Best Stripe alternatives (2026)
Stripe scores 85/100 in Payments. Here are 9 alternatives ranked by the same evidence-based score, with pricing and free tiers side by side. Rankings are never for sale.
| Tool | Score | Free tier | Open source | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stripe (current pick) | 85 | No monthly fee (pay per transaction) | No | 2.9% + 30¢ per successful US card charge; no monthly fee |
| Polar | 82 | Yes: no monthly fee on Starter | Yes | Starter: 5% + 50¢ per transaction; Pro $20/mo at 3.8% + 40¢; Growth $100/mo at 3.6% + 35¢; Scale $400/mo at 3.4% + 30¢ |
| RevenueCat | 79 | Yes: free under $2,500 MTR | No | 1% of monthly tracked revenue once above $2,500 |
| Stripe Managed Payments | 78 | No monthly fee (pay per transaction) | No | 3.5% per successful Managed Payments transaction on top of standard Stripe processing fees (2.9% + 30¢ for US cards); no monthly fee |
| Dodo Payments | 77 | No monthly fee (pay per transaction); startups can apply for up to 12 months of free credits | No | Standard 4% + 40¢ per transaction (US cards and wallets); +1.5% for cards outside the US; +0.5% for subscriptions and usage billing; +3% for PayPal or BNPL; ACH/SEPA 1.5% capped at $15/€15; Enterprise custom |
| Creem | 75 | No monthly fee (pay per transaction) | No | 3.9% + 40¢ per successful transaction; $0 monthly and setup fees; Partner plan with lower custom fees for high volume |
| Autumn | 72 | Yes: free up to 8K monthly billing volume, or self-host free | Yes | Free $0/mo (up to 8K monthly billing volume, 10,000 customers, 10M API requests); Pro $375/mo (50K billing volume, then $5 per 1M requests); Scale custom; Stripe fees still apply; self-host free (Apache-2.0) |
| Paddle | 72 | No monthly fee | No | 5% + 50¢ per transaction |
| Lemon Squeezy | 65 | No monthly fee | No | 5% + 50¢ per transaction |
| Gumroad | 62 | No monthly fee (pay per transaction) | No | 10% + 50¢ per transaction on direct and profile sales; 30% on sales from the Discover marketplace; no monthly fee |
Why switch from Stripe?
The industry standard with unmatched reliability and integrations. You handle sales tax unless you add Stripe Tax/Managed Payments.
The alternatives in detail
Best for: Indie devs who want an MoR with handled tax and good DX
Best for: Mobile app subscriptions
Best for: Founders already on Stripe who want tax and compliance off their plate without switching providers
Best for: Indie and AI SaaS founders who want an MoR with usage or credit billing and agent-friendly tooling
Best for: Indie hackers who want the lowest flat merchant of record fee and built-in co-founder or affiliate splits
Best for: AI apps with usage-based or credit pricing that want to skip writing Stripe webhook and entitlement code
Best for: SaaS selling globally that wants tax handled
Best for: Existing users; new projects should consider Stripe Managed Payments
Best for: Selling templates, prompts, e-books or courses alongside a vibe-coded app, without building checkout