Freemius

07/10/2026

Do you know which PCI compliance requirements actually apply to your software business?

It depends on more than just the payment provider you use.

Our new guide walks through five common payment setups and explains how your PCI responsibilities change depending on:

• Who legally sells the transaction
• How customers enter their card details
• Whether card data touches your systems
• Whether you use a payment processor or a merchant of record

We also cover what PCI DSS v4.0.1 means for software sellers and how a full merchant of record can change who owns the merchant-side PCI work.

Read the full guide → https://freemius.com/blog/pci-compliance-requirements-software-sellers/

06/10/2026

Does using a PCI-compliant payment provider mean your software business is fully covered?

Not necessarily.

Your PCI responsibilities can change depending on how customers enter their card details, whether card data touches your systems, and who legally sells the transaction.

We’re putting together a practical guide to help software businesses understand what actually applies to them.

Coming soon.

05/10/2026

September’s Freemius release notes are here.

The biggest update this month is a new email notification for WordPress customers when their license is activated on a site.

It gives customers a clearer view of where their license is being used and can help makers avoid unnecessary support tickets.

We also fixed a few things across Checkout, the Developer Dashboard, Customer Portal, and backend.

See the full September update → https://freemius.com/blog/freemius-release-notes-september-2026/

01/10/2026

You can have hundreds of people using your AI app and still have no idea if anyone will pay for it.

Signups, time in the app, and “this is awesome” feedback can all look promising without telling you much about buying intent.

A better test is what happens when users hit a limit or run into a constraint.

Do they come back?
Ask for more credits?
Try to export their work?
Invite a teammate?
Ask how they can pay?

Those are much stronger signals that your app has become something they actually depend on.

We broke down the 5 signals to look for → https://freemius.com/blog/product-validation-for-ai-apps/

30/09/2026

One thing that can catch you off guard with AI apps: your most engaged users can also be your most expensive ones.

You might charge everyone $10/month, but one power user can consume 8–10x more compute than your average customer.

That makes “unlimited” a very different proposition for an AI app than it is for traditional software.

Credits, usage limits, overages, or a hybrid model can help keep the numbers from getting away from you.

The tricky part is figuring out what actually makes sense for your product and your users.

We broke down the main AI pricing models and when each one works → https://freemius.com/blog/ai-app-pricing-model/

29/09/2026

Imagine spending weeks building your AI app and integrating Paddle, only to find out they won’t let you sell it.

That’s exactly the kind of thing you want to find out before launch, not after.

Paddle explicitly prohibits AI image generators, deepfake tools, and voice cloning products. Other AI products may go through additional review instead of being rejected outright.

And if you’ve already built your billing flow around one platform, switching isn’t exactly painless.

So before you pick a payment provider, check the rules for the type of AI product you’re actually building.

We compared the restrictions across Paddle, Lemon Squeezy, Stripe, and Freemius → https://freemius.com/blog/payment-platform-restrictions-ai-apps

24/09/2026

Product updates aren't always about big features — sometimes the best updates are the ones you 'feel' rather than see. 🛠️

We’ve just rolled out two key improvements to the Freemius Developer Dashboard to make your workflow smoother.

We fixed a bug in our infinite scroll tables to ensure your data loads without interruption, and we’ve updated our email customization tool. Now, previews trigger instantly whether you're editing the title or the content.

It’s all about making your daily operations faster and more intuitive. Check out the latest changes in your dashboard today!

23/09/2026

Selling software internationally?

One thing I’d keep an eye on is tax.

It’s easy to think about US sales tax first, but once you start getting customers in other markets, you can run into a whole different set of rules.

EU VAT, UK VAT, Australian GST, Canadian GST/HST… they all work differently.

And even a relatively small amount of EU sales can add to the cost. In one example, $3K/month in EU B2C sales came with about $1,800 in first-year compliance costs.

It’s one of those things that’s easy to overlook when you’re focused on growing sales.

We broke down the main international tax rules and what they can cost →

See what software tax compliance really costs in 2026, including standalone tools, filings, registrations, founder time, and merchant of record fees.

22/09/2026

Your $200/mo tax software is actually costing you $2,500/mo. Here is the math you're missing. 📉

Many SaaS owners think they're saving money by using standalone tax software, but they forget to calculate the "Hidden TCO."

Between state filing fees, complex nexus registrations, and the hours your team spends managing it all (at $50/hr!), the costs add up fast. In 2026, compliance is about where your customers are, not just how much you sell.

If you're tired of the manual work and the legal risk, it might be time to look at a merchant of record model to handle the heavy lifting for you. 🚀

Is your tax setup scaling with you, or holding you back?

17/09/2026

A SaaS lifetime deal can look like easy money:

Get paid today. Keep the customer forever.

But that second part matters.

If your costs keep growing with usage, you have expensive AI/API calls, or customers need a lot of support, a lifetime customer can become a long-term cost.

And if you're launching an LTD because your MRR is falling, it might be treating the symptom instead of the problem.

Before you launch one, check these 5 red flags.

👉 Want to dig deeper? We break down when SaaS lifetime deals make sense and when they can hurt your business: https://freemius.com/blog/saas-lifetime-deals/