5 Top Gumroad alternatives that are less expensive and more effective (2023) (source: Gumroad)
Updated: December 20, 2022
Version 1.0 UpdateAs of December 2022, Gumroad will announce a cost increase, and they will be charging an additional 10% for each sale it makes on its platform (plus any additional fees for transactions due to Paypal and Stripe). If you're affected by this devastating news and are thinking of switching to other platforms Here's a list of Gumroad alternatives you'll have to look into!
Gumroad is a popular platform that sells digital items. It offers a web-based storefront, allowing you to sell digital products online in just a few minutes. Gumroad offers additional options like the ability for selling subscriptions, integration to Paypal and Stripe, and other features.
That said, Gumroad has negatives that discourage people from staying on the platform. Review sites have proven that , among other things the high cost of pricing on Gumroad in addition to the lack of customer service and inability to scale for big volume sellers has led customers to move to different platforms.
In this article we'll look at some of the best Gumroad alternatives to selling digital products to help you make an informed decision for your business. There are many options that will be perfect for small businesses that are just starting out however, we've considered scalability with an eye on ensuring that you won't need change platforms as your company grows.
Below is a short overview of the top Gumroad alternatives that are more affordable and superior:
What exactly is Gumroad and what does it Offer?
Gumroad is an eCommerce platform that's geared toward digital goods. Gumroad offers a variety of features, such as selling different kinds of products, including subscriptions and digital downloads. The software also provides analytics and marketing tools, as well as the ability to embed product pages on your website.
Gumroad is a great choice. Gumroad offers you a fully-hosted online store where you can sell your products via. Gumroad also offers a tiny online marketplace named "Gumroad Discover" which allows you to display your product listings amongst other creators.
What is the cost of Gumroad Price?
Gumroad will charge you 10% of the amount for every sale that it makes on its platform.
Additionally, you'll have to also pay transaction charges through Paypal and Stripe which usually come out to be about 2.9 percent plus $0.30 for each transaction.
Be aware that Gumroad used to have unorthodox pricing structures prior to 2023. they've decided to adopt this price structure for the future.
Why should you look to Gumroad Alternatives?
1. Pricey Pricing and the Lack of Scalability
Gumroad's flat rate of a 10% fee for every sale can be extremely expensive when you're only beginning their journey, however it's even more expensive as your business grows because your expenses will continue to increase as a percentage of the revenue.
Imagine earning $100,000 a month, and then having to pay $10,000 fees - that doesn't seem like a lot of fun at all. In addition that the fee of 10% doesn't notinclude additional Stripe and Paypal fees (which generally cost between 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction) which you'll also have to pay.
2. The lack of customizability
Even though Gumroad has a fully-hosted online storefront for you to sell your goods online, you'll not be able to customize the look of your online store to fit your company's branding. Gumroad offers a distinct design for its storefronts that is used on all of its sellers' storefronts. The only thing you can modify on your storefront is a single highlight color and a few small customizations including your bio, name, as well as your logo.
Contrary to this, alternatives that are discussed in this post have sophisticated tools for building stores that are suitable for novices (no programming or design expertise required) however, they're in a position to provide you with the freedom to design a highly converting online store that is consistent with your brand.
3. Discover Better Options for Selling Online Courses
If you're selling products like digital downloads, Gumroad is generally quite proficient in providing your files to your customers. But, if you're selling running online courses, this platform does not provide robust capabilities that other online platforms generally offer.
Gumroad's online course features allow you to upload a video as well as other documents which your students download, or simply click to view the video. However, this isn't exactly the interactive learning experience you'd hope to see through an online learning platform. The courses don't have advanced features such as assessments and drip schedules, as well as the ability to award certificates for completion.
Here's an example of a student's experience in a course:
For comparison, consider this: an engaging learning experience with various lesson formats would look like (the example below is from ):
Specific Features to Search For in a Gumroad Alternative
If you are looking for a replacement to Gumroad, there's a few crucial aspects to take into consideration.
1. Specific Features for Selling Various Product Types
Does the platform offer the necessary tools to market different digital goods? It will help maximize the income you earn across various industries. Take into consideration features like
- The features to market digital download: instant file delivery, PDF stamping, download limits and much more
- Features to sell online course include: a fun online course player with various kinds of lessons (e.g. videos, assignment and more), drip content schedule, various course pricing options, certificates, and more
- The features to promote coaching including integration with online meetings platforms like Zoom and Calendly as well as other
- Features to sell subscription or membership: capability to bill recurring payments
Additionally, you should look for flexibility to be able to integrate product pages onto your website. This lets you embed an order cart, and a an effortless checkout process into your site.
2. Cost-effective Prices (Little to No Costs Up-Front)
What is the cost per transaction? Are there any monthly fees, hidden fees, or limits?
