Buyer's guide
Most comparisons in this space put seven products in a table and let you guess. The useful move is to notice that they are not all the same kind of thing. Once you separate who takes the money from who validates the licence, the choice gets much smaller.
| Category | What it solves | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Merchant of record | Payments, and global sales tax as the legal seller | Lemon Squeezy, Paddle, Gumroad, Freemius |
| Licensing server | Keys, activations, expiry, update delivery | LicensorPro, LicenseSpring, EDD Software Licensing |
| Both at once | One vendor for the whole chain | Freemius |
A merchant of record and a licensing server are not alternatives. Most working setups use one of each, joined by a webhook. The genuine either/or is between Freemius, which does both for a percentage, and assembling the two halves yourself.
This is the axis that decides the money, and it is the one most comparison tables bury. A percentage costs nothing when you are starting and never stops when you are not.
| Option | Cost | Shape |
|---|---|---|
| Freemius | 7.0% + gateway | % of revenue |
| Lemon Squeezy | 5% + 50¢ | % of revenue |
| Paddle | 5% + 50¢ | % of revenue |
| Gumroad | 10% + 50¢ — 30% via Discover | % of revenue |
| LicenseSpring | $199–$750/month | Flat, metered by requests |
| EDD Professional | $299.50 first year, $599/yr renewal | Flat |
| LicensorPro | $199–$799/year | Flat |
Freemius is usually quoted at 4.7%. For WordPress products that is not the rate. Their pricing page lists “WordPress & Templates +2.3%”, and their FAQ confirms it: “Why is there an extra 2.3% charge for the WordPress solution?”
So a plugin seller pays 7.0% plus gateway fees. Their share does step down at higher volume — 4.5% above $50k/month, 4.0% above $60k, and so on — but those tiers are far above where most plugin businesses live. Full detail on the Freemius comparison page.
| Monthly revenue | Freemius at 7.0% | Per year | LicensorPro Studio |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1,000 | $70 | $840 | $399 |
| $3,000 | $210 | $2,520 | $399 |
| $10,000 | $700 | $8,400 | $399 |
The caveat that belongs in the open, not in small print. Freemius is also taking the payment and handling your VAT in that column. LicensorPro is not. To match what they actually do you need a merchant of record in front of us, and that adds a percentage back.
With Polar at their entry rate of 5% + 50¢, the same rows come out at roughly $492 against Freemius's $500 at $5,000 a year — a wash — then $1,861 against $2,500 at $25,000, and $6,246 against $10,000 at $100,000. Below about $10,000 a year, if you want tax handled, Freemius is the simpler answer. The gap opens up after that. Full working on the Freemius page.
If you sell internationally and the thought of VAT registration is what is stopping you shipping, a merchant of record is worth its percentage and you should go and buy one today. If you ship native desktop software, LicenseSpring is built for that and we are not. If you already run a WordPress store you are happy with, EDD adds licensing to what you have rather than adding a second system. And if you are still finding out whether anyone wants the product, Gumroad this afternoon beats infrastructure this month.
Found something wrong on this page? Every vendor here changes pricing without notice and we would rather be corrected than be inaccurate. Tell us and we will fix it — [email protected].
It depends on which half of Freemius you are replacing. If you want to keep a merchant of record handling tax, Lemon Squeezy or Paddle at 5% + 50¢ are cheaper than Freemius at 7.0% for WordPress. If you want to stop paying a percentage entirely, a self-hosted licensing server plus your own gateway is the flat-fee route.
For WordPress products, yes. The headline rate is 4.7%, but their pricing page adds "WordPress & Templates +2.3%" and their FAQ explains the surcharge. That makes 7.0% plus gateway fees the real rate for a plugin seller below $50,000 a month.
Usually yes, unless you use Freemius, which bundles both. A merchant of record takes payment and handles sales tax; a licensing server issues keys, enforces activations and serves updates. They are joined by a webhook on the completed sale.
The break-even is lower than most people expect. At $1,000 a month in revenue, a 7% share is $840 a year, which already exceeds a flat annual licence. The real costs of self-hosting are uptime and maintenance rather than money.
Activations fail while it is down, which is the honest trade-off of self-hosting. A hosted provider carries that risk and will offer an SLA. A well-built client should fail gracefully and keep working on a cached verdict rather than deactivating the moment a request times out.
Occasional, concrete posts on licensing, pricing and selling WordPress plugins. No sequences, unsubscribe in one click.
We store your address ourselves and never sell or share it. Privacy.