Merchant of record
Polar
Open-source merchant of record for software and digital products
66%
of the world’s people live in the 111 countries where Polar onboards local businesses.
Designed for
Developers in countries without Stripe Payments who sell software, licences or paid repo access.
Limitations
Payout only to a domestic bank account via Stripe Connect Express in a listed country; no PayPal, Payoneer or Wise payouts.
What it offers
Polar is merchant of record for software, SaaS and digital products, handling checkout, subscriptions, usage billing and international sales tax, and pays out through Stripe Connect Express.
Not offered.
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Selling through Polar
Software and SaaS; digital products (templates, e-books, PDFs, code, icons, fonts, design assets, photos, video, audio); premium content and access (Discord, GitHub repo access, courses, subscription content). Prohibited include physical products, human services, donations/crowdfunding, marketplaces, adult content and AI companions, gambling, regulated and financial services, NFTs and crypto assets, IPTV, telecom/eSIM, weapons and OSINT tools. Closer review: e-books, AI content generation tools, VPN/VPS, ticket sales, pre-orders, marketing tools.
Individuals or companies in a listed payout country. A working Stripe Connect Express payout account is required before going live; a company must use a bank account in its country of registration and local currency; most Wise/Payoneer/Revolut accounts are not accepted. Accounts are subject to review.
Bank payout through Stripe Connect Express only, in the local currency of the business’s country; manual withdrawals. Stripe fees: $2 per active payout month, 0.25% + $0.25 per payout, 0.25–1% cross-border. Minimum $10 (higher for some currencies). Organisations created on or after 12 May 2026 have a 7-day settlement delay.
Fees
Starter: free, 5% + $0.50 per transaction. Pro $20/month (3.8% + $0.40), Growth $100/month (3.6% + $0.35), Scale $400/month (3.4% + $0.30). Plus 1.5% for non-US cards and $15 per dispute. Organisations created before 27 May 2026 keep the Early Member rate of 4% + $0.40 (+0.5% on subscriptions). Seen 2026-10-24.
Prices change and may depend on your volume and country. Check the provider’s pricing page before relying on them.
Deeper review
Platform and product capabilities
What you can build on Polar: for other businesses, for your users, for consumers and with stablecoins.
Platform & marketplace
Run payments for other businesses: sign them up, take a cut, pay them out.
Products that let other sellers sell through Polar are prohibited.
Selling others’ products for an upfront payment or revenue share is prohibited; no revenue-split feature was found in the pages checked.
medium confidence
Embedded checkout on your own site via a code snippet or JavaScript library.
Embedded finance for your users
Give your users financial products under your brand.
Consumer apps
Build for individuals, not just businesses, the way Bridge allows.
Read as "the seller can be an individual": individuals can sell where Stripe Connect Express supports individual accounts.
Stablecoins
Dollar-backed tokens as a payment and treasury rail.
No stablecoin payment method found; NFTs and crypto assets are prohibited products.
low confidence
AI agents
Build with AI tools, and let AI agents shop and pay.
Official remote MCP server (mcp.polar.sh) with OAuth, with production and sandbox endpoints.
Working with them
How easy it is to get started.
Starter: free, 5% + $0.50 per transaction. Pro $20/month (3.8% + $0.40), Growth $100/month (3.6% + $0.35), Scale $400/month (3.4% + $0.30). Plus 1.5% for non-US cards and $15 per dispute. Organisations created before 27 May 2026 keep the Ea
Where it onboards businesses
Available in 111 of the 170 countries we track.
Sellers need a Stripe Connect Express payout account in one of Polar’s listed countries, with a bank account in the same country and currency. Stripe Payments itself does not need to be available there; individuals can sell where Stripe Connect Express allows individual accounts.
High confidence: matches the provider’s published country list. Spotted a wrong country? Report it on that country’s page.
North America · 2
Latin America · 18
Europe · 38
Middle East · 8
Africa · 22
Polar: common questions
Which countries does Polar support?
Polar onboards businesses registered in 111 of the 170 countries we track.
Where is Polar available, by region?
Countries where Polar onboards businesses (fully or with limits), by region: North America 2 of 2, Latin America 18 of 26, Europe 38 of 43, Middle East 8 of 14, Africa 22 of 49, Asia-Pacific 23 of 36.
What does Polar offer?
Accept payments: Polar is merchant of record for software, SaaS and digital products, handling checkout, subscriptions, usage billing and international sales tax, and pays out through Stripe Connect Express.
Does Polar support stablecoins?
No stablecoin products are listed for Polar.
Can marketplaces and platforms use Polar?
Sub-accounts for your users: No (Products that let other sellers sell through Polar are prohibited). Split payments and platform fees: No (Selling others’ products for an upfront payment or revenue share is prohibited; no revenue-split feature was found in the pages checked). Embeddable UI: Yes (Embedded checkout on your own site via a code snippet or JavaScript library). Pay out to your users: Not confirmed (Not found on the official pages checked).
What are the alternatives to Polar?
Other merchant of record providers we track: Paddle, Stripe Managed Payments, Gumroad, FastSpring, Dodo Payments and Creem. Which one fits depends mostly on where your business is registered.
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