Accounting · head to head
Lemon Squeezy vs Medius Expense
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
- -
Medius Expense
Accounting
Expense management, formerly Expensya, now the expense module of the Medius spend platform
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
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 Expense the Expensya name is being retired, so contracts, logins and support articles change identity mid-relationship and internal documentation has to be rewritten.
- They diverge on capability: Lemon Squeezy covers Merchant of record, Medius Expense covers Receipt OCR.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Lemon Squeezy and Medius Expense actually diverge.
| Attribute | Lemon Squeezy | Medius Expense |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | transaction | quote |
| Platforms | Web | Web, 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 Expense
- Receipt OCR
- Mileage and per diem
- VAT recovery
- Card reconciliation
- Approval workflows
- AP suite 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 Expense
- 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 Expense
- A studio selling templates, plugins or courses as one off downloads that need licence keys and file delivery alongside the paymentnot Medius Expense
- 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 Expense
Medius Expense
- A French or Spanish employer needing VAT-compliant receipt capture in local formats and languagesnot Lemon Squeezy
- A company already running Medius for supplier invoices that wants employee spend on the same platformnot Lemon Squeezy
- A finance team with heavy mileage claims needing statutory rates applied without spreadsheetsnot Lemon Squeezy
- A group consolidating several country expense tools into one European platformnot 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 Expense
- The Expensya name is being retired, so contracts, logins and support articles change identity mid-relationship and internal documentation has to be rewritten.
- It is now a module inside an accounts payable suite, so expense-specific roadmap items compete with supplier invoice work for engineering time.
- Pricing is not published and is discounted against bundling with Medius AP, which makes standalone expense quotes less competitive than they look.
- Strength is concentrated in Europe and the Maghreb; North American and Asian tax and mileage handling are thinner than the European coverage.
- It does not issue cards, so real-time spend controls are absent and it relies on card feed reconciliation after the fact.
Pricing, plan by plan
Lemon Squeezy
On requestNo published plan breakdown. See the Lemon Squeezy review.
Medius Expense
On request- Medius Expense$undefined/year
- Per-user subscription, quoted not published
- Tiering by feature set and entity count
- Implementation and OCR configuration fees
Which should you pick?
Choose Lemon Squeezy if
- You need merchant of record.
- You also want global tax handling.
Choose Medius Expense if
- You need receipt ocr.
- You work on Web, iOS, Android.
- You also want mileage and per diem.
Questions people ask
- Is Lemon Squeezy or Medius Expense better?
- Neither clearly leads. Lemon Squeezy starts at On request and Medius Expense 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 Expense?
- Lemon Squeezy starts at On request and Medius Expense at On request.
- Does Lemon Squeezy or Medius Expense run on more platforms?
- Lemon Squeezy runs on Web. Medius Expense 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 Expense is typically brought in for.
- What can Lemon Squeezy do that Medius Expense cannot?
- Lemon Squeezy covers Merchant of record, Global tax handling, Hosted checkout, Subscriptions. Medius Expense covers Receipt OCR, Mileage and per diem, VAT recovery, Card reconciliation.
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 Expense: Is Expensya still available?
Under that name, no. The product continues as Medius Expense, with the branding cutover on 30 September 2026 and no change to features or data.
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 Expense: Do I have to buy Medius AP as well?
No, but the commercial terms improve materially if you do, which is worth testing during negotiation.
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 Expense: Does it issue corporate cards?
No. It reconciles existing card feeds rather than issuing its own cards.
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.
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.
Related pages
More on Lemon Squeezy
More on Medius Expense
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