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Accounting · head to head

Lemon Squeezy vs Medius

Lemon Squeezy logo

Lemon Squeezy

Accounting

Merchant of record for digital products, so the platform is the legal seller and carries the sales tax registrations

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Medius logo

Medius

Accounting

Accounts payable automation and supplier payments for mid-market finance teams, Marlin Equity owned

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Lemon Squeezy the fee is a percentage of revenue and sits well above a direct card gateway's rate, so a business that grows past the point where it could afford its own tax filings is paying an escalating charge for a service whose cost to the provider does not scale the same way.; Medius the sourcing, contract and procurement modules are considerably less developed than the AP core, so buying Medius as a full source-to-pay suite means accepting weak upstream tooling.
  • They diverge on capability: Lemon Squeezy covers Merchant of record, Medius covers Invoice capture and coding.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Lemon Squeezy and Medius actually diverge.

Attributes where Lemon Squeezy and Medius differ
AttributeLemon SqueezyMedius
Pricing modeltransactionquote
PlatformsWebWeb, iOS, Android

Identical on both: starting price (On request), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Accounting).

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 Lemon Squeezy

  • Merchant of record
  • Global tax handling
  • Hosted checkout
  • Subscriptions
  • Licence keys
  • Digital file delivery
  • Affiliate programme
  • Discount codes

Only in Medius

  • Invoice capture and coding
  • Matching and exception handling
  • Fraud and anomaly detection
  • Supplier payments
  • Approval workflow
  • ERP integration

What people use each for

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

Lemon Squeezy

  • A solo developer selling a desktop app to buyers in dozens of countries who cannot justify VAT registration and quarterly filings in the EU and the UKnot Medius
  • A small SaaS product whose founders want to launch paid plans this month rather than wait on a tax adviser and a sales tax nexus studynot Medius
  • A studio selling templates, plugins or courses as one off downloads that need licence keys and file delivery alongside the paymentnot Medius
  • An existing product moving off a gateway because US state digital goods thresholds have started to trip and nobody wants to file in twenty statesnot Medius

Medius

  • A mid-market finance team where most spend arrives as an invoice with no purchase order to match againstnot Lemon Squeezy
  • A group with several legal entities on different ERPs that wants one AP process across all of themnot Lemon Squeezy
  • Reducing invoice fraud exposure with automated detection of supplier bank detail changesnot Lemon Squeezy
  • Replacing a scanning bureau and a shared AP inbox with automated capture and exception-based reviewnot Lemon Squeezy

Where each one falls short

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

Lemon Squeezy

  • The fee is a percentage of revenue and sits well above a direct card gateway's rate, so a business that grows past the point where it could afford its own tax filings is paying an escalating charge for a service whose cost to the provider does not scale the same way.
  • Because Lemon Squeezy is the merchant of record, its name appears on the card statement and the invoice, which causes support tickets from buyers who do not recognise the charge and creates friction with corporate purchasers whose finance team wants to see the supplier they signed with.
  • It is a billing platform rather than accounting software, so you still need a ledger, and the mapping from gross sales to net payout across tax withheld, platform fees, refunds and the payout timing gap is a reconciliation your bookkeeper has to build and maintain every month.
  • Payout destinations are limited by country and are made on a schedule rather than on demand, so a business in a market outside the supported list, or one that needs funds the same week, has a working capital problem the platform will not solve.
  • Onboarding is subject to acceptance and the platform restricts what may be sold, so a product that drifts into a restricted category, or a merchant flagged during review, can find sales stopped with the platform holding the balance and limited recourse.

Medius

  • The sourcing, contract and procurement modules are considerably less developed than the AP core, so buying Medius as a full source-to-pay suite means accepting weak upstream tooling.
  • Pricing is quote-only and driven by invoice volume, so a business with many low-value invoices pays disproportionately relative to the spend being controlled.
  • Payments are billed on transaction volume separately from the AP subscription, which is easy to omit from a cost comparison against a licence-only AP tool.
  • Private equity ownership since 2017 has produced an acquisition-driven product line, so payments and adjacent capability come from bought-in technology rather than the original platform.
  • ERP integration depth varies sharply by system, and organisations on less common or heavily customised ERPs face integration work that lengthens the implementation.

