Stripe vs Polar

Side-by-side fee comparison — enter your billing volume and see which payment processor costs less.

1. Pick a business size

Choose the preset closest to your billing volume.

2. Fine-tune (optional)

Adjust transaction volume and fee assumptions.

Polar is cheaper by $2.85/mo (1%) on $4,900.00 GMV. Adjust the preset to see how the gap changes at different volumes.

StripeStandard

$213.35/mo
Platform fee
No monthly platform fee
incl.
Percentage fee (2.9%)
$4,900.00 GMV × 2.9%
$142.10
Fixed fee ($0.30/transaction)
100 transactions × $0.30
$30.00
International card fee (1.5%)
$980.00 intl GMV (20%) × 1.5%
$14.70
Currency conversion (1.0%)
$980.00 intl GMV (20%) × 1.0%
$9.80
Chargeback fees ($15/dispute)
0.3 disputes (0.30% rate) × $15
$4.50
Stripe Tax (0.5% of taxable GMV)
$2,450.00 taxable GMV (50%) × 0.5%
$12.25
Payout fee
Domestic ACH/SEPA — free
incl.
Effective rate: ~4.4% on $4,900.00 monthly GMV. Assumes: 20% international cards (+1.5% + 1.0% conversion), 0.30% chargeback rate ($15/dispute), 50% of GMV taxable (Stripe Tax at 0.5%). Stripe Billing (subscription management) costs an additional 0.7% of billing volume — not included here. Many SaaS manage subscriptions via API directly. Radar Advanced ($0.05/txn manual review) not included — basic Radar fraud detection is free.
Rates verified 2026-05 — Stripe pricing page

PolarFree

Lower cost
$210.50/mo
Monthly platform fee
No monthly platform fee
incl.
Platform fee (4% all-in)
$4,900.00 GMV × 4%
$196.00
Payout fee
$2.00 monthly + $0.25/withdrawal + $4,900.00 GMV × 0.25% (EU/domestic)
$14.50
Effective rate: 4% on $4,900.00 monthly GMV. The 4% fee is all-in and includes payment processing. Unlike Stripe, there is no fixed per-transaction fee — so Polar can be more cost-effective for low-value transactions. Payout fee: $2/month (any month with a payout) + 0.25% + $0.25 per withdrawal. Cross-border: up to 1.0% total. Batch payouts to reduce frequency and lower the per-withdrawal $0.25 fixed cost. Rates are approximate. Verify current pricing at polar.sh/pricing before committing.
Rates verified 2026-05 — Polar pricing page

What Stripe excels at

  • No monthly fee — you pay nothing until you process a transaction.
  • Widest global coverage: 135+ currencies, local payment methods in every major market.
  • Stripe Billing handles subscription lifecycle, dunning, proration, and trials (0.7% of billing volume).
  • Stripe Radar ML fraud detection included at the standard rate — no separate subscription.
  • Developer-first API with the most comprehensive ecosystem of partner apps and plugins.

What Polar excels at

  • Simple flat 4% fee — no fixed per-transaction charge, predictable for any order size.
  • Purpose-built for developer tools: GitHub-native checkout, license keys, benefit delivery.
  • Built-in subscription management, trials, upgrades, and downgrades out of the box.
  • Polar Checkout embed works directly in your Next.js app — no external redirect.
  • Open source foundation with a public roadmap; smaller, more developer-focused team.
Native integration

MakerKit supports both Stripe and Polar

Subscriptions, one-time payments, customer portal, and webhooks all pre-built — whichever payment processor you choose.

Get MakerkitOne-time $349 — yours forever

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