The best Gumroad alternatives cut what Gumroad takes on each sale: 10% + $0.50 per direct sale plus card processing, and 30% on sales through its Discover marketplace. On $2,000 in monthly direct sales, Gumroad's fee alone comes to $200 plus $0.50 per order. For digital-only sellers, Payhip makes the closest swap, with a free plan at 5% per sale. Sellers who also want merch should choose Shopify or Etsy and connect Printify, since Gumroad doesn't allow selling physical goods.
Here are ten alternatives to Gumroad for creators and online businesses that sell digital products, compared by fees, sales tax handling, and physical product support.
Key takeaways
- Best Gumroad alternative for digital products: Payhip, with a free plan at 5% per sale and a $99/mo plan at 0%.
- Best for physical and digital products: Shopify with the Printify integration, from $39/mo.
- Best online marketplace: Etsy, which brings buyer traffic for $0.20 per listing plus a 6.5% transaction fee.
- Best for creators and courses: Ko-fi for tips, Stan Store for link-in-bio sales, and Podia or Kajabi for online courses.
- Watch the tax gap: Gumroad acts as merchant of record worldwide. Most alternatives leave sales tax filing to sellers.
Why look for Gumroad alternatives?
Sellers leave Gumroad for three reasons: a fee that never drops as revenue grows, a 30% cut on marketplace sales, and no support for physical goods.
What Gumroad offers
Gumroad remains a popular platform with many users. It charges no monthly fee, and its user-friendly interface lets sellers create an account, upload a file, and share a product link the same day. Since January 1, 2025, Gumroad has acted as merchant of record, collecting and remitting sales tax worldwide on every sale. Its Discover marketplace also sends new buyers to listed products.
Where Gumroad falls short
- Fees never drop: The published rate stays at 10% + $0.50 at every revenue level. Direct sales also carry card processing of 2.9% + $0.30.
- Discover costs triple: Sales through the marketplace carry a flat 30% fee.
- Refunds keep the fee: Gumroad doesn't return its fees when sellers refund buyers.
- Limited storefronts: Profile pages offer basic branding with few layout controls.
- Digital goods only: Physical products fall outside what Gumroad allows, so merch needs a separate platform.
Gumroad alternatives at a glance
Payhip and Ko-fi cost nothing to start, Shopify and WooCommerce give sellers the most control, and five of the ten platforms connect to Printify for physical products. The table compares the top Gumroad alternatives by starting price, platform fee, and support for physical products. Payment processing fees apply on top.
| Platform | Best for | Starting price | Platform fee | Physical products | Printify integration |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payhip | Like-for-like Gumroad swap | $0 | 5% free, 2% Plus, 0% Pro | Yes | No |
| Ko-fi | Tips and fan support | $0 | 0% tips, 5% shop (0% with Gold) | Yes | No |
| Stan Store | Link-in-bio creators | $29/mo | 0% | No | No |
| Podia | Courses and community | $49/mo | 5% Mover, 0% Shaker | No | No |
| Kajabi | Full course businesses | $179/mo | 0% with Kajabi Payments | No | No |
| Shopify | Branded online stores | $39/mo | 0% with Shopify Payments | Yes | Yes |
| Etsy | Built-in buyer traffic | $0.20 per listing | 6.5% per transaction | Yes | Yes |
| Squarespace | Design-first stores | $19/mo, billed yearly | 2% on Basic, 0% from Core | Yes | Yes |
| Wix | Drag-and-drop stores | $29/mo for Core | 0% on store sales | Yes | Yes |
| WooCommerce | Full control on WordPress | Free plugin | 0% | Yes | Yes |
10 Best Gumroad alternatives
The first five Gumroad competitors focus on digital goods and creator tools. The second five handle full eCommerce stores, and each one connects to Printify for physical products.
1. Payhip
Source: Payhip
Of all the Gumroad alternatives, Payhip works most like it. The London-based platform lets sellers upload digital files, share a product link or storefront, and sell eBooks, online courses, coaching, memberships, and physical products from one account.
Standout feature: As an added benefit, Payhip collects and pays digital EU and UK VAT plus US and Canadian sales tax on behalf of sellers.
Best for: Creators who want the best Gumroad alternative without changing how they sell.
Pricing and fees: The Free Forever plan charges a 5% transaction fee. Plus costs $29/mo with a 2% fee, and Pro costs $99/mo with no transaction fee. All plans include every feature, unlimited products, and unlimited revenue. PayPal and Stripe fees still apply.
