Figma plugin monetization: Payment platforms compared

Selling a Figma plugin is not only about choosing a checkout.

The payment platform affects how much revenue you keep, who handles sales tax, whether you can offer subscriptions, and how a successful payment turns into access inside the plugin.

This guide compares the main payment options for Figma plugin developers:

• Figma Payments
• Gumroad
• Lemon Squeezy
• Kelviq
• Direct Stripe integration

Figma allows plugin developers to sell through its Community payment system or use a third-party payment site. Its native system is convenient because checkout stays inside Figma, and Figma handles payment processing, tax collection, purchase support, refunds, and delivery.

The tradeoff is the fee.

Figma currently charges a flat 15% on Community sales. A plugin making $10,000 per month would pay $1,500 in platform fees.

By comparison, Gumroad charges 10% + 50¢ for direct sales, Lemon Squeezy starts at 5% + 50¢, and Kelviq charges 3.5% + 40¢.

Moving to an external payment platform can reduce the fee. It also changes who handles subscriptions, licenses, taxes, and plugin access.

There is another limitation worth noting.

Figma Payments are not available to creators in every country. If your country is not on Figma’s supported payout list, an external checkout may be the only practical way to sell your plugin.

The real decision is not only which platform charges less.

It is what each platform handles after the customer pays.

Figma gives plugin developers two ways to charge

A paid Figma plugin can use Figma’s native payment system or send the customer to a third-party checkout.

With native Figma Payments, the flow looks like this:

  Open plugin
→ Start trial
→ Pay inside Figma
→ Figma records the payment
→ Plugin checks payment status

With an external payment platform, the flow is slightly different:

  Open plugin
→ Sign in or enter a license
→ Open external checkout
→ Confirm the payment
→ Grant access
→ Plugin checks access

Figma supports both approaches. When a Community resource uses a third-party platform, the customer is redirected outside Figma to complete the purchase. Figma does not provide purchase or refund support for those external transactions.

The native system keeps the first version small.

The external system gives the developer more control.

Figma Payments are not available in every country

Figma publishes a specific list of countries where creator payouts are supported.

The list includes countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, and several European and Latin American countries.

It does not currently include several large developer markets, including India, Brazil, Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.

This creates two separate problems.

The creator may not be able to receive payouts

If your country is not on Figma’s supported list, you cannot use its native Community payment system to receive plugin revenue.

You will need an external payment platform that supports your business and payout country.

Some customers may not be able to pay

Figma currently says that Community purchases cannot be completed using Indian or Russian-based credit cards.

This means a plugin may be visible and usable in a country while Figma’s native checkout is not available to customers there.

For these developers, external payments are not only about lowering fees.

They are part of making the product available at all.

Figma’s 15% fee includes more than payment processing

It is easy to compare Figma’s 15% fee with Stripe’s 2.9% and conclude that Figma is expensive.

That comparison leaves out much of what Figma is doing.

Figma’s fee includes:

• Card payment processing
• Creator payouts
• Purchase support
• Refund management
• Sales-tax collection and remittance
• Delivery of the paid resource
• Fraud and abuse monitoring

Figma also connects the payment directly to the buyer’s Figma account.

The plugin can check whether the current user has paid without building a separate customer account, license database, or access service.

For a new plugin making its first sales, that can be worth 15%.

The tradeoff changes as the plugin grows.

Native Figma monetization has a fixed shape

Figma plugins can be sold through:

• A one-time payment
• A monthly subscription

The minimum price is $2, and prices must be set as whole numbers in US dollars.

Subscription plugins receive a seven-day free trial by default. Creators can also offer a yearly subscription discount.

Figma’s Payments API allows a plugin to:

• Read the current user’s payment status
• Start the native checkout
• Create a time-based free trial
• Create a usage-based free trial

For a simple plugin, this may be enough.

Imagine a background-removal plugin:

  Free trial
* Remove five backgrounds
Paid
* Unlimited background removal

The plugin checks whether the current user is unpaid, in a trial, or paid.

Figma’s Payments API returns those three broad states:

  UNPAID
TRIAL
PAID

The model becomes harder when payment status is no longer enough.

Payment status and product access are different

Suppose a plugin has three plans:

  Free
* 5 exports per month
Pro
* Unlimited exports
* Premium formats
Team
* Everything in Pro
* 5 members
* Shared projects

Knowing that the customer has paid does not tell the plugin:

• Which plan they purchased
• Which features they can use
• How many seats they have
• How much usage remains
• Whether they purchased an add-on

A simple implementation might start like this:

  if (user.hasPaid) {
  enablePremiumFeatures();
}

That works while every paying customer receives the same access.

