Payments · working at 10,000 users · rates as read 25 Sept 2026
On free tier, Paddle is $0/month: 5% + 50¢ per Checkout transaction and Polar is Starter Free 5% + 50¢. On cheapest paid plan, Paddle does not publish it and Polar is Pro $20 /mo 3.8% + 40¢. On rate above what's included, Paddle does not publish it and Polar is Growth $100 /mo at 3.6% + 35¢; Scale $400 /mo at 3.4% + 30¢. StackTab sells neither of these and takes no referral fee on either: it scores them. Every figure was read off the named company's own page on or since 2026-09-18; the URLs and the dates are at the foot of this page, and a job re-fetches each one on a schedule and fails when a figure is no longer on the page it came from.
2 compared · 3 criteria, identical for every column · every competitor figure read off that company's own page · last verified 2026-09-18
| Service | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| PaddleMerchant of record: Paddle is the seller and files the tax.verified 25 Sept 2026paddle.com/pricing | $ | $ | $ |
| PolarMerchant of record built for developers, with paid tiers that cut the rate.verified 25 Sept 2026polar.sh/docs/merchant-of-record/fees | $ | $ | $ |
- Sorted by the total at
- Merchant of record: Paddle is the seller and files the tax.verified 25 Sept 2026paddle.com/pricing
- 1,000 users
- $
3030 Standard - 10,000 users
- $
300300 Standard - 100,000 users
- $
3,0003,000 Standard
- Merchant of record built for developers, with paid tiers that cut the rate.verified 25 Sept 2026polar.sh/docs/merchant-of-record/fees
- 1,000 users
- $
3232 Starter - 10,000 users
- $
270270 Pro - 100,000 users
- $
2,4202,420 Growth
| Criterion | Paddle | Polar |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | $0/month: 5% + 50¢ per Checkout transaction"No migration fees, monthly fees, or hidden extras." | Starter Free 5% + 50¢No monthly fee on the Starter plan; the whole cost is the transaction rate. |
| Cheapest paid plan | Not publishedOne published rate and a "Custom pricing" option with no figure. The page also notes that if you are "selling products under $10 or require invoicing" you must contact them for custom pricing. | Pro $20 /mo 3.8% + 40¢Polar publishes the crossover itself: Pro pays for itself at about $1,379/mo in sales. |
| Rate above what's included | Not publishedPaddle publishes the 5% + 50¢ headline and does not publish a separate international-card or currency-conversion surcharge on this page, so there is no additional rate here to multiply out. | Growth $100 /mo at 3.6% + 35¢; Scale $400 /mo at 3.4% + 30¢Each paid tier trades a fixed monthly fee for a lower variable rate, and Polar publishes the break-even for each: about $5,634/mo for Growth and $19,048/mo for Scale. |
“Not published” means that company does not state the figure on the page cited at the foot of this page. It is not a claim that no such figure exists. A company that publishes no limit most likely has none, but “most likely” is not a fact, and this table prints what was read rather than what was inferred.
- Free tier: what the vendor gives you at $0 a month, in its own words
- Rate above what's included: the per-unit or per-transaction rate the vendor publishes for usage beyond the plan: the figure you need to work out a bill before you commit to one
Paddle: $0/month: 5% + 50¢ per Checkout transaction. "No migration fees, monthly fees, or hidden extras.". Polar: Starter Free 5% + 50¢. No monthly fee on the Starter plan; the whole cost is the transaction rate. Read from paddle.com and polar.sh on 2026-09-18. Free tier here means what the vendor gives you at $0 a month, in its own words.
Paddle does not state it on paddle.com. One published rate and a "Custom pricing" option with no figure. The page also notes that if you are "selling products under $10 or require invoicing" you must contact them for custom pricing. Polar: Pro $20 /mo 3.8% + 40¢. Polar publishes the crossover itself: Pro pays for itself at about $1,379/mo in sales. Read from paddle.com and polar.sh on 2026-09-18.
Paddle does not state it on paddle.com. Paddle publishes the 5% + 50¢ headline and does not publish a separate international-card or currency-conversion surcharge on this page, so there is no additional rate here to multiply out. Polar: Growth $100 /mo at 3.6% + 35¢; Scale $400 /mo at 3.4% + 30¢. Each paid tier trades a fixed monthly fee for a lower variable rate, and Polar publishes the break-even for each: about $5,634/mo for Growth and $19,048/mo for Scale. Read from paddle.com and polar.sh on 2026-09-18. Rate above what's included here means the per-unit or per-transaction rate the vendor publishes for usage beyond the plan: the figure you need to work out a bill before you commit to one.
Paddle: You are selling worldwide at real volume and the thing that would actually hurt is a tax authority asking questions. Paddle is the dearest rate in this table and it has the longest record of standing behind a filing when that happens: which is what the extra points are for. Polar: You are past a few thousand a month in sales and you would rather pay a fixed fee than a percentage. Polar is the only merchant of record here that publishes a tier ladder that lowers your variable rate, and it publishes the exact revenue at which each tier starts saving you money, which is a thing a vendor has no commercial reason to tell you.
StackTab does not sell any of these and has nothing to gain from which one you choose: it scores them. Each case below is the one that option genuinely wins.
- Paddle: You are selling worldwide at real volume and the thing that would actually hurt is a tax authority asking questions. Paddle is the dearest rate in this table and it has the longest record of standing behind a filing when that happens: which is what the extra points are for.
- Polar: You are past a few thousand a month in sales and you would rather pay a fixed fee than a percentage. Polar is the only merchant of record here that publishes a tier ladder that lowers your variable rate, and it publishes the exact revenue at which each tier starts saving you money, which is a thing a vendor has no commercial reason to tell you.
Prices and limits move, and a page quoting a stale one is worth less than a page quoting none. Every source is printed here so a reader can check it against the day they are reading this, and a job re-fetches each of these URLs on a schedule and fails when a figure above no longer appears on the page it came from.
- Paddle: www.paddle.com/pricing: Free tier, Cheapest paid plan, Rate above what's included. Read 2026-09-18.
- Polar: polar.sh/docs/merchant-of-record/fees: Free tier, Cheapest paid plan, Rate above what's included. Read 2026-09-18.
Last verified 2026-09-18. https://stacktab.thecompound.tech/compare/paddle-vs-polar