Polar.sh

What is Polar

Polar is a payment infrastructure platform designed for selling SaaS subscriptions and digital products in the 21st century. Its main purpose is to simplify the entire payment process for developers and businesses. Polar acts as a Merchant of Record (MoR), which means it handles all the complexities of global sales tax, VAT, and GST compliance on behalf of its users. This allows creators to focus on building their products instead of dealing with financial regulations. The platform is built with a developer-first approach, offering tools like command-line interfaces and framework adapters for quick integration, especially with modern web frameworks like Next.js. It supports various billing models, including standard subscriptions and advanced ingestion-based (usage-based) billing, which is particularly useful for AI and API-based services.

Polar Features

• Merchant of Record: Polar manages all payment-related legal and tax obligations. This includes calculating and remitting sales tax, VAT, and GST worldwide, which saves businesses significant administrative work.
• Ingestion-Based Billing: This feature allows for usage-based billing models. It is ideal for SaaS products where customers pay based on consumption, such as API calls or data usage. It includes a specific strategy for billing based on LLM token consumption.
• Framework Adapters: To make integration fast, Polar provides adapters for popular frameworks. The Next.js adapter simplifies the process of adding secure checkouts, customer portals, and webhooks to an application in minutes.
• Automated Product Benefits: Users can configure benefits that are automatically granted to customers after a purchase. This includes delivering license keys, providing access to digital downloads, granting access to private GitHub repositories, or adding users to a Discord server.
• Simple Checkouts: The platform offers streamlined and customizable checkout experiences. Features include adding custom fields, automatic tax calculation, and the ability to use shareable checkout links or embed checkouts directly on a website.
• Command Line Tools: Polar offers a set of CLI tools to speed up development. You can initialize a project, migrate from other platforms like LemonSqueezy, or even sell a file directly from your command line.
• Open Source Integrations: Polar is open source and integrates with other tools popular among developers and creators, such as Raycast, Framer, and Zapier, to connect payment events with other workflows.

Polar Pricing Plans

Polar offers a straightforward, transaction-based pricing model. Instead of monthly subscription tiers, it charges a percentage fee plus a small fixed fee on each successful transaction. This pay-as-you-go approach means there are no upfront costs or recurring platform fees. This single pricing plan is suitable for everyone, from individual creators just starting out to established businesses, as the costs scale directly with revenue. This model includes access to all features, such as the Merchant of Record service, usage-based billing, and all integrations.

Polar Free Plan

Polar does not have a traditional free plan with limited features. However, its pricing structure makes it free to get started. You can sign up, set up your products, and integrate the platform into your website without any cost. You only incur a fee when you make a sale. This model is effectively a free-to-start plan, as there are no monthly subscriptions or hidden charges to use the platform's core functionality.

How to use Polar

Getting started with Polar is designed to be quick, especially for developers using Next.js.

1. Sign Up: Create an account on the Polar website to get access to your dashboard and API keys.
2. Initialize Project: Open your project's terminal and run the command npx polar-init. This CLI tool will guide you through setting up products, subscriptions, checkouts, and webhooks in your Next.js or Nuxt.js project.
3. Configure Products: In your Polar dashboard, define the products you want to sell. You can set up pricing, whether it's a one-time purchase or a recurring subscription. You can also configure automated benefits like license keys or digital downloads.
4. Integrate Checkout: Use the provided Next.js adapter to add a checkout route to your application. This involves adding a simple code snippet that handles the entire checkout process securely.
5. Set Up Usage-Based Billing (Optional): If your product uses a pay-as-you-go model, you can implement the Ingestion library. For example, you can use the LLMStrategy to automatically track and bill customers for their AI model usage.
6. Go Live: Once integrated, you can start accepting payments. You can manage customers, view transactions, and handle withdrawals through your Polar dashboard.

Pros and Cons of Polar

Pros:

• Developer-Focused: Tools like the CLI and Next.js adapter make integration very fast for developers.
• Merchant of Record Included: Handling global sales tax and VAT is a major benefit that saves time and legal complexity.
• Simple Pricing: The pay-as-you-go model is transparent and has no monthly fees, making it accessible for new businesses.
• Modern Billing Models: Built-in support for ingestion-based billing is a strong feature for modern SaaS companies.
• Open Source: Being open source provides transparency and allows for community contributions.

Cons:

• Newer Platform: As a more recent entry to the market, it may have fewer integrations and features than long-established competitors.
• Framework Focus: The current emphasis is heavily on Next.js, which might be a limitation for developers using other technology stacks.
• Limited Customization: Platforms that simplify processes often offer less deep customization compared to more complex solutions like Stripe.

Polar integrations

Polar is built to connect with developer and creator workflows. Key integrations include:

• Next.js and Nuxt.js: Deep integration through dedicated framework adapters for easy setup of checkouts and webhooks.
• Zapier: Connect Polar to thousands of other applications to automate workflows, such as adding customers to an email list after a purchase.
• Raycast: A Raycast extension allows for interacting with Polar directly from the popular launcher tool on macOS.
• Framer: A plugin for the Framer website builder allows for easy integration of Polar's payment features into Framer sites.

Polar Alternatives

• Stripe: A powerful and highly customizable payment processing platform. Unlike Polar, Stripe is not a Merchant of Record, meaning you are responsible for handling your own sales tax and compliance. It is better for businesses that need maximum flexibility and have the resources to manage tax compliance.
• Lemon Squeezy: A direct competitor that also acts as a Merchant of Record for selling digital products and SaaS. Polar differentiates itself with a stronger focus on developer tools like its CLI and ingestion-based billing for AI.
• Gumroad: A platform focused on individual creators selling digital products like e-books, courses, and art. It is very simple to use but offers less functionality for complex SaaS billing models compared to Polar.
• Paddle: Another all-in-one payment platform that acts as a Merchant of Record. Paddle is a more established player targeting larger SaaS businesses and often has a more extensive feature set but may be less focused on the solo developer experience.

Polar API

Yes, Polar provides a developer-friendly API and SDKs to integrate its payment infrastructure into applications. The platform is API-first, and its features are accessible through programmatic means. You can obtain your API key, referred to as an accessToken, from your account dashboard after signing up for the service. This token is used to authenticate your requests.

Here is an example of using the Polar Ingestion library in a TypeScript project to track LLM usage:

import { Ingestion } from "@polar-sh/ingestion";
import { LLMStrategy } from "@polar-sh/ingestion/strategies/LLM";
import { generateText } from "ai";
import { openai } from "@ai-sdk/openai";

const llmIngestion = Ingestion({ accessToken: 'YOUR_POLAR_ACCESS_TOKEN' })
  .strategy(new LLMStrategy(openai("gpt-4o")))
  .ingest("openai-usage");

export async function POST(req: Request) {
  const { prompt }: { prompt: string } = await req.json();

  const model = llmIngestion.client({
    externalCustomerId: "<USER_ID_FROM_YOUR_DATABASE>",
  });

  const { text } = await generateText({
    model,
    system: "You are a helpful assistant.",
    prompt,
  });

  return Response.json({ text });
}

Polar Affiliate program

Currently, there is no publicly available information about a formal affiliate or referral program offered by Polar. Businesses or influencers interested in partnership opportunities are encouraged to contact the Polar support team directly through their website to inquire about potential collaboration or partner programs. They may offer custom arrangements for partners who can bring new customers to the platform.