FastSpring
E-commerce platforms
Subscription management software
Subscription billing software
Subscription revenue management software
Billing software
Sales tax and VAT compliance software
E-commerce software
Merchant of record software
Accounting & finance software
- Features
- Ease of use
- Ease of management
- Quality of support
- Affordability
- Market presence
Take the quiz to check if FastSpring and its alternatives fit your requirements.
Pay-as-you-go
Free Trial
Free version unavailable
Small
Medium
Large
- Education and training
- Information technology and software
- Professional services (engineering, legal, consulting, etc.)
What is FastSpring
FastSpring is a merchant-of-record e-commerce platform that handles checkout, payments, subscription billing, and global tax/VAT/GST collection for digital products and SaaS. It is used by software publishers and online businesses that want to sell internationally without operating their own payment entity in each region. The product combines hosted checkout and payment processing with subscription lifecycle tools such as renewals, proration, and dunning. It also provides reporting and integrations to connect order and subscription data to other business systems.
Merchant-of-record tax handling
FastSpring acts as the merchant of record, which shifts responsibility for collecting and remitting sales tax/VAT/GST in many jurisdictions to FastSpring. This reduces the need for customers to register for indirect taxes in multiple countries for many digital sales scenarios. It also supports localized checkout experiences (e.g., currencies and payment methods) that help with cross-border selling.
Subscription billing lifecycle features
FastSpring supports common subscription billing requirements such as recurring invoicing/charges, upgrades/downgrades, proration, trials, and cancellation flows. It includes dunning and payment retry logic to help manage failed payments and reduce involuntary churn. These capabilities fit organizations that want subscription operations without building a full billing stack from scratch.
Hosted checkout and integrations
FastSpring provides hosted checkout pages and APIs/webhooks to embed commerce into websites and applications. It integrates with common analytics, marketing, and fulfillment workflows via prebuilt connectors and developer tooling. This approach can shorten time-to-launch compared with implementing a custom checkout plus separate payment, tax, and subscription components.
Less control than DIY stack
As a merchant-of-record solution with hosted checkout, FastSpring can impose constraints on checkout UX, payment routing, and some policy decisions (e.g., risk controls and dispute handling). Organizations that need highly customized checkout flows or direct control over acquiring relationships may find the model limiting. Some advanced commerce scenarios may require additional development workarounds using APIs.
Not a full ERP suite
FastSpring focuses on commerce, payments, and subscription operations rather than end-to-end financial management. It does not replace general ledger, revenue recognition automation for complex accounting policies, or broader order-to-cash processes found in full accounting/ERP platforms. Many teams still need to integrate FastSpring data into accounting and finance systems for close and reporting.
Fit varies for physical goods
FastSpring is primarily designed for digital products, SaaS, and downloadable software. Businesses with complex physical fulfillment, warehouse operations, or advanced B2B commerce requirements may find gaps compared with platforms built around catalogs, shipping, and inventory. Mixed carts (digital plus physical) can require careful process design and integration.
Plan & Pricing
Pricing model: Revenue-sharing / pay-as-you-go (FastSpring charges a commission on each successful transaction; rates are negotiated with Sales and vary by transaction type and volume). Free tier/trial: FastSpring offers a time-limited free trial (sign-up/activate free trial on the site); no permanent “free plan” tier is published. Example costs (official site items):
- Extended Download Service (EDS) fee charged to sellers: $1.50 per order. (You may charge customers a higher amount; FastSpring’s charge to you is $1.50.)
- Backup CD/DVD fulfillment fee charged to sellers: $7.90 USD per sale (includes worldwide shipping).
- Platform operates with no subscription/monthly fee; FastSpring’s fees are applied as deductions from transactions (revenue-share). Discount options: Custom, volume-based pricing and discounts are negotiable with FastSpring Sales; specific commission rates are determined in discussion with an Account Executive.
Seller details
FastSpring
Santa Barbara, California, United States
2005
Private
https://fastspring.com/
https://x.com/fastspring
https://www.linkedin.com/company/fastspring/