Then you add a Team plan.

One customer keeps an old Pro price. Another receives a custom export limit. A third purchases extra AI credits.

Now the plugin needs more than a paid or unpaid value.

It needs a billing system that can answer:

  Can this customer use premium export?
How many AI generations remain?
How many team members can they add?

This is where the differences between payment platforms become more important.

Native purchases belong to one Figma account

Figma’s native payment model is designed around an individual buyer.

Paid resources can only be accessed from the account that purchased them. Purchases are not shared across connected accounts, and users cannot buy a paid resource for an entire team or organization.

Paid plugins must also be published from an approved individual Community account.

Figma does not support publishing paid resources from a team or organization profile. A resource can list several creators, but only one person can receive the payout. Split payouts are not supported.

This works well when one person buys and uses the plugin.

It becomes restrictive when the product needs:

• Team purchases
• Company billing
• Shared usage
• Seat management
• Procurement
• Custom contracts
• Revenue sharing between founders

Figma also makes sale proceeds available for withdrawal 30 US business days after the sale, with no more than one cash-out per week.

Figma plugin payment platforms compared

Pricing checked in July 2026.

These are base fees.

The final cost can change based on the customer’s country, payment method, currency, subscription type, payout method, and negotiated pricing.

For example, Lemon Squeezy currently adds 0.5% for subscription payments and 1.5% for international transactions. Kelviq adds 0.5% for recurring subscription charges and 1.5% for international cards.

Stripe’s published fee covers payment processing. It does not include the full cost of Merchant of Record services, tax filings, licensing, or plugin access.

Gumroad makes the first version easy

A common Gumroad setup looks like this:

  Create a Gumroad product
→ Add the checkout link to the plugin
→ Customer purchases
→ Gumroad issues a license key
→ Plugin validates the key

Gumroad charges 10% + 50¢ for sales made through the creator’s profile or direct links. It also acts as Merchant of Record and handles applicable sales-tax collection and remittance.

For a $20 plugin sale:

  10% of $20 = $2.00
Fixed fee   = $0.50
Total fee   = $2.50

Gumroad supports license keys that developers can verify through its API. It also supports multi-seat licenses for membership products. License enforcement, including deciding how many activations are allowed, remains the creator’s responsibility.

This can work well for a plugin with a simple structure:

  Free
Paid

It becomes more complicated when the product adds:

• Several paid plans
• Usage limits
• Credits
• Feature add-ons
• Customer-specific access
• Different access rules for teams

A valid license confirms that the customer bought the product.

It does not always explain everything the customer should be allowed to do.

Kelviq connects the sale to plugin access

Kelviq is a Merchant of Record for software, digital products, and AI applications.

It handles global payments, sales tax, VAT, GST, fraud, invoices, refunds, and disputes. It also includes subscription management, usage billing, license keys, and feature entitlements.

Kelviq’s standard comparison rate is 3.5% + 40¢ per transaction. Additional charges can apply for international cards and recurring subscriptions.

The main difference is what happens after checkout.

Imagine a plugin that sells these plans:

  Free
* 5 exports per month
* PNG only
Pro
* Unlimited exports
* SVG and PDF
* Commercial license
Team
* Everything in Pro
* 5 seats
* Shared projects

The plugin could hardcode those rules:

  if (customer.plan === "pro" || customer.plan === "team") {
  enableSvgExport();
}

This is quick to build.

It also ties the feature directly to the name of the plan.

If the pricing changes, the plugin code may need to change with it.

With entitlements, the plugin asks a smaller question:

  const access = await hasAccess(customerId, "svg-export");
if (access.granted) {
  enableSvgExport();
}

The plan still decides what the customer receives. The plugin no longer needs to know which plan granted it.

Kelviq lets plans contain reusable features, usage limits, seat limits, recurring pricing, one-time pricing, and license-key rules.

One-time plugin sales

A simple plugin can use a one-time plan.

The customer pays once, receives a license key, and unlocks permanent access.

  Buy lifetime access
→ Complete Kelviq checkout
→ Receive license key
→ Activate inside the plugin
→ Unlock paid features

There is no requirement to add subscriptions, credits, or usage billing.

The product can remain a simple lifetime purchase.

Plugin subscriptions

The same plugin can also offer monthly or yearly plans.