The trade-off: Payhip doesn't act as a full merchant of record. Sellers set up, report, and pay any taxes outside those four regions themselves.
2. Ko-fi
Ko-fi is a UK-based creator support platform. It starts as a tip page and grows into a shop, monthly memberships, and paid commissions. Its shop handles both digital downloads and physical goods.
Standout feature: One-time tips carry a 0% Ko-fi service fee on the free plan.
Best for: Artists, writers, and streamers with an audience that already wants to support them.
Pricing and fees: Shop sales, memberships, and commissions carry a 5% service fee. Ko-fi Gold costs $12/mo for new creators and drops service fees to 0%. Gold pays for itself once fee-bearing sales pass $240 a month.
The trade-off: The shop stays basic, with few layout options and little control over product pages.
3. Stan Store
Source: Stan Store
Stan Store, a link-in-bio storefront, turns a social media bio link into a mobile shop. Buyers check out on the same page where they land from Instagram, YouTube, or other sites.
Standout feature: Digital products, courses, and booked calls share one link-in-bio page built for phones.
Best for: Social media creators who sell to followers on mobile.
Pricing and fees: The Creator plan costs $29/mo and Creator Pro costs $99/mo, with 0% transaction fees on both.
The trade-off: Stan has no free plan, so the monthly fee starts before the first sale. Design freedom stays limited, and email marketing only comes with Creator Pro.
4. Podia
Podia is an all-in-one creator platform that lets creators sell online courses, digital downloads, and community memberships under one login, with a website builder included.
Standout feature: Community spaces and courses share customer accounts, so members can join a paid course without signing up again.
Best for: Educators who sell courses alongside templates or guides.
Pricing and fees: Mover costs $49/mo with a 5% transaction fee and a 50-product limit. Shaker costs $99/mo with 0% fees, and Earthquaker costs $179/mo with unlimited products.
The trade-off: Podia centers on courses and community. Sellers of single digital files pay for community tools and other features they won't use, and there's no free plan.
5. Kajabi
Kajabi, an all-in-one platform for courses and coaching, gives creators a way to turn digital products into a full course business.
Standout feature: Unlike platforms that take a percentage of each sale, Kajabi takes no revenue share when sellers use Kajabi Payments or PayPal.
Best for: Established coaches and educators with proven offers and growing email lists.
Pricing and fees: Basic costs $179/mo, or $143/mo billed yearly. Third-party processors other than PayPal add a Kajabi fee on top of processing.
The trade-off: Kajabi has the highest monthly cost on this list, and its busier interface comes with a steeper learning curve than Gumroad's.
6. Shopify
Source: Shopify
Shopify, a hosted eCommerce platform, gives sellers a full branded online store on their own domain. Shopify's free Digital Downloads app delivers digital files, and the Printify integration adds print-on-demand merch to the same storefront.
Standout feature: Thousands of themes and apps give sellers customizable storefronts that grow with the business.
Best for: Sellers building a brand around multiple products, digital and physical.
Pricing and fees: The Basic plan costs $39/mo, or $29/mo billed yearly. Shopify Payments adds no extra platform fee. Third-party payment gateways add 2% per sale on Basic.
The trade-off: Paid apps add to the monthly plan. Digital delivery needs an app, and Shopify leaves sales tax registration and filing to the seller.
7. Etsy
Source: Etsy
Etsy, an online marketplace for handmade, vintage, and custom goods, brings sellers built-in buyer traffic. Sellers list digital downloads, such as printables and planners, next to print-on-demand products made through the Printify integration.
Standout feature: Buyers already search Etsy for personalized and made-to-order items, such as custom-name mugs and shirts.
Best for: New sellers who want customers before they have an audience.
Pricing and fees:
- $0.20 per listing
- 6.5% transaction fee on the item price plus shipping
- 3% + $0.25 payment processing in the US
- A one-time, non-refundable setup fee, shown during shop sign-up
The trade-off: The fees stack up. Etsy gives sellers less brand control than a standalone website, and competition stays heavy.
8. Squarespace
Source: Squarespace
Squarespace, a template-based website builder, powers design-first stores and portfolios and connects to Printify.
Standout feature: Sellers who already showcase work on a Squarespace portfolio can add a store to their existing websites.
Best for: Photographers, designers, and artists who sell prints, merch, and digital files.
