WHAT IS IT?
Polar is an open source platform that lets developers sell their digital products — SaaS, subscriptions, downloads, Discord access, license keys, private GitHub repos — without building the payment plumbing themselves. Polar acts as Merchant of Record: they collect the money, issue invoices and report VAT/sales tax in every jurisdiction. You plug the SDK, define the product, and get paid.
WHY IS IT INTERESTING?
- Global Merchant of Record: Polar handles EU VAT, US sales tax, compliant invoices and refunds — no more spinning up a legal entity per country to sell internationally
- Open source and auditable: Apache-2.0 license, Python/FastAPI backend and TypeScript/Next.js frontend — you can read exactly how your payments flow through
- Simple pricing: 4% + $0.40 per transaction, no fixed monthly fee — you only pay when you sell, unlike stacking Stripe Billing plus a separate tax provider
- Native digital products: selling license keys, private GitHub repo access, Discord roles, downloadable files — the classic indie dev use cases are built in
- Clean SDKs and webhooks: integrate via official SDKs, hosted checkout or direct API — keep control of the UX without touching PCI-DSS
- Credible alternative to Lemon Squeezy / Paddle: same Merchant of Record model, but with open code and a clear payout policy
USE CASES
- Monetizing a solo or small-team SaaS without setting up a tax entity per jurisdiction
- Selling software licenses, templates, ebooks or online courses with VAT handled automatically
- Managing recurring subscriptions (monthly, yearly, usage-based) on an open source project or side project
- Distributing premium content through GitHub (private repos) or Discord (paid roles) transparently
- Replacing a Stripe + tax provider + custom invoicing stack with a single integration