Moving from Polar to Lemon Squeezy
A cost comparison and planning checklist. These are assessment steps, not vendor-specific migration instructions.
Polar
Developer-first Merchant of Record built for modern SaaS products, digital downloads, and subscriptions.
$1,340.00 / month
Starter
Official pricing · Checked 2026-10-08
Cost breakdown and exclusions
- Monthly subscription: $0
- Platform & card processing (5.0%): $1,000.00
- Per-transaction fee: $250.00
- International cards (1.5%): $90.00
- Starter for organizations created on or after May 27, 2026. Volume includes tax; international share means non-US cards. No separate subscription payment fee.
- Payout fees, currency conversion, disputes, refunds, optional paid plans and grandfathered Early Member pricing.
Lemon Squeezy
All-in-one Merchant of Record platform handling global tax compliance, subscriptions, and payouts.
$1,340.00 / month
Standard MoR
Official pricing · Checked 2026-10-06
Cost breakdown and exclusions
- Monthly subscription: $0
- Card processing & MoR (5.0%): $1,000.00
- Per-transaction fee: $250.00
- International fee (+1.5%): $90.00
- Full Merchant of Record liability: automated calculation, filing, and remittance of global sales tax/VAT across 100+ countries.
- Custom enterprise agreements, affiliate tracking fees, and instant wire payout surcharges.
Recurring cost difference
The modeled recurring costs are equal.
Not calculated. Estimate migration labor, overlapping subscriptions, transfer charges and contract obligations before dividing those costs by any monthly savings.
What this comparison covers
Commercial online payments for SaaS and digital goods. Card processing, fraud protection, and currency handling. Custom negotiated enterprise volume discounts, chargeback dispute defense fees, and local banking payout fees are excluded.
Evaluating 2 products from 4 published in this category. USD monthly equivalents, before tax. Features and service compatibility need separate evaluation.
- Gross transaction volume
- 20,000 USD / month
- Successful transactions
- 500 transactions / month
- International volume
- 30 % of volume
Before you move
- This is a readiness assessment, not a verified vendor migration procedure.
- Use the source pricing and plan documentation: https://polar.sh/docs/merchant-of-record/fees
- Use the target pricing and plan documentation: https://www.lemonsqueezy.com/pricing
- Obtain the account permissions, data-owner approvals and tested backups needed for your chosen transfer method.
Modeled recurring cost
Polar: $1,340.00/month
Lemon Squeezy: $1,340.00/month
Polar and Lemon Squeezy have the same modeled cost of $1,340.00 per month at this workload.
Requirements
Starter
Standard MoR
Ask both providers about supported account and payment-data transfers, subscription continuity, refunds, disputes and required approvals; do not assume payment credentials are portable.
Your migration readiness checklist
Check items as you review them. Progress is kept only while this page is open.
Questions before you decide
Does a lower monthly estimate mean the migration pays for itself?
Not calculated. Estimate migration labor, overlapping subscriptions, transfer charges and contract obligations before dividing those costs by any monthly savings.
Is this a guaranteed migration procedure?
No. This assessment identifies decisions to verify with official provider documentation. It does not establish interoperability, data portability, zero downtime or a rollback guarantee.