Choose where to sell digital products by where your buyers come from and what you charge. With no audience, sell on a marketplace with search traffic: Etsy for printables, Teachers Pay Teachers for classroom resources, Creative Market for design assets. With an audience, use a storefront such as Gumroad, Payhip, Lemon Squeezy or Stan Store, and move to a community platform or your own store once sales cover a monthly fee.
The best place to sell digital products depends on where your buyers come from: a marketplace like Etsy if they find you through search, or a storefront like Gumroad, Payhip or Stan Store if you bring them from social media or email. Price point decides the rest: cheap items suit marketplaces, while courses and memberships suit storefronts and community platforms that charge lower fees per sale.
Every fee below was checked against the platform's own pricing or help pages in October 2026 and is linked in each section. Fees change, so re-check before you commit. One disclosure: we use Whop for our own checkout at iimagined.ai, and it is assessed here on the same terms as the others. If you have not built the product yet, start with how to create a digital product in 2026.
The verdict: which platform to pick
- Pick Etsy if you sell printables, planners, wall art or templates and have no audience yet.
- Pick Gumroad or Payhip if you have followers or an email list and want a free storefront with buyer emails. Payhip's free plan takes less per sale; Gumroad has the Discover marketplace.
- Pick Lemon Squeezy if you sell software or templates to many countries and want the platform to handle tax as merchant of record.
- Pick Stan Store if you sell mainly from an Instagram or TikTok bio and are ready to pay a monthly fee for a link-in-bio store.
- Pick Whop for memberships, paid communities and courses with recurring billing.
- Pick Teachers Pay Teachers or Creative Market if your product is classroom material or design assets: their buyers search there first.
- Pick Shopify only if you also sell physical goods or need a full store.
Digital product platforms compared
| Platform | Type | Per-sale fees (checked Oct 2026) | Monthly | Brings buyers? | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Etsy | Marketplace | $0.20 listing, 6.5% transaction, 3% + $0.25 processing (US) | $0 | Yes, search | Printables, planners, wall art |
| Gumroad | Storefront + Discover | 10% + $0.50 direct (processing separate); 30% via Discover | $0 | Some, via Discover | Guides, templates, audience sales |
| Payhip | Storefront | 5% free plan, 2% Plus, 0% Pro; processing separate | $0, $29 or $99 | No | Ebooks, courses, memberships |
| Lemon Squeezy | Storefront (merchant of record) | 5% + $0.50, processing included; surcharges apply | $0 | No | Software, templates, international sales |
| Stan Store | Link-in-bio store | No Stan transaction fee; processing applies | $29 or $99 | No | Creators selling from social bios |
| Shopify | Own store | Card rates from 2.9% + $0.30; 2% extra with third-party gateways on Basic | $39 monthly or $29 yearly (Basic) | No | Stores mixing physical and digital |
| Whop | Community + checkout | 2.7% + $0.30 domestic cards; optional add-ons extra | $0 | Mostly your own traffic | Memberships, communities, courses |
| Teachers Pay Teachers | Niche marketplace | Basic: 55% payout + $0.30 per resource | $29 one-time (Basic) or $59.95/yr (Exclusive) | Yes, teacher search | Classroom resources |
| Creative Market | Niche marketplace | Default 50% of list price to the shop | $0 | Yes, designer search | Fonts, graphics, design templates |
"Brings buyers" means the platform has its own search or browse traffic. Everywhere else, you supply the traffic. Monthly prices are US list prices before tax.
Single $20 sale, US domestic card. Where processing is charged separately, Stripe's standard 2.9% + $0.30 is assumed. Monthly plan fees, Offsite Ads, Discover fees and tax excluded. Source: Each platform's pricing or help pages, checked October 2026
Per-sale fees are only half the picture. A platform with a monthly fee wins once your monthly volume pays for it, and the free platform break-even calculator shows the exact sales count where one platform starts beating another for your price. The digital product fee calculator gives the per-sale breakdown on its own.
