Buying guide

The Best Platforms to Sell Digital Products in 2026, Compared From Their Own Pricing Pages

By Uyi Abraham, Founder and CEO, VonzaLast reviewed 14 November 2026Vendor pages read on 5 November 2026 and 7 November 2026 and 14 November 2026

The best platform to sell digital products depends on how much you sell and what else you sell. Gumroad and Lemon Squeezy cost nothing a month and take a share of each sale as merchant of record, 10% + $0.50 and 5% + 50¢, so they suit a first product. Payhip starts at no monthly cost with a 5% cut that falls to 2% on Plus and nothing on Pro. Sellfy and SendOwl charge a flat price with no cut but cap your yearly sales. Podia and Kajabi wrap downloads in a course and membership platform, Stan Store and Beacons sell them from a link in bio, Shopify sells them through an app beside a physical catalogue, and Etsy brings shoppers for a listing fee, 6.5% per order and up to 15% on advertised orders. Vonza suits creators whose downloads sit beside courses, a community, coaching and email, with seven kinds of product in one store.

A platform for selling digital products hosts the files, takes the payment and delivers the download: e-books, templates, printables, presets, software, music and courses sold as files. Twelve are compared here: eleven competitors and Vonza, which publishes this guide. The table gives each one’s lowest paid price, free plan limits, fee on sales and four features exactly as its own page stated them, most read on 14 November 2026, with Gumroad’s and Kajabi’s prices from a reading on 5 November and Stan Store’s and Beacons’ from 7 November.

Prices alone mislead here more than anywhere, because the platforms charge in three different ways: a share of every sale, a flat monthly price, or a flat price that only covers sales up to a yearly cap. Sellfy’s own pricing page makes the point with a share-of-sales table, 4.4% of sales at $500 a month on its Starter plan billed yearly and 1.2% at $10,000 a month on Premium. The second table below works out what each platform charges on $1,000 and on $10,000 of sales a month from the published figures only, and says where a figure is not published.

At a glance

Each competitor row is what its own pricing page stated on 5 November 2026 or 7 November 2026 or 14 November 2026. “Not stated” means the page did not mention it.

