Polar

Name: Polar
Author: Polar

Polar is a billing and monetization platform positioned as a merchant of record for developers, handling payments, subscriptions and usage-based billing with global tax compliance included. It's aimed at software and AI companies that need to meter usage like tokens, API calls or compute alongside traditional subscriptions. Pricing combines a monthly plan fee with a per-transaction rate that drops as the plan tier increases, starting free at 5% + $0.50 per transaction.

By PolarFreemiumSince 2023Payments

Facts checked on 27 September 2026 against the sources listed at the end of this page.

Visit polar.sh Compare

Pricing: FreemiumPaid from $20 a month for the Pro plan
Open source: NoOpen source components on GitHub; the hosted platform itself is a commercial service
GitHub stars: 10,335
npm downloads a week: 383kup 11% on the week before
Latest release: @polar-sh/bett…1 day ago
Releases in 90 days: 10about 3 a month

A good fit for

AI and software companies that need to meter usage like tokens or API calls alongside subscriptions
Developers who want a merchant of record so they don't handle global sales tax themselves
Startups that want per-transaction fees to drop as they grow into higher-tier plans
Teams that want seat management and prepaid credits handled by the billing platform

Not a good fit for

Very high-volume businesses where a negotiated payments contract elsewhere might beat percentage-based fees
Teams that want to be the merchant of record themselves rather than delegate that role
Simple flat-rate products with no usage-based component, where a simpler payment processor may be enough

Polar pricing

Starter is free with 5% + $0.50 per transaction. Pro is $20 a month with a lower 3.8% + $0.40 rate, Growth is $100 a month at 3.6% + $0.35, and Scale is $400 a month at 3.4% + $0.30. A startup program offers the Scale plan free for 12 months to early-stage AI companies.

Plan	Price	What you get
Starter	$0 a month	5% + $0.50 per transaction, merchant-of-record tax handling.
Pro	$20 a month	3.8% + $0.40 per transaction.
Growth	$100 a month	3.6% + $0.35 per transaction.
Scale	$400 a month	3.4% + $0.30 per transaction, free for 12 months for qualifying early-stage AI startups.

Prices in USD, checked on 27 September 2026. Current prices on polar.sh.

Main features

Merchant of record: Polar is the seller of record and handles global sales tax and VAT compliance.
Usage metering: Real-time tracking of tokens, API calls, compute and storage events for usage-based billing.
Subscriptions: Recurring plans with trials, upgrades, downgrades and proration.
Seat management: Automatically add, remove and prorate seats for per-seat pricing.
Prepaid credits: Maintain customer credit balances that drain as usage occurs.
Cost insights: Gross margin per customer, comparing revenue against inference or infrastructure costs.

About Polar

Polar acts as merchant of record for its customers, meaning it is the seller on each transaction and takes on responsibility for payment processing, sales tax and VAT collection and remittance, fraud prevention, refunds and chargebacks across more than 100 markets.

It's built with usage-based pricing in mind, offering real-time metering for events like tokens, API calls, compute and storage, alongside traditional subscription plans with trials, upgrades and proration, seat management, and prepaid credit balances that drain as customers use a product.

Polar also provides cost insight tooling that shows gross margin per customer by comparing revenue against underlying inference or infrastructure costs, aimed particularly at AI companies whose costs scale with usage.

Made by: Polar
Free plan: Yes: the Starter plan has no monthly fee, only per-transaction fees
Available on: Web checkout, REST API, Webhooks

Usage and activity

Weekly npm downloads of @polar-sh/sdk, last 12 months.

Recent releases

Polar alternatives

Tool	Pricing	GitHub stars
StripePayment processing and financial infrastructure APIs, priced pay as you go per transaction.	Pay as you go	4.5k
Stripe BillingStripe's subscription and recurring billing product, with usage-based billing via Metronome.	Pay as you go	4.5k
RevenueCatSubscription infrastructure for mobile apps: a unified backend for App Store, Play Store and web billing.	Freemium	None
LagoOpen source billing and usage-based pricing platform, deployable self-hosted or as a managed cloud service.	Freemium	10.7k
SquarePayment processing and point-of-sale platform for in-person and online businesses.	Freemium	None
AdyenGlobal payments platform for large businesses, with transaction-based pricing and no monthly fees.	Pay as you go	None

All 15 alternatives to Polar, side by side

Polar compared

PolarvsPaddle

Polar and Paddle both act as merchant of record, so they collect and remit sales tax and VAT on your behalf.

Questions about Polar

Is Polar free to use?

The Starter plan has no monthly fee; you pay 5% + $0.50 per transaction. Paid plans lower the per-transaction rate as you move up tiers.

What does merchant of record mean for Polar?

Polar is legally the seller on each transaction, handling sales tax and VAT collection and remittance across more than 100 markets on the merchant's behalf.

Does Polar support usage-based billing?

Yes, it can meter usage such as tokens, API calls, compute and storage in real time and bill based on that usage, in addition to subscriptions.

Is there a discount for early-stage AI startups?

Yes, a startup program offers the Scale plan free for 12 months to qualifying early-stage AI companies.

Sources and links

Polar

Work on Polar? Claim this listing. Something wrong or out of date? Suggest a correction. Stats come from the public GitHub and npm APIs and update every day.