What is Polar.sh?
Open source payments platform that meters tokens, runs subscriptions and files sales tax for you.
Who is Polar.sh best for?
Polar.sh is best for AI and SaaS developers who bill by usage or subscription and want sales tax handled for them.
AI apps billing by usage
Events such as tokens, agent runs or GPU seconds feed live meters that land on the invoice, next to prepaid credits and a base plan.
Selling worldwide as a small team
As merchant of record in over 100 markets, Polar.sh takes on payments, sales tax, fraud, refunds and chargebacks.
Developers selling software and access
A purchase can deliver license keys, files up to 10 GB, private GitHub repo invites and Discord roles automatically.
Teams that want published rates
Every plan and fee is on the pricing page with no sales call, and the code is open source under Apache 2.0.
How much does Polar.sh cost?
Polar.sh's Starter plan has no monthly fee and charges 5% + 50¢ per transaction; paid plans from $20 a month lower the rate, down to 3.4% + 30¢ on Scale at $400 a month.
- 5% + 50¢ per transaction
- Merchant of record: sales tax, fraud and disputes
- Standard support
- 3.8% + 40¢ per transaction
- Pays off above about $1,379 a month in sales
- Prioritized support
- 3.6% + 35¢ per transaction
- Pays off above about $5,634 a month in sales
- Prioritized support
- 3.4% + 30¢ per transaction
- Pays off above about $19,048 a month in sales
- Slack and prioritized support
Cards issued outside the US add 1.5%, and each dispute costs $15 whatever the outcome. Stripe payout fees pass through at cost: $2 for each month with active payouts and 0.25% + $0.25 per payout, plus 0.25% to 1% for currency conversion. Older organizations keep the Early Member rate of 4% + 40¢, with 0.5% more on subscriptions, until they move to a paid plan. The platform code is open source under Apache 2.0. Full pricing on polar.sh. We checked these prices on .
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Is Polar.sh open source?
Yes. Polar.sh's code is public under the Apache 2.0 licence, so you can read it, change it and run it yourself.
On GitHub
10,475stars
- Last commit
- 12 Nov
- Repository age
- 3 years
- Latest release
- 11 Nov
- Licence
- Apache 2.0
- Repository
- polarsource/polar
How do I connect Polar to my AI agent?
Polar.sh MCP is Polar's official MCP server. Add it to your agent once, then ask it to check sales and update products in your Polar account.
Your agent can look after the billing side of your Polar account, from products and prices to customers, subscriptions and orders, without opening the dashboard.
$ claude mcp add --transport http polar https://mcp.polar.sh/mcp/polar-mcp
Claude Code connects to Polar over the web.
Run /mcp and sign in to Polar in the browser.
Then ask your agent
- Runs
- On the web
- Sign-in
- OAuth
- Checked
- Answered 13 Nov
- Guide
- polar.sh
What are the best Polar.sh alternatives?
Polar.sh is an open source alternative to CopeCart. Gumroad does the same job and is open source too.
CopeCartPaidCheckout, taxes and invoicing for digital sellers.
GumroadOpen SourceSell ebooks, courses, templates and memberships from your own page, with checkout and tax handled.
PaddlePaidSells your SaaS, app or game as merchant of record and files the sales tax and VAT for you.
StripePaidCard, wallet and bank payments with billing, tax and payouts, run through one developer API.
Questions about Polar.sh
What is Polar.sh?
Open source payments platform that meters tokens, runs subscriptions and files sales tax for you.
Who is Polar.sh for?
Polar.sh is best for AI and SaaS developers who bill by usage or subscription and want sales tax handled for them.
Is Polar.sh free?
Yes. Polar.sh has a free Starter plan: 5% + 50¢ per transaction.
How much does Polar.sh cost?
Polar.sh's paid plans are Pro at $20 per month, Growth at $100 per month and Scale at $400 per month.
Is Polar.sh open source?
Yes. Polar publishes its platform code on GitHub under the Apache 2.0 licence. The merchant of record service runs on polar.sh itself, so selling through it means using the hosted platform and its published fees.
Does Polar have an MCP server?
Yes. Polar.sh MCP is Polar's official MCP server, so agents such as Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and GitHub Copilot can check sales and update products in your Polar account. Polar runs it on the web and you sign in with your Polar account.
What are the best Polar.sh alternatives?
The closest alternatives on Recaply are CopeCart, Gumroad, Paddle and Stripe.
Where can I try Polar.sh?
On its official website, polar.sh.
When does a paid Polar.sh plan pay off?
Polar.sh publishes the break-even points against the free Starter plan: Pro saves money above about $1,379 a month in sales, Growth above about $5,634 and Scale above about $19,048. You can switch plans at any time.
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