# polar vs Shields

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

| | polar | Shields |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 71/100 | 80/100 ✓ |
| Rank in category | #1 of 13 in Billing | #6 of 166 in Developer Tools |
| GitHub stars | 10 437 | 27 336 ✓ |
| Stars, last 30 days | +158 ✓ | +130 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 ✓ | 0 |
| Latest release | @polar-sh/cli@3.0.0 · 16 Oct 2026 | — |
| Setup | Advanced | Easy ✓ |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes ✓ |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | Python | JavaScript |

## Which one should you pick?

Shields scores 80/100 against 71/100 for polar, so it is the safer default.

polar ships more often: 1 stable releases in the past year, against 0 for Shields.

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

## Details

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

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