{"id":"ai-merchant-of-record","slug":"ai-merchant-of-record","name":"Sell AI/agent products as Merchant of Record","shortName":"Sell AI/agent products as Merchant of Record","problemStatement":"Need to charge for tokens, agent runs, seats, and credits with global tax/VAT handled — without building Stripe Tax + meters + invoicing yourself.","whenNotTopPick":"You already have finance/ops owning Stripe Tax + OpenMeter/Metronome, or you must stay pure payment-processor (not MoR).","categoryIds":["cat-auth-payments"],"depotPickProviderId":"polar","depotPickRationale":"DX + pricePerf + maturity. Polar wins public MoR+usage ladder for AI indie/agent products; Stripe remains payments default.","runnersUpIds":["stripe","openmeter","metronome","autumn","lemon-squeezy","paddle"],"weights":{"capabilityFit":0.25,"pricePerformance":0.18,"latencyReliability":0.15,"developerDx":0.15,"privacyPosture":0.1,"lockInRisk":0.07,"maturity":0.1},"methodologyNotes":"DX + pricePerf + maturity. Polar wins public MoR+usage ladder for AI indie/agent products; Stripe remains payments default.","tags":["sell"],"depth":{"whenNotToUse":{"text":"You already have finance/ops owning Stripe Tax + OpenMeter/Metronome, or you must stay pure payment-processor (not MoR).","source":"editorial `whenNotTopPick` (data/jtbds.json)"},"whenNotToUseReason":null,"runnerUp":{"providerId":"stripe","name":"Stripe","overallForJob":8.76,"pickOverallForJob":8.05,"beatsPickOn":["capabilityFit","latencyReliability","developerDx","privacyPosture","maturity"],"source":"first resolvable entry of the job's editorially ranked `runnersUpIds`; scores are stored job-weighted scores"},"runnerUpReason":null,"lockIn":{"pickLockInRisk":4,"runnerUpLockInRisk":6,"scale":"0–10 stored curated estimate; higher = more lock-in (worse)","pickExitSignals":["open source (provider tag `oss`)"],"runnerUpExitSignals":[],"pickNotes":[],"selfHostFallback":[],"migration":"The pick has lower stored lock-in risk than runner-up Stripe (4 vs 6). Pick exit signals: open source (provider tag `oss`).","migrationReason":null,"derivedFrom":"stored lockInRisk scores, provider tags (oss, self-host, openai-compat, open-models), free rows that list this job, and verbatim provider notes. No migration guide was invented."}},"freshness":{"pick":{"score":{"asOf":"2026-09-14","ageDays":43,"stale":true,"staleAfterDays":30,"reason":null},"lastReviewed":{"asOf":"2026-09-14","ageDays":43,"stale":true,"staleAfterDays":30,"reason":null},"sourceCheck":{"checkedAt":"2026-10-27","sourceUrls":3,"sourcesReachable":3,"pricingRows":0,"pricingRowsReconfirmed":0,"note":"A source re-check confirms the page is reachable and, for pricing rows, that the stored amount and SKU name appear on it. It does not re-derive or change the score.","reason":null}}},"depotPick":{"id":"polar","slug":"polar","name":"Polar","tagline":"Depot pick for ai-merchant-of-record. Prefer Stripe when you already have tax/ops staff; OpenMeter/Kong when…","overall":8.05},"runnersUp":[{"id":"stripe","slug":"stripe","name":"Stripe","tagline":"Non-negotiable for most commercial agent products. Use Billing meters for token pass-through pricing.","overall":8.76},{"id":"openmeter","slug":"openmeter","name":"OpenMeter (Kong Konnect Metering)","tagline":"Best when your agent product is an API gateway problem (entitlements + token meters). Orb for pricing…","overall":7.93},{"id":"metronome","slug":"metronome","name":"Metronome","tagline":"Strong usage-billing peer when Orb is too sales-opaque and you need SQL metrics + commits. OpenMeter/Kong for…","overall":8},{"id":"autumn","slug":"autumn","name":"Autumn","tagline":"Best DX when you already run Stripe and need synchronous feature gates for AI usage. Metronome/Orb for…","overall":7.95},{"id":"lemon-squeezy","slug":"lemon-squeezy","name":"Lemon Squeezy","tagline":"MoR peer to Polar/Paddle for digital products. Depot ai-merchant-of-record pick stays Polar for AI…","overall":7.9},{"id":"paddle","slug":"paddle","name":"Paddle","tagline":"Enterprise-leaning MoR peer. Prefer Polar for AI usage products; Paddle when you want mature SaaS MoR + buyer…","overall":8.05}]}