# paymenter vs polar

> Two self-hosted [Billing projects](https://selfhost.directory/billing), compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | paymenter | polar |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 69/100 | 71/100 ✓ |
| Rank in category | #3 of 13 in Billing | #1 of 13 in Billing |
| GitHub stars | 2 810 | 10 435 ✓ |
| Stars, last 30 days | +499 ✓ | +157 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 14 ✓ | 1 |
| Latest release | v1.5.9 · 2 Oct 2026 | @polar-sh/cli@3.0.0 · 16 Oct 2026 ✓ |
| Setup | Moderate ✓ | Advanced |
| Official Docker image | Yes ✓ | No |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | PHP | Python |

## Which one should you pick?

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

paymenter ships more often: 14 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for polar.

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

paymenter is growing faster right now (+499 stars in 30 days).

## Details

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

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