoveryRead July 22, 2026
- Affiliate referralconditional3%
On every sale
+3% for affiliate referrals (merchants)
Source for Affiliate referralRead July 22, 2026
- Disputeconditional$15
On every sale
we will offer a full refund on your behalf and deduct the refunded amount (minus our platform fee) plus a $15 dispute fee from your next payout.
Source for DisputeRead July 22, 2026
- Bank payout outside the US1%
To get paid out
1% per payout for bank accounts outside the US
Source for Bank payout outside the USRead July 22, 2026
- PayPal payout, US$0.50
To get paid out
A flat fee of $0.50 per payout for accounts in the US
Source for PayPal payout, USRead July 22, 2026
- PayPal payout outside the US3% (max $30)
To get paid out
3% capped at $30 per payout for accounts outside the US
Source for PayPal payout outside the USRead July 22, 2026
Where Lemon Squeezy is the better choice
Lemon Squeezy does two things ByteSell does not, and either one can decide the question on its own.
Yes! Lemon Squeezy acts as a merchant of record. We take on all of the liability mentioned above so that sellers don’t have to worry about it.
Tax is handled worldwide
Lemon Squeezy collects and remits the sales tax. On ByteSell the seller stays the merchant of record.
The license API is a real one
Activate, validate and deactivate endpoints, with named instances, activation limits and expiry driven by the subscription.
Nothing is forcing you off it
No published shutdown date and no migration deadline. A store selling there today keeps selling there.
If tax liability or the license API is why you are reading this, price is the wrong axis and this page will not settle it for you.
Which one to pick
Lemon Squeezy is a well-built merchant-of-record checkout that costs 5% + 50¢ of everything you sell, tax included in the base, before the surcharges for international transactions, PayPal, subscriptions and recovery emails.
If you want someone else carrying the tax liability, that price buys something real and ByteSell has no answer to it. If you were paying it for a storefront and a checkout, ByteSell Free does that at 0%.
ByteSell is in early access, so that link goes to the signup list rather than a checkout. The plans and limits described here match the ByteSell pricing page, which has the full breakdown.
Frequently asked questions
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