# Crater vs Paddle

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** Paddle

| Attribute | Crater | Paddle |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 49.5 (75% (high)) | 54.9 (62% (medium)) |
| adoption.github_stars | 8,351 | - |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"Open-source web and mobile app that helps track expenses, payments, and create professional invoices and estimates. It is indexed under Billing & Invoicing Software.","source":"https://craterapp.com/","question":"What is Crater?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Crater is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the AGPL-3.0 licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://craterapp.com/","question":"Is Crater free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Crater supports the web, iOS and Android. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://craterapp.com/","question":"What platforms does Crater support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Crater can be deployed self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://craterapp.com/","question":"Can Crater be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 3 integrations for Crater, including Plaid, QuickBooks and Xero. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://craterapp.com/","question":"What does Crater integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2 for Crater. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Crater not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://craterapp.com/","question":"What security certifications does Crater have?","confidence":0.48},{"answer":"Yes. Crater is published under the AGPL-3.0 licence, a copyleft licence, so check its terms before embedding it in a closed-source product. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/crater-invoice/crater","question":"Is Crater open source?","confidence":0.95}]` | `[{"answer":"Paddle processes payments and manages subscriptions for software and app companies that sell across multiple countries. It automatically handles tax collection and remittance, recovers failed payments, and provides revenue analytics. It is indexed under Billing & Invoicing Software.","source":"https://www.paddle.com/blog/saas-pricing-models-strategies-fltr","question":"What is Paddle?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Paddle is sold across 2 plans: Pay-as-you-go and Custom pricing. We have not confirmed a published price for every tier. There is no free tier. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://www.paddle.com","question":"How much does Paddle cost?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed browser-based access to Paddle. That is the extent of what we could verify from public sources, so it may well offer desktop or mobile clients we have not indexed.","source":"https://www.paddle.com/blog/saas-pricing-models-strategies-fltr","question":"What platforms does Paddle support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have only confirmed a cloud / SaaS deployment for Paddle, so it appears to be vendor-hosted. If a self-hosted option exists we have not found it documented publicly.","source":"https://www.paddle.com/blog/saas-pricing-models-strategies-fltr","question":"Can Paddle be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 3 integrations for Paddle, including Drift, HubSpot and Intercom. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://www.paddle.com/blog/saas-pricing-models-strategies-fltr","question":"What does Paddle integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2 and GDPR for Paddle. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Paddle not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://www.paddle.com/billing/tax-and-compliance","question":"What security certifications does Paddle have?","confidence":0.7}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true}` |
| description.long | Open-source web and mobile app that helps track expenses, payments, and create professional invoices and estimates. | A comprehensive payment and billing service for digital product companies that handles transactions, subscriptions, sales tax compliance, and regulatory requirements across 300+ markets, eliminating the need for separate payment processors and tax administration infrastructure. |
| features.capabilities | `{"api_first":true,"invoicing":true,"self_hostable":true}` | `{"dunning":"smart","analytics":true,"api_first":true,"invoicing":true,"tax_handling":"native","self_hostable":false,"pricing_models":"Subscriptions, per-user, usage-based, and tiered billing","merchant_of_record":true,"subscription_billing":true}` |
| integrations.count | 3 | 3 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Plaid"},{"name":"QuickBooks"},{"name":"Xero"},{"name":"Stripe","native":true,"category":"payments","direction":"outbound"}]` | `[{"name":"Drift"},{"name":"HubSpot"},{"name":"Intercom"}]` |
| language.primary | PHP | - |
| license.spdx | AGPL-3.0 | - |