How to choose: traffic source and price point
Two questions sort almost every seller. Where do buyers come from: platform search, or you? And is the product cheap and impulse-bought, or a considered purchase?
Etsy
Etsy is the largest general marketplace for printables and templates, and its search is the reason to be there. Fees for a US shop, checked October 2026 on the Etsy fees policy: $0.20 per listing, renewed after each sale on multi-quantity listings; 6.5% transaction fee; 3% plus $0.25 payment processing. Offsite Ads add 15% on attributed sales for shops under $10,000 a year (optional) and 12% above that (mandatory), capped at $100 per order (Etsy Help).
Limits: digital items must be your own design under Etsy's Creativity Standards, AI use must be disclosed, and you do not get buyers' email addresses for marketing. Read our Etsy digital products guide, how to sell printables on Etsy and Etsy profit margins.
Gumroad
Gumroad is a free storefront: 10% plus $0.50 per direct sale with no monthly fee, and 30% on sales that come through its Discover marketplace (checked October 2026). Its help center says card processing is charged separately from the 10%. Since January 2025 Gumroad acts as merchant of record and handles sales tax and VAT collection. Discover listing needs completed payout settings, a balance of at least $100 from genuine sales and a risk review (which Gumroad says takes about three weeks on average), according to its Discover help article.
Limits: the 10% plus $0.50 is high on cheap items, and Gumroad's rules do not allow reselling products you did not create, including PLR. Our guides: how to sell on Gumroad and what sells on Gumroad.
Payhip
Payhip has three plans with the same features; only the fee changes. Free Forever takes 5% per sale, Plus is $29 a month for 2%, and Pro is $99 a month for 0%, with PayPal or Stripe processing on top (checked October 2026). It handles ebooks, courses, coaching and memberships in one store.
Limits: no marketplace traffic. Plus only beats the free plan once the 3% it saves exceeds $29 a month, which is roughly $967 in monthly sales; that arithmetic is ours, so test your own numbers.
Lemon Squeezy
Lemon Squeezy charges 5% plus $0.50 per transaction with no monthly fee, and its fees documentation says that covers card processing, currency conversion and tax handling as merchant of record. Surcharges apply: 1.5% for international transactions, 1.5% for PayPal and 0.5% for subscription payments (checked October 2026). It is now part of Stripe.
Limits: no buyer marketplace, and the surcharges add up on international and subscription sales. It suits software licenses and templates sold worldwide more than printables.
Stan Store
Stan Store is a link-in-bio store. Its help center lists Creator at $29 a month ($300 a year) and Creator Pro at $99 a month ($948 a year), with no Stan transaction fee; payment processor fees still apply (checked October 2026). There is a 14-day trial, not a free plan.
Limits: you pay the monthly fee before your first sale, and there is no marketplace traffic. It fits creators who already sell from Instagram or TikTok bios. Pair it with the bio advice in Instagram bio ideas that convert.
Shopify
Shopify's Basic plan is $39 a month billed monthly or $29 a month billed yearly in the US, with Shopify Payments card rates from 2.9% plus $0.30. Using a third-party payment provider instead adds a 2% transaction fee on Basic (checked October 2026).
Limits: more setup and cost than a digital-only store needs. It makes sense when digital products sit alongside physical ones. See Shopify automation if you go this way.
Whop
Whop is built for memberships, communities and courses. Its fees page lists 2.7% plus $0.30 per successful domestic card payment, with surcharges for international cards and currency conversion and optional add-ons for billing tools and tax collection; with everything enabled and tax collected, Whop puts the total at 6% plus $0.30 (checked October 2026). There is no monthly fee.
Limits: it is less suited to one-off printables than to recurring access products. Compare it with course platforms in Skool vs Whop vs Teachable and Teachable vs Thinkific vs Gumroad vs Kajabi.
