Are you launching a new SaaS product?
Do you need recurring payments?
Are you concerned about TAX/VAT?
All the platforms offer identical solutions to GoHighLevel, but small and sometimes important differences (like merchant of records) are lost in the weeds. This article goes over the key aspects when looking for a GoHighLevel alternative.
We will be outlining only the following differences that matter between each platform:
This article has no particular ordering, and none of the companies are paid sponsorships. Our analysis is based on our customers who resell ChipBot’s white label.
Also, one common pattern you will see is a lot of 😡 angry reviews on all the platforms covered here. I suspect it’s because people have bad products and blame the platform instead of what they’re selling. Just a guess.
Merchant of record: Stripe
Recurring transactions: Yes
Tax/VAT management: Yes
Cost: minimum $18/mo, 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction
Chargeback protection: Yes via Stripe
Notes:
Merchant of record: Lemon Squeezy
Recurring transactions: Yes
Tax/VAT management: Yes
Cost: It’s complicated. 5% + 50¢ per transaction. $10/mo intro price for “other stuff.”
Chargeback protection: Yes, but they will 💣 destroy you if you have too many.
Notes:
Merchant of record: Sellfy or PayPal (depends)
Recurring transactions: Yes
Tax/VAT management: Yes
Cost: minimum $29/mo, 14-day free trial
Chargeback protection: Partial (yes if PayPal or other gateways, no if Sellfy)
Notes:
Merchant of record: Stripe, PayPal. Their help docs mention Bitpay but not their pricing page.
Recurring transactions: Yes
Tax/VAT management: Yes (very well done)
Cost: $9/mo + 5% per transaction
Chargeback protection: No
Notes:
Merchant of record: Stripe, Authorize.net, PayPal, WePay, Worldpay
Recurring transactions: Yes
Tax/VAT management: Yes
Cost: $0 for first 20 subscriptions, then $59/mo
Chargeback protection: No
Notes:
Merchant of record: Yes
Recurring transactions: Yes
Tax/VAT management: Yes
Cost: 5% + 50¢ per transaction
Chargeback protection: Yes
Notes:
Merchant of record: Stripe, PayPal, Chargebee, Gumroad, etc…
Recurring transactions: Depends
Tax/VAT management: Depends
Cost: $$ to $$$$$
Chargeback protection: Depends
So you want to 🔥 burn all your cash. This is the solution for you!
Just kidding. 🃏
This might be the best option if you can code or hire a competent developer.
Everyone has different needs and requirements, and something out of the box may not be sufficient for your requirements.
So, when does it make sense to build your custom portal?
If you can code or have access to developers, you can cut down on monthly fees and hidden costs that other platforms deploy.
So, how would you build this?
If you go down this route, set clear requirements and budget for your developer.
That joke I posted early was half-kidding. I have seen other businesses burn $5,000 weekly with no usable portal.
This is one of those things that you don’t want to go out of control. And if you have more questions on this, ping us on social media or through our support. We would be happy to share more details on how our customers deploy a solution like this.
Matt Lo is the founder and CEO of ChipBot, co-host of the OnlyFounders podcast, a competitive table tennis player, an avid learner of Japanese (日本語), and a former contributor on StackOverflow. With a background spanning software engineering, product design, and startups, he continues to build and explore at the intersection of technology, creativity, and discipline, leading one of the web’s highly rated AI website plugins. He's based in Houston, TX. You can reach Matt on LinkedIn.