Lemon Squeezy vs Recurly

Merchant of record meets subscription billing that doesn't make you want to pull your hair out when you need to handle a prorated refund. Here's our take.

Lemon Squeezy

Nice Pick

Merchant of record. They handle tax so you don't have to.

Pros

• Handles VAT/tax
• Simple setup
• Good for digital products

Cons

• Higher fees
• Less control
• Fewer features

Recurly

Subscription billing that doesn't make you want to pull your hair out when you need to handle a prorated refund.

Pros

• Handles complex subscription logic like upgrades, downgrades, and pauses without custom code
• Built-in dunning management to automatically retry failed payments and reduce churn
• Strong API with webhooks for real-time subscription events and easy integration
• Supports multiple currencies and tax compliance (VAT, GST) out of the box

Cons

• Pricing is steep for small startups, with setup fees and percentage-based transaction cuts
• Reporting can feel limited compared to pulling raw data into your own analytics

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. Lemon Squeezy is a payments while Recurly is a hosting & deployment. We picked Lemon Squeezy based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

Lemon Squeezy wins

Based on overall popularity. Lemon Squeezy is more widely used, but Recurly excels in its own space.