Teachers Pay Teachers
TPT is where teachers search for classroom resources. Its seller fees page lists a Basic Seller account at a $29 one-time fee with a 55% payout and a $0.30 transaction fee per resource, and a new Exclusive Seller membership at $59.95 a year with a 77.5% payout (80% introductory through December 31, 2026) that requires TPT-eligible resources to be sold only on TPT. Premium Seller closed to new sign-ups on October 1, 2026 (all checked October 2026).
Limits: lower payout than storefronts, and the exclusive plan rules out selling the same resources elsewhere.
Creative Market
Creative Market sells fonts, graphics, templates and other design assets to designers. Its help center says shops earn 50% of the list price by default, though rates can vary by shop and product (checked October 2026). AI-generated products must be flagged with its AI label at upload.
Limits: half of each sale goes to the platform, in exchange for an audience of buyers who are already looking for assets.
- Brings buyers through search
- Higher share of each sale
- No buyer emails for marketing
- Platform rules decide what you can list
- You bring the traffic
- Lower fees per sale
- Buyer emails for your list
- More control over pricing and design
Alternatives and combinations
Most sellers end up on two platforms: a marketplace for discovery and a storefront for their audience. The storefront is where the email list grows, and our guide to email marketing for digital product creators covers how to use it. Your own site with Stripe, at 2.9% plus $0.30 per US card payment (Stripe pricing, checked October 2026), keeps the most per sale but leaves tax, delivery and hosting to you.
Format matters too: Notion templates sell well through storefronts (see Notion templates that sell), while design templates do well on marketplaces (see how to sell templates). For which formats to build, read the best digital products to sell in 2026. Our Digital Products program walks through setting up both a marketplace shop and a storefront.
Where to sell digital products: FAQ
What is the best platform to sell digital products for beginners?
If you have no audience, start on a marketplace that brings search traffic, such as Etsy for printables and templates or Teachers Pay Teachers for classroom resources. If you already have followers, a storefront like Payhip or Gumroad costs nothing per month and gives you the buyer's email. Beginners rarely need a monthly-fee platform until sales are steady enough to cover it.
Which platform has the lowest fees for digital products?
Per sale, platforms with a flat monthly plan and no transaction fee, such as Stan Store or Payhip Pro, keep the most, but only once sales cover the subscription. With no monthly fee, Payhip's free plan at 5% plus processing and Whop's card rate of 2.7% plus $0.30 are among the lowest, checked October 2026. Use a break-even calculator with your own price and volume.
Is Etsy or Gumroad better for digital products?
Etsy is better when buyers search for the product, as with printables, planners and wall art, and you have no audience yet. Gumroad is better when you send your own traffic from social media or email, sell higher-priced guides or courses, or want buyer emails and a simple checkout. Many sellers use both: Etsy for discovery, Gumroad or Payhip for their audience.
Can I sell digital products without a website?
Yes. Marketplaces like Etsy, TPT and Creative Market host the listing, checkout and delivery. Storefronts like Gumroad, Payhip, Lemon Squeezy and Stan Store give you a hosted product page and checkout you can link from a social bio. You only need your own website when you want full control of design, SEO and the customer relationship.
Who handles sales tax and VAT on digital products?
It depends on the platform. Gumroad and Lemon Squeezy act as merchant of record, so they collect and remit sales tax and VAT on your sales. On Shopify, Stan Store or your own Stripe checkout, tax setup is usually your job. Check each platform's tax help page for your country before you launch.
Can I sell the same digital product on several platforms?
Usually yes, and many sellers list on a marketplace for discovery and a storefront for their own audience. Check exclusivity terms first: Teachers Pay Teachers' Exclusive Seller plan requires TPT-eligible resources to be sold only on TPT, while its Basic plan does not. Keep prices consistent across platforms to avoid undercutting your own listings.
Pick the platform, then build the traffic.
All Access includes the Digital Products program, with platform setup and launch walkthroughs, plus Instagram Ignited for audience growth, AI Influencers, AI SaaS Builder, live coaching and the private community.
Find your break-even point
Compare what each platform leaves you at your price and volume, and join the free Telegram channel for platform changes as they happen.