Our take
Pick Polar if indie / small product teams who will stay on Starter Free $0 (5% + 50¢, no Polar monthly fee) while they sell a first SKU, then buy Pro at $20/month when sales pass the ~$1,379/month breakeven and they want 3.8% + 40¢. Pick Unkey if aPI teams who will stay on API Management Free $0 (150k valid requests, 1k keys, no card) while they issue a first keyspace, then buy Pro at $25/month when they need 250k
API-key + deploy desk
Best for
Polar Selling software you start on Starter at $0 (5% + 50¢)
Unkey Keys you start at $0 / 150k verifications, or Deploy from $5
Free plan
Polar $0 · /month. 5% + 50¢ per transaction. Standard support. New orgs on or after 27 May 2026 start here
Unkey $0 · /month. 150k valid requests. 1k API keys. 1-day logs. 3-day audit. Unlimited APIs
Lowest paid
Polar Payouts $2/mo
Unkey Usage rates $0.000006944/mo
Next step up
Polar Extras $15
Unkey Starter $5/mo
Watch out
Polar Starter is 5% + 50¢
Unkey Free API Management is 150k valid requests and 1k keys
Last checked
Polar 2026-10-22 · polar.sh/resources/pricing
Unkey 2026-10-22 · unkey.com/pricing
indie / small product teams who will stay on Starter Free $0 (5% + 50¢, no Polar monthly fee) while they sell a first SKU, then buy Pro at $20/month when sales pass the ~$1,379/month breakeven and they want 3.8% + 40¢.
Read the Polar pageaPI teams who will stay on API Management Free $0 (150k valid requests, 1k keys, no card) while they issue a first keyspace, then buy Pro at $25/month when they need 250k requests and team workspaces — or start Deploy Starter at $5 when they also want the container host.
Read the Unkey page