Pricing, plan by plan

Lemon Squeezy

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Lemon Squeezy review.

Medius

On request
  • Medius AP Automation$undefined/year
    • Two packaged AP automation tiers
    • Priced by invoice volume and entity count
    • Sourcing, contracts and procurement modules sold separately

Which should you pick?

Choose Lemon Squeezy if

  • You need merchant of record.
  • You also want global tax handling.
Lemon Squeezy review

Choose Medius if

  • You need invoice capture and coding.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want matching and exception handling.
Medius review

Questions people ask

Is Lemon Squeezy or Medius better?
Neither clearly leads. Lemon Squeezy starts at On request and Medius at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Lemon Squeezy or Medius?
Lemon Squeezy starts at On request and Medius at On request.
Does Lemon Squeezy or Medius run on more platforms?
Lemon Squeezy runs on Web. Medius runs on Web, iOS, Android.
What is Lemon Squeezy best used for?
Lemon Squeezy is most often used for a solo developer selling a desktop app to buyers in dozens of countries who cannot justify vat registration and quarterly filings in the eu and the uk, a small saas product whose founders want to launch paid plans this month rather than wait on a tax adviser and a sales tax nexus study, a studio selling templates, plugins or courses as one off downloads that need licence keys and file delivery alongside the payment, an existing product moving off a gateway because us state digital goods thresholds have started to trip and nobody wants to file in twenty states. Of those, a solo developer selling a desktop app to buyers in dozens of countries who cannot justify vat registration and quarterly filings in the eu and the uk and a small saas product whose founders want to launch paid plans this month rather than wait on a tax adviser and a sales tax nexus study are not what Medius is typically brought in for.
What can Lemon Squeezy do that Medius cannot?
Lemon Squeezy covers Merchant of record, Global tax handling, Hosted checkout, Subscriptions. Medius covers Invoice capture and coding, Matching and exception handling, Fraud and anomaly detection, Supplier payments.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Lemon Squeezy: Does using Lemon Squeezy mean I never have to register for VAT?

It means you do not have to register in the buyer's country for those digital sales, because Lemon Squeezy is the seller there. You still have your own home country obligations on the income you receive, and your accountant treats the payouts as your revenue less a cost of sale.

Medius: Is Medius a procurement suite or an AP tool?

Primarily an AP automation platform with procurement modules attached. If sourcing is your main requirement, look elsewhere.

Lemon Squeezy: How is this different from using Stripe directly?

Stripe is a payment processor, so you remain the seller and the tax obligations are yours. Stripe Tax will calculate rates but does not register or file for you. Lemon Squeezy takes the seller position and the filings, which is why it costs more.

Medius: Who owns Medius?

Marlin Equity Partners, which acquired it in 2017 and has funded several bolt-on acquisitions since.

Lemon Squeezy: Stripe acquired Lemon Squeezy. Does the product still exist?

Yes, it continued to operate as a distinct product after the 2024 acquisition. As with any acquired product, treat long term roadmap commitments cautiously and keep your customer and subscription data exportable.

Medius: How is it priced?

By quote, driven by invoice volume and entity count, with payments billed separately on transaction volume.

Lemon Squeezy: Can I sell physical goods through it?

No. It is built for digital products, software, subscriptions and downloads. Physical fulfilment and the different tax treatment that comes with it are out of scope.

Medius: Does it replace our ERP?

No. It sits alongside the ERP and posts approved invoices into it.

Lemon Squeezy: What happens to my subscriptions if I want to leave?

Card details are held by the merchant of record, not by you, so moving subscribers to another platform generally means asking existing customers to re-enter payment details rather than migrating tokens. Plan for churn at the switch.

Lemon Squeezy: Will my accountant be able to work with the reports?

The payout statements break out gross, tax, fees and refunds, which is enough for a competent bookkeeper. There is no direct posting into a general ledger, so expect a manual or scripted journal each month.

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