Polar Review and Top Alternative for SaaS In 2025
Joshua D'Costa
Growth & Marketing
Dec 1, 2025
|
5
min
2025 sees a growing trend toward Merchant-of-Record (MoR) billing platforms that handle not just transactions but also global taxes and compliance. Polar.sh is one such solution: a developer-friendly payment stack built that promises to “turn your software into a business”.
In this review, we’ll explore what Polar.sh offers – its core features, supported markets, pricing and drawbacks and one top alternative, a comprehensive payment infra for SaaS.
What is Polar.sh
Polar.sh is an open-source, developer-centric billing platform aimed at indie hackers and startups. Polar provides complete billing infrastructure with tax compliance, product management, and automated access & delivery. This lets developers sell subscriptions, one-time products, or usage-based services worldwide without building complex billing logic themselves.
Polar.sh Supported Countries
Because Polar is a Merchant of Record provider, it supports global payments. Polar accepts payments from customers anywhere except sanctioned countries like Cuba, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Syria. Check out their docs.
What Polar Provides as a Payment Infrastructure
Full billing stack for SaaS
Automatic tax calculation & remittance (VAT, GST, etc.) per transaction
Product database with flexible pricing: one-time, subscriptions, usage-based, trials, discounts
Hosted checkout options: links, embedded checkout, or API
Automated customer entitlements (license keys, GitHub access, Discord roles, file downloads)
APIs & webhooks for subscriptions, metered usage, accounts, invoices, refunds, reconciliation
Developer-friendly: replaces stitching together Stripe + custom DB logic
Built-in analytics & reporting (revenue, churn, MRR)
Polar.sh Features
Polar.sh’s feature set is broad. Here are some highlights:
Flexible product catalog: Define products (digital goods, courses, SaaS) with one-time, subscription, usage-based, free, or pay-what-you-want pricing.
Subscription & usage billing: Handles renewals, proration, dunning, trials, metered charges, add-ons, and coupons.
Multiple checkout options: Use checkout links, an embeddable iframe, or APIs for fully custom flows.
Automated entitlements: Auto-deliver license keys, files, GitHub invites, or Discord roles right after purchase.
Merchant-of-record & tax handling: Polar is the seller of record: it calculates, collects, and remits taxes so you receive net payouts.
Customer management & analytics: Basic portal + dashboard with customer profiles, billing history, revenue, churn, and MRR, all accessible via APIs/webhooks.
Disadvantages of Polar.sh
Polar offers a rich toolkit, but it has some trade-offs to consider:
New/Evolving Platform: Polar is relatively new and was still in beta as of late 2025. This means its feature set is growing, but some features are still catching up. One user noted Polar “seems to be still in development and is somewhat slow to add features.” on reddit.com.
Limited Payment Methods: Unlike some competitors, Polar currently focuses on card payments via Stripe Connect. It does not natively support PayPal, buy-now-pay-later, or many regional payment methods. This could limit conversion in certain markets.
Brand/Community: There’s a small but growing community of users, and Polar is open-source, which is appealing to developers. Still, you’re placing trust in a small startup for critical billing infrastructure. This may be a concern for larger enterprises seeking proven stability.
Polar.sh Pricing
The standard fee is 4% + $0.40 per transaction. There are no monthly fees or hidden charges.
Best Alternative to Polar in 2025
Dodo Payments, It’s an all-in-one global payment infrastructure for SaaS, with developer-friendly tools and an attractive pricing model. Like Polar, Dodo Payments acts as your Merchant-of-Record, trusted by over 10,000 businesses globally, including indie-hackers and fast-growing SaaS brands.
Features of Dodo Payments
Dodo’s platform is rich with features tailored to SaaS and digital products:
Merchant-of-Record: Dodo handles tax compliance worldwide. It calculates, collects, and remits VAT, GST, and other taxes for each sale.
Global payments: Accept payments in 220+ countries and territories and 30+ payment methods. Supports PayPal and BNPL.
Subscriptions & one-time billing: Create subscriptions, add-ons, metered plans, and trials. Auto-retries and invoicing reduce failed payments and churn.
Unified dashboard & reports: One place for revenue, transactions, subscriptions, customers, and tax reports in real time.
Storefront & content delivery: No-code storefronts, license key generation, and secure file delivery built in.
Developer-friendly APIs & SDKs: REST APIs and SDKs for quick integration. Developer experience is a priority.
Fraud protection & support: Built-in fraud detection, chargeback reduction tools, and customer support for disputes.
Why Dodo Payments is a Better Alternative for SaaS
Here are some reasons Dodo Payments may be the superior choice for many AI and SaaS businesses:
Built for indie & micro-SaaS
Designed for solo founders and small teams. Fast self-onboarding, clear docs, and founder-focused pricing.
Transparent, affordable pricing
Simple per-transaction pricing with core features included (billing, taxes, analytics, storefront, license delivery), no hidden per-feature fees.
All-in-one platform
Billing, taxes, analytics, product delivery, and storefront are centralized, less engineering glue work and fewer data silos.
Strong tax & compliance automation
Handles tax calculations and remittance across many jurisdictions, with compliance reporting built in, reduces international tax risk.
Ready-made digital commerce stack
Hosted storefront, secure downloads, and license key delivery mean you can sell digital products without building a separate delivery system.
Developer-friendly community & support
Active community, responsive team, and developer-focused UX make onboarding and troubleshooting faster.
Dodo Payments Pricing
Its standard plan is 4% + $0.40 per transaction, paid only when you process a sale (no monthly fees).
Enterprise: Dodo Payments also offers Enterprise tier pricing for larger companies.
Final Thoughts
Polar.sh is an exciting new entrant in the payment stack space, with a strong developer ethos and a truly global MoR proposition. It lets you go live quickly with subscriptions and product sales while ignoring the usual tax headaches.
If you’re building a SaaS product in 2025 and need a payment infra, consider your priorities. If you want an open-source, pure-code approach and don’t mind slightly higher fees, Polar is worth a look.
But if you value having an integrated platform with broad payment options and straightforward pricing, Dodo Payments stands out as a compelling choice. Whichever path you choose, ensure it aligns with your business stage and technical comfort.
