Kelviq Pricing and Fees Calculator With Full Breakdown
Kelviq pricing explained, from the 2.9% + $0.40 intro rate to 3.5% + $0.40 after $5K lifetime volume. Calculate exact fees on one-time sales and subscriptions.
Kelviq breakdown
- Base fee (2.9% + 40¢) $3.30
| Platform | Fee | Effective rate | You keep |
|---|---|---|---|
| $3.20 | 3.20% | $96.80 | |
 KelviqMoR First $5K lifetime volume | $3.30 | 3.30% | $96.70 |
 CreemMoR | $4.30 | 4.30% | $95.70 |
| $5.50 | 5.50% | $94.50 | |
 PaddleMoR | $5.50 | 5.50% | $94.50 |
 Polar.shMoR Starter (free) | $5.50 | 5.50% | $94.50 |
| $6.70 | 6.70% | $93.30 | |
 GumroadMoR Direct sale (your audience) | $13.70 | 13.70% | $86.30 |
The ranking counts per-transaction cost only. Monthly plan fees, payout fees, and dispute fees are listed separately on each platform page. Rates are verified against official pricing pages, and the sources list the dates.
Kelviq fees in full
| Base transaction fee | First $5K lifetime volume 2.9% + 40¢ After $5K lifetime volume 3.5% + 40¢ |
|---|---|
| International cards | +1.5% |
| Currency conversion | No surcharge |
| Subscription billing | +0.5% |
| PayPal | Not offered |
| Monthly fee | None |
| Payout fees | Standard payouts included (T+7, or T+3 on enterprise) |
| Dispute / chargeback fee | Not published |
| Sales tax / VAT handling | MoR Kelviq handles global sales tax and VAT as the legal seller |
| Source | Official pricing, last verified 2026-07-10 |
- No monthly fee, with usage billing and entitlements included.
The rate structure
Kelviq charges 2.9% + $0.40 per transaction until an account passes $5,000 in lifetime processed volume, then 3.5% + $0.40 on everything after. There is no monthly fee. Every figure on this page comes from kelviq.com/pricing (verified July 10, 2026) and follows the same format as the other seven platforms in this tool, and the ranked table above orders platforms strictly by computed cost.
How the $5,000 intro tier works
The threshold is lifetime, not monthly or annual. With a $50 product, sales 1 through 100 (the first $5,000) cost $1.85 each (2.9% of $50 plus $0.40), a 3.7% effective rate. From sale 101 onward, each costs $2.15 (4.3%). The total value of the intro discount is capped at $30, which is 0.6 percentage points applied to $5,000. It functions as an onboarding discount, not a number worth optimizing around, so any serious comparison should use the standard 3.5% + $0.40 rate.
What stacks on top of the base rate
Two surcharges exist, and they combine. International cards add 1.5% and recurring payments add 0.5%. A $49 international subscription at the standard rate costs 5.5% of $49 plus $0.40, or $3.10, a 6.3% effective rate. The same charge inside the intro window is $2.80 (5.7%). A $49 domestic subscription at the standard rate costs $2.36 (4.8%), and a $100 domestic one-time sale costs $3.90 (3.9%).
Payouts, taxes, and what the fee includes
Payouts settle T+7, or T+3 on enterprise agreements. Kelviq operates as a merchant of record. It is the seller of record on each transaction and handles global sales tax, VAT, and GST registration, collection, and remittance. Usage-based billing and entitlement management ship in the base fee, covering per-seat, per-token, and per-API-call pricing models, the metering layer that AI and SaaS products otherwise assemble separately.
How it compares, scenario by scenario
On a $100 domestic one-time sale, Stripe comes in at $3.20, Kelviq at $3.30 at the intro rate ($3.90 standard), Creem at $4.30, then Paddle, Polar Starter, and Lemon Squeezy at $5.50, Stripe Managed Payments at $6.70, and Gumroad direct at $13.70. Four caveats keep that ordering honest.
Stripe is cheaper but is not a merchant of record. Its 2.9% + $0.30 excludes tax handling entirely (registration, calculation, and filing remain your responsibility), and subscriptions add 0.7% for Stripe Billing. Stripe’s own MoR product, Stripe Managed Payments, runs about 6.4% + $0.30 in preview.
Creem wins international one-time sales. With no international surcharge, Creem holds $4.30 on a $100 cross-border sale while Kelviq’s standard rate reaches $5.40. Creem is also marginally cheaper on domestic subscriptions, at a flat 3.9% versus Kelviq’s effective 4.0% with the recurring surcharge, a $0.05 gap on a $49 renewal. Kelviq is cheaper on domestic one-time sales (3.5% versus 3.9%) and on all volume below the $5,000 lifetime threshold.
Paddle edges international subscriptions. Paddle’s flat 5% + $0.50 comes to $2.95 on a $49 international renewal versus Kelviq’s $3.10 at the standard rate. The order flips domestically, at $2.36 on Kelviq versus $2.95 on Paddle. Against Lemon Squeezy (5% + $0.50 plus 1.5% international, 0.5% subscription, and 1.5% PayPal surcharges), Kelviq is lower in every scenario tested on this page.
Polar’s paid plans overtake on large subscription volume. Polar’s May 2026 plans carry no subscription surcharge, so Pro (3.8% + $0.40 at $20/month) undercuts Kelviq’s effective 4.0% + $0.40 on domestic subscriptions once recurring volume passes $10,000/month. On domestic one-time sales, only Polar’s Scale plan ($400/month at 3.4% + $0.30) gets below Kelviq, and only above roughly $133,000/month at a $50 average price.
Effective rates at realistic mixes
A SaaS collecting $10,000/month in $49 domestic subscriptions (204 renewals) pays about $481 on Kelviq, a 4.8% effective rate, versus roughly $602 on Paddle (6.0%). Shift half those customers to international cards and Kelviq rises to about $557 (5.6%) while Creem’s surcharge-free rate holds at $471 (4.7%). The pattern across scenarios is consistent. Kelviq prices below the 5%-tier merchants of record (Paddle, Polar Starter, Lemon Squeezy) in most configurations, and trades individual scenarios with Creem depending on customer geography and the one-time versus recurring mix.
| Platform | $10 sale | $50 sale | $500 sale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kelviq | $0.69 | $1.85 | $14.90 |