12 platforms compared on lowest paid price, free plan limits, fee on sales, licence keys, physical products, upsells and bumps, own domain, as read on 2026-11-05 and 2026-11-07 and 2026-11-14
Platform	Lowest paid price	Free plan limits	Fee on sales	Licence keys	Physical products	Upsells and bumps	Own domain
Vonza	$99/mo	14-day free trial on every plan	Your payment provider’s own processing fee, plus a Vonza platform fee per transaction that depends on your plan (see the pricing page).	Yes: generate up to 1,000 keys at a time or import up to 5,000; one key per sale on the thank-you page, receipt and downloads page	Yes: stock per variant, shipping profiles by country, local pickup	Yes: an order bump at checkout and a one-click offer after payment	Yes: your Vonza subdomain or your own connected domain
Gumroad	No paid plan: $0 a month, a fee on every sale	Free to start; the fee is the only charge	10% + $0.50 per direct sale; 30% on sales through Discover; Gumroad is the merchant of record	Yes: “Selling software? We can create your license keys”	Not stated on the pages we read	Not stated on the pages we read	Yes: “Link it to ours under a custom domain”
Payhip	Plus $29 a month (2% fee); Pro $99 a month (no fee); annual billing not shown	Free Forever plan with every feature, unlimited products and revenue	5% on Free Forever, 2% on Plus, none on Pro; PayPal and Stripe at their standard rates on top	Yes: generation, storage and issuing of keys	Yes: inventory, orders and promotions for physical products	Yes: cross-sells and upsells	Yes: “Connect a custom domain … for free”
Sellfy	Starter $29 a month, or $22 billed yearly; Business $79 or $59; Premium $159 or $119	14-day free trial; no free plan	0%; yearly sales capped at $10,000, $50,000 and $200,000 by plan, with 2% on sales above the cap until you upgrade	Not stated on the pages we read	Yes: physical products and print-on-demand	Yes: product upselling on Business and Premium	Yes: connect your own domain
Lemon Squeezy	No paid plan: $0 a month, 5% + 50¢ on every sale	Free to start, no trial or contract	5% + 50¢ per transaction as merchant of record; “some payments may be subject to additional fees”	Yes: issued, deactivated and re-issued automatically	Not stated on the pages we read	Yes: hosted checkouts and overlays with discount codes; upsells and bundles on the digital-products page	Yes: add a custom domain to your store
Podia	Mover $42 a month billed yearly ($504 a year); Shaker $84; Earthquaker $150; monthly prices not published	14-day free trial; no free plan	5% on Mover; no Podia fee on Shaker or Earthquaker; the processor’s 2.9% + 30¢ on top	Not stated on the pages we read	Not stated on the pages we read	Yes: upsells, downsells and order bumps; payment plans	Yes: custom domains
SendOwl	Launch $39 a month, or $32.50 billed annually; Grow $87 or $72.50; Scale $159 or $132.50; Business from $299	Free trial; its length is not stated on the pricing page	No platform percentage stated; plans capped at $10,000, $36,000, $100,000 and $200,000 of yearly sales, with an upgrade when you pass them	Yes: “Software & license keys. Auto-generate and manage licenses”	Yes: “Ship tangible goods alongside digital”	Yes: upsells and cross-sells; cart abandonment recovery	Not stated for the storefront; branded links and custom product URLs are
Stan Store	Creator $29 a month ($300 a year); Creator Pro $99 a month ($948 a year)	14-day free trial; no free plan	0%	Not stated on the pages we read	Not stated on the pages we read	Yes: upsells and order bumps on Creator Pro	Not stated on the pages we read
Beacons	Creator $10 a month (9% fee); Creator Plus $30 (0%); Creator Max $100 (0%)	Free plan: sell digital products with a 9% commission on every sale	9% on the Free and Creator plans; 0% on Creator Plus and Creator Max	Not stated on the pages we read	Not stated on the pages we read	Not stated on the pages we read	Yes: from Creator
Kajabi	Basic $179 a month, or $143 billed annually; Growth $249 or $199; Pro $499 or $399	Free trial; no free plan	No revenue sharing; Kajabi Payments 2.9% + $0.30 on Basic, 2.8% on Growth, 2.7% on Pro; a third-party processor adds 2%, 1% or 0.5%	Not stated on the pages we read	Not stated on the pages we read	Yes: bundles, upsells, payment plans and order bumps	Yes: custom domain
Shopify	Basic $25 a month, or $19 billed yearly; Grow $65 or $49; Advanced $399 or $299; Plus from $2,300	3 days free, then $1 a month for 3 months; no free plan	None on orders through Shopify Payments; with a third-party provider “the rate depends on your plan” and is not printed; card rates not on the page	Not stated on the pages we read	Yes: inventory locations, shipping and point of sale	Through apps; “Abandoned checkout recovery” on the plan table	Yes: custom domain name
Etsy	No plan: $0.20 per listing, renewed every four months; the optional Pattern website is $15.00 a month	No plan or trial: pay per listing and per sale; a one-time set-up fee may be required	6.5% of the order total including shipping; Offsite Ads 15% of attributed orders, 12% once sales pass $10,000 in a year; payment processing varies by country	Not applicable: a marketplace listing	Yes: handmade and vintage goods	Not applicable	No: your shop lives on etsy.com

Vonza publishes this guide and sells one of the platforms in it. Every competitor figure is quoted from that vendor’s own page, read on the date shown and saved so it can be checked, and Vonza’s own price is its live price from the pricing page. There are no affiliate links.

What you pay on $1,000 and $10,000 a month

The platform’s own charges at two sales levels, from the figures in the table above. Card processing is listed beside them, because it depends on your processor, and a merchant of record includes it in its fee.

