Polar - AI Tools Nav

What it is for

Polar is a Merchant of Record desk for digital products: you list a product, Polar runs checkout and tax, and benefits unlock when the customer pays. Use it when the job is selling software you start on Starter at $0 (5% + 50¢), not when you need a $20 chat seat.

What makes it unique: the cover is the official Polar checkout (product, email, card, tax, Pay) from the introduction docs — not a pricing card. Checkout is ops of Products.

Key features

Products — one-time or recurring SKUs with fixed, pay-what-you-want, free, metered, or seat prices (Products; pricing). One listing. Subscriptions, seats, and unit prices are this model. Checkout is ops. The SDK is install.
Benefits — entitlements Polar delivers after a sale: license keys, file downloads, GitHub access, Discord / Slack, feature flags, usage credits (Automated Benefits). A grant, not a SKU. Attaching the same benefit to two products is this surface.
Usage meters — bill a count you report (API call, token, anything countable) (Usage Based Billing). A meter, not a checkout. Credits that top up a meter sit here.
Customer portal — the buyer’s self-serve desk: invoices, cancel, update payment (Customer Portal). A buyer view, not a product you listed.
Payouts — withdraw your balance; Polar does not add a payout markup on top of Stripe (Finance & Payouts; pricing). A withdrawal, not a sale. Stripe’s $2/month + 0.25% + $0.25 per payout still apply.

Orders, refunds, and analytics are ops. Discounts and custom fields are SKU of Products. Cost Insights is Beta, not a fifth meter. Polar’s take rate is the meter.

Who it's for

Best fit: 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¢.

Pricing

Verified 2026-10-22 (Asia/Shanghai) from polar.sh/resources/pricing. Polar is Merchant of Record — you pick a plan; the take rate is public.

Starter — Free / $0/month. 5% + 50¢ per transaction. Standard support. New orgs on or after 27 May 2026 start here.
Pro — $20/month. 3.8% + 40¢. Prioritized support. Breakeven vs Starter ~$1,379/month in sales.
Growth — $100/month. 3.6% + 35¢. Prioritized support. Breakeven ~$5,634/month.
Scale — $400/month. 3.4% + 30¢. Slack + prioritized support. Breakeven ~$19,048/month.
Early Member — orgs created before 27 May 2026 keep 4% + 40¢ and +0.5% on subscriptions, $0/month, until they upgrade. Leaving Early Member for a paid plan retires it; a later downgrade to Starter lands on 5% + 50¢, not the old rate.
Extras — international cards +1.5%. Disputes $15 each (network / PSP; not refundable). Starter / Pro / Growth / Scale have no separate subscription fee.
Payouts — Polar adds no markup. Stripe: $2/month of active payouts, 0.25% + $0.25 per payout, plus cross-border 0.25% (EU) to 1%.

Confirm checkout; taxes follow the buyer’s location (Polar remits them as MoR).

Limitations / costs

Starter is 5% + 50¢. A $30 sale already costs more than Pro’s 3.8% + 40¢ once volume crosses ~$1,379/month.
Early Member is one-way. Upgrade and you cannot go back to 4% + 40¢.
A MoR checkout, not an API-key desk. For key issuance without selling a SKU see Unkey. For fan-out product notifications see Novu.

Alternatives

Unkey — API keys and rate limits when you are not the Merchant of Record for a digital product.
Novu — notification workflows + Inbox when the job is fan-out, not checkout.
Liveblocks — realtime rooms and comments billed in credits when you are not selling a SKU.

Official tutorial

Official Polar channel video: Dear Builders (oEmbed author: Polar). First-party letter; product walkthroughs live in the docs used as the cover.

Written path: introduction plus polar.sh/resources/pricing.

Website

https://polar.sh

Repository

https://github.com/polarsource/polar

Source

Catalog row curated for AI Tools Nav. Cover is the official Polar checkout still from the introduction docs. Dollars checked on polar.sh/resources/pricing (Starter Free $0 / 5% + 50¢; Pro $20; Growth $100; Scale $400; Early Member 4% + 40¢ until 27 May 2026 cutoff). Tutorial oEmbed author: Polar.

Last verified

2026-10-22 (Asia/Shanghai) editorial check.