About Polar
Polar is an open source billing platform for software developers, with payments, subscriptions and usage-based billing. It acts as merchant of record, so global tax and payment handling are taken care of for sellers.
What it does
Polar records usage events, such as tokens or agent runs, and turns them into live meters for each customer. It can combine a base plan, prepaid credits and metered usage on one invoice. It also compares revenue with the cost of running a feature, so a team can see margins per customer.
Key features
- Usage event ingestion
- Real-time meters
- Subscriptions, credits and usage on one invoice
- Margin view per customer
- Global tax handling
Who it's for
AI companies, developer tools and software teams that charge for usage rather than only flat plans. It also suits open source projects that want a way to earn money from their work.
Pricing and good to know
The source code is available on GitHub under the Apache-2.0 license. The hosted service has its own fees and terms, listed on the Polar website. Usage-based billing works best when your product already tracks events, so plan the data flow before you rely on it for invoices.
Highlights
- Meter usage events such as tokens and agent runs
- Combine subscriptions, prepaid credits and usage
- Compare revenue against inference cost per customer
- Track live meters that update in real time
- Handle global tax as merchant of record
