Chargebee
Subscription billing and revenue management for recurring businesses
Polar
Turn your software into a revenue stream effortlessly.
Polar provides a self‑hosted payment platform for developers to sell SaaS, subscriptions, and digital products, handling billing, receipts, and tax compliance with no fixed monthly fees.
Overview
Who it's for
Developers, open‑source maintainers, and small teams that want to monetize SaaS applications, digital downloads, or community access without building a billing system from scratch.
What it does
Polar acts as the merchant of record, automatically processing payments, generating receipts, and calculating sales tax or VAT. It supports one‑time digital products, recurring subscriptions, and gated content such as GitHub repository access or Discord support channels. The platform is delivered as a self‑hosted monorepo built on FastAPI, Next.js, and a modern TypeScript/React stack, and can be deployed on any environment that runs Docker or the provided Python/Node runtimes.
Extensibility & pricing
A public REST API, webhook system, and SDKs for JavaScript and Python let you integrate Polar into docs, sites, or custom services. There are no fixed monthly costs; you only pay the transaction fee of 4 % + 40¢ per successful charge.
Highlights
Merchant of record handling billing, receipts, and tax compliance
Instant product and subscription sales for SaaS and digital goods
Public API, webhooks, and SDKs for JavaScript and Python
Fully open‑source stack (FastAPI, Next.js, Turborepo) for self‑hosting
Pros
- No fixed monthly fees – pay only per transaction
- Comprehensive tax calculation and remittance
- Extensible via API and language‑specific SDKs
- Modern, well‑documented tech stack
Considerations
- Transaction fee of 4 % + 40¢ still applies
- Requires self‑hosting infrastructure and maintenance
- Limited to supported payment providers as documented
- Community and ecosystem are still growing
Managed products teams compare with
When teams consider Polar, these hosted platforms usually appear on the same shortlist.
Looking for a hosted option? These are the services engineering teams benchmark against before choosing open source.
Fit guide
Great for
- Indie developers selling SaaS or digital products
- Open‑source maintainers monetizing private repositories
- Teams needing subscription billing with built‑in tax handling
- Organizations preferring a self‑hosted payment solution
Not ideal when
- Businesses that require zero transaction fees
- Teams without resources to manage self‑hosted services
- High‑volume enterprises needing dedicated support contracts
- Use cases demanding extensive marketplace integrations beyond current offerings
How teams use it
Monetize a private GitHub repository
Sell access tokens directly, with automatic payment processing, receipts, and tax compliance.
Launch a SaaS subscription
Create recurring plans, manage customer accounts, and collect payments without building billing infrastructure.
Offer premium Discord support
Charge for membership, automate role assignments, and handle renewal notifications seamlessly.
Distribute licensed software downloads
Sell license keys, provide secure download links, and track usage through the platform.
Tech snapshot
Python59%
TypeScript39%
MDX1%
JavaScript1%
CSS1%
Dockerfile1%
Frequently asked questions
What payment processors does Polar support?
Supported processors are listed in the official documentation and can be integrated via Polar's API.
Do I need to host Polar myself?
Yes, Polar is open source and can be self‑hosted on your own infrastructure or via container platforms.
How are sales tax and VAT handled?
Polar acts as the merchant of record, automatically calculating, collecting, and remitting applicable taxes.
Is there a free tier?
There are no fixed monthly fees; you only pay the transaction fee of 4 % + 40¢ per successful charge.
Can I extend Polar with my own code?
Yes, Polar provides a public REST API, webhook system, and SDKs for JavaScript and Python for custom integrations.
Project at a glance
Active- Stars
- 9,289
- Watchers
- 9,289
- Forks
- 645
LicenseApache-2.0
Repo age2 years old
Last commityesterday
Primary languagePython
Last synced yesterday