What each platform charges on $1,000 and $10,000 of monthly sales, with card processing listed separately
Platform	On $1,000 a month	On $10,000 a month	Card processing	Note
Vonza	$99 plan price, plus your payment provider’s fees	$99 plan price, plus your payment provider’s fees	Your Stripe, PayPal or Paystack fees
Gumroad	$110 (direct sales)	$1,100 (direct sales)	Gumroad takes the payment as merchant of record	Sales through its Discover marketplace: 30%.
Payhip	$49 (Plus)	$99 (Pro)	On top: PayPal and Stripe at their standard rates
Sellfy	$79 (Business)	$159 (Premium)	On top: your Stripe or PayPal fees	The plan is set by yearly sales: $10,000, $50,000 or $200,000; 2% on sales above the cap until you upgrade.
Lemon Squeezy	$60 (no monthly fee)	$600 (no monthly fee)	Lemon Squeezy is the merchant of record; some payments may carry extra fees
Podia	$84 (Shaker, billed yearly)	$84 (Shaker, billed yearly)	On top: the processor’s 2.9% + 30¢	Monthly billing prices are not published; these are the yearly plans’ per-month prices.
SendOwl	$87 (Grow)	$299 (Business)	On top: your payment processor’s fees	Plans are capped by yearly sales and orders; above the cap you are upgraded.
Stan Store	$29 (Creator)	$29 (Creator)	On top: your payment processor’s fees	Upsells and order bumps need Creator Pro at $99 a month.
Beacons	$30 (Creator Plus)	$30 (Creator Plus)	On top: your payment processor’s fees
Kajabi	$179 (Basic)	$179 (Basic)	On top: Kajabi Payments 2.9% + $0.30 (US)	A third-party processor adds 2% on Basic.
Shopify	$25 plan + fee not published	$25 plan + fee not published	No third-party fee with Shopify Payments; its card rates and the third-party rate are not on the pricing page
Etsy	$69 (per sale)	$690 (per sale)	On top: Etsy Payments processing, which varies by country	Plus Offsite Ads at 15% of attributed orders, 12% once sales pass $10,000 in a year; the $0.20 is the listing renewal each sale triggers.

How we worked it out: the plan price for one month on monthly billing, plus the platform’s own percentage of sales, plus any fixed fee per sale counted on an average order of $50 (20 orders on $1,000, 200 on $10,000). Where a platform has several plans we use the cheapest one at that volume. Card processing is shown separately because it depends on your processor and your buyers’ cards; a merchant of record takes the payment itself. “Not published” means the vendor’s pages did not state the fee or the plan for that volume. Vonza’s row shows its live plan price only: your payment provider’s fees come on top, and the full fee table is on the pricing page.

