Payments · working at 10,000 users · rates as read 26 Sept 2026
On free tier, Polar is Starter Free 5% + 50¢ and Creem is $0/month: 3.9% + $0.40 per successful transaction. On cheapest paid plan, Polar is Pro $20 /mo 3.8% + 40¢ and Creem does not publish it. On rate above what's included, Polar is Growth $100 /mo at 3.6% + 35¢; Scale $400 /mo at 3.4% + 30¢ and Creem is No international-card surcharge. 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 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| PolarMerchant of record built for developers, with paid tiers that cut the rate.verified 25 Sept 2026polar.sh/docs/merchant-of-record/fees | $ | $ | $ |
| CreemMerchant of record at a flat 3.9%, aimed squarely at indie SaaS.drifted, last true 17 Sept 2026creem.io/pricing | $ | $ | $ |
- Sorted by the total at
- 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
- Merchant of record at a flat 3.9%, aimed squarely at indie SaaS.drifted, last true 17 Sept 2026creem.io/pricing
- 1,000 users
- $
2424 Standard · drifted - 10,000 users
- $
236236 Standard · drifted - 100,000 users
- $
2,3602,360 Standard · drifted
| Criterion | Polar | Creem |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Starter Free 5% + 50¢No monthly fee on the Starter plan; the whole cost is the transaction rate. | $0/month: 3.9% + $0.40 per successful transaction"Monthly fees $0. Setup fees $0." The FAQ states "You pay 3.9% + $0.40 per successful transaction. No setup fees, no monthly fees." The rate is unchanged since 8 September 2026; the page stopped abbreviating it as "per txn". |
| Cheapest paid plan | Pro $20 /mo 3.8% + 40¢Polar publishes the crossover itself: Pro pays for itself at about $1,379/mo in sales. | Not published"One simple price, pay as you go." Creem publishes a single rate and no paid tiers above it. A Partner plan for higher volume sits at the foot of the page at "Custom pricing", behind a call, with no figure on it. |
| Rate above what's included | 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. | No international-card surchargeCreem's comparison table lists "No international card fees" as a difference from the others, which is why its effective rate on a worldwide customer base can land below a nominally similar 5% competitor. |
“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
Polar: Starter Free 5% + 50¢. No monthly fee on the Starter plan; the whole cost is the transaction rate. Creem: $0/month: 3.9% + $0.40 per successful transaction. "Monthly fees $0. Setup fees $0." The FAQ states "You pay 3.9% + $0.40 per successful transaction. No setup fees, no monthly fees." The rate is unchanged since 8 September 2026; the page stopped abbreviating it as "per txn". Read from polar.sh and creem.io on 2026-09-18. Free tier here means what the vendor gives you at $0 a month, in its own words.
Polar: Pro $20 /mo 3.8% + 40¢. Polar publishes the crossover itself: Pro pays for itself at about $1,379/mo in sales. Creem does not state it on creem.io. "One simple price, pay as you go." Creem publishes a single rate and no paid tiers above it. A Partner plan for higher volume sits at the foot of the page at "Custom pricing", behind a call, with no figure on it. Read from polar.sh and creem.io on 2026-09-18.
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. Creem: No international-card surcharge. Creem's comparison table lists "No international card fees" as a difference from the others, which is why its effective rate on a worldwide customer base can land below a nominally similar 5% competitor. Read from polar.sh and creem.io 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.
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. Creem: You are selling worldwide and the lowest published rate is the thing that decides it. Creem is 3.9% + $0.40 with no monthly fee and states it charges no international-card surcharge: which on a customer base outside the United States makes it cheaper than the 5% providers by more than the headline gap suggests.
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.
- 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.
- Creem: You are selling worldwide and the lowest published rate is the thing that decides it. Creem is 3.9% + $0.40 with no monthly fee and states it charges no international-card surcharge: which on a customer base outside the United States makes it cheaper than the 5% providers by more than the headline gap suggests.
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.
- Polar: polar.sh/docs/merchant-of-record/fees: Free tier, Cheapest paid plan, Rate above what's included. Read 2026-09-18.
- Creem: www.creem.io/pricing: Free tier, Cheapest paid plan, Rate above what's included. Read 2026-09-18.
Last verified 2026-09-18. https://stacktab.thecompound.tech/compare/polar-vs-creem