Kribana: a Paddle alternative.
Paddle is a merchant of record handling payments, tax and compliance for software sellers.Here’s how Kribana compares if you’re evaluating both.
Updated August 2026| Feature | Paddle | Kribana |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | − PaddleActs as the reseller of record — handles tax, compliance and chargebacks for you | ✓ KribanaBilling infrastructure you run under your own merchant account |
| Customer relationship | − PaddlePaddle is the merchant of record on the transaction | ✓ KribanaYou remain the merchant of record; Kribana is infrastructure |
| Usage-based pricing | − PaddleSupported, secondary to subscription checkout | ✓ KribanaNative usage metering as the foundation of the pricing engine |
| Merchant control | − PaddlePaddle owns the customer and merchant relationship | ✓ KribanaYou remain merchant of record with automation handling the busywork |
| Usage pricing depth | − PaddleUsage support is secondary to subscription checkout flows | ✓ KribanaUsage metering is the foundation the pricing engine is built on |
Bottom line
Paddle trades control for simplicity by becoming your merchant of record. Kribana keeps you as the merchant with the automation to make that easy.
See the features above in context on the full platform overview or check exact rates on pricing.
Why teams switch from Paddle
- ✕Being merchant of record means giving up the direct customer billing relationship
- ✕Usage-based pricing is possible but not the primary design center
- ✕Less flexibility on invoice format and payment terms than owning it yourself
How the switch works
Questions about switching
Will my historical usage data carry over from Paddle?
Yes. During onboarding we import your historical usage events and invoice history from Paddle so the Kribana ledger and customer portal show continuity from day one — customers see their full usage timeline, not a balance that appears to reset. Import runs alongside your live Paddle account, so nothing about current billing changes until you're ready to cut over. If Paddle exposes usage via API or export, we map it directly into the append-only ledger; if it only offers CSV exports, we handle that transformation during onboarding as well.
Do I need to switch payment processors to move off Paddle?
No — Kribana is processor-neutral by design, so you keep whichever of Stripe, Razorpay, Adyen or Braintree you already use, or run more than one at once if you serve multiple regions. Pricing, wallets, invoicing and the customer portal all sit above the processor layer, so switching billing platforms and switching payment rails are two separate decisions. This also means you can change processors later — say, adding a second rail for a new region — without another billing migration.
What happens if I'm still under contract with Paddle?
Most teams run Kribana in parallel with Paddle until the existing contract lapses, validating a full billing cycle side-by-side before cutting traffic over. Because onboarding doesn't require switching payment processors or changing what customers see, there's no customer-facing disruption while both systems run. When the contract ends, billing cuts over at the start of the next cycle with no gap in invoicing and no re-signup required from customers.
How long does switching from Paddle actually take?
Most teams go live in one to two weeks. Week one is connecting your event stream and mirroring your current pricing structure in the dashboard — tiers, commits, credit bundles, whatever Paddle has you running today. The second week is validation: running a full billing cycle side-by-side and confirming invoices match line-for-line before cutting over. Teams with simpler pricing (a single tier or flat overage rate) often finish in days rather than weeks; teams migrating complex enterprise commits usually take the full two weeks to validate.