The twelve platforms, one by one

1. Vonza
Publisher
Best for: Creators whose downloads sit beside courses, a community, coaching and email, and who want seven kinds of product in one store on a monthly plan
Vonza’s store sells seven kinds of product from one catalogue: digital downloads, physical goods, services, bundles of 2 to 20 products, gift cards, licence keys and links. A product starts blank, from one of over 100 templates in 18 categories, or from a few words and a photo that Vonza AI turns into a page, and a Shopify product CSV of up to 5,000 rows imports in the background. Files are delivered through private links that expire, with 100 downloads per buyer by default and a limit and access expiry you set; prices can be one-time, subscription, instalment or pay what you want; checkout adds an order bump and a one-click offer after payment; and every buyer becomes a CRM contact for the email, SMS, courses, community and bookings in the same account.
Vonza is the publisher of this guide. It is not a merchant of record: buyers pay through your own Stripe account, PayPal for one-time payments, or Paystack for Nigerian naira, and Vonza does not work out or collect taxes on your sales. The number of products you can hold depends on your plan, every buyer page carries a “Made with Vonza” badge, and there is no print-on-demand or dropshipping.
Lowest paid price
$99/mo on the lowest plan, live from the pricing page
Free plan limits
14-day free trial on every plan
Fee on sales
Your payment provider’s own processing fee, plus a Vonza platform fee per transaction that depends on your plan (see the pricing page).
Licence keys
Yes: generate up to 1,000 keys at a time or import up to 5,000; one key per sale on the thank-you page, receipt and downloads page
Physical products
Yes: stock per variant, shipping profiles by country, local pickup
Upsells and bumps
Yes: an order bump at checkout and a one-click offer after payment
Own domain
Yes: your Vonza subdomain or your own connected domain
Source:vonza.com/pricinglive price; feature facts from the Vonza product pages.selling digital products on Vonza the Vonza store licence keys gift cards the pricing page Vonza vs Gumroad
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2. Gumroad
Best for: A first digital product with no monthly cost, and sellers who want a merchant of record to handle tax
Gumroad’s features page lists digital products, e-books, courses, tutorials, memberships and subscriptions, licence keys for software, a choice of PDF, ePub and Mobi for buyers, email broadcasts and automated workflows, and an existing email list you can import. As merchant of record it collects and remits sales tax on your sales, and its Discover marketplace brings new customers.
The fee grows with your sales: 10% + $0.50 of every direct sale and 30% of sales through Discover. Physical products, upsells and storefront themes are not stated on the pages we read.
Lowest paid price
No paid plan: $0 a month, a fee on every sale
Free plan limits
Free to start; the fee is the only charge
Fee on sales
10% + $0.50 per direct sale; 30% on sales through Discover; Gumroad is the merchant of record
Licence keys
Yes: “Selling software? We can create your license keys”
Physical products
Not stated on the pages we read
Upsells and bumps
Not stated on the pages we read
Own domain
Yes: “Link it to ours under a custom domain”
Source:gumroad.comread on 5 November 2026.Gumroad Alternatives
3. Payhip
Best for: Downloads, courses and physical products on a plan that costs nothing until you sell, with a fee that falls as you grow
Every Payhip plan carries every feature; only the cut of each sale changes. Its pages list digital downloads, online courses, coaching, memberships and physical products with inventory, software licence keys, PDF stamping, a download limit per file (3 by default), a 5GB file limit with no storage or bandwidth cap, an affiliate system, coupons and an embeddable checkout, and Payhip collects and remits EU and UK VAT and US and Canadian sales tax for you.
The 5% cut on Free Forever means a plan pays for itself only once you sell steadily. Payhip’s pricing page blocks automated reading, so these figures come from a saved copy of the page as it stood on 9 November 2026; annual billing and the theme count are not shown.
Lowest paid price
Plus $29 a month (2% fee); Pro $99 a month (no fee); annual billing not shown
Free plan limits
Free Forever plan with every feature, unlimited products and revenue
Fee on sales
5% on Free Forever, 2% on Plus, none on Pro; PayPal and Stripe at their standard rates on top
Licence keys
Yes: generation, storage and issuing of keys
Physical products
Yes: inventory, orders and promotions for physical products
Upsells and bumps
Yes: cross-sells and upsells
Own domain
Yes: “Connect a custom domain … for free”
Source:payhip.comread on 14 November 2026.Payhip Alternatives
4. Sellfy
Best for: A flat price with no cut of sales, for sellers whose yearly sales stay under the plan’s cap
Sellfy sells digital products, physical products, subscriptions and print-on-demand merchandise from one store, with a shopping cart, discount codes, video streaming, embeds for an existing site, an affiliate program and built-in email on a monthly credit allowance. Its pricing page prints its own cost as a share of sales at four sales levels, which few vendors do.
