How much does Lemon Squeezy take from a sale?
What Lemon Squeezy deducts from a sale of 100, 500, 1,000 and 5,000 US dollars to a US buyer paying by card, computed from the fee on its own pricing page, with the surcharges and payout fees from its own documentation.
The short answer
Lemon Squeezy publishes 5% + 0.50 US dollars per transaction, with no monthly fee. That is 5.50 US dollars on a sale of 100, 25.50 on 500, 50.50 on 1,000 and 250.50 on 5,000. Lemon Squeezy acts as merchant of record and handles sales tax and EU VAT, so part of the fee pays for that.
Worked examples
| Provider and rate | Buyer pays | Fee | Effective % | You keep |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lemon Squeezy, 5% + $0.50 | $100.00 | $5.50 | 5.50% | $94.50 |
| Lemon Squeezy, 5% + $0.50 | $500.00 | $25.50 | 5.10% | $474.50 |
| Lemon Squeezy, 5% + $0.50 | $1,000.00 | $50.50 | 5.05% | $949.50 |
| Lemon Squeezy, 5% + $0.50 | $5,000.00 | $250.50 | 5.01% | $4,749.50 |
Source: Pricing • Lemon Squeezy (www.lemonsqueezy.com), fees last verified 2026-10-06
Surcharges added to the base fee
The rows above are the base fee only. Lemon Squeezy's documentation lists two surcharges that apply to a domestic sale and are added to it:
- An extra 1.5% when the buyer pays with PayPal. On a sale of 100 US dollars that is 1.50 more.
- An extra 0.5% when the payment belongs to a subscription. On a payment of 100 US dollars that is 0.50 more.
Source: Fees • Lemon Squeezy (docs.lemonsqueezy.com), fees last verified 2026-10-06
Getting the money to your bank
- A payout to a bank account in the US is listed with no fee.
- A payout to a PayPal account in the US is listed with a flat 0.50 US dollar fee per payout.
- Payouts are processed twice a month.
Source: Fees • Lemon Squeezy (docs.lemonsqueezy.com), fees last verified 2026-10-06
One sale of 1,000 is not two hundred sales of 5
Each row in the table is a single sale. The fixed 0.50 is charged on every sale, so it matters most on small prices: on a 5 US dollar product the published fee is 0.75 US dollars. Two hundred sales of 5 add up to 1,000 US dollars of sales and 150 US dollars of fees, not the 50.50 shown for a single sale of 1,000.
Source: Pricing • Lemon Squeezy (www.lemonsqueezy.com), fees last verified 2026-10-06
What to charge to keep a round amount
At the base fee, to keep 100 US dollars price the product at 105.79; to keep 1,000, price it at 1,053.16. Each figure is the smallest price, to the cent, that leaves at least the target after the fee. The calculator does this for any amount.
Source: Pricing • Lemon Squeezy (www.lemonsqueezy.com), fees last verified 2026-10-06
What these figures leave out
- Buyers outside the US. Lemon Squeezy publishes a surcharge for them; it is part of the Pro page.
- Taxes, chargebacks and refunds.
- Rounding: fees are rounded to the nearest cent here. A provider may round one cent differently.
Lemon Squeezy next to other providers: Gumroad vs Lemon Squeezy and Stripe vs Lemon Squeezy. The method is on the methodology page.