Ruba field guide

Ruba vs Lemon Squeezy

Practical detail for building, selling, and operating software with Ruba.

Ruba guide

Overview

Comparing modern Merchant of Record solutions for indie developers and SaaS businesses.

Both Ruba and Lemon Squeezy are Merchant of Record platforms that handle tax compliance globally. While Lemon Squeezy caters to solo creators and indie hackers, Ruba is built for developers who need robust APIs, advanced features, and the ability to scale to enterprise-level requirements.

Ruba guide

Feature Comparison

FeatureRubaLemon Squeezy
Payment Processing
Subscription Management
Merchant of Record
Global Tax Compliance
Framework Adapters
Automated Benefits Engine
Open Source

Ruba guide

Pricing

Ruba

6% + 50¢

per transaction (Starter plan — paid plans available with lower rates)

  • Pass-through costs are shown separately
  • No hidden fees or surprise charges
  • All features included at one price

Lemon Squeezy

6% + 50¢

per transaction

  • Higher base transaction fee
  • Additional fees for certain features
  • Limited advanced features

On paid plans, Ruba's lower variable rates can save you significantly compared to Lemon Squeezy as your revenue grows. See our pricing guide for a full breakdown.

Ruba guide

Developer Experience

Built for developers who want full control

Lemon Squeezy is designed for simplicity, which is great for getting started quickly. However, Ruba provides both simplicity AND power with modern developer tooling, comprehensive APIs, and the flexibility to build exactly what you need.

  • 6-line integration

    Ruba provides a 6-line integration with framework adapters, making it easy to get started with minimal code.

  • Framework adapters

    Ruba provides native support for Next.js, BetterAuth, Laravel, and more.

  • Transparent architecture

    Ruba documents how payments, ledgers, seller balances, and payouts move through the platform.

Ruba guide

Scalability & Features

Built to scale with your business

While Lemon Squeezy works well for small projects and indie creators, Ruba is designed to grow with you from your first sale to enterprise scale, with advanced features and robust infrastructure.

Ruba at Scale

  • Advanced subscriptions with usage-based billing and tiers
  • Robust webhooks with real-time events and automatic retries
  • API-first platform to build custom experiences
  • Open source with full transparency and community contributions

Lemon Squeezy Limitations

  • Basic subscriptions with limited flexibility
  • Simple webhooks with limited event types
  • UI-focused with less programmatic control
  • Closed source with no visibility into platform internals

Ruba guide

Why Choose Ruba?

Start simple, scale to enterprise without switching

Lemon Squeezy is great for getting started, but many developers quickly outgrow its limitations. Ruba gives you the same simple start but with the power and flexibility to scale without ever needing to migrate to a different platform.

  • One published platform rate

    Pass-through costs are identified separately in the seller ledger.

  • More powerful

    Advanced features for complex use cases and scale.

  • Developer-first

    Modern tooling, TypeScript-first, framework adapters.

  • Open source

    Full transparency and community-driven development.

Choose a platform that grows with you

Get the simplicity of Lemon Squeezy with the power and scalability to take your business to the next level.