The cap is the catch: $10,000 a year on Starter, $50,000 on Business and $200,000 on Premium, with 2% charged on sales above it until you upgrade. Upselling and cart-abandonment emails sit on Business and Premium, not Starter, and licence keys and gift cards are not stated.
Lowest paid price
Starter $29 a month, or $22 billed yearly; Business $79 or $59; Premium $159 or $119
Free plan limits
14-day free trial; no free plan
Fee on sales
0%; yearly sales capped at $10,000, $50,000 and $200,000 by plan, with 2% on sales above the cap until you upgrade
Licence keys
Not stated on the pages we read
Physical products
Yes: physical products and print-on-demand
Upsells and bumps
Yes: product upselling on Business and Premium
Own domain
Yes: connect your own domain
Source:sellfy.comread on 14 November 2026.Sellfy Alternatives
5. Lemon Squeezy
Best for: Software, SaaS subscriptions and digital goods sold through a merchant of record that handles tax
Lemon Squeezy’s digital-products page lists SaaS subscriptions, software licences, online courses, design assets, themes, templates, video and fonts, licence keys issued after each sale, an unlimited number of files per product, variants, pay what you want, affiliates, discount codes, hosted checkouts and checkout overlays and a customer portal, with email marketing at no charge for up to 500 subscribers.
Physical products are not stated, the pricing page gives the number of payment methods as 21 in one place and 16 in another, and its own FAQ says small additional fees apply in some cases on top of 5% + 50¢.
Lowest paid price
No paid plan: $0 a month, 5% + 50¢ on every sale
Free plan limits
Free to start, no trial or contract
Fee on sales
5% + 50¢ per transaction as merchant of record; “some payments may be subject to additional fees”
Licence keys
Yes: issued, deactivated and re-issued automatically
Physical products
Not stated on the pages we read
Upsells and bumps
Yes: hosted checkouts and overlays with discount codes; upsells and bundles on the digital-products page
Own domain
Yes: add a custom domain to your store
Source:lemonsqueezy.comread on 14 November 2026.Lemon Squeezy Alternatives
6. Podia
Best for: Downloads sold beside courses, coaching, a community and a website on one plan
Podia’s pages list digital downloads with unlimited files per product, email delivery for lead magnets, a landing page for each download, bundles, a shopping cart, ten built-in themes, coupons, payment plans and a sequence of upsells, downsells and order bumps, with courses, coaching, community, events and email in the same product.
Mover carries a 5% fee and 50 products; Shaker allows 150 and only Earthquaker is unlimited. The pricing page rendered yearly billing only, so monthly prices are not published here, and physical products, gift cards and licence keys are not stated.
Lowest paid price
Mover $42 a month billed yearly ($504 a year); Shaker $84; Earthquaker $150; monthly prices not published
Free plan limits
14-day free trial; no free plan
Fee on sales
5% on Mover; no Podia fee on Shaker or Earthquaker; the processor’s 2.9% + 30¢ on top
Licence keys
Not stated on the pages we read
Physical products
Not stated on the pages we read
Upsells and bumps
Yes: upsells, downsells and order bumps; payment plans
Own domain
Yes: custom domains
Source:podia.comread on 14 November 2026.Podia Alternatives
7. SendOwl
Best for: Secure delivery of downloads and licence keys with every feature on every plan, priced by volume
SendOwl says “All features included on every plan. Choose based on your business volume.” Its features page lists digital downloads, subscriptions, courses and drip content, licence keys, physical products, pre-orders, gifting, a tip jar, affiliate programs, PDF stamping, download limits, expiring links and IP blocking, three cart templates and a storefront for up to 10 digital products.
Plans are capped by orders and sales a year, 5,000 orders and $10,000 on Launch, and SendOwl upgrades you when you pass them. The storefront shows up to 10 products, and a custom domain for it is not stated.
Lowest paid price
Launch $39 a month, or $32.50 billed annually; Grow $87 or $72.50; Scale $159 or $132.50; Business from $299
Free plan limits
Free trial; its length is not stated on the pricing page
Fee on sales
No platform percentage stated; plans capped at $10,000, $36,000, $100,000 and $200,000 of yearly sales, with an upgrade when you pass them
Licence keys
Yes: “Software & license keys. Auto-generate and manage licenses”
Physical products
Yes: “Ship tangible goods alongside digital”
Upsells and bumps
Yes: upsells and cross-sells; cart abandonment recovery
Own domain
Not stated for the storefront; branded links and custom product URLs are
Source:sendowl.comread on 14 November 2026.
8. Stan Store
Best for: Selling digital products, courses and bookings from a link in bio on a flat price with no cut
Stan Store sells digital products, courses, memberships, bookings and a community behind one link, mobile first, with no transaction fee on either plan; Creator Pro adds email broadcasts and flows, upsells and order bumps, payment plans, affiliate management and pixel tracking.
Stan publishes no pricing page; the figures come from its own pricing post and home page. Upsells and order bumps need Creator Pro at $99 a month, and physical products, licence keys and a custom domain are not stated.
Lowest paid price
Creator $29 a month ($300 a year); Creator Pro $99 a month ($948 a year)
Free plan limits
