Verified revenue when you sell through Paddle.

The key you need

In Paddle, go to Developer tools → Authentication and create a new API key. Give it read on subscriptions, customers and prices, and nothing else. It starts with pdl_live_apikey_.

A sandbox key starts with pdl_sdbx_ and is recognised as test mode — useful for trying the whole flow, and test figures are never published or ranked.

What merchant of record changes

Paddle is the seller on the invoice. It collects from your customer, handles VAT and sales tax across every jurisdiction, and pays you the remainder. That is why people use it, and it makes the definition of recurring revenue matter more than it does on Stripe, where the money arrives more directly.

What Thonest counts is recurring subscription revenue before Paddle’s fees, with tax excluded. Tax is not revenue, and counting it would flatter a seller with a lot of European customers against one without, which would make two verified figures uncomparable — the exact failure the published rule exists to prevent.

The full rule, published in advance

Then it works like anything else

Your history is reconstructed from the subscriptions Paddle can account for — as far back as they reach, not a fixed twelve months — with the milestones found for you. You add the launches and pricing changes, each one arriving with the real figures from either side of it. Publish it, or embed it on your own site with one line of code.

Questions founders ask

Can I verify revenue if I sell through Paddle?

Yes. Thonest reads Paddle directly, the same way it reads Stripe, using an API key you scope to read-only. Most tools in this space are Stripe-only, which is why the answer elsewhere is usually no.

Which Paddle key do I need?

A new API key from Developer tools → Authentication, with read permission on subscriptions, customers and prices, and nothing else. It starts with pdl_live_apikey_. Sandbox keys start with pdl_sdbx_ and are recognised as test mode.

Does Paddle being merchant of record change the numbers?

It changes what the figure means, and the definition matters more here than with Stripe. Paddle collects from your customer, handles tax, and pays you. What gets counted is recurring subscription revenue before Paddle's fees — the same basis every company on Thonest is measured on, so two companies remain comparable.

What about tax?

Excluded. Paddle handles VAT and sales tax as merchant of record, and tax is not revenue — counting it would inflate every seller in a high-VAT market against one who is not. The full rule is published and applies to everyone identically.

How are annual plans treated?

Spread across twelve months rather than counted at renewal. Otherwise recurring revenue is a sawtooth, and one large annual deal makes a month look like growth that is not there.