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Payments · for Astro

Payments for Astro

Among 28 makers' products we track that are built with Astro, here's what they chose for payments — each counted from a live-product source.

Payment processor or merchant of record (MoR). With a processor you are the seller and must register for and remit sales tax/VAT yourself. An MoR resells your product, so tax and compliance are theirs, for a higher fee.

What makers on Astro chose

Counts are live products with a source, not market share; a product using two options counts in both.

StripePayment processor
llms.txtMCPCLIIn Bolt, Lovable, Replit, v0

Best forFull control over checkout and billing, lower fees than a merchant of record, and the widest integration ecosystem.

Trade-offYou are the merchant of record — tax registration and filings are on you.

18 of the 28 Astro products here

PolarMerchant of record
llms.txt

Best forDevelopers selling SaaS, subscriptions, usage-based plans or license keys.

Trade-offNewer than Paddle or Lemon Squeezy.

3 of the 28 Astro products here · open source

PaddleMerchant of record
In Lovable

Best forEstablished SaaS businesses that want a mature MoR.

Trade-offStricter onboarding and domain review before you can sell.

3 of the 28 Astro products here

PayPalPayment processor
llms.txtMCP

Best forAdding PayPal and Venmo as a checkout option for buyers who won't type in a card.

Trade-offYou are still the merchant of record for tax; disputes and account holds are a common complaint, and its developer tools are clunkier than Stripe's.

2 of the 28 Astro products here

Lemon SqueezyMerchant of record

Best forSelling software and digital downloads with minimal setup.

Trade-offStripe is moving this work to Stripe Managed Payments and plans to migrate Lemon Squeezy users there; support and updates have slowed.

2 of the 28 Astro products here

OrbMetering and billing on top
llms.txt

Best forHigh-volume usage billing with many pricing models, for products whose revenue depends on it.

Trade-offNo free tier and sales-priced — built for funded teams, not side projects.

2 of the 28 Astro products here

LagoMetering and billing on top
llms.txt

Best forComplex usage pricing you want to self-host for free, sitting on top of your payment processor.

Trade-offOne more system to host and connect to payments.

1 of the 28 Astro products here · free tier · open source

Also real options for payments, not seen among these Astro products yet: Dodo Payments.