If you’ve recently launched an online store, then you’ve most likely heard of Lemon Squeezy. Lemon Squeezy is an ecommerce platform for digital products, and is somewhat of a new entry in the industry, first going live back in 2021. However, it still has a long way to go to become one of the best in the niche.
If you are considering using the platform to sell digital products you may be wondering:
- What are some of the best Lemon Squeezy alternatives on the market?
- What do these alternatives do better?
- Why should you pick them over Lemon Squeezy?
Within this article we will consider all of these questions in the search for the best Lemon Squeezy alternatives. But, for now, let’s make sure that you’re in the know about what the platform brings to the table, how its pricing works, and where it needs to improve.
What is Lemon Squeezy?
Lemon Squeezy is a full-fledged Merchant of Record platform specializing in digital products. The platform offers you the necessary assistance and tools to manage your SaaS business. With a competitive 5% + 50¢ pricing and several marketing features, Lemon Squeezy has made its mark in the SaaS arena.
With pretty competitive pricing, a full set of marketing tools (including email marketing), and a Merchant of Record, Lemon Squeezy is off to a pretty good start.
At its core, the platform is meant to make selling online easy, which it achieves by integrating numerous methods, like Apple Pay, PayPal, Stripe, and many more. Lemon Squeezy also offers you a no-code solution to make your online store, as well as the ability to customize it to your liking.
However, despite these helpful features, Lemon Squeezy does have some pretty significant flaws that hold it back from being the best. Here is where Lemon Squeezy falls short:
- One of its main caveats is that it's not as established as some other platforms. Despite getting a big boost after the whole pricing ordeal with Gumroad (where Gumroad increased its flat fee to 10% on sales), the brand’s still pretty new. On top of that, despite being a payments and ecommerce platform now, they originally started out as an MoR and payments processor. So, they're still on the road to finding their footing in the ecommerce market.
- Plus, as of January 2024, they’ve yet to add the option to sell online courses or memberships in your online store, with the most recent update stating that the platform will support them later this year. Obviously, these are some of the main money makers amongst all digital products, so it is odd to see that they’ve not allowed their customers to list these for sale yet.
- Not only this, but the platform is lacking in the sales and technical aspects. For example, Lemon Squeezy doesn’t offer upsell options - the same goes for Discord and Telegram integrations.
So, as we said above, the platform is a good option. But you shouldn’t just settle for good. You should aim for the best!
The 5 best Lemon Squeezy competitors
Let’s get straight to it. We’ve selected 5 of the best platforms that are similar to Lemon Squeezy but excel in at least one aspect when compared to the digital platform.
1. Whop
Whop was once a mere Discord server where folks could buy and sell software. However, the team has since turned it into a marketplace specializing in digital product sales. App templates, online courses, Telegram memberships, and Discord subscriptions - you name it, Whop sells it.
And, compared to Lemon Squeezy, Whop is not that different. Both platforms went live in 2021, offer all-in-one solutions for digital product owners, and are a Merchant of Record.
However, there are features that make Whop a superior option when compared to Lemon Squeezy. One standout feature of Whop is its Dispute Fighter. While most other ecommerce platforms let you handle all the disputes, Whop makes things extremely easy for you by automating the document uploading process, giving you a higher chance of winning the case.
Additionally, Whop truly excels in its integrations, allowing you to seamlessly integrate your online storefront with Discord, Telegram, Stripe, Coinbase (yes, Whop also offers secure payments with crypto), TradingView, and many more.
Signing up if free, which is quite the one-up over some of the other competitors we mention below. Plus, if you have any issues at any point, the 24/7 support team is there to help you within minutes! Oh, and did we mention that Whop has a mobile app you can use to handle your business?
Pros:
- You can sell templates, server memberships, and all kinds of digital products
- Free access to Whop’s marketplace
- 24/7, friendly, and responsive customer support
- Seamless integration with powerful and easy-to-use API
- The “Dispute Fighter” helps with any disputes
Cons:
- Difficult to stand out without a high-quality digital offering
Pricing: Free access to the platform, industry-leading 3% transaction fee + processing fees (discounts for users with a $100,000 MRR).
2. Gumroad
Now, it might seem counterintuitive to have Gumroad here, as many learned of Lemon Squeezy because of Gumroad’s pricing change. Yes, it’s true that the platform now charges double the fee to that of Lemon Squeezy’s. But it still has quite a few positives that make it a great contender.
