How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Rankite is independent; if a vendor ever pays for a featured spot, that listing is clearly labeled Partner.
Key takeaways
- Fee structure matters more than features at low prices: Gumroad's 10% + $0.50 can take 20%+ of a $5 product.
- Free plans exist (Gumroad, Payhip, Ko-fi), but every one takes a per-sale cut until you upgrade.
- Course sellers should compare Podia, Teachable, and Thinkific on transaction fees and trials before committing.
- If you sell software internationally, a merchant of record (Paddle) handles sales tax and compliance for you.
- Lemon Squeezy's future as a standalone product is uncertain after Stripe's acquisition, so we excluded it; Paddle is the independent alternative.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 Gumroad | your first digital product | Free (10% + $0.50 per transaction) | Yes |
 Payhip | selling on a free plan | Free (5% per sale) | Yes |
 Sellfy | a zero-fee storefront | $22 per month (billed annually) | Free trial (14 days) |
 Ko-fi | creators with an audience | Free (0-5% fee) | Yes |
 Podia | courses plus community | $42 per month (billed annually) | Free trial (14 days) |
 Teachable | serious course creators | See website | Free trial (7 days) |
 Thinkific | scaling education businesses | See website | Free trial (30 days) |
 SendOwl | secure digital delivery | See website | Free trial |
 Paddle | software sellers needing tax compliance | See website | Yes |
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Starting priceFree (10% + $0.50 per transaction)
Free planYes
Gumroad is the default first platform for a reason. There is no monthly fee, you can publish a product page in an afternoon, and since 2025 Gumroad handles all your tax obligations, collecting and remitting worldwide. Digital downloads, courses, memberships, subscriptions, and software licenses all work, with pay-what-you-want pricing and license keys built in.
The honest math: 10% plus $0.50 per direct sale, and card processing on top. On a $5 ebook that is an effective rate near 20%. Once monthly sales pass $20,000, direct sales drop to 5% + $0.50. Discover marketplace sales cost 30% (processing included), though you can opt products out. Gumroad is the right start when you are validating an idea; it becomes expensive once you have volume and should reprice accordingly.
What we like- No monthly fee, start selling in minutes
- Handles sales tax and VAT worldwide
- Built-in Discover marketplace
Watch out for- 10% + $0.50 stings on low-ticket products
- 30% fee on Discover sales
- Processing fees charged on top
Starting priceFree (5% per sale)
Free planYes
Payhip is the free plan that respects you. Every plan, including free, includes unlimited products, all features, courses with quizzes and certificates, coaching, memberships, bundles, upsells, affiliate programs, PDF stamping, and license keys. The free plan costs 5% per sale; Plus at $29 a month drops it to 2%, and Pro at $99 removes the cut entirely.
Trusted by over 130,000 creators, Payhip handles VAT automatically and supports 100+ payment gateways. The honest trade: affiliate payouts are managed manually, and the community and integration ecosystem is smaller than Gumroad's. But for a creator who wants every feature without a monthly bill, Payhip's free plan is the most generous in the industry.
What we like- Genuinely free plan with all features
- Courses, coaching, memberships, and physical products
- Automatic VAT handling
Watch out for- 5% fee until you pay $29 or $99 a month
- Affiliate payouts are manual
- Smaller ecosystem than Gumroad
Starting price$22 per month (billed annually)
Free planFree trial (14 days)
Sellfy flips the pricing model: a flat subscription, zero platform transaction fees on every plan. Starter is $22 a month billed annually ($29 monthly) for up to $10,000 in annual sales, Business $59 for $50,000, Premium $119 for $200,000. You get a drag-and-drop store builder, subscriptions, print-on-demand merch, email marketing, upselling, cart abandonment, and download protection.
The honest catch is the revenue caps: sit at the top of a tier and the effective rate is tiny; cross the line and you upgrade or pay a 2% overage. The 14-day free trial is brief. But if your product sells at volume, flat-fee-plus-zero-commission beats Gumroad's percentage cut quickly. Sellfy suits creators with proven products and predictable revenue.
What we like- 0% transaction fees on every plan
- Email marketing, upsells, and cart abandonment built in
- Anti-piracy features
Watch out for- Annual sales caps force upgrades ($10k/$50k/$200k)
- 14-day trial is short
- Limited app ecosystem
Starting priceFree (0-5% fee)
Free planYes
Ko-fi started as a tipping platform and grew into a creator storefront: tips, memberships, commissions, and a shop for digital products, all free to start with no monthly fee. The platform takes a creator-friendly 0 to 5% fee, and money goes directly and instantly into your own PayPal or Stripe account, with no payout waits.
