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Easy Digital Downloads vs Polar: Which is right for you? (1970)

TL;DR

  • Choose Easy Digital Downloads if you need advanced billing (usage, dunning, entitlements).
  • Choose Polar if you want global taxes and compliance handled for you.
  • Both work for: digital_products.

Easy Digital Downloads

Personal $99/year. Extended $199/year. Professional $299/year.

WordPress plugin for selling digital products. Strong for software developers selling plugins or themes. Open source core with paid extensions.

Polar

4% + $0.40 per transaction (lowest MoR fees on the market)

Lowest MoR fees on the market (4% + $0.40). Open source, built for developers and OSS projects.

Pricing comparison

Pricing model
flat_annual
percentage
Detail
Personal $99/year. Extended $199/year. Professional $299/year.
4% + $0.40 per transaction (lowest MoR fees on the market)

Feature comparison

Easy Digital Downloads
Polar
Merchant of record
No
Yes
Paywalls
No
No
A/B testing
No
No
Tax handled
No
Yes
No-code
Yes
Yes
Open source
Yes
Yes
Ease of setup
4/5
5/5
Fee competitiveness
4/5
5/5
Conversion tooling
2/5
2/5
Advanced billing
2/5
1/5

Best for

Easy Digital Downloads is best for WordPress, Digital products, ebooks, software, plugins, Publishers. Polar is best for indie dev, open source, developers, Digital products, SaaS, web.

FAQ

Is Easy Digital Downloads better than Polar?

Neither is universally better. Easy Digital Downloads is the right pick if you need advanced billing (usage, dunning, entitlements); Polar wins if you want global taxes and compliance handled for you.

Which is cheaper, Easy Digital Downloads or Polar?

Polar ranks higher on fee competitiveness (5/5). Easy Digital Downloads pricing: Personal $99/year. Extended $199/year. Professional $299/year.. Polar pricing: 4% + $0.40 per transaction (lowest MoR fees on the market).

Can I switch from Easy Digital Downloads to Polar?

Yes — most subscription and billing tools support migration via CSV import or API. Expect to reconfigure webhooks, paywalls, and entitlements. Check both vendors' migration docs before committing.

Does Easy Digital Downloads handle sales tax?

No. Easy Digital Downloads does not handle tax registrations — you handle those yourself or via a separate tool.

All Easy Digital Downloads alternatives →All Polar alternatives →

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