14-day free trial; no free plan
Fee on sales
0%
Licence keys
Not stated on the pages we read
Physical products
Not stated on the pages we read
Upsells and bumps
Yes: upsells and order bumps on Creator Pro
Own domain
Not stated on the pages we read
Source:stan.storeread on 7 November 2026.Stan Store Alternatives
9. Beacons
Best for: Selling digital products from a link in bio at no monthly cost, moving to a flat price as sales grow
Beacons’ plans page says you can sell digital products on the Free plan, with courses and memberships from Creator Plus, and it keeps 100% of affiliate link commissions for you. The 9% commission on Free and Creator falls to 0% on Creator Plus at $30 a month.
Beacons’ store page could not be read, so the store facts come from its plans page alone; physical products, gift cards, abandoned-cart tools and upsells are not stated, and the 9% commission applies until you pay for Creator Plus.
Lowest paid price
Creator $10 a month (9% fee); Creator Plus $30 (0%); Creator Max $100 (0%)
Free plan limits
Free plan: sell digital products with a 9% commission on every sale
Fee on sales
9% on the Free and Creator plans; 0% on Creator Plus and Creator Max
Licence keys
Not stated on the pages we read
Physical products
Not stated on the pages we read
Upsells and bumps
Not stated on the pages we read
Own domain
Yes: from Creator
Source:beacons.airead on 7 November 2026.
10. Kajabi
Best for: Established creators who want downloads inside the same platform as courses, coaching, communities and funnels
Kajabi’s digital-downloads page lists PDFs, templates, e-books, photo libraries and guides kept in a secure library with instant access, bundles, upsells, discount codes and payment plans, and landing pages, lead magnets, opt-ins and checkout in the same place, with courses, coaching programmes, memberships and communities beside them.
It is the dearest platform here, from $179 a month on Basic, and physical products, gift cards, licence keys and storefront themes are not stated on the page we read.
Lowest paid price
Basic $179 a month, or $143 billed annually; Growth $249 or $199; Pro $499 or $399
Free plan limits
Free trial; no free plan
Fee on sales
No revenue sharing; Kajabi Payments 2.9% + $0.30 on Basic, 2.8% on Growth, 2.7% on Pro; a third-party processor adds 2%, 1% or 0.5%
Licence keys
Not stated on the pages we read
Physical products
Not stated on the pages we read
Upsells and bumps
Yes: bundles, upsells, payment plans and order bumps
Own domain
Yes: custom domain
Source:kajabi.comread on 5 November 2026.Kajabi Alternatives
11. Shopify
Best for: A physical catalogue first, with digital files added through the Digital Downloads app
Shopify is the reference store platform: inventory locations, shipping, discounts, point of sale, staff accounts by plan, 1,374 themes in its Theme Store and “1000s of apps”. Digital files are sold through its Digital Downloads app, which its guide says supports files up to 5 gigabytes and several files per variant; gift cards, email campaigns and marketing automations are rows on the plan table.
Digital delivery is an app rather than part of the store, Starter’s standard price was not printed on the pages we read, and the third-party transaction rate and card processing rates are not on the pricing page.
Lowest paid price
Basic $25 a month, or $19 billed yearly; Grow $65 or $49; Advanced $399 or $299; Plus from $2,300
Free plan limits
3 days free, then $1 a month for 3 months; no free plan
Fee on sales
None on orders through Shopify Payments; with a third-party provider “the rate depends on your plan” and is not printed; card rates not on the page
Licence keys
Not stated on the pages we read
Physical products
Yes: inventory locations, shipping and point of sale
Upsells and bumps
Through apps; “Abandoned checkout recovery” on the plan table
Own domain
Yes: custom domain name
Source:shopify.comread on 14 November 2026.Shopify Alternatives
12. Etsy
Best for: Printables, templates and other digital downloads sold to shoppers who are already searching a marketplace
Etsy brings its own shoppers, which no store of your own does on day one, and lists digital downloads beside handmade and vintage goods with no monthly fee. Its fees policy says Etsy collects and remits VAT on digital items delivered by automatic download.
The fee stack: $0.20 per listing, 6.5% of each order including shipping and gift wrapping, 15% of orders attributed to Offsite Ads (12% and mandatory once your shop has sold $10,000 in a year, capped at $100 per order), payment processing and a 2.5% currency conversion fee where it applies. The shopper is Etsy’s customer, not yours. Etsy’s fees policy blocks automated reading, so these figures come from a saved copy of the policy as it stood on 9 November 2026, checked against the help centre.
Lowest paid price
No plan: $0.20 per listing, renewed every four months; the optional Pattern website is $15.00 a month
Free plan limits
No plan or trial: pay per listing and per sale; a one-time set-up fee may be required
Fee on sales
6.5% of the order total including shipping; Offsite Ads 15% of attributed orders, 12% once sales pass $10,000 in a year; payment processing varies by country
Licence keys
Not applicable: a marketplace listing
Physical products
Yes: handmade and vintage goods
Upsells and bumps
Not applicable
Own domain
No: your shop lives on etsy.com
Source:etsy.comread on 14 November 2026.Etsy Alternatives