For example:

  Monthly Pro
* $12 per month
Yearly Pro
* $99 per year
Lifetime
* $249 once

Each plan can grant the same core features with different billing terms.

Or the yearly plan can include a higher usage limit, more devices, or commercial access.

Because plans and access are separate, a pricing change does not require adding more plan-name checks throughout the plugin.

Team plans

Figma does not currently support buying a native paid resource for an entire team or organization.

With an external billing and account system, the purchase can belong to a company or workspace.

  Team plan
* 5 seats
* Shared component library
* 2,000 exports per month
* Admin controls

The plugin still needs to identify the workspace and its members.

But the plan, seat limit, payment, and usage rules can remain in one billing system.

Credits and usage billing

Usage billing becomes useful when each plugin action creates a cost.

Imagine an AI plugin that generates interface illustrations.

  Pro
* 200 generations per month
Extra credits
* 100 generations for $10

Before running the generation, the plugin can check the customer’s remaining usage:

  const access = await checkAccess(
customerId,
"illustration-generation"
);
if (!access.allowed) {
  showTopUp();
  return;
}
await generateIllustration();
await reportUsage(customerId, "illustration-generation", 1);

Kelviq supports flat fees, subscriptions, credits, seats, usage limits, overages, pay-as-you-go billing, and combinations of these models.

A plugin can start with a lifetime license and add subscriptions or credits later without replacing its payment infrastructure.

Lemon Squeezy is built around software licensing

Lemon Squeezy is a Merchant of Record for software and digital products.

Its published base price is 5% + 50¢ per transaction. It handles sales-tax compliance and supports one-time payments, subscriptions, license keys, usage billing, and a hosted customer portal.

For a $20 purchase:

  5% of $20 = $1.00
Fixed fee  = $0.50
Total fee  = $1.50

That is the base fee.

Lemon Squeezy currently adds:

• 0.5% for subscription payments
• 1.5% for international transactions
• 1.5% for PayPal transactions
• Possible payout fees based on region and payout method

Its license-key system can tie a license to an order or subscription. When a subscription expires, the related license can expire with it.

Lemon Squeezy also supports usage-based subscriptions that bill customers in arrears based on reported usage.

This makes it a strong fit for a traditional software plugin with subscriptions and license keys.

The developer may still need to build a separate layer for more detailed feature entitlements, prepaid credits, or real-time usage checks before an expensive action runs.

Stripe gives you control and leaves more to build

Stripe’s standard US price for domestic card payments starts at 2.9% + 30¢.

International cards add 1.5%, and another 1% can apply when currency conversion is required. Pricing differs by seller country and payment method.

For a $20 US domestic-card payment:

  2.9% of $20 = $0.58
Fixed fee    = $0.30
Total fee    = $0.88

This is the lowest base fee in the comparison.

It is not the lowest complete monetization cost in every case.

With direct Stripe Payments, your company remains the seller. You may still need to manage:

• Tax registrations
• Tax calculation and filing
• Customer invoices
• Refund operations
• Disputes
• Subscription state
• Customer accounts
• License keys
• Feature access
• Usage balances

Stripe offers separate products for Billing, Tax, invoicing, and Merchant of Record services.

Stripe Managed Payments currently adds a 3.5% fee on top of standard payment-processing fees and includes indirect-tax compliance, remittance, fraud prevention, dispute management, invoicing, and customer support for supported transactions.

Direct Stripe works well when the plugin is part of an existing SaaS product that already has customer accounts, billing logic, tax operations, and an access system.

If the plugin is the whole product, collecting the payment is only the first part of the integration.

What each platform charges on a $20 sale

Here is the base-fee comparison for a $20 purchase:

This table does not mean Stripe is always the cheapest complete option.

It excludes tax operations, Merchant of Record coverage, subscription billing, licensing, and access management.

It also excludes additional international, subscription, currency-conversion, payout, and payment-method fees.

How much do payment fees cost a Figma plugin seller?

Suppose a plugin makes $10,000 per month.

Its average transaction is $20, which means it processes 500 transactions.

At this volume, the base-fee difference between Figma and Kelviq is approximately $950 per month.

Compared with Gumroad, the difference is approximately $700 per month.

Compared with Lemon Squeezy, the difference is approximately $200 per month.

Stripe’s base processing fee is around $110 lower than Kelviq in this example.

That difference does not include the cost of tax compliance, Merchant of Record services, subscription infrastructure, licensing, or feature access.

