You can take payments in a Chrome extension without building a backend in two ways. Services built for extensions, such as ExtensionPay, Toolaby and crxbase, charge buyers on your own Stripe account and give your extension a client that checks who paid. Stores that sell licence keys as the merchant of record, such as Gumroad and Lemon Squeezy, collect and pay sales tax for you, but leave device limits and the checks inside the extension to you. Paddle is a merchant of record too, but it no longer issues licence keys, so it needs a server of your own, as Stripe alone does.
Every fact below about another product is from its own site or docs, read on 20 October 2026, and linked under Sources. Prices change: check them before you decide.
At a glance
| Fee | Where the money goes | Sales tax | Your own server | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toolaby | 0.5% of a sale, or $25 a month per workspace with no fee | Your Stripe account | Yours to account for | No |
| ExtensionPay | 5% of each charge, no monthly fee | Your Stripe account | Yours; Stripe Tax can be switched on | No |
| crxbase | 5% of each transaction | Your Stripe account | Yours | No |
| Gumroad | 10% + 50¢ a sale, plus card processing | Gumroad, the merchant of record | Gumroad collects and pays it | No; device limits are yours to build |
| Lemon Squeezy | 5% + 50¢ a transaction, plus extras | Lemon Squeezy, the merchant of record | Lemon Squeezy collects and pays it | No; the checks are yours to write |
| Paddle | 5% + 50¢ a checkout transaction | Paddle, the merchant of record | Paddle collects and pays it | Yes: licences are yours to build |
| Your own Stripe backend | Stripe's fee only | Your Stripe account | Yours; Stripe Tax is 0.5% | Yes |
Stripe's own processing fee comes off every sale made on your Stripe account, whichever service sits on top: in the US, 2.9% + 30¢ for a domestic card, and 0.7% more on subscription payments with Stripe Billing.
How the extension checks who paid
| The check in your code | Sign-in on a second device | Free trials | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toolaby | toolaby.gate() before the paid action, toolaby.getUser() for paid, the plan and the subscription. A token signed for the device, verified on it, so most checks make no request. | Email link or Google, or a licence key, with a device limit per plan | Free uses, a plan's trial, or a trial with no card |
| ExtensionPay | extpay.getUser(), then user.paid. Its README says each call makes a network request. | An email login link | An email link starts it; your code ends it |
| crxbase | client.getUser(), then user.paid, and hasTierAccess() for a tier | A one-time code by email | 7, 14 or 30 days with no card |
| Gumroad | A licence key sent to api.gumroad.com/v2/licenses/verify. A key stays enabled after its subscription ends until you disable it. | The same key, on as many devices as your code allows | On memberships: a week or a month |
| Lemon Squeezy | A licence key activated and validated through its License API, with an activation limit per key | The same key, up to the activation limit | Supported |
| Paddle | Your own: a webhook handler grants access | Your own | Supported, with or without a card |
| Your own Stripe backend | Your own server's answer | Your own | Stripe Billing's trials |
The services built for extensions
Toolaby
A hosted platform for Chrome extensions on your own Stripe account. On Hobby it takes 0.5% of a sale, at least one cent; on Pro it is $25 a month per workspace with no fee, which costs less from $5,000 of sales a month. It sells one payment, monthly and yearly subscriptions, paid features by plan, team seats and bundles of extensions, with a device limit per plan. Analytics, from active installs to why people uninstall, is counted from the check-in its client already makes. An MCP server lets Claude Code, Cursor and other coding agents set it up. An extension on ExtensionPay can move with its subscribers and their cards. It works with Manifest V3 Chrome extensions; Firefox is not supported yet. See Plans.
