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P

Polar

Monetize your open source work and digital products

FreemiumFree TierAdded Jun 1, 2023

About

Polar helps open source developers and creators monetize their work through subscriptions, one-time purchases, donations, and issue funding. It provides a Merchant of Record service (handling taxes and compliance), embeddable checkout widgets, license key management, and a storefront. Built specifically for developers who want to sell products without dealing with Stripe complexity or tax headaches.

Tags

monetizationopen-sourcepaymentssubscriptionsdigital-productsmerchant-of-record

Origin Story

By Birk Jernström

The Problem

Open source developers struggle to monetize their work. GitHub Sponsors has limited features, and setting up Stripe with tax compliance is painful.

Building It

Launched in 2023. Pivoted from pure issue funding to a full Merchant of Record platform for developers. Rapid iteration based on community feedback.

What It Means

Making it as easy to sell software products as it is to push code to GitHub.

The Dream

To help every open source developer earn a sustainable income from their work.

Pricing

ModelFreemium
Free tierAvailable

Free to start. Polar takes a 5% transaction fee on revenue processed. No monthly fees.

View pricing

Category

Developer Tools

Problems Solved

  • Monetizing Open Source
  • Selling Digital Products
  • Handling Global Taxes

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