Polar pricing
Alternative. Maturity: Established (12 months or more). Replaces Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy, Paddle, Stripe. Last checked 2026-10-20.
Visitors who say they use Polar: none yet. Self-reported, anonymous, and never used for order.
| plan | from $/mo | billed | source | checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $0 | per payment (fee on each sale) | pricing page | 2026-10-20 |
| Pro | $20 | per payment (fee on each sale) | pricing page | 2026-10-20 |
| Growth | $100 | per payment (fee on each sale) | pricing page | 2026-10-20 |
| Scale | $400 | per payment (fee on each sale) | pricing page | 2026-10-20 |
Starter: Free plan, merchant of record, standard support. Worked out as 5% of each $29 payment + $0.50 a payment, for 50, 200, 500 and 2,000 paying customers.
Pro: $20 a month. Worked out as $20 a month + 3.8% of each $29 payment + $0.40 a payment, for 50, 200, 500 and 2,000 paying customers.
Growth: $100 a month. Worked out as $100 a month + 3.6% of each $29 payment + $0.35 a payment, for 50, 200, 500 and 2,000 paying customers.
Scale: $400 a month, with Slack support. Worked out as $400 a month + 3.4% of each $29 payment + $0.30 a payment, for 50, 200, 500 and 2,000 paying customers.
features recorded
| feature | status | from plan | note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales tax and VAT handled for you | yes | Starter | Polar is the merchant of record. |
| Subscriptions (recurring billing) | yes | Starter | No separate subscription fee on Starter, Pro, Growth or Scale. |
| Usage-based billing | not stated | - | |
| Software licence keys | not stated | - | |
| Checkout with PayPal | not stated | - | |
| No extra fee on international cards | no | - | +1.5% for international (non-US) cards. |
| Invoices for your customers | not stated | - |
limits and caveats
| limit | what the vendor says | source | checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| early-member | Organizations created before 27 May 2026 can stay on 4% + 40¢ (+0.5% for subscriptions); the cost here uses the plans open to new accounts | source | 2026-10-20 |
| international | +1.5% on international (non-US) cards; not in the cost shown | source | 2026-10-20 |
| payouts | Payouts go through Stripe: $2 a month per active payout and 0.25% + $0.25 per payout, with no Polar markup | source | 2026-10-20 |
| disputes | $15 per dispute | source | 2026-10-20 |
compare
- +Gumroad alternatives: how Polar compares.
- +Lemon Squeezy alternatives: how Polar compares.
- +Paddle alternatives: how Polar compares.
- +Stripe alternatives: how Polar compares.
- +All payments tools, including Creem, Dodo Payments, Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy, Paddle.
switches
Reported switches to Polar from other listed tools: none yet. Self-reported by visitors, shown as a raw count, and never used for ranking.
What people said they gave up (read first, one person's view each):
proof signals
- +Open source (Apache-2.0); GitHub repository since January 2023
- +npm package @polar-sh/sdk published since October 2023
details
- website
- polar.sh
- hosting
- managed
- open source
- yes