Kelviq vs Paddle Fees, What You Save and Where
Kelviq's 3.5% + 40¢ with surcharges vs Paddle's flat 5% + 50¢. See who wins on domestic sales, international subscriptions, disputes, and payouts.
Paddle and Kelviq are both merchants of record. Each becomes the legal seller of your product, charges one transaction fee, and handles global sales tax and VAT registration, filing, and remittance inside it. The difference is fee architecture. Paddle charges a flat 5% + 50¢ with no surcharges anywhere, so international cards, subscription billing, and disputes are all included. Kelviq starts at 3.5% + 40¢ and adds 1.5% for international cards and 0.5% for recurring billing, topping out at 5.5% + 40¢ when both stack.
The math below is shown in full, including the scenario Paddle wins. On domestic US volume, Kelviq is cheaper at every price point, at $3.90 vs $5.50 on a $100 sale and $2.36 vs $2.95 on a $49 subscription. On international subscriptions above $20, Paddle is cheaper ($2.95 vs $3.10 at $49), and it adds a $0 dispute fee and more than a decade of merchant-of-record operating history. The calculator below runs your own price and customer mix.
Kelviq breakdown
- Base fee (2.9% + 40¢) $3.30
Paddle breakdown
- Base fee (5% + 50¢) $5.50
| Platform | Fee | Effective rate | You keep |
|---|---|---|---|
 KelviqMoR First $5K lifetime volume | $3.30 | 3.30% | $96.70 |
 PaddleMoR | $5.50 | 5.50% | $94.50 |
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.
Every Kelviq vs Paddle fee side by side
| Kelviq | Paddle | |
|---|---|---|
| Base transaction fee | First $5K lifetime volume 2.9% + 40¢ After $5K lifetime volume 3.5% + 40¢ | 5% + 50¢ |
| International cards | +1.5% | No surcharge |
| Currency conversion | No surcharge | No surcharge |
| Subscription billing | +0.5% | Included |
| PayPal | Not offered | Included |
| Monthly fee | None | None |
| Payout fees | Standard payouts included (T+7, or T+3 on enterprise) | Free payouts. An FX margin of roughly 1.5–3% applies when your payout currency differs from the sale currency ($15 SWIFT wire fee for some currency/bank combinations) |
| Dispute / chargeback fee | Not published | Chargeback fees absorbed by Paddle |
| Sales tax / VAT handling | MoR Kelviq handles global sales tax and VAT as the legal seller | MoR Paddle handles global sales tax and VAT as the legal seller |
| Source | Official pricing, last verified 2026-07-10 | Official pricing, last verified 2026-07-10 |
| Platform | $10 sale | $50 sale | $500 sale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kelviq | $0.69 | $1.85 | $14.90 |
| Paddle | $1.00 | $3.00 | $25.50 |
The rate structures are opposites
Paddle publishes one number, 5% + 50¢ per transaction, worldwide, with no surcharge for international cards, subscriptions, or payment method. Its costs sit elsewhere, in a currency-conversion margin of roughly 1.5–3% when Paddle converts collected revenue into your payout currency and a requirement to contact sales before selling anything under $10.
Kelviq publishes a base and two add-ons. The standard rate is 3.5% + 40¢, plus 1.5% on international cards and 0.5% on recurring charges. The surcharges stack, so the ceiling is 5.5% + 40¢ on an international subscription renewal and the floor is 3.5% + 40¢ on a domestic one-time sale. There is no monthly fee, and new accounts pay 2.9% + 40¢ until $5,000 in lifetime volume, a discount worth at most $30 total, so every figure below uses the standard rate.
Four scenarios, dollar for dollar
- $100 domestic one-time sale. Kelviq $3.90, Paddle $5.50. Kelviq keeps $1.60 more.
- $49/month domestic subscription. Kelviq $2.36 (4% + 40¢), Paddle $2.95. Kelviq saves 59¢ per renewal, or $7.08 per subscriber per year.
- $100 international one-time sale. Kelviq $5.40, Paddle $5.50. Both sit at 5%, and Kelviq’s 10¢-lower fixed fee holds at every price.
- $49/month international subscription. Paddle $2.95, Kelviq $3.10. Paddle wins by 15¢ per renewal.
Three of the four quadrants go to Kelviq. The fourth is Paddle’s, and it’s the one that matters most to globally distributed subscription businesses.
The $20 line
On international subscriptions, Kelviq’s stacked 5.5% + 40¢ meets Paddle’s 5% + 50¢ at exactly $20. Below it, Kelviq’s lower fixed fee wins. A $15 renewal costs $1.23 against $1.25. Above it, Paddle’s lower percentage takes over, at $2.00 vs $2.05 for a $30 plan and $10.45 vs $11.35 at $199. No other quadrant has a crossover. For domestic sales, domestic subscriptions, and international one-time sales, Kelviq is cheaper at every price.
What the transaction fee doesn’t show
Paddle charges nothing per dispute and absorbs chargeback liability as merchant of record, a concrete advantage for products with elevated dispute rates. Its payout FX margin applies whenever collected currency differs from payout currency, which quietly adds 1.5–3% to internationally heavy revenue. Kelviq pays out on a T+7 schedule, T+3 for enterprise accounts, and publishes no payout or conversion fees. Paddle also brings more than a decade of MoR operating history, while Kelviq is the newer platform.
Product scope inside the fee
Kelviq’s fee includes usage-based billing and entitlement management, meaning metering for SaaS and AI products that bill on consumption. Paddle’s 5% + 50¢ centers on checkout, subscription billing, and tax, and its under-$10 sales-contact requirement rules out self-serve microtransactions. Both platforms register, file, and remit global sales tax and VAT as the legal seller, so compliance work is off your plate with either choice.