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Polar vs Stripe

	Polar	Stripe
What it says it does	Polar is the Merchant of Record for developers building AI-era software: payments, subscriptions, and usage-based billing, with global tax handled for you.	Stripe is a payments platform for accepting cards, wallets and bank payments online, with Payment Links, Checkout, subscriptions, invoicing and tax tools that need little or no code.
Pricing	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)	No setup or monthly fees; 2.9% + 30 cents per successful domestic card transaction; +0.5% for manually entered cards, +1.5% for international cards, +1% if currency conversion is needed; ACH Direct Debit 0.8% capped at $5; $15 per dispute; Payment Links included (US pricing) (official)
Website	https://polar.sh/	https://stripe.com/

Which to use

Polar wins when you want a Merchant of Record with public, simple fees for selling software and subscriptions. Stripe wins when you want pay-per-sale card processing with Payment Links, subscriptions and invoices and no monthly fee.

Choose Polar if you sell software, SaaS subscriptions or digital products and want tax handled for you.
Choose Stripe if you want to take card payments for products, services or subscriptions without a monthly fee.

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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