Polar
Open-source merchant-of-record billing for developers, with fees that now range from 3.4% to 5% a transaction depending on which paid plan you carry.
Who it's for
Developers who want to charge for a SaaS product or API without registering as a merchant of record themselves, and who are comfortable choosing a monthly plan once volume justifies it.
Standout details
- Polar is the merchant of record in over 100 markets, so it collects and remits VAT, GST and sales tax and absorbs fraud and chargeback handling instead of the seller
- As of May 20, 2026 the flat rate is gone. Starter is free with a 5% + $0.50 fee; Pro ($20/mo), Growth ($100/mo) and Scale ($400/mo) buy down the per-transaction rate to 3.8%, 3.6% and 3.4% respectively
- Organizations created before May 27, 2026 keep a grandfathered "Early Member" rate of 4% + $0.40 (plus 0.5% on subscriptions), but only for as long as they never upgrade to a paid plan
- Usage-based billing meters tokens, API calls, compute or storage down to the event, which is aimed squarely at AI and infrastructure products billing by consumption
- Automated benefit delivery covers license keys, gated file downloads up to 10GB, GitHub repo access and Discord role assignment, so a solo seller can fulfil digital products without custom code
What it is
Polar is a billing platform that acts as merchant of record for developers selling software, APIs or digital products. It issues the checkout, collects the payment, and takes on the tax registration, VAT and sales tax remittance, and chargeback handling that a seller would otherwise have to sort out market by market. On top of that sits subscription billing with trials and proration, usage-based metering for tokens, API calls, compute or storage, prepaid credit balances, and automated delivery of license keys, file downloads, GitHub access or Discord roles once a sale completes.
It started as a flat-rate, open-source alternative to bundling Stripe with a tax tool, and has since repositioned around AI and infrastructure billing, where usage that has to be metered per event is the harder problem than the checkout itself.
Who should use it
A solo developer or small team shipping a paid API, SaaS tool or AI product who does not want to become their own merchant of record. It suits usage-based pricing especially well, since the metering is built to bill per token or per call rather than bolted on afterward. It is a worse fit for anyone who cannot tolerate a payment processor as a single point of failure, given the support and account-closure complaints below.
What stands out
The pricing structure changed shape entirely on May 20, 2026. Instead of one flat rate for everyone, Polar now runs four tiers: Starter (free, 5% + $0.50 per transaction), Pro ($20/mo, 3.8% + $0.40), Growth ($100/mo, 3.6% + $0.35) and Scale ($400/mo, 3.4% + $0.30). International cards add 1.5%, chargebacks cost $15 each, and Stripe-routed payouts carry their own $2/month plus 0.25% + $0.25 per payout. Organizations that existed before May 27, 2026 can stay on the old “Early Member” rate of 4% + $0.40 (plus 0.5% on subscriptions) indefinitely, but upgrading to any paid plan forfeits that rate for good, and downgrading back to Starter does not restore it.
The usage-metering is the part built for the current wave of AI tooling: events like tokens, API calls, compute time and storage feed live meters that price and bill automatically, alongside a cost-insights view comparing revenue per customer against the actual usage cost of serving them. Framework adapters exist for Next.js, Nuxt, TanStack Start, Laravel and BetterAuth, plus native JS/TypeScript and Python SDKs, so wiring in checkout and entitlements does not mean building a billing backend from scratch.
Trustpilot’s Polar page sits at 2.0 out of 5 across 17 reviews, and the pattern in the negative ones repeats: accounts rejected or closed with little explanation, slow support (one reviewer waited a week for a reply), and payouts delayed well past the stated schedule. That is a real signal worth weighing against the convenience of not registering as your own merchant of record.
The verdict
Polar is a legitimate shortcut past merchant-of-record registration, and the usage-based metering genuinely fits how AI and API products bill today. The open question is cost and reliability at the tier you will actually run at: Starter’s new 5% + $0.50 is a real jump from the old flat rate, and the cheaper paid tiers need meaningful monthly volume before they beat it. Budget for a paid plan once you clear roughly a few thousand dollars a month, not before.
Where I would slow down is the Trustpilot pattern of account closures and slow payouts. None of the individual complaints are extraordinary for a payments platform at this stage, but a 2.0 average across 17 reviews is not noise, and a merchant of record going unresponsive on your only checkout is a worse outcome than a couple of extra percentage points in fees. If your revenue cannot survive that risk, run the numbers on a merchant-of-record alternative like Paddle or Lemon Squeezy before committing here.
Honest verdict
Polar removes the merchant-of-record paperwork for a developer who wants to sell a SaaS product or API today, and the usage-metering is a real fit for anyone billing by tokens or compute. The May 2026 repricing is the thing to plan around: Starter now costs 5% + $0.50, a 25% jump on both numbers from the old flat rate, and the cheaper tiers only pay for themselves at real volume. Skip Starter if you can already justify Pro's $20 a month, and skip Polar entirely if a merchant of record going quiet on you would sink the business. Trustpilot reviewers report accounts closed with little explanation and payouts held for weeks, and none of that is unique to indie billing platforms, but it is worth reading before routing your only revenue line through one.
Published 8 Sept 2026