# Alternatives to Polar Open-source merchant of record for developers Polar ranks #4 of 11 in Merchant of record, with an Alt Score of 93. It is licensed under Apache-2.0 and available on Web, iOS and Android. 13 of 13 checklist rows are verified against a public source. Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/polar/ Category: Merchant of record ## Where Polar stands out - **Open source** — 2 of 9 apps with a verified answer have this ## Overview - **Who it's for**: AI and software startups that charge for usage (tokens, API calls, compute) rather than flat seats, and want billing infrastructure without building it in-house. - **What you get**: A billing platform that ingests usage events and turns them into invoices, supporting subscriptions, usage-based pricing, seats, credits, trials, and discounts, with Polar acting as merchant of record to handle worldwide tax collection and remittance and payment processing. - **How it works**: You wrap your product's usage events (e.g. LLM calls via an Ingestion SDK) or standard checkout flows with Polar's SDK and webhooks, and Polar meters the usage, generates charges, and manages payouts, refunds, and chargebacks automatically. ## Profile - **License**: Apache-2.0 (verified 2026-07-12) - **Pricing model**: Usage-based (verified 2026-07-12) - **Starts at**: 5% + $0.50 per transaction (verified 2026-07-12) - **Platforms**: Web, iOS, Android - **Status**: active (verified 2026-07-12) ## Ranked alternatives | # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms | |---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------| | 1 | [2Checkout](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/2checkout.md) | 93 | Proprietary | Web | | 2 | [Dodo Payments](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/dodo-payments.md) | 93 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android, Windows | | 3 | [Gumroad](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/gumroad.md) | 93 | MIT | Web, iOS, Android | | 4 | [Lemon Squeezy](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/lemon-squeezy.md) | 93 | Proprietary | Web | | 5 | [Cleverbridge](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/cleverbridge.md) | 86 | Proprietary | Web | | 6 | [Creem](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/creem.md) | 86 | Proprietary | Web, Android | | 7 | [FastSpring](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/fastspring.md) | 86 | Proprietary | Web | | 8 | [Paddle](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/paddle.md) | 86 | Proprietary | Web, iOS | | 9 | [Payhip](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/payhip.md) | 79 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android | | 10 | [Stripe Managed Payments](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/stripe-managed-payments.md) | 72 | Proprietary | Web, iOS | Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/ ## Feature comparison Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified). | Merchant of record checklist | Polar | 2Checkout | Dodo Payments | Gumroad | Lemon Squeezy | Cleverbridge | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | Pricing model | Usage-based | Usage-based | Usage-based | Usage-based | Usage-based | Usage-based | | Starts at | 5% + $0.50 per transaction | 3.5% + $0.35 per successful sale | 4% + $0.40 per transaction | 10% + $0.50 per transaction | 5% + $0.50 per transaction | ? | | License | Apache-2.0 | Proprietary | Proprietary | MIT | Proprietary | Proprietary | | Platforms | Web, iOS, Android | Web | Web, iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Linux | Web, iOS, Android | Web | Web | | Acts as reseller / seller of record | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Global sales tax & VAT remitted | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Subscriptions & recurring billing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | One-time / digital product sales | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Usage-based billing | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | | Hosted checkout / overlay | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | License keys / entitlement delivery | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Localized pricing & currencies | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Chargeback & fraud handling | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Compliant invoices per jurisdiction | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Open source | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | | Affiliate / referral program | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | No monthly fee (pay per sale) | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ## Sources Sources for Polar. Each alternative is sourced on its own page. - **Pricing model**: Usage-based — (verified 2026-07-12) - Quote: “Plan Monthly fee Per transaction Support Starter Free 5% + 50¢ Standard Support” - **Starts at**: 5% + $0.50 per transaction — (verified 2026-07-12) - Quote: “Starter Free 5% + 50¢ Standard Support” - **License**: Apache-2.0 — (verified 2026-07-12) - Quote: “Apache License Version 2.0, January 2004” - **Status**: active — (verified 2026-07-12) - Quote: “16,329 Commits” - **Platforms**: Web, iOS, Android — (verified 2026-07-12) - Quote: “Polar in your pocket Take Polar with you. Now available on a variety of platforms. Mobile Apps ... Polar for iOS Your business in the palm of your hand. Built for iPhone. Polar for Android The perfect” - **Acts as reseller / seller of record**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-12) - Quote: “The platform (Polar) handles international taxes by being a reseller of your digital goods & services.” - **Global sales tax & VAT remitted**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-12) - Quote: “Polar is registered in jurisdictions around the world and works with global accounting firms to monitor sales volumes, register in new markets as thresholds are reached, and handle filings and remitta” - **Subscriptions & recurring billing**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-12) - Quote: “A subscription is the recurring relationship between a customer and one of your products. It's created automatically whenever a customer checks out a product that has a recurring price, and it keeps g” - **One-time / digital product sales**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-12) - Quote: “One-time Purchases Sell digital products, courses, templates, or software licenses with instant delivery” - **Usage-based billing**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-12) - Quote: “This is done by ingesting events from your application, creating Meters to represent that usage, and then adding metered prices to Products to charge for it.” - **Hosted checkout / overlay**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-12) - Quote: “Our embedded checkout allows you to provide a seamless purchasing experience without redirecting users away from your site.” - **License keys / entitlement delivery**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-12) - Quote: “Custom Branding Make your license keys standout with brandable prefixes ... Activation Limits You can require license keys to be activated before future validation.” - **Localized pricing & currencies**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-12) - Quote: “Polar uses the IP address of the request to detect the customer's country. This drives features like: Currency auto-detection for products with multiple payment currencies” - **Chargeback & fraud handling**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-12) - Quote: “Since Polar is the Merchant of Record, we therefore always monitor and proactively prevent our rate coming close to these thresholds.” - **Compliant invoices per jurisdiction**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-12) - Quote: “Get an order's invoice data.” - **Open source**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-12) - Quote: “Polar - An open source monetization platform for developers” - **Affiliate / referral program**: Partial — (verified 2026-07-12) - Quote: “This guide explains how to integrate Affonso's affiliate marketing software with your Polar account to track and manage affiliate-driven sales for your SaaS business.” - **No monthly fee (pay per sale)**: Partial — (verified 2026-07-12) - Quote: “Starter Free 5% + 50¢ Standard Support Pro $20 /mo 3.8% + 40¢ Prioritized Support Growth $100 /mo 3.6% + 35¢ Prioritized Support Scale $400 /mo 3.4% + 30¢” --- Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/