# polar vs PostgREST

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

| | polar | PostgREST |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 71/100 | 79/100 ✓ |
| Rank in category | #1 of 13 in Billing | #2 of 13 in API |
| GitHub stars | 10 437 | 27 737 ✓ |
| Stars, last 30 days | +158 ✓ | +60 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 | 20 ✓ |
| Latest release | @polar-sh/cli@3.0.0 · 16 Oct 2026 | v16.5 · 18 Oct 2026 ✓ |
| Setup | Advanced | Easy ✓ |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes ✓ |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Main language | Python | Haskell |

## Which one should you pick?

PostgREST scores 79/100 against 71/100 for polar, so it is the safer default.

PostgREST ships more often: 20 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for polar.

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

polar is growing faster right now (+158 stars in 30 days).

## Details

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

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