AI builders leave Stripe for a few recurring reasons: Stripe wants a registered company and a track record, newer accounts get held, and paying out to your own users means a Stripe Connect build. Here are the seven alternatives that actually solve those problems in 2026, honestly compared - what each is best for, the real fees, and the one question that separates them: who owns the transaction?
Every option below is one of two models. A Merchant of Record (MoR) becomes the legal seller and remits your VAT and sales tax worldwide - simplest for global tax, but it owns the transaction, the customer and the payout timing. A stay-the-merchant setup (a PayFac) keeps your brand, your customer and your data, usually at a lower fee, but you keep the tax. Pick the model first; the rest is detail.
A PayFac on UniPaaS (an FCA-authorised payment institution, No. 929994, on J.P. Morgan rails). Opens a real merchant account the same session with no company via progressive KYB, at 3.9% flat with no fixed fee, and it can pay out to your own users without you building Connect. You stay the merchant. Agent-native, UK/EU/US. Best if you want the lowest fee, full ownership, and speed - and you are fine keeping your own tax.
An MoR built for indie hackers and small SaaS selling worldwide - tax, VAT and compliance handled. Headline 3.9% + $0.40, with payout fees, a clearing hold and a $50 payout minimum on top. Genuinely good agent-facing docs. Best if global tax is your biggest headache and you accept that the MoR owns the sale. See our Creem breakdown.
A mature MoR for software, 5% + $0.50, tax remitted for you, strong subscription tooling. The $0.50 dominates at small tickets, and there is a currency-conversion margin. Best for larger SaaS that wants tax fully off its plate. See Paddle alternative.
An MoR at 5% + $0.50 (plus 1.5% international), acquired by Stripe in 2024 and now on Stripe's rails. Good subscription and digital-product tooling. Best if you like the MoR model and want Stripe's reliability underneath. See Lemon Squeezy alternative.
A developer-first billing platform with usage-based and AI-credit primitives as first-class concepts, and an MoR option. Attractive for indie teams that want to iterate on pricing quickly. Best if metered/AI-credit billing is central to your product. See Polar alternative.
A creator-focused MoR: 10% flat plus payment processing (roughly 13-16% effective at small tickets), and 30% on the Discover marketplace. Full MoR on every sale since January 2025. Best for a single creator selling one-off downloads who wants the simplest setup. See Gumroad alternative.
An MoR with strong agent-facing docs and a Base44-friendly, payment-link setup - tax and compliance handled, the provider is the seller. Best if you are on a no-code AI builder and want tax handled with a quick link. See Dodo Payments alternative.
We compared all seven on the same dimensions - pricing model, real cost on a small ticket, whether you need a registered company, who holds your money, and who handles sales tax - so you can see the trade-off at a glance rather than a single "winner".
| Option | Model | Headline fee | $9 sale | No company? | Who holds your money | Sales tax |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| paas.build | Stay the merchant | 3.9% flat | ~$0.35 | Yes | You | You keep it |
| Creem | MoR | 3.9% + $0.40 | ~$0.75 | Yes | The provider | Remitted for you |
| Paddle | MoR | 5% + $0.50 | ~$0.95 | Company usually | The provider | Remitted for you |
| Lemon Squeezy | MoR | 5% + $0.50 | ~$0.95 | Company usually | The provider | Remitted for you |
| Polar | Dev-first / MoR | Usage-based | varies | Varies | Provider (MoR) | Remitted (MoR) |
| Gumroad | MoR | 10% + processing | ~$1.46 | Yes | The provider | Remitted for you |
| Dodo | MoR | MoR rate | varies | Yes | The provider | Remitted for you |
Figures from each provider's public pricing and reputable 2026 breakdowns; verify current rates on their sites. paas.build is a flat 3.9% with no fixed or payout fee.
If worldwide sales tax is your top problem and you are happy not owning the sale, pick a Merchant of Record - Creem for indie SaaS, Paddle or Lemon Squeezy for larger SaaS, Gumroad for one-off creator sales, Dodo for a no-code Base44 app. If you want to stay the merchant, go live without a company, pay the lowest flat fee, or pay out to your own users, pick paas.build.
If you want to stay the merchant and go live without a company, paas.build (on UniPaaS, an FCA-authorised PI) opens a real account the same day at 3.9% flat, in the UK, EU and US. If you would rather hand off worldwide tax, a Merchant of Record like Creem, Paddle or Lemon Squeezy is the trade-off - simpler tax, but the provider owns the transaction.
The Merchant of Record options - Creem, Paddle, Lemon Squeezy, Gumroad and Dodo - become the legal seller and remit VAT and sales tax worldwide. paas.build and Polar's PayFac-style setups keep you as the merchant, so you keep the tax and pay a lower fee.
On a $9 sale, a flat 3.9% with no fixed fee (paas.build) costs about 35c, versus roughly 75-95c for percentage-plus-fixed models (Creem, Paddle, Lemon Squeezy) and ~$1.40+ for Gumroad. Fixed fees dominate at small tickets, so flat pricing wins for low-priced AI subscriptions.
For paying out to your own users without building Stripe Connect, paas.build on UniPaaS supports split payouts to unlimited sub-merchants, with the regulated liability on the institution. Most Merchant-of-Record options are built for selling your own product, not for platform payouts to third parties.
No. Paddle and Lemon Squeezy usually expect a registered company, but several options here don't. paas.build, on UniPaaS (FCA-authorised, No. 929994), opens a real merchant account for an individual or sole trader the same day with no company, using progressive KYB - you start taking payments, then verify as you grow. Creem, Gumroad and Dodo also let you sell without your own company, but as Merchants of Record they become the seller and keep your tax.
With a Merchant of Record (Creem, Paddle, Lemon Squeezy, Gumroad, Dodo) the provider is the legal seller and holds the funds, then pays you out on its schedule. With a stay-the-merchant PayFac like paas.build you are the merchant - the money settles to you, with the regulated liability held by the institution (UniPaaS).
No. paas.build is a stay-the-merchant PayFac on UniPaaS, an FCA-authorised payment institution. You remain the merchant of record - you keep your customer relationship, your data and your tax - at a flat 3.9%. That is the main difference from the Merchant-of-Record options in this list, which become the seller and remit tax for you.
paas.build opens a real merchant account the same session, with a starting cap of about £1,500 until you verify, then unlimited. Merchant-of-Record options range from an instant payment link to a short review; a traditional Stripe account can take longer and may ask for a company and a track record.