Stripe Billing can't meter your AI tokens in real time. Lemon Squeezy and Paddle take 5-7%. Kelviq does both at 2.9%.

Payments + usage billing + tax + checkout UI in one system, explicitly built for SaaS and AI companies. The merchant-of-record angle is the key piece: Kelviq becomes the legal seller of record, takes on global VAT/GST liability in 135 countries, manages thresholds, fights chargebacks. You ship invoices to one entity; the rest of the world's tax authorities are their problem.

The real differentiator is the AI-native metering layer. Track every token, API call, compute unit, or active user in real time, zero processing lag. Stripe Billing can't do this without custom code; Lemon Squeezy and Paddle don't go that deep. For agentic products with per-call pricing — this is the missing piece.

Pricing surprise: 2.9% + 40¢ up to $5K volume, 3.5% + 40¢ after. The MoR category ran on "we save you from tax hell, please pay 5-7%." Kelviq breaks that math.

The 2026 question: does Stripe match feature parity, or does this lower-priced MoR category eat the segment?

https://www.kelviq.com/