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Accounting · head to head

Creem vs Very Good Security

Creem logo

Creem

Accounting

All-in-one payment and compliance platform for software companies

From
$3.9/percent
Rated
-
Very Good Security logo

Very Good Security

Cybersecurity

Tokenisation proxy that keeps card and personal data out of your own systems and out of PCI scope

From
$1000/month
Rated
-

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Creem per-transaction fee model scales with volume, potentially expensive for high-frequency transactions; Very Good Security vGS sits in the live path of every request carrying sensitive data, so its latency and availability become yours, and an outage in the proxy is a payment outage no matter how healthy your own systems are.
  • They diverge on capability: Creem covers Global payments processing, Very Good Security covers Aliasing proxy.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Creem and Very Good Security actually diverge.

Attributes where Creem and Very Good Security differ
AttributeCreemVery Good Security
Starting price$3.9/percent$1000/month
Pricing modelPer-transaction flat ratePer month
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb, API
CategoryAccountingCybersecurity

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Creem

  • Global payments processing
  • Automated tax compliance
  • Subscription billing
  • Revenue distribution
  • Digital product support
  • Fraud protection
  • AI business assistant
  • Affiliate platform

Only in Very Good Security

  • Aliasing proxy
  • PCI scope reduction
  • Network tokenisation
  • Processor optionality
  • Card issuing data
  • Vault and access controls
  • Data residency options
  • Compliance artefacts

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Creem

  • SaaS subscription billing and managementnot Very Good Security
  • Digital product distribution with license keysnot Very Good Security
  • Global payment processing across 100+ countriesnot Very Good Security
  • Revenue sharing among co-founders and affiliatesnot Very Good Security
  • Automated tax compliance for international salesnot Very Good Security

Very Good Security

  • A marketplace facing its first PCI DSS Level 1 assessment that wants to keep card data off its own estate rather than harden a dozen servicesnot Creem
  • A merchant negotiating with a second acquirer that needs card credentials portable so the negotiation is real rather than theoreticalnot Creem
  • A fintech collecting bank account and identity documents that wants sensitive fields absent from logs, backups and analytics warehouses by constructionnot Creem
  • A card issuer that must display a full PAN in its own mobile app without the app or its backend touching cardholder datanot Creem

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Creem

  • Per-transaction fee model scales with volume, potentially expensive for high-frequency transactions
  • Limited to software and digital product companies, not suitable for physical goods
  • AI business assistant availability and capabilities not fully detailed
  • Requires using Creem as Merchant of Record, limiting white-label options
  • Mobile app only available in beta for iOS and Android

Very Good Security

  • VGS sits in the live path of every request carrying sensitive data, so its latency and availability become yours, and an outage in the proxy is a payment outage no matter how healthy your own systems are.
  • Token portability is the whole selling point yet leaving VGS means migrating tokens back out, a project the vendor has no incentive to streamline, so the lock-in you removed from your acquirer partly moves to VGS.
  • Entry pricing at around one thousand US dollars a month is real money for a pre-revenue fintech, and it buys volume-limited throughput, so cost scales with exactly the growth that made you buy it.
  • Scope reduction is not scope elimination: your QSA still assesses how you integrate, and teams regularly discover that a support tool or an internal admin screen pulled plaintext back in and dragged systems into scope again.
  • Proxy-based interception constrains how you design request flows, and non-standard payloads, streaming uploads or binary formats often need custom routing rules that make debugging production issues noticeably harder.

Pricing, plan by plan

Creem

$3.9/percent
  • StandardFree
    • 3.9% + $0.40 per transaction
    • No setup fees
    • No monthly fees

Very Good Security

$1000/month
  • Starter$1000/month
    • Aliasing proxy
    • Vault storage
    • PCI scope reduction
  • Growth$undefined/month
    • Network tokenisation
    • Multiple processors
    • Data residency options
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Custom vault architecture
    • Dedicated support and SLA
    • Contractual compliance coverage

Which should you pick?

Choose Creem if

  • You need global payments processing.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want automated tax compliance.

Choose Very Good Security if

  • You need aliasing proxy.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want pci scope reduction.

Questions people ask

Is Creem or Very Good Security better?
Neither clearly leads. Creem starts at $3.9/percent and Very Good Security at $1000/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Creem or Very Good Security?
Creem starts at $3.9/percent and Very Good Security at $1000/month.
Does Creem or Very Good Security run on more platforms?
Creem runs on Web, iOS, Android. Very Good Security runs on Web, API.
What is Creem best used for?
Creem is most often used for saas subscription billing and management, digital product distribution with license keys, global payment processing across 100+ countries, revenue sharing among co-founders and affiliates. Of those, saas subscription billing and management and digital product distribution with license keys are not what Very Good Security is typically brought in for.
What can Creem do that Very Good Security cannot?
Creem covers Global payments processing, Automated tax compliance, Subscription billing, Revenue distribution. Very Good Security covers Aliasing proxy, PCI scope reduction, Network tokenisation, Processor optionality.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Creem: What are Creem's transaction fees compared to competitors?

Creem charges a flat 3.9% plus 40 cents per successful transaction with no additional setup, monthly, or hidden fees. For a $5,000 transaction volume, Creem estimates $235 in fees compared to Lemon Squeezy at $565 ($400 + $165).

Source
Very Good Security: Does VGS make me PCI compliant?

No. It removes cardholder data from your systems so your assessment covers a far smaller boundary, but you still complete an assessment and your integration is part of it.

Creem: Does Creem handle international tax compliance?

Yes. Creem automatically handles VAT, GST, and sales tax filing and remittance as a Merchant of Record across 50+ countries, eliminating manual tax compliance work.

Source
Very Good Security: Can I move to another processor without re-collecting cards?

Yes, that is a core reason people buy it. The vault reveals stored credentials to whichever processor you route to.

Creem: Can I use Creem for subscription billing?

Yes. Creem provides subscription management with billing, dunning, and a customer portal. Revenue splits are included for distributing earnings to co-founders and affiliates.

Source
Very Good Security: What does it cost?

Published entry pricing is about one thousand US dollars per month; growth and enterprise tiers are quoted.

Very Good Security: Is it only for card data?

No. The proxy handles any sensitive field, including bank details, national identifiers and documents, though payments is where the product is now focused.

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