Skip to main content

​
What is Polar?

Turn your software into a business with Polar. Sell digital products, subscriptions, and more without the hassle of traditional payment systems.

Beyond Payment Processing

Unlike Stripe that only handles transactions, we provide complete billing infrastructure with tax compliance, product management, and automated access & delivery.

Merchant of Record

We handle all international tax compliance, so you can sell globally without worrying about VAT, GST, or sales tax regulations.

​
Problems We Solve

The Problem: Selling digital products globally means dealing with VAT, GST, and sales tax in dozens of jurisdictions, each with different rates, rules, and filing requirements. Most developers either ignore this (risky) or avoid international sales entirely.Polar’s Solution: As your Merchant of Record, we handle all international tax compliance. We calculate, collect, and remit taxes worldwide. You focus on building; we handle the paperwork.
The Problem: Building subscription billing, product catalogs, customer portals, and payment flows from scratch takes months of development time and ongoing maintenance.Polar’s Solution: Complete billing infrastructure out-of-the-box with APIs that let you integrate in minutes. No need to build customer portals, handle subscription lifecycle, or manage failed payments.
The Problem: Manually sending license keys, granting repository access, or managing Discord invites for every purchase doesn’t scale and creates delays for customers.Polar’s Solution: Automated benefit delivery for common developer needs - license keys, file downloads, GitHub repo access, Discord roles, and more. Customers get instant access.
The Problem: Traditional MoR solutions charge 5-8% per transaction plus monthly fees, eating into your profits before you even start.Polar’s Solution: Transparent fee structure starting at 5% + 50¢ per transaction on the free Starter plan, with optional paid plans that lower your rate. We earn when you earn.

​
Core Features

​
Flexible Product Management

One-time Purchases

Sell digital products, courses, templates, or software licenses with instant delivery

Subscriptions

Recurring billing with automatic renewals and dunning management

Flexible Pricing

Fixed price, pay-what-you-want, or free products with optional minimums

​
Powerful Checkout Experience

Checkout Links

No-code solution for quick product sales. Create and share instantly.

Embedded Checkout

Integrate seamlessly into your website with customizable branding.

Checkout API

Programmatically create dynamic checkout sessions for custom flows.

​
Automated Benefits (Entitlements)

Set it and forget it: Configure once, and customers get instant access to their benefits automatically. No manual work required.

License Keys

Generate and deliver software licenses automatically with custom formats

File Downloads

Secure delivery of digital assets up to 10GB with download tracking

GitHub Access

Auto-invite customers to private repositories and manage permissions

Discord Access

Automatic role assignment and server invites for community access

​
Global Merchant of Record

  • Worldwide Tax Compliance - We handle VAT, GST, and sales tax in all jurisdictions
  • EU VAT Handling - Proper B2B reverse charge and B2C tax collection
  • Automatic Tax Calculation - Real-time tax rates for every transaction

​
Quick Start Guide

1

Create Your Account

Sign up for Polar using GitHub, Google, or email. Create an organization to manage your products and customers.
2

Create Your First Product

Set up a digital product in minutes:
  • Choose between one-time purchase or subscription
  • Set your pricing (fixed, pay-what-you-want, or free)
  • Configure automated benefits for instant delivery
Learn more about Products →
3

Choose Your Integration

Pick the approach that fits your needs:
Perfect for getting started quickly:
  • Create Checkout Links from your dashboard
  • Share via email, social media, or embed in websites
  • Start accepting payments immediately
4

Set Up Webhooks

Stay synchronized with customer events:
  • Configure webhook endpoints in your dashboard
  • React to purchases, subscription changes, and customer events
  • Keep your database in sync automatically
Read the Webhooks guide →

​
Integration Options

Browse framework adapters

Drop-in adapters that wire Polar checkouts and webhooks into your stack, including Next.js, Nuxt, TanStack Start, Laravel, and BetterAuth.

​
Native SDKs

JS/TS

For web and Node.js applications

Python

For Django, Flask, FastAPI frameworks

​
Why Choose Polar?

Ship Faster

Focus on your product, not billing infrastructure. Get to market weeks faster.

Global Reach

Sell worldwide without worrying about tax compliance or regional restrictions.

Automated Delivery

License keys and downloads handled automatically. No manual work required.

Transparent Pricing

Transparent, pay-as-you-earn pricing with no hidden fees.

​
Transparent Pricing

5% + 50¢ or lower

Per successful transactionOptional paid plans to get even lower transaction fees
Additional fees may apply: Some transactions may incur additional fees (e.g. international cards). Payout fees are charged by payment providers. See our detailed fees page for complete information.

​
Open Source & Community

Polar is built in the open with full transparency and a growing community of contributors.

Open Source Codebase

Apache 2.0 license with 36+ contributors and growing

Public Development

Feature requests, roadmap, and issues - all developed in public

Transparent Pricing

No hidden fees or surprise charges. What you see is what you pay.
While self-hosting is technically possible, we recommend using our hosted service to get the full Merchant of Record benefits including global tax compliance.

​
Ready to Start?

Create Account

Free signup, no credit card requiredGet started in under 2 minutes

Read the Guides

Framework-specific tutorialsStep-by-step integration guides

Explore the API

Complete API documentationInteractive examples and SDKs

Join Our Community

Get help from our teamActive community and support