Use case
Best payment tools
Ranking reviewed October 17, 2026. Shelf: Payments.
A payments ranking that mixes Stripe with Patreon helps nobody. Stripe moves money. The storefronts above it decide what is being sold. Both can be the right next tool. They are not the same tool.
Short answer
Use Stripe when you need payment infrastructure: Checkout, Payment Links, or Billing under a product you control. Use Lemon Squeezy when you sell digital goods and want a merchant of record to handle sales tax. Gumroad, Stan Store, and Patreon collect money too, but they are storefronts and memberships, not a payments API.
Editorial ranking
Ranked for someone who needs to charge money and is choosing infrastructure, not a fan community.
Rank 1: Stripe
Payments infrastructure for the internet
Stripe is the default payments layer: Checkout, Payment Links, and Billing. You bring the product and, on the core products, you are usually the merchant. Confirm that Stripe supports your country.
Best for Checkout, payment links, and subscriptions you control. Check the Stripe site for current plans and fees. CreatorGoodies does not publish live prices.
Rank 2: Lemon Squeezy
Merchant of record for digital products
Lemon Squeezy is the merchant-of-record option for digital goods, and Stripe acquired it in 2024. Choose it when you want tax handled and you accept that they are the seller of record. Re-read the docs, because the product sits inside Stripe now.
Best for Selling digital goods without handling sales tax yourself. Check the Lemon Squeezy site for current plans and fees. CreatorGoodies does not publish live prices.
Related, and not the same job
Gumroad
A simple page for selling a digital product
Stan Store
A creator store behind your link in bio
Patreon
Memberships fans pay for ongoing work
Rankings are editorial. Read how we rank before you treat a number as a fact. Makers can submit a tool.