Polar

Polar is the open-source-friendly Merchant of Record platform for developer tools and indie SaaS, founded in 2022 by Birk Jernström (ex-Stripe, ex-Shopify). It's the newer, developer-focused alternative to Lemon Squeezy — same Merchant of Record model (Polar handles international tax compliance so you don't have to), but built with deeper hooks into the open-source ecosystem (GitHub integration, sponsorship models, license keys for developer tools) and a more programmable API. The positioning is interesting. Polar isn't trying to be Gumroad-for-creators or Lemon Squeezy-for-everyone. They're specifically targeting indie developers and open-source maintainers who want to monetise their work — selling Pro versions of open-source tools, GitHub Sponsors-style funding with better tooling, SaaS subscriptions for developer products. The product reflects this: deep GitHub integration, built-in license key management, support for organisation-level subscriptions (your customer's whole team pays once), and an API that feels like Stripe's. The core features: • **Merchant of Record** — Polar collects VAT/GST/sales tax in 100+ jurisdictions, files them, pays you net. Same model as Lemon Squeezy and Paddle. • **GitHub integration** — link products to GitHub repos, gate access to private repos for paying customers, integrate sponsorship + product purchase under one platform • **License keys** — built-in generation + validation for developer tools • **Subscriptions + one-time purchases** — full flexibility, no SaaS-only restriction • **Developer-friendly API** — clean docs, sensible webhooks, OAuth-style auth, designed for builders • **Lower fees** — 4% + 40¢ + payment processing, totalling ~7% all-in (cheaper than Lemon Squeezy's ~8% and Gumroad's ~13%) For founders the use cases: • **Indie SaaS for developers** — your customers are devs, you want license keys + organisation billing + clean API • **Open-source dual-licensing** — sell Pro licenses of your open-source project • **Developer tool subscriptions** — VS Code extensions, CLI tools, dev environment platforms • **Migrating from GitHub Sponsors / Patreon** — same support model but with proper invoicing + tax handling The pricing is the lowest among MoR alternatives. 4% + 40¢ per transaction (vs Lemon Squeezy's 5% + 50¢). For a $10K/month developer SaaS that's ~$430 in fees vs $550 on Lemon Squeezy — small per-transaction difference adds up to meaningful savings over a year. Where Polar wins clearly: developer tools and open-source maintainers. The GitHub integration is genuinely unique. The API quality reflects the founder's Stripe + Shopify background — it feels like a developer-built tool, not a marketing tool with an API afterthought. Where Polar loses: smaller than Lemon Squeezy in terms of community + integrations + maturity. Documentation gaps in some edge cases. And the developer-tool focus means it's less compelling for general creator products (use Lemon Squeezy or Gumroad). My take: if you're building developer tools, Polar is the most thoughtful choice in the MoR space. Open-source projects with paid tiers, indie SaaS for engineers, CLI tools, browser extensions — Polar is built for you. For everything else (general SaaS, creator products), Lemon Squeezy is the broader default. Both are dramatically better than Gumroad past $30K/year.