The honest framing: Ko-fi is not a checkout powerhouse. Product pages and delivery are simpler than Gumroad or Payhip, and it works best when you already have an audience to send to your page. But for artists, writers, streamers, and educators monetizing fans, the direct-pay model and zero monthly cost are hard to beat. It is the friendliest money-on-the-internet tool for creators.
What we like- Free to start with no monthly fee
- You get paid directly via PayPal or Stripe
- Tips, memberships, shop, and commissions
Watch out for- Shop features are simpler than dedicated platforms
- Limited checkout customization
- Audience-dependent by design
Starting price$42 per month (billed annually)
Free planFree trial (14 days)
Podia is the all-in-one for creators who are tired of four subscriptions. Courses, community, coaching, events, email marketing, and your website run in one place, with 15,000+ creators having earned over $900 million on the platform. The Mover plan is $42 a month billed annually ($49 monthly) with a 5% transaction fee; Shaker at $84 and Earthquaker at $150 remove the fee and add affiliates, upsells, and Zapier.
The honest trade: lower tiers cap products (50 on Mover, 150 on Shaker) and community spaces, and course features are solid rather than leading-edge. But the consolidation value is real: one bill replaces your course platform, community tool, email provider, and website builder. The 14-day trial needs no credit card, so testing is painless.
What we like- Courses, community, email, coaching, and website in one
- No transaction fees on Shaker and up
- 14-day trial, no card
Watch out for- Mover plan takes 5% per sale
- Product and space limits on lower tiers
- Fewer advanced course features than Thinkific
Starting priceSee website
Free planFree trial (7 days)
Teachable is the veteran course platform, trusted by 150,000+ creators serving 100 million students. The course builder includes AI creation and translation tools, drip content, quizzes, certificates, and student mobile apps. Teachable Payments automates sales tax, VAT, and GST across 45+ countries, with daily payouts and subscription recovery.
Every plan (Starter, Builder, Growth) includes a 7-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee, but there is no free plan. The Starter plan's 7.5% transaction fee is the catch; Builder and Growth drop to 0%. Teachable is now part of Hotmart Company, which adds global scale but means the roadmap answers to a parent. For course-first businesses, it remains the benchmark.
What we like- Mature course builder with AI tools
- Teachable Payments handles tax in 45+ countries
- IOS and Android student apps
Watch out for- Starter plan takes 7.5% transaction fee
- No free plan
- Now part of Hotmart, so the roadmap follows the parent
Starting priceSee website
Free planFree trial (30 days)
Thinkific positions itself for businesses scaling learning programs, with 20,000+ teams and $4.23 billion earned by customers. The 30-day free trial is the longest here, and TCommerce bundles hosted checkout, subscriptions, order bumps, buy-now-pay-later, gifting, automated sales tax, and B2B invoicing with seat licensing.
The honest notes: there is no free plan, starting prices are not public on the pricing page, and advanced features like SCORM live on the Plus plan. Thinkific's strength is the education-business layer: communities, learning paths, branded mobile apps, and commerce built for training companies. If your digital product is really an education business, start the 30-day trial here.
What we like- Generous 30-day free trial
- TCommerce with order bumps and tax automation
- Strong for B2B and academies
Watch out for- No free plan
- Starting prices not public
- Plus-level features (SCORM) cost more
Starting priceSee website
Free planFree trial
SendOwl is the delivery specialist: flat pricing, no revenue cuts, all features on every plan, with limits based on order and sales volume (Launch covers 5,000 orders or $10,000 in sales a year). It handles secure delivery with PDF stamping, download limits, license keys, one-click upsells, subscriptions, and an affiliate program, and sellers have processed over $2 billion through it.
The honest framing: SendOwl is a checkout and delivery layer, not a beautiful storefront builder. It shines when you already have a website or audience and need reliable, secure delivery with marketing features. Annual billing includes two months free. For sellers who care about anti-piracy and upsells more than page design, it is the workhorse pick.
What we like- Flat pricing with no revenue cuts
- PDF stamping and license keys
- One-click upsells and affiliate tools
Watch out for- Prices not shown without the pricing page
- Older interface
- Checkout less customizable than storefront builders
Starting priceSee website
Free planYes
Paddle is the merchant of record for software and digital product businesses: it manages payments, tax, compliance, and billing across 300+ markets, having remitted $130 million in sales taxes in a year across 190 million transactions. There is no monthly fee; you pay per transaction.
The honest trade: Paddle is built for software companies and SaaS, not for selling a $9 Notion template. Onboarding is more involved, and per-transaction pricing means you pay for the compliance infrastructure. But if you sell software internationally, the alternative is registering for VAT in dozens of countries yourself. With Lemon Squeezy's standalone future uncertain, Paddle is now the leading independent MoR.
