Add Payments with Lemon Squeezy

Lemon Squeezy acts as the merchant of record, meaning they handle VAT, sales tax, and compliance automatically. This makes it ideal for solo developers and small teams who want to sell software without dealing with tax complexity. Unlike Stripe, you don't need separate tax software or an accountant to go global. It supports one-time payments, subscriptions, and software licenses out of the box.

Create an account at lemonsqueezy.com and set up your store with your business details. Create a product — either a one-time purchase or a subscription plan — and note the variant ID from the product URL. Generate an API key from your dashboard settings and store it as LEMONSQUEEZY_API_KEY in your environment variables. Add your webhook signing secret as LEMONSQUEEZY_WEBHOOK_SECRET for secure event handling.

Install the official SDK with `npm install @lemonsqueezy/lemonsqueezy.js`. Create an API route that calls `createCheckout` with your store ID, variant ID, and customer details. Pass a `checkoutOptions` object to pre-fill the customer's email and set redirect URLs for success and cancellation. Return the checkout URL to the client and redirect the user to complete payment on Lemon Squeezy's hosted checkout.

Lemon Squeezy sends webhook events for order completions, subscription changes, and payment failures. Create a POST endpoint at `/api/webhooks/lemonsqueezy` that verifies the signature using the raw request body and your signing secret. Parse the event type and handle `order_created` to provision access and `subscription_cancelled` to revoke it. Store order and subscription data in your database tied to the user's account.

Use the Lemon Squeezy API to retrieve a customer's active subscriptions and display their plan status in your app. Implement a customer portal link using `getSubscription` and `updateSubscription` so users can manage billing without contacting support. Store the `lemon_squeezy_customer_id` on your user record to look up subscription status quickly. Poll the API or rely on webhooks to keep your local subscription state in sync.

Enable test mode in your Lemon Squeezy dashboard and use the provided test card numbers to simulate purchases. Verify your webhook handler receives and processes events correctly before switching to live mode. Ensure your success and cancel redirect URLs work end-to-end with a real user flow. Once confirmed, switch your API keys to production and remove any test mode flags from your code.