Payhip vs Polar
We give Payhip and Polar the same GPA: 2.6 out of 4.0. They get the same grade on all five counts.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Payhip
Store for downloads, courses and memberships, with a free plan
Polar
Open-source billing and merchant of record for software sellers
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAPayhipGood | 2.6GPAPolarGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CPlus at $29 a month plus its 2% fee ($20 on $1,000) comes to $49, a dollar under the free plan's 5% ($50). Pro at $99 drops the fee but costs more at this size. No yearly price is on record, and PayPal or Stripe fees come on top (not counted). | CStarter is free and keeps 5% + 50¢ a transaction, so $1,000 costs $50 plus 50¢ a sale, with no separate card fee listed since Polar is the merchant of record. Pro at $20 only pays off above about $1,379 a month. Non-US cards add 1.5%. |
| Free plan and trial | AFree Forever has every feature, unlimited products and unlimited revenue, with no cap you'd reach. Payhip takes 5% of each sale instead, and the value grade counts that. | AStarter costs nothing a month and includes every selling feature, with standard support. You pay 5% + 50¢ a sale instead, and the value grade counts that. |
| Features | CDownloads, courses, coaching, memberships, physical products and bundles, plus coupons, affiliates and PDF stamping. The gap the listing names is email: there are no built-in campaigns, so buyers sync to ConvertKit or another service. | CSubscriptions, seats, usage meters and credits, plus files, license keys, GitHub repo invites and Discord roles delivered automatically. It does billing for software fully, but nothing in the listing covers a store page, email or affiliates. |
| Ease of use | CNo App Store rating on record. Every plan has every feature, so there's nothing to unlock, but you still set up the store, your products and a PayPal or Stripe account. | CNo App Store rating on record. It's built for developers: the listing leads with an API, a Python SDK and webhooks, so expect some setting up. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, with Stripe, PayPal, Zapier, Zoom, Calendly and ConvertKit, plus buy buttons for WordPress, Squarespace, Wix and Shopify sites. No phone or desktop app is listed. | BWeb, with Stripe, GitHub, Discord and Slack, an API, a Python SDK and an MCP server for Claude, Cursor and ChatGPT. No phone or desktop app is listed. |
| Best for | a free store for downloads, courses and coaching | developers selling software and usage plans |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Payhip and Polar. How we grade
Price against what you get
Payhip starts at $29 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Polar starts at $20 a month and scores 2.3.
They score the same, and Polar starts $9 a month lower. Of the other tools for selling digital products on the chart, 6 score higher than Payhip for less, and 6 score higher than Polar for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Payhip starts at $29 per month. Polar starts at $20 per month, with a lower fee on each sale.
- Polar is open source, according to its own site.
- Payhip also covers online courses, affiliate tracking and online store.
- Polar also covers merchant of record.
At a glance
| Payhip | Polar | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $29 per month | $20 per month, with a lower fee on each sale |
| Free plan | Free Forever plan with all features, unlimited products and unlimited revenue; Payhip takes 5% of each sale on top of PayPal or Stripe fees. | Starter is free with all selling features and standard support; Polar takes 5% + 50¢ of each transaction, plus 1.5% for non-US cards. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Payhip | Polar Software, Inc. |
| Price read from | payhip.com | polar.sh |
| Checked | Oct 18, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Payhip
- New sellers who want a free store and pay only when they sell
- Creators selling downloads, courses and coaching from one store
- Sellers who want EU, UK and US sales tax taken care of
Polar
- Developers selling software, licenses or SaaS subscriptions worldwide
- AI products that bill by tokens, credits or other usage
- Open-source maintainers granting paid access to repos or Discord
Worth knowing
Payhip
- The free plan takes 5% of each sale and Plus takes 2%, on top of PayPal or Stripe fees; only Pro at $99 a month removes Payhip's fee.
- Payhip has no built-in email campaigns: a newsletter block collects followers for export, and buyers sync to a separate email service.
- Payments go through the seller's own PayPal, Stripe or regional gateway account, such as Square, Razorpay or Paystack.
- Sellers with a physical presence in a US state may still have to file a zero-dollar sales tax return there, Payhip's help center says.
Polar
- Starter keeps 5% + 50¢ of each transaction, and non-US cards add 1.5%; the paid plans only lower that fee once sales are high enough.
- Each dispute costs $15 whatever the outcome, and Polar may suspend accounts whose chargeback rate gets too high.
- Payouts through Stripe cost $2 a month plus 0.25% + $0.25 per payout, and currency conversion adds 0.25% to 1%.
- Organizations created before May 27, 2026 keep an Early Member rate of 4% + 40¢ until they move to a paid plan.
Key features
Payhip
- Many product types
- Digital downloads with variants, online courses, coaching with Calendly or Zoom scheduling, memberships, physical products and bundles.
- Sales tax handled
- Payhip collects and remits EU and UK VAT on digital sales and, from July 1, 2026, US sales tax as a marketplace facilitator, at no extra charge.
- Marketing tools
- Coupons, running sales, cross-selling, upgrade discounts, a referral system, customer reviews and an affiliate program.
- Store or embedded buttons
- A hosted store on a custom domain, or buy buttons added to WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, Weebly or Shopify sites.
- File protection
- Download limits, set to 5 by default, and PDF stamping that prints the buyer's email and purchase date on every page.
- Mailing list sync
- Buyers are added to lists in ConvertKit, ActiveCampaign, AWeber, Drip, Flodesk, Klaviyo and other email services after a purchase.
Polar
- Merchant of record
- Polar resells your product in over 100 markets and is responsible for payments, sales tax and VAT, fraud, refunds and chargebacks.
- Subscriptions and usage billing
- Subscriptions, seat-based and unit-based pricing, prepaid credits and metered usage from live event meters, combined on one invoice.
- Automated benefits
- Deliver file downloads up to 10GB each, license keys, private GitHub repository invites, Discord roles, feature flags or a shared Slack channel.
- Cost and margin insights
- Attach inference or other costs to usage events to see gross margin per customer beside revenue.
- Checkout options
- Custom checkout fields, discounts, free trials and tax-inclusive pricing, with a Python SDK, webhooks and an API for developers.
- Open source and MCP
- Polar's code is open source, and its MCP server lets Claude, Cursor or ChatGPT query customers and revenue or create products and refunds.
Plans
Payhip
Free Forever$0
All features, unlimited products and revenue. Payhip takes a 5% transaction fee on each sale; PayPal and Stripe charge their own fees too.
Plus$29
per month
The same features as Free Forever, with Payhip's transaction fee cut from 5% to 2% of each sale.
Pro$99
per month
The same features with no transaction fee from Payhip; only PayPal or Stripe processing fees apply.
Polar
Starter$0
All features to sell, standard support. Polar keeps 5% + 50¢ of each transaction, plus 1.5% for international cards.
Pro$20
per month
Fee drops to 3.8% + 40¢ a transaction, with prioritized support and preview access to new features. Pays off above about $1,379 a month in sales.
Growth$100
per month
Fee drops to 3.6% + 35¢ a transaction, with prioritized support. Pays off above about $5,634 a month in sales.
Scale$400
per month
Fee drops to 3.4% + 30¢ a transaction, with a shared Slack channel, P1 support and single sign-on.
Ways to pay less
Payhip
No public discounts listed.
Polar
- Startups
Scale plan free for a year for AI startups
Polar's Startup Program gives early-stage AI startups the Scale plan free for twelve months, with its 3.4% + 30¢ fee, by application.
