External Payment Systems for Digital Products

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External Payment Systems for Digital Products

When you're selling digital products, choosing how to accept payments is one of the most important decisions you'll make. While built-in payment systems are convenient, external payment tools give you more control, flexibility, and customization—especially as your business grows.

This chapter focuses on external payment solutions like Stripe, PayPal, and LemonSqueezy. These tools are especially useful if you want better checkout experiences, international support, automated billing, or advanced integrations.

Popular External Payment Systems

1/ Stripe

Stripe is one of the most flexible and scalable payment platforms on the market. It’s widely used by startups and large tech companies alike—and it’s perfect for digital product businesses that want more control over their checkout and invoicing systems.

Best for: Businesses that need flexibility, automation, and full control

Key Features:

  • Custom-branded checkout experience
  • Global payments in 135+ currencies
  • Integration with tools like Zapier, Notion, Framer, Webflow, and more
  • Smart features for recurring billing, tax automation, and fraud prevention

Pricing:

  • 2.9% + 30¢ per successful transaction (standard rate)
  • Extra fees for international payments and currency conversions

👉 Stripe Pricing

2/ PayPal

PayPal is a global payment platform trusted by millions of buyers. It’s a good option to offer alongside Stripe—because many people feel more comfortable using PayPal, especially for smaller purchases.

Best for: Customers who prefer PayPal and global payments

Key Features:

  • Easy setup and fast onboarding
  • Popular with global buyers for its buyer protection
  • Accepts credit/debit cards, PayPal balance, and bank transfers
  • Integrates with most e-commerce and website tools

Pricing:

  • 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction (standard rate)
  • Extra fees apply for international payments

👉 PayPal Fees

3/ LemonSqueezy

LemonSqueezy is a payment platform built for digital creators. It handles everything from checkout to email receipts to product delivery. If you want a plug-and-play solution with built-in features like VAT handling or software licensing—this might be the easiest option.

Best for: Solo creators and digital sellers who want an all-in-one solution

Key Features:

  • Designed for selling digital products
  • Includes email marketing and lead capture
  • Built-in tax/VAT management and receipts
  • Subscription billing and automated delivery included

Pricing:

  • 5% + 50¢ per transaction
  • Additional fees for extra services may apply

👉 LemonSqueezy Pricing

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Tip: At Entrepedia, we use Stripe as our main payment processor. What’s great is that you can also connect PayPal into your Stripe dashboard—so you can manage both from one place.

👉 How to Connect PayPal to Stripe

Pros of Built-In Payment Systems

✅ More Flexibility and Branding

  • You can customize your checkout experience, offer better design, and match your branding perfectly.

✅ Advanced Features

  • From subscription billing and VAT handling to fraud detection and upsells—external tools are packed with smart features that support growth.

✅ Global Access

  • Easily accept payments from anywhere in the world in multiple currencies.

✅ Better Integrations

  • Connect your payment system to marketing, automation, analytics, CRMs, and more. Most external systems have powerful APIs or integrations with tools like Zapier.

Cons of External Payment Systems

❌ More complex to set up than built-in systems

❌ You’ll need to manually connect tools like checkout, product delivery, and automations

❌ Might require tech help or third-party tools depending on your stack

Should You Use an External Payment System?

It depends on your needs.

If you want something fast and easy, a built-in system may be fine at first. But if you’re serious about growing your business, offering subscriptions, using upsells, or automating delivery—external payment tools are the way to go.

Also, talk to your accountant. They can advise you on things like tax compliance, invoicing, and business reporting based on where you're registered.

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👉 Other external payment systems