Compare › Sell Digital Products
Circle vs Polar
| Circle | Polar | |
|---|---|---|
| What it says it does | Build a home for your community, events, and courses — all under your own brand. | Polar is the Merchant of Record for developers building AI-era software: payments, subscriptions, and usage-based billing, with global tax handled for you. |
| Pricing | Professional $89/mo (2% transaction fee); Business $199/mo (1% fee); Scale $419/mo; Circle Plus custom; prices billed annually; 14-day free trial, no card required (official) | Starter free with 5% + 50¢ per transaction; Pro $20/mo (3.8% + 40¢); Growth $100/mo (3.6% + 35¢); Scale $400/mo (3.4% + 30¢); +1.5% for non-US cards; Stripe payout fees passed through (official) |
| Website | https://circle.so/ | https://polar.sh/ |
Which to use
Circle wins when you want a polished, branded home for a paid community with courses and events. Polar wins when you want a Merchant of Record with public, simple fees for selling software and subscriptions.
- Choose Circle if you want a branded community with courses, events and paid memberships in one place.
- Choose Polar if you sell software, SaaS subscriptions or digital products and want tax handled for you.
This is an editorial fit note from each vendor's public site and docs, not a sponsored ranking and not a price quote. Descriptions in the table come from those sites. Confirm current prices there. How we review tools.
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