How to choose a platform for digital products

Start with the maths at the sales you expect in a year, not this month. Then check these, in this order.

How the platform charges: A share of every sale costs little at the start and the most later; a flat price costs the same whatever you sell; a flat price with a yearly cap costs more the moment you pass it. Work out all three at your expected yearly sales before you compare features.
Who is the merchant of record: A merchant of record takes the payment itself and handles sales tax and VAT, for a higher fee. Elsewhere the buyer pays your own Stripe or PayPal account and tax is yours to handle. Decide which you want before the fee comparison, because it changes the comparison.
What “digital product” means to the platform: Check the file size limit, the download limit, whether links expire, and whether licence keys, bundles, pay what you want and drip delivery are built in or come through apps.
What else you will sell: If physical goods, services, gift cards or courses are likely within a year, pick a platform that sells them natively rather than one you will outgrow.
Upsells and the checkout: An order bump and a one-click offer after payment raise the value of each order. Several platforms keep them for a higher plan; check which plan.
Your domain and your buyers: A store on your own domain, with the buyer’s email in your own list, is yours to keep. A marketplace listing brings traffic but the shopper belongs to the marketplace.
What happens after the sale: Email and SMS follow-up, automations for abandoned carts, and a course or booking the download leads into save connecting tools later. Check whether they are included or integrations.

How we chose

Every competitor figure comes from the vendor’s own pricing or product page, saved as plain text on the day shown; nothing comes from review sites, listicles or memory. Payhip’s pricing page and Etsy’s fees policy block automated reading, so their figures come from saved copies of the pages as they stood on 9 November 2026.
The twelve cover the main ways people sell digital products: fee-only merchants of record (Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy), a plan with a falling fee (Payhip, Beacons), flat prices capped by volume (Sellfy, SendOwl), creator platforms with downloads inside (Podia, Kajabi), link-in-bio stores (Stan Store, Beacons), a general store platform (Shopify) and a marketplace (Etsy). Big Cartel, Squarespace, Wix, Ecwid, Square and Whop, read the same day, are left out to keep the guide to twelve.
“Not stated” means the page did not mention it, not that the platform lacks it; “not published” means the page gave no figure. The cost table uses the published plan price, percentage and fixed fee per sale only; Sellfy’s and SendOwl’s yearly caps are divided by twelve to find the plan that covers each monthly level.
Vonza is the publisher and appears first with its live price; its row is written from its own product, and no competitor is scored or ranked.