Pricing and fees: Plans start at $19/mo billed yearly. Basic charges 2% on store sales and 7% on digital content. Core removes the store fee and charges 5% on digital content.
The trade-off: Squarespace has no free plan, and digital sellers pay a content fee until they reach the top tier.
9. Wix
Source: Wix
Wix, a drag-and-drop website builder, includes an App Market for add-ons. It connects to Printify.
Standout feature: The drag-and-drop editor lets sellers place any element anywhere on a page.
Best for: Small businesses that want a custom site without code.
Pricing and fees: Core costs $29/mo and serves as the first plan that accepts payments. It includes 50 GB of storage.
The trade-off: Selling requires a paid plan, and sellers can't switch templates once the site goes live.
10. WooCommerce
Source: WooCommerce
WooCommerce, a free eCommerce plugin for WordPress, gives sellers full control over their store's code, data, and design. It charges no platform fee, and it connects to Printify.
Standout feature: Owners can change any part of the store, from checkout flow to product pages, through plugins or custom code.
Best for: Sellers who already run a WordPress site or have the skills to manage one.
Pricing and fees: The plugin costs nothing. Sellers pay for hosting services, a domain, any premium extensions, and fees from their chosen payment gateways.
The trade-off: Owners handle hosting, security, backups, and updates themselves.
Key features to look for in a Gumroad alternative
Beyond each platform's unique features, five essential factors decide whether a switch pays off: fees, sales tax handling, product types, payment options, and marketing tools.
Monthly price vs transaction fees
A paid plan costs less than a free plan once monthly sales pass the break-even point. Free plans charge a higher percentage per sale. Paid plans trade that percentage for a fixed monthly cost. The break-even point shows when upgrading saves money.
Take Payhip as an example. At $1,000 in monthly sales, the free plan costs $50 in fees at 5%. The Plus plan costs $29 plus $20 at 2%, for $49 total. Above roughly $967 a month, Plus becomes the cost-effective choice.
Who handles sales tax?
A merchant of record collects and remits sales tax for the seller. It acts as the legal seller and handles VAT and GST too. Gumroad does this worldwide. Most alternatives leave it to sellers, who must register and file in each region where they owe tax.
Payhip covers four regions, and Etsy collects tax as a marketplace in many locations. Sellers leaving Gumroad often miss this point, so check it before moving a catalog.
Digital and physical products
Check per-file size limits and total file storage before moving large video courses or audio packs. Then confirm whether the platform supports both physical and digital products in a single store.
Payment options
For online payments, buyers expect major credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal. Platforms that connect to several secure payment gateways, such as Payhip with Stripe, PayPal, and Square, let sellers offer local payment methods and accept payments from more countries. Check whether a platform charges additional transaction fees for using an outside processor, as Shopify and Kajabi do.
Marketing tools
Look for email marketing to reach past buyers, coupon codes for launches, and upsells or order bumps to build a sales funnel. Some platforms lock these advanced features behind higher tiers, such as Stan Store, which saves email marketing for Creator Pro.
Sell physical products alongside your digital downloads
Print on Demand (POD) lets entrepreneurs sell custom products without holding inventory, since each item is made only after a customer orders it.
Printify connects online sellers with a global network of more than 70 third-party Print Providers and more than 2,000 products, and it integrates with Shopify, Etsy, Squarespace, Wix, and WooCommerce. It is the most flexible, cost-effective solution for selling products online.
Merchants add physical products in four steps:
- Connect a Shopify, Etsy, Squarespace, Wix, or WooCommerce store to Printify.
- Upload a design in the Product Creator and pick a product from the Printify Catalog.
- Choose a Print Provider based on base cost, location, and production time.
- Publish the product. Printify prints and ships each order, so sellers save time on fulfillment.
Printify costs nothing to use. High-volume merchants can subscribe to Printify Premium, from $24.99/mo billed yearly, for up to 20% off all products. If an order arrives with a manufacturing error, Merchant Protection covers a free reprint or refund within 30 days.
Sellers without a store can use the free Printify Pop-Up Store to sell Catalog products via a shareable link.
Which Gumroad alternative is right for you?
The best alternatives depend on your business needs: Payhip for digital products, Shopify with Printify for physical and digital products, and Etsy for built-in traffic. Ko-fi suits tip-based creators, Stan Store fits mobile social sellers, and Podia or Kajabi serve course businesses. Squarespace, Wix, and WooCommerce suit sellers already committed to one of those platforms.
