Alternatives / Dodo Payments
Looking for an open source Dodo Payments alternative? We compared 2 open source platforms for selling digital products by license and role. Polar acts as a merchant of record and handles tax, while Gumroad is a marketplace for creators.
Written by Maxime DERAME
Last updated:
| Alternative | Best for | License |
|---|---|---|
| Polar | Merchant of record for software and digital goods | Apache-2.0 |
| Gumroad | Creator marketplace with delivery | MIT |
We looked for open-source tools for selling digital products and software. We verified each project's license, recent activity, stars, and what they handle for you. See our methodology for the full criteria.
Polar is an Apache-2.0 platform for digital products and SaaS that acts as merchant of record, handling VAT, GST, and sales tax, with usage-based billing, framework adapters, and automated benefits such as license keys and GitHub or Discord access. Its pricing is 4% plus 40 cents per transaction.
Gumroad is an MIT marketplace for creators to sell courses and software, with built-in payments, analytics, email, and automated delivery and license keys.
Self-hosting either project would make you responsible for taxes and payment compliance unless you use the hosted merchant of record service.
Polar is Apache-2.0. Gumroad is MIT.
Both had commits within days of this update.
Dodo Payments is a proprietary merchant of record. Self-hosting a payments flow does not remove tax and compliance duties, so the open-source options here are mostly platforms whose code is public rather than ways to avoid a merchant of record.
Polar is an Apache-2.0 open-source payments and billing platform for digital product and SaaS businesses. It acts as the merchant of record to handle tax, automates benefits such as license keys and GitHub or Discord access, and supports subscriptions and usage-based billing. Its hosted pricing is listed at 4% plus 40 cents per transaction.
Pricing: Free to self-host the code; the hosted service charges 4% plus 40 cents per transaction.
Gumroad is an MIT-licensed marketplace and storefront where creators sell digital products such as courses, software, ebooks, and music, with payments, file hosting, and delivery handled for them. It is a sales platform rather than a payment processor, and the hosted service charges platform fees.
Pricing: Free to self-host the code; the hosted service charges fees on sales.
| Alternative | Type | License | Self-hosted | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Polar | Payments platform | Apache-2.0 | Hosted service | SaaS and developers |
| Gumroad | Marketplace | MIT | Code is open | Creators |
Want tax handled for you
Polar acts as merchant of record and handles VAT, GST, and sales tax.
Want a creator storefront
Gumroad includes analytics, email marketing, and license key management.