ExtensionPay
An open-source library and service for browser extensions, made by Glen Chiacchieri after Google ended Chrome Web Store payments. It takes 5% at the time of each charge, with no monthly fee, and offers lower fees or flat monthly rates for high-volume accounts on request. It sells monthly, quarterly, yearly and one-time plans, supports Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera and Brave, and signs users in on other browsers by email, with no licence keys. Its onPaid event needs a content script on extensionpay.com, which its README says adds a permission warning at install. See Toolaby and ExtensionPay compared.
crxbase
Hosted billing for browser extensions, launched in July 2026 by crxbase LLC. Its free plan takes 5% of each transaction; a $19.90 a month plan with a lower fee is listed as coming soon. It sells monthly, yearly and one-time prices, signs users in with a one-time code by email, and shows MRR, users, paying customers and trials in its dashboard. Its docs say it works with any framework, naming WXT, Plasmo and plain Manifest V3.
Others built the same way
BrowserBill and Addon Pay each take 5% of a transaction on your own Stripe account. crxpay is free up to $2,500 of tracked revenue, then takes 2.5%.
The stores that sell licence keys
Gumroad
A store and checkout for digital products, and the merchant of record: since 1 January 2025 it collects and pays sales tax worldwide. It takes 10% + 50¢ of each sale through your profile or a direct link, 5% + 50¢ once a month's direct sales pass $20,000, and card processing comes on top. Licence keys are checked with one request that can be made from the browser, but Gumroad leaves enforcement to you: how many devices a key may run on, and whether a subscription that ended still unlocks.
Lemon Squeezy
A merchant-of-record store, owned by Stripe since 2024, which said in January 2026 that it is building Stripe Managed Payments and will help its users move to it. It takes 5% + 50¢ a transaction, plus 1.5% for buyers outside the US, 1.5% for PayPal and 0.5% for subscription payments. Its License API activates and validates keys, with an activation limit per key, and ties each key to its subscription.
Paddle
A merchant of record for software, at 5% + 50¢ a checkout transaction. Paddle Billing no longer generates licence keys: its docs say your webhook handler grants access, so an extension sold through Paddle needs a server of your own.
Your own Stripe backend
Stripe alone has the lowest fee and the most work. You build the checkout, the webhooks, a server that records who paid, an answer the extension can trust offline, sign-in on a second device, trials and refunds. See Build or buy payments for a Chrome extension.
Which fits
- You want a low fee without running a server: Toolaby, at 0.5% of a sale on Hobby, or a flat $25 a month per workspace with no fee.
- You want sales tax handled for you: a merchant of record, Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy or Paddle, at a higher fee, with the checks and device limits in your hands.
- You sell on Firefox as well as Chrome today: ExtensionPay supports both.
- You already run a backend with accounts: Stripe alone.
For the questions to ask of any of them, see What to look for in a payments platform.
Common questions
What is the cheapest way to take payments in a Chrome extension?
Stripe alone, if you count only fees, since you pay only Stripe's. Among services that need no server, Toolaby takes 0.5% of a sale on Hobby, or nothing on Pro for $25 a month per workspace; crxpay takes nothing up to $2,500 of tracked revenue, then 2.5%; the others listed here take 5% or more.
Can I keep payments in my own Stripe account?
Yes, with Toolaby, ExtensionPay, crxbase and the others built for extensions, and with a backend of your own. Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy and Paddle sell to your buyers themselves and pay you out.
Can I switch later?
From ExtensionPay to Toolaby, yes, with the subscribers and their cards: see Move from ExtensionPay. From another Stripe account: see Move subscriptions from another Stripe account.
Sources
Read on 20 October 2026.
- ExtensionPay: extensionpay.com, the ExtPay README and its changelog.
- crxbase: crxbase.com, its Stripe setup, trials and library methods.
- Gumroad: pricing, fees, licence keys and memberships.
- Lemon Squeezy: pricing, fees, the License API and its 2026 update.
- Paddle: pricing, and its digital products and migration docs.
- BrowserBill: browserbill.com. Addon Pay: addonpay.com. crxpay: pricing.
- Stripe: US pricing.