Accounting · head to head
Netvisor vs Polar
Netvisor
Accounting
Finnish cloud accounting and payroll with pricing built from a base fee plus per transaction charges
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Polar
Accounting
Billing and revenue platform for AI and infrastructure companies
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Netvisor pricing is a base fee plus a charge per sales invoice, per purchase invoice, per payslip and per other transaction, so a company with high document volumes pays a bill that scales with trading activity and cannot be budgeted as a fixed monthly cost.; Polar percentage-based fees higher than some specialized processors for high-volume transactions
- They diverge on capability: Netvisor covers Finnish general ledger, Polar covers Usage Billing.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Netvisor and Polar actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Accounting).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Netvisor
- Finnish general ledger
- Value added tax reporting
- Bank connections
- Electronic invoicing
- Purchase invoice workflow
- Sales invoicing
- Payroll
- Incomes register reporting
Only in Polar
- Usage Billing
- Subscriptions
- Seat Management
- Prepaid Credits
- Hosted Checkout
- Cost Insights
- Merchant of Record
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Netvisor
- A Finnish company whose accounting firm works in Netvisor and wants the client approving purchase invoices in the same systemnot Polar
- A Finnish employer needing payroll that handles collective agreement terms and reports to the incomes register on timenot Polar
- A business receiving and sending structured e-invoices with Finnish counterparties that require themnot Polar
- A Finnish accounting practice standardising clients on one system with a shared role model rather than one instance per clientnot Polar
Polar
- Billing for token and API call consumption by LLM applicationsnot Netvisor
- Managing tiered pricing for infrastructure usage-based servicesnot Netvisor
- Handling subscription and usage hybrid modelsnot Netvisor
- Monetizing AI APIs with usage metering and creditsnot Netvisor
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Netvisor
- Pricing is a base fee plus a charge per sales invoice, per purchase invoice, per payslip and per other transaction, so a company with high document volumes pays a bill that scales with trading activity and cannot be budgeted as a fixed monthly cost.
- It serves Finland, so the tax and payroll logic is useless to entities filing elsewhere, and a Nordic group ends up running a different system in each country even where they belong to the same corporate family.
- The interface, help material and support operate in Finnish, so a foreign owned subsidiary needs a Finnish speaking bookkeeper or accounting firm to operate it and cannot supervise it directly from head office.
- Finnish payroll requires collective agreement terms to be configured correctly, and getting holiday pay, supplements and shift rules right is specialist work usually done by a partner, so payroll implementation is a paid project rather than a setup wizard.
- Because most deployments come through an accounting firm, the practical service you receive depends on that firm's competence with the product, and changing accountant can mean changing system or inheriting a configuration nobody documented.
Polar
- Percentage-based fees higher than some specialized processors for high-volume transactions
- Merchant of record model may not suit companies preferring direct payment control
- Free Starter tier limited with 5% fees reducing appeal for production use
- Setup and integration effort required despite API simplicity
Pricing, plan by plan
Netvisor
Free- Starter$25/month
- Basic accounting, 1000 transactions, invoicing, payroll for 1 person
- Basic$25/month
- Basic accounting plus invoicing, 2.06 euros per invoice item, unlimited users, email support
- Core$25/month
- All Basic features, invoices included in monthly cost
- Professional$25/month
- All Core features, broadest software interface, budgeting, reporting, forecasting, purchase and sales orders
Polar
Free- StarterFree
- 5% + $0.50 per transaction
- Free tier for testing
- Basic features
- Pro$20/month
- 3.8% + $0.40 per transaction
- Full platform access
- Cost insights
- Growth$100/month
- 3.6% + $0.35 per transaction
- Priority support
- Volume benefits
- Scale$400/month
- 3.4% + $0.30 per transaction
- Dedicated support
- Custom integration
Which should you pick?
Choose Netvisor if
- You need finnish general ledger.
- You want to start without paying.
- You also want value added tax reporting.
Choose Polar if
- You need usage billing.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, API.
- You also want subscriptions.
Questions people ask
- Is Netvisor or Polar better?
- Neither clearly leads. Netvisor starts at Free and Polar at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Netvisor or Polar?
- Netvisor starts at Free and Polar at Free.
- Does Netvisor or Polar run on more platforms?
- Netvisor runs on Web. Polar runs on Web, API.
- Can I use Netvisor for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Netvisor best used for?
- Netvisor is most often used for a finnish company whose accounting firm works in netvisor and wants the client approving purchase invoices in the same system, a finnish employer needing payroll that handles collective agreement terms and reports to the incomes register on time, a business receiving and sending structured e-invoices with finnish counterparties that require them, a finnish accounting practice standardising clients on one system with a shared role model rather than one instance per client. Of those, a finnish company whose accounting firm works in netvisor and wants the client approving purchase invoices in the same system and a finnish employer needing payroll that handles collective agreement terms and reports to the incomes register on time are not what Polar is typically brought in for.
- What can Netvisor do that Polar cannot?
- Netvisor covers Finnish general ledger, Value added tax reporting, Bank connections, Electronic invoicing. Polar covers Usage Billing, Subscriptions, Seat Management, Prepaid Credits.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Netvisor: Is Netvisor usable outside Finland?
Not as a compliance system. The value is the Finnish tax, banking, e-invoicing and payroll logic. Companies filing elsewhere should look at the local product in the Visma range or another local vendor.
Polar: Do you handle international payments and taxes?
Yes, Polar acts as merchant of record in 100+ markets, handling payment processing, tax collection, and compliance automatically.
SourceNetvisor: Why is the pricing structured per transaction?
It reflects a Finnish market convention where the accounting firm's fee also scales with document volume. It means a low volume company pays very little and a high volume one pays a great deal, so estimate your annual invoice and payslip counts before comparing headline prices.
Polar: Is there a free tier?
Yes, the Starter plan is free and charges 5% + $0.50 per transaction, ideal for testing and early-stage development.
SourceNetvisor: Can my accounting firm work in it with me?
Yes, that is the intended model. The practice and the client share one instance with different roles, so the firm does the bookkeeping while you approve purchase invoices and issue sales invoices.
Polar: Do you offer discounts for startups?
Yes, the Startup Program provides the Scale plan free for 12 months for early-stage AI companies.
SourceNetvisor: Does it handle payroll for collective agreements?
It supports Finnish collective agreement based payroll, but configuring the specific agreement terms correctly is expert work normally done during a paid implementation. Do not assume payroll is switched on the same week as accounting.
Netvisor: What about the incomes register?
Reporting earnings to the national incomes register within the statutory deadline is built in, which is one of the main reasons Finnish employers use a local product rather than an international one.
Netvisor: Is it a full ERP?
It includes inventory and fixed assets alongside the ledger, which covers a good deal of a small distributor's needs, but it is a financial management system rather than a manufacturing or full supply chain ERP.
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