What we like- Merchant of record handles global sales tax and VAT
- No monthly fee
- Fraud protection and subscription management
Watch out for- Transaction-based pricing
- Less suited to simple ebooks
- Onboarding is more involved than Gumroad
How we chose
We verified each tool's current homepage by opening the live site and using the final resolved URL. We reviewed vendor pricing pages (Sellfy, Payhip, Podia, Thinkific, SendOwl, Ko-fi) and fee documentation, and excluded Lemon Squeezy because its Stripe-owned status and announced migration path make it an uncertain recommendation. We favored platforms with transparent pricing and genuine digital-product features over generic carts. We did not test any tool hands-on.
Run the fee math before you choose
Low-ticket products are fee-sensitive
On a $5 product, Gumroad's $0.50 fixed fee alone is 10%, before the 10% percentage and processing. Payhip's 5% flat ($0.25) is cheaper at that price. Flat subscriptions (Sellfy at $22, Podia at $42) only win once volume covers the monthly cost. Model your actual price and expected monthly sales against each fee structure; the cheapest platform at $50 a sale is rarely the cheapest at $5.
Watch for the fee stack
Platform fees are only layer one. Add payment processing (typically 2.9% + $0.30 via Stripe or PayPal), transaction fees on lower tiers, and overage or upgrade costs at revenue caps. A platform advertising 0% transaction fees still costs you processing. Compute the all-in effective rate per sale, not the headline number.
Match the platform to the product
Ebooks, templates, and presets do fine on Gumroad, Payhip, or Ko-fi. Courses deserve Podia, Teachable, or Thinkific for the learning features. Software needs license keys plus tax compliance, which points to Paddle (or SendOwl for delivery). Memberships need subscription management, which all nine handle but the course platforms do best. The wrong-shaped platform costs you in workarounds.
The tax problem is the real problem
Selling digital products internationally triggers VAT and sales tax obligations that most creators never see coming. The EU, UK, and dozens of US states all want a cut of digital sales, and the registration and filing burden is absurd for a solo seller.
This is why the merchant-of-record model exists. Gumroad, Paddle, and (for now) Lemon Squeezy act as the seller of record, collecting and remitting tax for you. Teachable and Thinkific automate it through their payments products. Payhip handles VAT automatically. If you sell internationally and your platform does not handle tax, you are either non-compliant or doing paperwork that costs more than the fees you saved. For most creators, tax handling is worth more than any feature difference.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best platform to sell digital products?
For a first product, Gumroad or Payhip. For courses, Podia, Teachable, or Thinkific. For a flat-fee storefront with zero transaction fees, Sellfy. For software with international tax compliance, Paddle. For creators with an audience, Ko-fi. The best platform depends on your product type, price point, and sales volume.
Which platform has the lowest fees for digital products?
It depends on volume. Sellfy charges 0% platform fees but a monthly subscription starting at $22. Payhip's free plan takes 5%. Gumroad takes 10% + $0.50 with no monthly fee, which is the most expensive at low prices. Ko-fi takes 0 to 5%. Run your actual price and monthly sales through each fee structure before choosing.
Can I sell digital products for free?
Yes. Gumroad, Payhip, and Ko-fi all have free plans with no monthly fee, taking a per-sale cut instead. Teachable, Thinkific, Sellfy, Podia, and SendOwl offer free trials (7 to 30 days) but require paid plans to keep selling. Free plans are the cheapest way to validate a product idea.
Do I need to handle sales tax when selling digital products?
In most cases, yes, digital products are taxable in many jurisdictions, and the rules vary by country and US state. Platforms like Gumroad, Paddle, Teachable, Thinkific, and Payhip handle or automate tax collection and remittance. If your platform does not, you are responsible for compliance yourself.
What happened to Lemon Squeezy?
Stripe acquired Lemon Squeezy, and its future as a standalone product is uncertain. We recommend Paddle as the independent merchant-of-record alternative for software sellers; existing Lemon Squeezy users should watch for official migration announcements.
Can I sell courses and ebooks on the same platform?
Yes. Payhip, Podia, Teachable, and Thinkific all support both courses and digital downloads. Gumroad and Sellfy handle ebooks, templates, and courses. Choose based on which product type is primary: course platforms win on learning features, download platforms win on simplicity and fees.
Sources we checked (12)
- https://gumroad.com/
- https://payhip.com/
- https://sellfy.com/
- https://ko-fi.com/
- https://www.podia.com/
- https://www.podia.com/pricing
- https://teachable.com/
- https://www.thinkific.com/
- https://www.thinkific.com/pricing
- https://www.sendowl.com/
- https://www.sendowl.com/pricing
- https://www.paddle.com/
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has spent more than a decade helping SaaS and e-commerce brands grow through search. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.