Paddle fees explained for 2026

Paddle charges 5% + $0.50 per checkout transaction, and that is the whole checkout bill: Paddle is the merchant of record, so the rate already contains card processing, sales-tax compliance, chargebacks and billing, with no monthly fee. This guide sets the schedule out as Paddle publishes it, with every figure computed by the same engine as the Paddle fee calculator. The rate is quoted from Paddle's pricing page and was verified on 4 September 2026.

What Paddle charges

Only the first is charged on a sale. The other two happen when money leaves your balance, which is why they are toggles in the calculator rather than standing lines.

On a $50 sale, the fee on $50.00 is $3.00 and you keep $47.00, an effective rate of 6%.

There is no cap, and the fixed 50¢ decides cheap products

Paddle publishes no ceiling on the 5%, so the fee keeps growing with the price and the effective rate settles just above the headline.

On a $1,000 sale, the fee on $1,000.00 is $50.50 and you keep $949.50, an effective rate of 5.05%.

At the other end the fixed 50¢ dominates, and a low-priced product pays a rate that has little to do with 5%.

On a $9.99 sale, the fee on $9.99 is $1.00 and you keep $8.99, an effective rate of 10.01%.

That is not an accident of the schedule; Paddle says it quotes custom pricing to sellers of products under $10, so a seller in that position may never be on the published rate at all.

The payout charges

Both are circumstances, not defaults. The wire fee is flat, so it is worst on a small transfer, and the calculator assumes the harshest case — this one sale paid out on its own.

On a $50 sale paid out by itself over SWIFT, the fee on $50.00 is $18.00 ($3.00 checkout transaction fee (all-inclusive, merchant of record) plus $15.00 international wire payout fee (currency mismatch)) and you keep $32.00, an effective rate of 36%. On the same sale paid out in another currency, the fee on $50.00 is $3.71 ($3.00 checkout transaction fee (all-inclusive, merchant of record) plus $0.71 payout currency conversion margin (up to)) and you keep $46.29, an effective rate of 7.42%.

A month of sales collected into one payout carries the $15.00 once, not once per order. The conversion margin behaves differently: it is a percentage of the transfer, so batching does not dilute it.

Pricing to a target payout

To keep $50.00 you charge $53.16, and the fee is $3.16. To keep $100.00 you charge $105.79, and the fee is $5.79.

Adding 5% and 50¢ to what you want to keep always lands short, because both are charged on the higher price.

Paddle against a plain processor

The comparison people actually want is against a merchant of record with the same headline. The Lemon Squeezy fee calculator prices the identical 5% + 50¢, and the Gumroad fee calculator prices a platform that bundles its own processing at a different rate. Against a plain payment processor the arithmetic is not comparable at all: a processor's rate leaves you owning sales-tax registration, VAT filing, chargebacks and buyer support, which is what the extra points buy here.

What this guide leaves out

Custom pricing, first: Paddle quotes it to sellers of sub-$10 products and to high or established volume, and none of those rates are published, so only the pay-as-you-go rate is modelled. Also outside it: refunds and disputes, taxes shown to the buyer, and the currencies and payout schedules available in a particular market.

When these rates last changed

Paddle's pricing page carries no effective date, so the rate is dated from the day it was verified: 4 September 2026. The Paddle fee changelog holds that single entry, later changes are added there against the rule they affect, and the schedule is re-checked at least every 60 days.

Confidence is medium for one reason: the 5% + 50¢ appears only on the pricing page. The payout help article confirms Paddle adds nothing beyond its own fee, but it does not restate the checkout rate, so no second official page corroborates the core number.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a monthly fee?

No. Paddle publishes the pay-as-you-go rate as the whole cost of a checkout transaction, with no subscription alongside it.

Does the buyer's country change what I pay?

Not on the published schedule. As merchant of record Paddle faces the buyer itself, so one rate covers the sale wherever it comes from.

Why is my effective rate above 5%?

The fixed 50¢. It is a fixed cost on a variable price, so the smaller the sale the larger its share — 6% at $50, 5.05% at $1,000.

Where do these numbers come from?

The rate is quoted from Paddle's own pricing page, saved as a dated snapshot and checked by a person. The methodology explains the check, the schedule is quoted line by line in the calculator's fee table, and if a figure here disagrees with what Paddle shows you, report it.