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Accounting · head to head

Paddle vs Very Good Security

Paddle logo

Paddle

Accounting

The complete payments infrastructure for SaaS

From
$5/percent_plus_transaction
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
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
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Paddle paddle charges 5% plus 50 cents on every checkout transaction, which is well above a bare payment processor rate; 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: Paddle covers Payment 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 Paddle and Very Good Security actually diverge.

Attributes where Paddle and Very Good Security differ
AttributePaddleVery Good Security
Starting price$5/percent_plus_transaction$1000/month
Pricing modeltransactionPer month
CategoryAccountingCybersecurity
Founded2012Unknown

Identical on both: free tier (No), platforms (Web, Api), 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 Paddle

  • Payment processing
  • Sales tax handling
  • Subscription management
  • Checkout
  • Revenue metrics
  • Stripe
  • PayPal
  • Various

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.

Paddle

  • Selling SaaS or digital products with a merchant of record handling taxnot Very Good Security
  • Global subscription billing and checkoutnot Very Good Security
  • Offloading sales tax and VAT compliance for cross border 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 Paddle
  • A merchant negotiating with a second acquirer that needs card credentials portable so the negotiation is real rather than theoreticalnot Paddle
  • A fintech collecting bank account and identity documents that wants sensitive fields absent from logs, backups and analytics warehouses by constructionnot Paddle
  • A card issuer that must display a full PAN in its own mobile app without the app or its backend touching cardholder datanot Paddle

Where each one falls short

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

Paddle

  • Paddle charges 5% plus 50 cents on every checkout transaction, which is well above a bare payment processor rate
  • The 50 cent fixed component falls heavily on low value sales, and products under $10 require custom pricing agreed with sales
  • Invoicing is not covered by the published rate and requires custom pricing
  • As a merchant of record Paddle sits between the seller and the customer, so payouts and tax handling run through Paddle rather than the seller's own processor

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

Paddle

$5/percent_plus_transaction
  • Pay-as-you-go$5/percent_plus_transaction
    • 5% + 50¢ per checkout transaction
    • Global payments and billing unified in one platform
    • Cross-border sales tax compliance
  • Custom Pricing$null/contact
    • All pay-as-you-go features
    • Custom pricing tailored to business model
    • Optional premium services access

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 Paddle if

  • You need payment processing.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want sales tax handling.
Paddle review

Choose Very Good Security if

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

Questions people ask

Is Paddle or Very Good Security better?
Neither clearly leads. Paddle starts at $5/percent_plus_transaction 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, Paddle or Very Good Security?
Paddle starts at $5/percent_plus_transaction and Very Good Security at $1000/month.
Does Paddle or Very Good Security run on more platforms?
Paddle runs on Web, Api. Very Good Security runs on Web, API.
What is Paddle best used for?
Paddle is most often used for selling saas or digital products with a merchant of record handling tax, global subscription billing and checkout, offloading sales tax and vat compliance for cross border sales. Of those, selling saas or digital products with a merchant of record handling tax and global subscription billing and checkout are not what Very Good Security is typically brought in for.
What can Paddle do that Very Good Security cannot?
Paddle covers Payment processing, Sales tax handling, Subscription management, Checkout. Very Good Security covers Aliasing proxy, PCI scope reduction, Network tokenisation, Processor optionality.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Paddle: How much does Paddle charge per transaction?

Paddle charges 5% plus 50 cents per checkout transaction on their pay-as-you-go plan. Custom pricing is available for products under $10 or those requiring invoicing.

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.

Paddle: Are there hidden fees with Paddle?

No. Paddle emphasizes all-in-one pricing with no hidden costs, migration fees, or monthly fees. The stated 5% plus 50¢ rate covers payments, billing, tax compliance, fraud protection, and support.

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.

Paddle: Does Paddle offer custom pricing?

Yes. Paddle offers custom pricing arrangements for businesses with specific needs. Customers can contact Paddle directly to discuss custom pricing tailored to their business model.

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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