Polar

What is Polar?

Polar is an open-source merchant-of-record platform built on top of Stripe, aimed specifically at developers selling SaaS subscriptions and digital products. Like Paddle, it becomes the legal seller and handles tax compliance for you, but it's positioned more toward the indie-hacker and small-SaaS crowd than enterprise sellers, with a developer-friendly API and a free tier for early-stage projects. Being open-source also means you can inspect or self-host parts of the stack if you want more control than a typical closed SaaS billing provider offers.

Key features

• Merchant-of-record model built on Stripe, handling VAT/sales tax compliance without you registering yourself
• Free tier aimed at early-stage and startup projects, not just larger paying customers
• Developer-first API and SDKs designed around how indie hackers actually ship products
• Built-in support for common SaaS billing patterns: subscriptions, usage-based billing, one-time purchases
• Open-source codebase, so you can see exactly how it works rather than trusting a black box

Who it's for

A strong fit for solo founders and small teams building SaaS or digital products who want merchant-of-record tax handling without Paddle-style enterprise overhead, and who like that it's open-source and Stripe-backed. If you're already comfortable handling your own tax registration and want the lowest possible fees, going direct with Stripe is cheaper.

Pricing

Percentage-based transaction fees with a free tier for smaller/early-stage projects, higher than raw Stripe but generally positioned as more affordable than traditional merchant-of-record competitors. Check the tool's site for current rates.