Average transaction value changes the result

Monthly revenue does not tell you the full payment cost.

The number of transactions also matters.

Consider two plugins making the same $10,000 per month.

Plugin A

  500 customers × $20 = $10,000

Plugin B

  100 customers × $100 = $10,000

Using Kelviq’s 3.5% + 40¢ fee:

  Plugin A
Percentage fee: $350
Fixed fees:     $200
Total:          $550

  Plugin B
Percentage fee: $350
Fixed fees:      $40
Total:          $390

Both plugins earn the same revenue.

The second pays less because it processes fewer transactions.

This is one reason a yearly subscription may have better payment economics than twelve small monthly charges.

It is also why a fee calculator should ask for both monthly revenue and average transaction value.

Usage-based trials are not usage-based billing

Figma’s Payments API supports usage-based free trials.

For example:

  Generate five icons for free
Then ask the user to pay

Figma can track how much of the free trial has been used and start its native checkout when the trial ends.

That is not usage-based billing.

A complete usage-billing model may look like this:

  Pro
* 200 generations per month
Top-up
* 100 extra generations for $10
Team
* 2,000 shared generations per month

This requires:

• A usage ledger
• Credit or quota balances
• Reset rules
• Top-ups
• Overage pricing
• Usage alerts
• Access checks before the action runs

Figma’s native Payments API provides payment and trial status. It does not provide this complete metered-billing system.

An external billing system is needed when the plugin’s price depends on how much the customer uses.

An external payment must still map to a Figma user

Figma’s native system already knows which Figma account purchased the plugin.

An external platform does not.

You need to connect:

  The customer who paid

to:

  The person currently using the plugin

There are three common ways to do that.

Customer accounts

The user signs in to your service from the plugin.

The purchase, subscription, and usage balance belong to that account.

This works well for:

• Subscriptions
• Multiple devices
• Team plans
• Usage balances
• Customer portals

License keys

The customer receives a key after purchasing and enters it inside the plugin.

This works well for:

• Lifetime purchases
• One-time payments
• Simple utilities
• Products without a full account system

The license should be validated against a trusted server.

Email login

The customer enters the email address used during checkout and receives a verification link or code.

This is often simpler than building a password system.

Whichever method you choose, the plugin should not rely only on a local value such as:

  const isPaid = true;

Plugin code and local storage run on the customer’s device.

A trusted backend should make the final access decision.

Team plans change who owns the purchase

A personal plugin has a simple relationship:

  Figma user
→ Purchase
→ Access

A team product needs something different:

  Company
→ Subscription
→ Workspace
→ Team members
→ Shared usage

A company may want:

• One invoice
• Several seats
• Central billing
• Shared credits
• Admin controls
• The ability to add or remove members

Figma’s native Community system does not currently support purchasing a paid resource for a team or organization.

An external account and billing system can make the company or workspace the customer instead of one individual Figma account.

You may not need this for the first version.

It becomes important when customers begin asking for team pricing.

When should you move away from Figma Payments?

Figma’s native system removes a lot of work.

Moving away from it should have a clear reason.

An external payment platform becomes worth considering when:

• Figma creator payouts are not available in your country.
• Important customers cannot use Figma’s native checkout.
• The 15% fee has become meaningful.
• Most buyers already come through your own audience.
• You need team or company purchases.
• You want one-time and recurring pricing options.
• You need several paid plans.
• You need license keys.
• You need customer-specific feature access.
• You need credits or top-ups.
• You want usage-based billing.
• You want regional pricing.
• You want the customer relationship to exist outside one Figma account.

A plugin making its first few sales may prefer Figma’s simplicity.

A plugin with steady revenue may care more about control and fees.

The change becomes worthwhile when the payment system starts limiting how the product can be sold.

Migrating is an access problem

Changing the checkout link is easy.

Keeping existing customers active is harder.

A Figma purchase cannot simply be moved into another platform as a new external subscription.

A practical migration usually looks like this:

Keep recognizing existing Figma purchases

Do not remove the native payment check immediately.

Customers who already paid should continue receiving the access they purchased.

Send new buyers to the external checkout

New customers can begin using the new payment platform while existing buyers remain on Figma access.

Map old purchases to new access rules

For example:

  Existing Figma one-time buyer
→ Permanent Pro access
Existing Figma subscriber
→ Pro access while native subscription remains active

Support both systems during the transition

The plugin may temporarily check:

  const hasAccess = hasNativeFigmaPurchase || hasExternalEntitlement;

This is not the clean final architecture.

