We switched to Creem!

At Uneed, we're always looking for ways to improve our stack, whether it's for performance, cost, or developer experience. This month, we made a significant move: we migrated our entire payment infrastructure from Polar to Creem.

Why Switch?

The short answer: lower fees. As a bootstrapped platform processing thousands of transactions, even a small difference in fees adds up fast. Creem offers some of the lowest fees on the market, and when you're running an indie business, every percentage point matters.

But there's more to it. Creem is one of the sponsors of the upcoming Uneed Residency — our week-long collaborative event for entrepreneurs happening in Nantes this May. When a sponsor builds a product you actually need, it felt only right to give it a real shot.

Spoiler: it passed with flying colors 👀.

The Migration: 1,500 Lines Changed in 3 Prompts

This is the part that still blows my mind.

Creem provides a skill file in their documentation — essentially a structured guide that AI coding agents can use to integrate their API. I loaded it up, gave it three prompts on Claude Code, and watched it rewrite our entire payment integration.

We're talking about 1,500+ lines of code changed. New endpoints, updated webhooks, refactored checkout flows... all done in a matter of minutes, with absoltuely no errors or issues whatsoever 🥹. The skill file is incredibly well-documented, and it made the whole process almost effortless.

If you're a developer considering Creem, this alone is a massive selling point. The DX (Developer Experience) is top-tier.

One thing I was worried about was our existing promo codes. We have active campaigns, partnerships, and deals that rely on them. Losing those or having to recreate them manually would have been painful.

Turns out, Creem's API made it straightforward to migrate all our promo codes programmatically. No manual work, no spreadsheet gymnastics. Everything carried over cleanly.

No Missing Features (Plus Some Bonuses)

Before any migration, my biggest fear is always: "What if the new tool can't do something the old one could?"

With Creem, that wasn't the case. Every feature we relied on with Polar is available, and then some.

The standout surprise? A built-in affiliate program. This is something we previously needed a separate tool for. With Creem, it's natively integrated into the platform, which means we can drop one more tool from our stack. Less complexity, fewer bills, same functionality. 👀

Design That Actually Feels Good

I know this sounds superficial, but design matters. Especially for a dashboard you look at every day. Creem's interface is clean, modern, and well thought-out. It doesn't feel like an afterthought.

A Public Roadmap (Inside the Dashboard!)

One thing I really appreciate is that Creem has a public roadmap built right into the dashboard. You can see what the team is working on, what's coming next, and even submit your own suggestions. For someone like me who loves transparency and building in public, this is exactly the kind of approach I want to support.

Final Thoughts

Switching payment providers is usually the kind of task you dread. It touches everything: checkout, webhooks, subscriptions, promo codes, reporting. But this migration was genuinely smooth.

To summarize why we switched:

Lower fees
AI-powered setup via skill files (1,500 lines changed in 3 prompts)
Easy promo code migration through the API
No missing features + built-in affiliate program
Beautiful, well-designed dashboard
Public roadmap with community input
A team we trust (and that supports the indie community through events like the Uneed Residency)

If you're evaluating payment solutions for your SaaS or indie project, give Creem a look. And if you're already using something else — the migration might be way easier than you think.

Thomas from Uneed