For starters, Gumroad is arguably the most established ecommerce platform for digital products, with over 150,000 active creators. Their Discover marketplace (similar to Whop’s Marketplace) is extremely helpful to get some more impressions and new customers. Gumoroad also offers several product options for your online store, from eBooks and digital downloads to crypto tips, online courses, and more.
Pros:
- Established platform with a very wide audience
- The marketplace helps you scale easily
- Tons of product statistics are provided
- Huge variety of digital services and products to sell
Cons:
- The transaction fees are some of the highest on the market
- Customer support is slow, sometimes taking days to answer
Pricing: A flat 10% transaction fee + PayPal or Stripe processing fees.
3. Payhip
Payhip is another direct competitor to both Lemon Squeezy and Gumroad, and a pretty good one at that. Payhip offers g a lot more customization features than any of the other platforms. Plus, Payhip has some of the most intuitive marketing tool sets we found in an ecommerce platform, allowing you to send discounts, use upselling and upgrade tools, and more.
On top of that, it charges a slightly lower transaction fee than Lemon Squeezy, albeit higher than what Whop offers for the free version. There are paid plans that take this down to 0, though. The only setbacks the platform has are its rather lackluster analytics and its lack of email marketing assistance, a feature that both Lemon Squeezy and Gumroad offer.
Pros:
- Lower base transaction fee
- Plenty of customization options
- Superior marketing tools
- Specializes in VAT tax handling
Cons:
- Its analytics are very basic
- Doesn’t offer email marketing features
Pricing: Payhip has 3 different plans:
- Free Plan: Forever-free with a 5% transaction fee
- Plus Plan: $29/month with a 2% transaction fee
- Pro Plan: $99/month with no transaction fees
4. Paddle
Paddle is the outlier of the bunch we cover today. Sort of. You see, its features and pricing are very similar to what Lemon Squeezy offers. However, Paddle stands out by being much more established in the industry.
This comes with a few perks. They support more than 200 countries worldwide, with many payment methods following suit. On top of that, while both platforms are MoR, Paddle handles tax issues, chargebacks, and disputes much better than Lemon Squeezy.
Pros:
- Established MoR, handling tax compliance
- Supports 200+ countries all over the world
- Payment methods include most credit cards, PayPal, AliPay, Wire Transfers, and more
Cons:
- The customer support is one of the slowest on our list, often taking days to answer
- No affiliate or email marketing features
Pricing: Paddle charges 5% + 50¢ per transaction + processing fees
5. Sellfy
Finishing off our digital product-focused platforms is Sellfy. Now, Sellfy typically has bad a rep for capping out the amount of revenue its users can have, but we still think it's a worthy Lemon Squeezy alternative for beginners.
For starters, it’s a no-code platform that you can add directly to your existing website, similar to most of the ones we mentioned above. The heavily criticized fixed subscription model, albeit limited, does come with no transaction fees.
Plus, Sellfy offers plenty of product options, like subscriptions and print-on-demand items, which you can market with several of their tools. You can even sell physical products, even though platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce are better choices.
Pros:
- No-code, customizable platform for your own website
- Email marketing features and discount codes for all plans
- No transaction fees for all plans
Cons:
- Caps out the maximum yearly revenue to $200k
- Only 2 payment gateways, PayPal and Stripe
- No free plan besides the free trial
Pricing: There are 3 plans that all come with no transaction fees
- Starter Plan: starting from $29/month for up to $10k in yearly sales
- Business Plan: starting from $79/month for up to $50k in yearly sales
- Premium Plan: starting from $159/month for up to $200k in yearly sales
For reference, earning the maximum store revenue per plan comes out to the following fees. These can be reduced if you opt for a yearly or biyearly payment instead of a monthly charge:
- Starter: 3.5% ($348 for $10k in sales)
- Business: 1.8% ($948 for $50k in sales)
- Premium: 0.9% ($1908 for $200k in sales)
Sell your digital products and subscriptions with Whop today!
And that’s it! These are the best alternatives to Lemon Squeezy that you can use to take your SaaS or ecommerce brand to the next level. The winner is pretty self-evident, and it is Whop!
Making an account on Whop takes mere minutes, the support team is always there to help, and if you’ve got the technical skills to pay the bills, you’ve got an easy-to-use API ready for you! Plus, Whop enables you to sell digital downloads, online courses, Discord memberships, and so much more. And, even though mobile apps aren’t the norm in the industry, Whop has ensured that it caters to that audience as well.
Ready to grow your business with Whop? If you want to sell digital products, sign up with Whop and begin your journey today!