Questions

Answered from the pages we read, with the date we read them.

The one whose charging model fits your sales. For a first product with no fixed cost, Gumroad (10% + $0.50 per sale) or Lemon Squeezy (5% + 50¢), both merchants of record. For a falling fee as you grow, Payhip (5%, then 2%, then nothing on Pro at $99 a month). For a flat price with no cut, Sellfy (from $29 a month) or SendOwl (from $39), as long as you stay under their yearly caps. For downloads inside a course platform, Podia or Kajabi; from a link in bio, Stan Store or Beacons; beside a physical catalogue, Shopify; for marketplace shoppers, Etsy. Vonza suits creators whose downloads sit beside courses, a community, coaching and email in one account.

At the very start, a platform with no monthly fee: Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy, Payhip’s Free Forever plan or Beacons’ Free plan cost nothing until you sell, then take 10% + $0.50, 5% + 50¢, 5% or 9% of each sale. Once you sell steadily a flat price is cheaper: on $1,000 a month the cost table above shows Payhip’s Plus plan and Beacons’ Creator Plus below the fee-only platforms, and on $10,000 a month every flat-price plan is cheaper than any share of sales. Card processing comes on top everywhere except with a merchant of record.

Gumroad (10% + $0.50 direct, 30% through Discover), Lemon Squeezy (5% + 50¢), Payhip on Free Forever and Plus (5% and 2%), Podia on Mover (5%), Beacons on Free and Creator (9%), and Etsy (6.5% of each order plus 12% or 15% Offsite Ads on attributed orders). Sellfy, SendOwl, Stan Store, Kajabi and Shopify with Shopify Payments state no platform percentage, though Sellfy may charge 2% on sales above your plan’s yearly cap. Vonza’s platform fee per transaction depends on your plan and is set out on its pricing page.

Gumroad and Lemon Squeezy are merchants of record: they take the payment and collect and remit sales tax and VAT on your sales as part of their fee. Payhip says it collects, reports and remits digital EU and UK VAT and US and Canadian sales tax on your behalf while you take the payment through your own PayPal or Stripe. Etsy collects VAT on digital items delivered by automatic download. On Sellfy, Podia, SendOwl, Stan Store, Beacons, Kajabi and Shopify the buyer pays through your account or the platform’s processor and tax handling depends on your settings. Vonza is not a merchant of record and does not work out taxes on your sales.

Shopify is built for them; Payhip, Sellfy and SendOwl state physical products with inventory on their pages, and Sellfy adds print-on-demand merchandise; Etsy lists handmade and vintage goods. Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy, Podia, Stan Store, Beacons and Kajabi do not state physical products on the pages we read. Vonza sells physical goods with stock per variant, shipping profiles by country and local pickup beside its digital products, gift cards and licence keys.

Gumroad (“We can create your license keys”), Payhip (“generation, storage and issuing of keys”), Lemon Squeezy (keys issued, deactivated and re-issued automatically) and SendOwl (“Auto-generate and manage licenses”) all state it. Vonza’s Licence key product generates up to 1,000 keys at a time or imports up to 5,000 from a CSV, and gives each buyer one key on the thank-you page, the receipt and their downloads page.

Etsy brings shoppers who are already searching, and charges for it on every sale: $0.20 per listing, 6.5% of each order and 15% of orders that arrive through Offsite Ads (12% once your shop has sold $10,000 in a year), plus processing. A store of your own, on Gumroad, Payhip, Sellfy or Vonza, has to earn its traffic but keeps the buyer’s email and sets its own fees. Many sellers run both: Etsy for discovery and their own store for repeat buyers, bundles and the courses or coaching that follow.