# grimmory vs polar

> Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | grimmory | polar |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 69/100 | 71/100 ✓ |
| Rank in category | #2 of 12 in Book Management | #1 of 13 in Billing |
| GitHub stars | 4 626 | 10 436 ✓ |
| Stars, last 30 days | +201 ✓ | +157 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 19 ✓ | 1 |
| Latest release | v3.5.0 · 21 Sept 2026 | @polar-sh/cli@3.0.0 · 16 Oct 2026 ✓ |
| Setup | Moderate ✓ | Advanced |
| Official Docker image | Yes ✓ | No |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | Java | Python |

## Which one should you pick?

polar scores 71/100 against 69/100 for grimmory, so it is the safer default.

grimmory ships more often: 19 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for polar.

If you want the quickest setup, grimmory is easier to run; polar needs more configuration.

## Details

- [grimmory](https://selfhost.directory/project/grimmory) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/grimmory.md)
- [polar](https://selfhost.directory/project/polar) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/polar.md)

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/grimmory-vs-polar