Creem vs Polar Fees, Flat Rate Against Plan Ladder
Creem charges a flat 3.9% + 40¢ with no international surcharge, while Polar's plans run 5% down to 3.4% plus 1.5% abroad. Break-even math and payout fees.
Creem and Polar are the two merchants of record that picked up the most refugees when Stripe bought Lemon Squeezy. Yet as of mid-2026, hardly anyone has put their fees side by side. Both act as the legal seller and take on global sales tax and chargeback liability, both target developers selling software, and their pricing philosophies could not be more different. Creem publishes one number, 3.9% + 40¢, every transaction, every country, with no international-card surcharge. Polar publishes a ladder that starts with a free Starter tier at 5% + 50¢, then Pro ($20/month, 3.8% + 40¢), Growth ($100/month, 3.6% + 35¢), and Scale ($400/month, 3.4% + 30¢), with a 1.5% international surcharge on every tier.
That structure means the winner is decided by customer mix, not by headline. On a $100 US sale, Creem’s $4.30 beats Polar Starter’s $5.50 but loses to Pro’s $4.20 once volume covers the plan fee. On a $100 international sale, Creem’s $4.30 beats every Polar tier, including the $400-a-month one. The tool below runs both structures against your own price and mix. The sections after it work out exactly where the ladder overtakes the flat rate.
Creem breakdown
- Base fee (3.9% + 40¢) $4.30
Polar.sh breakdown
- Base fee (5% + 50¢) $5.50
The ranking counts per-transaction cost only. Monthly plan fees, payout fees, and dispute fees are listed separately on each platform page. Rates are verified against official pricing pages, and the sources list the dates.
Every Creem vs Polar.sh fee side by side
| Creem | Polar.sh | |
|---|---|---|
| Base transaction fee | 3.9% + 40¢ | Starter (free) 5% + 50¢ Pro ($20/mo) 3.8% + 40¢ Growth ($100/mo) 3.6% + 35¢ Scale ($400/mo) 3.4% + 30¢ |
| International cards | No surcharge | +1.5% |
| Currency conversion | No surcharge | No surcharge |
| Subscription billing | Included | Included |
| PayPal | Not offered | Not offered |
| Monthly fee | None | Varies by plan ($0–$400/mo) |
| Payout fees | EU/SEPA free, elsewhere $7 or 1% per payout, whichever is higher (Payouts on the 1st and 15th) | $2/month with payouts + 0.25% + 25¢ per payout (0.25–1% FX on non-USD payouts) |
| Dispute / chargeback fee | Not published | $15.00 |
| Sales tax / VAT handling | MoR Creem handles global sales tax and VAT as the legal seller | MoR Polar handles global sales tax and VAT as the legal seller |
| Source | Official pricing, last verified 2026-07-10 | Official pricing, last verified 2026-07-10 (Plans introduced May 2026. Grandfathered Early Member orgs pay 4% + 40¢ + 0.5% on subscriptions) |
| Platform | $10 sale | $50 sale | $500 sale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Creem | $0.79 | $2.35 | $19.90 |
| Polar.sh | $1.00 | $3.00 | $25.50 |
One number against a ladder
Creem prices every transaction the same way, at 3.9% + 40¢, whether it’s a first sale or a renewal, a US card or a foreign one, with no monthly fee. The only additions are optional features, 2% if you enable affiliate tracking and 5% on recovered abandoned carts. Polar prices by plan. Starter is free at 5% + 50¢, Pro is $20 a month at 3.8% + 40¢, Growth is $100 at 3.6% + 35¢, and Scale is $400 at 3.4% + 30¢. The ladder was introduced in May 2026, and every rung adds 1.5% for international cards. Both companies are merchants of record, so tax and chargeback liability sit with the platform either way.
Foreign cards decide more than plan choice does
| Plan (monthly fee) | $100 US sale | $100 international sale |
|---|---|---|
| Creem ($0) | $4.30 | $4.30 |
| Polar Starter ($0) | $5.50 | $7.00 |
| Polar Pro ($20) | $4.20 | $5.70 |
| Polar Growth ($100) | $3.95 | $5.45 |
| Polar Scale ($400) | $3.70 | $5.20 |
The right-hand column is a shutout. Scale’s international rate of 4.9% + 30¢ still loses to Creem’s flat 3.9% + 40¢ on any sale over $10, so $400 a month buys no parity on foreign cards. On a $49 international subscription, Creem takes $2.31 while Polar Starter takes $3.69 and Pro $3.00.
The domestic crossover sits at exactly $20,000 a month
Pro and Creem carry the same 40¢ fixed fee, so domestically the contest reduces to 3.8% against 3.9%. Pro saves 0.1% of volume, which means the $20 plan fee is repaid at precisely $20,000 a month in US card sales, at any order size. Growth saves 0.3% plus 5¢ a sale but costs $100 a month, putting its break-even near $25,000 monthly at a $50 average order. Below those lines Creem wins domestic traffic too. Above them, Polar’s ladder keeps stepping down while Creem’s price never moves.
A worked mix of 200 subscribers at $29, 40% international
Revenue is $5,800 a month. Creem charges $1.53 per renewal regardless of geography, totaling $306 in fees. Polar Starter charges $1.95 domestic and $2.39 international, for $425. Pro cuts transaction fees to $335 but adds its $20 plan, landing at $355 all-in. Growth lands at $414 including its fee. Polar’s cheapest configuration still costs $49 a month more than Creem, because the 1.5% surcharge on 40% of revenue eats what the lower rates save. Even with an all-US customer base, Pro totals $320 against Creem’s $306 here, since $5,800 sits far below the $20,000 crossover.
Fine print the headline rates skip
Polar publishes its rough edges. Disputes cost $15, and payouts cost $2 a month plus 0.25% and 25¢ each, about $14.75 on a single $5,000 monthly payout. Creem, an EU company, pays SEPA accounts free but charges everyone else, US merchants included, $7 or 1% per payout. It also publishes no dispute fee at all, the one blank line in an otherwise flat price list. Polar’s code being open source puts a floor under platform risk that closed rivals lack. Both are young companies courting the same migrating Lemon Squeezy sellers, and neither has a decade of merchant-of-record history behind its terms.
Verdict
Creem wins for anyone selling internationally, which for developer tools is nearly everyone. Its 3.9% + 40¢ carries no international surcharge, so it undercuts even Polar Scale (4.9% + 30¢ abroad) on any foreign-card sale over $10, and it does so without a monthly fee. Polar wins domestically at scale. Pro matches Creem’s fixed fee and shaves the rate to 3.8%, so above exactly $20,000 a month in US card volume the $20 plan pays for itself, and Growth and Scale extend the discount from there. Polar also publishes what Creem doesn’t, namely a $15 dispute fee where Creem lists no dispute price at all, and its platform is open source, which matters if lock-in worries you more than 20 basis points. Both are young companies, and neither has Paddle’s track record. If majority-US revenue is growing past $20K a month, take Polar’s ladder. If you sell globally or sit below that line, Creem is cheaper on almost every invoice.What’s the best alternative?
Creem and Polar.sh aren’t the only two options for this kind of selling. Kelviq, a newer merchant of record, charges 3.5% + 40¢ per sale with no monthly fee (2.9% + 40¢ on your first $5,000). On a $100 domestic sale that works out to $3.90, next to $4.30 on Creem and $5.50 on Polar.sh, and the fee includes usage metering and entitlements that SaaS and AI products otherwise build separately. Run your own numbers in the Kelviq fee calculator, or see the direct matchups in Kelviq vs Creem and Kelviq vs Polar.sh.