| market.availability | - | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"ios":true,"web":true,"android":true}` | `{"ios":true,"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Open Source","features":["Expense tracking","Payment tracking","Invoice creation","Estimate creation"],"description":"Self-hosted open-source invoicing solution","contactSales":false}],"summary":"Free, open-source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://craterapp.com/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-13T20:46:46.690Z"}` | `{"type":"usage","plans":[{"free":false,"name":"Pay-as-you-go","summary":"5% + 50¢ per checkout transaction","features":["Checkout and payment processing","Subscription management and recurring billing","Sales tax and VAT compliance across jurisdictions","Fraud protection and chargeback management","Financial and management reporting","Customer support and billing assistance","Migration service for subscribers"],"components":[{"of":"transaction","kind":"percentage","plus":{"amount":0.5,"currency":"USD"},"rate":5}],"contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Custom pricing","features":["Flexible pricing for high-volume or low-value transactions","Dedicated customer success team","Premium implementation services"],"contactSales":true}],"addOns":[{"name":"Premium Advisory"},{"name":"Invoicing"},{"name":"Implementation service"}],"summary":"5% + 50¢ per transaction with no monthly fees or hidden costs. Custom pricing available for large-volume businesses.","currency":"USD","freeTier":false,"sourceUrl":"https://www.paddle.com/pricing","retrievedAt":"2026-10-07T13:49:51.129Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | no |
| pricing.model | open_source | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | free | unknown |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 2 | - |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/6.0.6","date":"2022-03-06T07:25:43Z","type":"stable","version":"6.0.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/6.0.5","date":"2022-03-03T14:47:32Z","type":"stable","version":"6.0.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/6.0.4","date":"2022-02-17T08:37:19Z","type":"stable","version":"6.0.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/6.0.3","date":"2022-02-16T07:25:57Z","type":"stable","version":"6.0.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/6.0.2","date":"2022-01-13T14:18:05Z","type":"stable","version":"6.0.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/6.0.1","date":"2022-01-12T15:41:21Z","type":"stable","version":"6.0.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/6.0.0","date":"2022-01-11T11:22:27Z","type":"stable","version":"6.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/5.0.6","date":"2021-12-10T12:33:51Z","type":"stable","version":"5.0.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/5.0.5","date":"2021-12-09T08:16:43Z","type":"stable","version":"5.0.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/5.0.4","date":"2021-12-06T14:46:19Z","type":"stable","version":"5.0.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/5.0.3","date":"2021-12-03T15:58:23Z","type":"stable","version":"5.0.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/5.0.2","date":"2021-12-02T14:06:52Z","type":"stable","version":"5.0.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/5.0.1","date":"2021-12-01T15:44:53Z","type":"stable","version":"5.0.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/5.0.0","date":"2021-11-30T13:33:23Z","type":"stable","version":"5.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/4.2.0","date":"2021-06-24T08:57:19Z","type":"stable","version":"4.2.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/4.1.0","date":"2021-05-06T09:01:16Z","type":"stable","version":"4.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/4.0.4","date":"2021-01-22T09:21:03Z","type":"stable","version":"4.0.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/4.0.3","date":"2020-12-31T10:26:25Z","type":"stable","version":"4.0.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/4.0.2","date":"2020-12-23T06:51:39Z","type":"stable","version":"4.0.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/4.0.1","date":"2020-12-09T09:21:39Z","type":"stable","version":"4.0.1"}]` | - |
| reliability.status_page | yes | yes |
| security.certifications | - | `[{"name":"SOC 2 Type II","level":"Type II","status":"active"},{"name":"PCI DSS","level":"SAQ A","status":"active"}]` |
| security.disclosure_policy | - | yes |
| security.gdpr | - | yes |
| security.pci | - | yes |
| security.soc2 | yes | yes |
| security.trust_center | - | https://www.paddle.com/billing/tax-and-compliance |

## Capabilities (Billing & Invoicing Software)

| Capability | Crater | Paddle |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Subscription billing | - | ✓ |
| Usage metering | - | - |
| Pricing models | - | Subscriptions, per-user, usage-based, and tiered billing |
| Invoicing & AR | ✓ | ✓ |
| Catalog management | - | - |
| **Commerce** |  |  |
| Merchant of record | - | ✓ |
| **Finance** |  |  |
| Revenue recognition | - | - |
| Tax handling | - | Native |
| **Collections** |  |  |
| Dunning | - | Smart |
| **Integrations** |  |  |
| GL / ERP sync | - | - |
| **Ecosystem** |  |  |
| API-first / developer-first | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Self-hostable | ✓ | ✗ |
| **Insight** |  |  |
| Revenue analytics | - | ✓ |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T22:11:58.701Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*