Softwr

Accounting · head to head

Polar vs Very Good Security

Polar logo

Polar

Accounting

Billing and revenue platform for AI and infrastructure companies

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Very Good Security logo

Very Good Security

Cybersecurity

Tokenisation proxy that keeps card and personal data out of your own systems and out of PCI scope

From
$1000/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Polar has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Polar percentage-based fees higher than some specialized processors for high-volume transactions; Very Good Security vGS sits in the live path of every request carrying sensitive data, so its latency and availability become yours, and an outage in the proxy is a payment outage no matter how healthy your own systems are.
  • They diverge on capability: Polar covers Usage Billing, Very Good Security covers Aliasing proxy.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Polar and Very Good Security actually diverge.

Attributes where Polar and Very Good Security differ
AttributePolarVery Good Security
Starting priceFree$1000/month
Pricing modelPercentage of transaction plus per-transaction feePer month
Free tierYesNo
CategoryAccountingCybersecurity

Identical on both: platforms (Web, API), user rating (Not yet rated).

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 Polar

  • Usage Billing
  • Subscriptions
  • Seat Management
  • Prepaid Credits
  • Hosted Checkout
  • Cost Insights
  • Merchant of Record

Only in Very Good Security

  • Aliasing proxy
  • PCI scope reduction
  • Network tokenisation
  • Processor optionality
  • Card issuing data
  • Vault and access controls
  • Data residency options
  • Compliance artefacts

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Polar

  • Billing for token and API call consumption by LLM applicationsnot Very Good Security
  • Managing tiered pricing for infrastructure usage-based servicesnot Very Good Security
  • Handling subscription and usage hybrid modelsnot Very Good Security
  • Monetizing AI APIs with usage metering and creditsnot Very Good Security

Very Good Security

  • A marketplace facing its first PCI DSS Level 1 assessment that wants to keep card data off its own estate rather than harden a dozen servicesnot Polar
  • A merchant negotiating with a second acquirer that needs card credentials portable so the negotiation is real rather than theoreticalnot Polar
  • A fintech collecting bank account and identity documents that wants sensitive fields absent from logs, backups and analytics warehouses by constructionnot Polar
  • A card issuer that must display a full PAN in its own mobile app without the app or its backend touching cardholder datanot Polar

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

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

Very Good Security

  • VGS sits in the live path of every request carrying sensitive data, so its latency and availability become yours, and an outage in the proxy is a payment outage no matter how healthy your own systems are.
  • Token portability is the whole selling point yet leaving VGS means migrating tokens back out, a project the vendor has no incentive to streamline, so the lock-in you removed from your acquirer partly moves to VGS.
  • Entry pricing at around one thousand US dollars a month is real money for a pre-revenue fintech, and it buys volume-limited throughput, so cost scales with exactly the growth that made you buy it.
  • Scope reduction is not scope elimination: your QSA still assesses how you integrate, and teams regularly discover that a support tool or an internal admin screen pulled plaintext back in and dragged systems into scope again.
  • Proxy-based interception constrains how you design request flows, and non-standard payloads, streaming uploads or binary formats often need custom routing rules that make debugging production issues noticeably harder.

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Very Good Security

$1000/month
  • Starter$1000/month
    • Aliasing proxy
    • Vault storage
    • PCI scope reduction
  • Growth$undefined/month
    • Network tokenisation
    • Multiple processors
    • Data residency options
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Custom vault architecture
    • Dedicated support and SLA
    • Contractual compliance coverage

Which should you pick?

Choose Polar if

  • You need usage billing.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want subscriptions.
Polar review

Choose Very Good Security if

  • You need aliasing proxy.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want pci scope reduction.
Very Good Security review

Questions people ask

Is Polar or Very Good Security better?
Neither clearly leads. Polar starts at Free and Very Good Security at $1000/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Polar or Very Good Security?
Polar has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Polar and $1000/month for Very Good Security.
Does Polar or Very Good Security run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, API, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Polar for free?
Yes. Polar has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Very Good Security starts at $1000/month.
What is Polar best used for?
Polar is most often used for billing for token and api call consumption by llm applications, managing tiered pricing for infrastructure usage-based services, handling subscription and usage hybrid models, monetizing ai apis with usage metering and credits. Of those, billing for token and api call consumption by llm applications and managing tiered pricing for infrastructure usage-based services are not what Very Good Security is typically brought in for.
What can Polar do that Very Good Security cannot?
Polar covers Usage Billing, Subscriptions, Seat Management, Prepaid Credits. Very Good Security covers Aliasing proxy, PCI scope reduction, Network tokenisation, Processor optionality.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

Source
Very Good Security: Does VGS make me PCI compliant?

No. It removes cardholder data from your systems so your assessment covers a far smaller boundary, but you still complete an assessment and your integration is part of it.

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.

Source
Very Good Security: Can I move to another processor without re-collecting cards?

Yes, that is a core reason people buy it. The vault reveals stored credentials to whichever processor you route to.

Polar: Do you offer discounts for startups?

Yes, the Startup Program provides the Scale plan free for 12 months for early-stage AI companies.

Source
Very Good Security: What does it cost?

Published entry pricing is about one thousand US dollars per month; growth and enterprise tiers are quoted.

Very Good Security: Is it only for card data?

No. The proxy handles any sensitive field, including bank details, national identifiers and documents, though payments is where the product is now focused.

Share

Related pages

More on Polar

More on Very Good Security

Keep looking

Other head to heads