Polar
Open-source payments and billing for developers
SubscriptionPaymentsOpen Source6 impressions
Polar provides open-source payments, subscriptions, and usage-based billing with global tax handling for developers.
- for
- Developers building AI-era SaaS and API products that need integrated billing.
- pricing
- freemium
- license
- Apache-2.0
- @polar-sh/cli@2.0.1Polar CLI v2.0.15 days ago
- @polar-sh/cli@2.0.0Polar CLI v2.0.05 days ago
- sdk/1.0.1SDK 1.0.17 days ago
Key features
- Usage Billing — Meter tokens, API calls, compute and storage in real time and bill automatically.
- Subscriptions — Recurring plans with trials, upgrades and proration built in.
- Credits — Prepaid balances that draw down with usage and can be topped up automatically.
- Hosted Checkout — One-click checkout with localized currencies and sales tax included.
- Payouts — Revenue settles to your bank on your schedule with tax remitted.
- Risk & Fraud Management — Handles refunds, chargebacks, and fraud analysis as merchant of record.
Use cases
- Charge per token for an LLM API with automatic invoicing.
- Offer tiered subscription plans with free trials for a SaaS product.
- Provide prepaid credit bundles that decrement as users consume compute resources.
- Sell globally without managing local tax compliance.
Polar vs alternatives
 Polar |  Stripe |  Paddle |  Lemon Squeezy | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Merchant of record for AI-driven services | General payments infrastructure | SaaS subscription billing | Software sales with tax compliance |
| Pricing | Freemium | Subscription | Subscription | Subscription |
| DevHunt upvotes | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Launched | — | — | — | — |
- Polar vs Stripe: Stripe is a general-purpose payments platform, not specialized for usage-based AI billing.
- Polar vs Paddle: Paddle also acts as merchant of record but focuses on SaaS subscriptions, less on token-level usage.
- Polar vs Lemon Squeezy: Lemon Squeezy offers payments and tax handling for software, without built-in usage metering primitives.
Polar FAQ
How does Polar handle sales tax for international customers?+
Polar acts as the merchant of record and collects, remits, and reports sales tax in over 100 markets on your behalf.
Can I bill customers based on usage events like token counts or GPU seconds?+
Yes, Polar meters each token, API call, or GPU second in real time and adds the cost to the customer's invoice.
What payment fees does Polar charge?+
Fees depend on the plan: Starter is 5.00% + 50¢ per transaction; Pro is 3.80% + 40¢; Growth is 3.60% + 35¢; Scale is 3.40% + 30¢.
Is there a free tier to try Polar?+
The Starter plan is free and includes all core billing features with standard support.
Do I get access to a hosted checkout page?+
Yes, Polar provides a hosted checkout link that supports localized currencies and includes sales tax.
What support options are available for higher-tier plans?+
Pro and Growth plans get prioritized support; Scale adds a shared Slack channel, P1 support, and Single Sign-On.
Summarized by DevHunt from polar.sh · Oct 1, 2026. Details may change; check the official site.
About this listing
DevHunt lists Polar because developers expect to find it next to the tools in its category. It did not launch on DevHunt. Work on Polar? Message us to claim this listing.
