Top Polar Alternatives For SaaS Billing in 2025
Joshua D'Costa
Growth & Marketing
Jul 23, 2025
|
5
min
As SaaS and AI-native startups scale, choosing the right billing platform becomes essential. The tools and platforms you select impact revenue collection, user experience, and operational efficiency. While Polar markets itself as “payment infrastructure for the 21st century,” you may need different capabilities or pricing structures.
In this overview, we’ll compare five leading alternatives for SaaS billing in 2025: Dodo Payments, Paddle, Stripe, Lemon Squeezy, and PayPal to help you find the best fit.
Top 5 Polar Alternatives For SaaS Billing in 2025
Dodo Payments
Dodo Payments is a fully managed global payments and billing solution tailored for SaaS and digital businesses. As your SaaS Billing solution, Dodo Payments legally processes sales, manages VAT/GST and sales tax, and files returns. It also handles refunds and chargebacks, enabling you to sell in 150+ countries without setting up local entities.
Pricing Structure
Standard Rate: 4% + $0.40 per transaction, pay‑as‑you‑go
Enterprise Plans: Custom pricing and dedicated support for high‑volume businesses
Developer Experience
REST APIs & SDKs: Available in Kotlin, Go, PHP, Python, Node.js, and Ruby
Webhooks: Real‑time event notifications for billing and payment updates
Pre‑Built Plugins: Quick integrations for popular platforms
Mobile SDKs: iOS and Android libraries to embed Dodo Payments into apps
Payment Methods
Global Coverage: Credit cards, digital wallets (e.g., Apple Pay), and regional systems (e.g., UPI)
25+ Local Options: One integration unlocks familiar payment methods in each market
Unified Checkout: Single API endpoint for all payment types
Tax Handling
Full Tax Automation: Dodo Payments calculates, collects, and remits VAT, GST, sales tax, and regulatory fees
Tax Invoices & Reports: Automatically generated and compliant with local regulations
Compliance Offload: No in‑house tax team required, Dodo Payments assumes the legal burden
Pros and Cons
Pros | Cons |
Complete global compliance in 150+ countries | Niche features may need custom development |
Automated tax and fraud management | |
No‑code setup gets you live in days | |
Unified interface for billing, subscription, and reporting |
Paddle
Paddle is a SaaS-focused payments platform that serves as your Merchant of Record. Designed for software, AI, and gaming companies, it merges payment processing with tax and compliance.
Paddle’s subscription management tools, helps in monetizing and selling your products in multiple countries. All billing, checkout, invoicing, fraud protection, and analytics live in one unified system.
Pricing Structure
5% + $0.50 per transaction (pay‑as‑you‑go)
Enterprise Plans: Negotiated transaction rates and dedicated support for high‑volume sellers
Pros and Cons
Pros | Cons |
Out‑of‑the‑box billing logic (proration, trials, coupons, multi‑currency) | 5% fee can be high on low‑value transactions |
Full tax and compliance handled as MoR in 200+ countries | Limited UI customization hosted checkout only |
Transparent, all‑inclusive pricing with no surprises | Onboarding and account approval can be slow |
Robust APIs and sandbox for quick integration | Per‑transaction flat fee penalizes micropayments |
Advanced subscription tools (dunning, lifecycle emails) with analytics | Branded invoices and customer portals (not white‑labeled) |
Stripe Managed Payments
Stripe Managed Payments is Stripe’s turnkey merchant‐of‐record solution that offloads onboarding, underwriting, KYC/AML checks, and payout management. Rather than requiring you to build and maintain your own finance operations, Stripe becomes the legal seller of record for each transaction, handling compliance, payouts to sellers, and disputes
Pricing Structure
Standard: Pay-as-you-go
2% on domestic Visa/Mastercard transactions (including capped debit MDR)
3% on international Visa/Mastercard and 3.5% on AmEx, each with an extra 2% fee if currency conversion is needed
4.3% on any transaction presented in a foreign currency, plus 2% for conversion
Pros and Cons
Pros | Cons |
Excellent developer tools and APIs. | operates on an invite-only basis. |
Global reach with multi-currency and 100+ payment methods | Extra fees for add-on products and on refunds/chargebacks |
Built‑In Fraud & Dispute Management | Currently supported in select countries; international expansion may require additional setup. |
Extensive documentation and ecosystem integrations |
Lemon Squeezy
Lemon Squeezy is an all‑in‑one platform for selling digital products, software, and subscriptions. Founded in 2020, it serves 15,000+ merchants and acts as Merchant of Record collecting and remitting sales tax/VAT worldwide.
Pricing Structure
5% + $0.50 per sale, Additional Fees (on some payment methods or services).
Custom Enterprise Plans available for very high‑volume merchants
Pros and Cons
Pros | Cons |
Intuitive, feature‑rich for digital goods and subscriptions | 5% + $0.50 fee can be high for low‑value sales |
Acts as MoR with global tax automation (VAT/sales tax) | Limited UI customization, standard checkout and portal layouts |
Supports 21+ payment methods (cards, PayPal, wallets) | Occasional onboarding delays and support response times |
Built‑in affiliate marketing and lead‑magnet tools | Lacks advanced enterprise subscription features (complex bundles, proration beyond basics) |
No‑code storefront builder for quick launch | Best suited for small to mid‑sized brands, not complex billing needs |
PayPal
PayPal is a payment platform that enables online payment between individuals and businesses. It enables businesses and individuals to send and receive money across borders. Its presence spans over 200+ countries, making it a go-to platform for global payments.
Pricing Structure
U.S. Card Transactions: 2.89% + $0.29 per sale
Wallet Payments (PayPal/Venmo): 3.49% + $0.49 per transaction
Subscription Billing: 2.9% + $0.30 per recurring payment, Additional 3–4% fee on international transactions.
Pros and Cons
Pros | Cons |
Trusted global brand with high consumer adoption | Does not automate VAT/sales tax compliance |
Simple, no‑code setup via checkout buttons or links | Limited checkout customization and branding |
Multiple payment options (cards, wallets, BNPL) | Higher fees for wallet and cross‑border transactions |
Built‑in buyer/seller protection and fraud safeguards | Subscription tools less advanced, $10/month for premium features |
Automatic retry on failed recurring payments | Currency conversion fees higher than competitors |
Conclusion
In 2025, SaaS and AI-native startups can choose from several billing platforms beyond Polar. Each platform involves trade‑offs in pricing, features, and complexity, so pick the one that aligns with your product vision, target markets, and technical capacity.
Choosing the right billing solution will simplify payments, automate compliance, and free your team to focus on product innovation and growth.
Dodo Payments is ideal as end-to-end Merchant-of-Record and AI billing solutions that simplify global tax and compliance for companies selling worldwide.