It prevents existing customers from losing access during the move.

Test the full lifecycle

Do not test only a successful new purchase.

Test:

• New checkout
• License activation
• Subscription renewal
• Failed payment
• Cancellation
• Refund
• Upgrade
• Downgrade
• Team member added
• Team member removed
• Usage limit reached
• Credit top-up
• Customer changing Figma accounts

The first payment proves the checkout works.

The first cancellation usually tests much more of the billing system.

Which payment platform should you choose?

Choose Figma Payments when

• Your country is supported.
• Your customers can use Figma’s checkout.
• One-time or monthly pricing is enough.
• Access belongs to one Figma account.
• You want the smallest possible integration.
• The 15% fee is worth the convenience.

Choose Gumroad when

• You want to begin selling quickly.
• You need a simple storefront.
• Your plugin has one or two paid levels.
• License keys are enough for access.
• The higher fee is acceptable.

Choose Lemon Squeezy when

• You want a Merchant of Record.
• You need standard software licenses.
• You offer one-time payments or subscriptions.
• You want a hosted customer portal.
• You need usage billing charged in arrears.

Choose Kelviq when

• You need an external payment platform.
• You want a Merchant of Record.
• You sell one-time access, subscriptions, or both.
• Plans unlock different features or limits.
• You need team seats.
• You use credits or top-ups.
• You want usage-based billing.
• You want regional pricing.
• You want payments and product access in one system.

Choose Stripe when

• You already have customer accounts and a backend.
• Your company handles tax and finance operations.
• You want full control over checkout.
• You are prepared to build or connect licensing, subscriptions, and feature access.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Figma charge for paid plugins?

Figma charges a flat 15% on Community sales.

The fee includes payment processing, payouts, purchase support, refund management, tax collection and remittance, delivery, and fraud monitoring.

Can I sell a Figma plugin outside Figma?

Yes. Figma allows creators to sell Community resources through its payment platform or a third-party payment site.

Is Figma Payments available in every country?

No. Figma supports creator payouts only in the countries listed in its Help Center. Several large software markets are not currently included.

Can customers in India buy paid Figma plugins?

Figma currently says it cannot accept Community payments from Indian-based credit cards. An external checkout may offer other payment options, depending on the provider.

Does Figma support plugin subscriptions?

Yes. Figma supports monthly subscriptions for paid plugins, along with an optional yearly discount. Subscription plugins receive a seven-day trial by default.

Does Figma support usage-based billing?

Figma supports usage-based free trials.

It does not provide a complete native system for credits, top-ups, metered charges, or usage overages.

Can a company buy a plugin for its whole Figma team?

Not through Figma’s native Community payment system.

Figma says paid resources can only be accessed through the account that purchased them. Team and organization purchases are not currently supported.

Can I use Gumroad to sell a Figma plugin?

Yes. Gumroad supports software license keys and memberships. The developer is responsible for validating the key and deciding what access it grants.

Can I use Stripe to sell a Figma plugin?

Yes. You can use Stripe Checkout or another Stripe payment flow and build the customer, tax, licensing, and access system around it.

Standard US domestic-card pricing starts at 2.9% + 30¢.

Is Kelviq a Merchant of Record?

Yes. Kelviq combines Merchant of Record services with subscription management, license keys, feature entitlements, and usage-based billing.

Can Kelviq handle one-time Figma plugin sales?

Yes. Kelviq supports one-time plans, lifetime purchases, and license keys.

Can Kelviq handle plugin subscriptions?

Yes. Kelviq supports recurring subscriptions and lets plans grant specific features, usage limits, seats, and licenses.

Can Kelviq handle AI credits?

Yes. Kelviq supports credits, usage limits, overages, pay-as-you-go charges, and hybrid pricing models.

The payment is only the visible part

Figma’s native payment system is a reasonable way to launch.

It keeps checkout inside Figma, handles tax and refunds, and gives the plugin a direct answer when it asks whether the current user has paid.

The 15% fee pays for that convenience.

An external platform can reduce the fee and make room for team plans, license keys, credits, regional pricing, and usage billing.

It can also create new work around identity and access.

So the useful question is not only:

Which platform charges less?

It is:

After the customer pays, how much of the monetization system do we still need to build?

Kelviq gives Figma plugin developers one place to manage global payments, tax, one-time sales, subscriptions, license keys, feature access, teams, credits, and usage.