# polar vs Wakapi

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

| | polar | Wakapi |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 71/100 ✓ | 64/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 13 in Billing | #4 of 11 in Time Tracking |
| GitHub stars | 10 435 ✓ | 4 466 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +156 ✓ | +31 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 | 11 ✓ |
| Latest release | @polar-sh/cli@3.0.0 · 16 Oct 2026 ✓ | 2.18.2 · 14 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Advanced | Easy ✓ |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes ✓ |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Main language | Python | Go |

## Which one should you pick?

polar scores 71/100 against 64/100 for Wakapi, so it is the safer default.

Wakapi ships more often: 11 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for polar.

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

polar is growing faster right now (+156 stars in 30 days).

## Details

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

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