Choose platforms that boast good records of solid pricing models. While a lot of companies will offer you a reasonable price structure at first but you'll want to be sure you're not facing unanticipated price rises later on later on.
3. Robust Marketing Tools
Aside from the basic marketing tools like discount coupons, you must look for a platform which can provide more sophisticated and efficient marketing tools like affiliate marketing. This lets you run multiple marketing campaigns in order to grow your company.
Note that is the only alternative that provides the affiliate marketing feature for free, other platforms charge monthly subscription fees to access the tools.
4. A Beginner-Friendly Store Builder that is Fully Customizable and Fully-Custom
The digital world is awash with opportunities, and an online store or website is essential for any firm or company to boost brand loyalty and show their level of professionalism. If it is done right creating your own site is not just a way to set yourself to be a professional in your field but will also aid in building relations with clients as it allows them to learn about your brand in a deeper way.
Find platforms that permit you to build a fully customized online store to represent your business in the best possible way. There are a ton of choices that do not require any coding or design skills.
5. The Tax Department will take care of VAT and you won't have to
A fear of the complicated tax system could stop you from expanding your company and slowing down your expansion. Look into a service that is fully compliant to not just collect VAT from your clients at checkout and remit the VAT on your behalf which means you do not have to do anything.
5 Top Gumroad Options to Market Digital Products
Let's review some of the most popular alternatives to Gumroad to sell digital items. Every platform has its own distinct characteristics and pricing plans making it important to review them carefully before making your choice.
1.
It is the most effective Gumroad choice for value as well as affordability.
is easily the most popular platform that frequently gets compared to Gumroad as they are the closest Gumroad rival that has the same features Gumroad provides, and a price that is much more reasonable which is ideal for companies of all sizes.
The platform is well-known due to its forever-free subscription that allows sellers access to ALL of the functions that the platform has to offer. Instead of the massive 10% fee that Gumroad charges just 5percent for each sale. When your sales increase then you may change to the monthly service to keep your costs low. There is no need to fret about scaling your business at .
If you're in search of an organization that's committed to the growth of your company, this is your best option.
PRICING:
disrupted the industry by providing an innovative pricing strategy designed to help small-scale businesses grow, while also ensuring that businesses will maintain their prices at a low level as they grow to become multimillion-dollar companies.
There are three pricing plans:
- All-year-round free with 5% annual fees (perfect for beginners)
- $29.30/month, 2% of which is fees.
- A monthly payment of $99 with no charges
Why is this "unconventional"? This is because all pricing plans give you an equal access privilege to ALL of their amazing options. 's founders created the company with a strong belief in establishing a platform which aids small companies grow in the long run by ensuring they have access to the powerful tools they require. This sentiment is greatly appreciated by the majority of buyers on its online reviews.
If you're starting your business from scratch then you should start off on 's most popular Free-forever planwith no monthly charges and 5percent fees per sale (excluding shipping fees). If your company grows, you can move to's Plus plan for $29 per month fees + 2% fees per sale or Pro plan with $99 for month for fees (no additional fees for sales).
has maintained this pricing for a long time, so customers can rest in peace of mind that this pricing isn't going to change.
PROS :
- This is the cheapest alternative to Gumroad.
- Built-in key features to sell diverse products, including:
- Unlimited product listings and unlimited revenues
- Improved checkout experience to ensure higher conversion
- Easy-to-use and powerful store builders There are no design or coding abilities required
- You can completely personalize your online store to match the brand you want to represent
- Fully hosted and free storefront (you may also join a custom domain)
- If you already have your own website You can embed it your site on any eCommerce website.
- Instant and secure payouts via Paypal and Stripe
- Pay-what-you-want pricing option for your items (a.k.a. Tip Jar)
- Remits and collects UK & EU VAT on your behalf
- Ability to store analytics and connect to Google Analytics
- Bonus: is also highly praised for its customer support high-quality. All customers are given respect regardless of what plan you're in
CONS
- There is no automated integration of shipping labels or software (e.g. Shippo and ShipStation). Its platform is more focused towards digital items, but you're still able to comfortably offer physical goods if would like to.
2. Shopify
One of the most popular eCommerce platforms in the world, Shopify is often a preferred choice as a Gumroad alternative. Shopify is an e-commerce platform that allows users to set up an online shop and control your products. Shopify also provides a broad range of software and features, such as payments processing, analytics as well as marketing tools. In addition, Shopify has a variety of pricing plans that can be adapted to different budgets.
Due to the sheer size of this eCommerce platform, there are hundreds of third-party applications every business category that can be connected to your Shopify store. It allows you to outfit your store's online shop with exclusive tools for everything from changing the look of your site to advertising tools, and many more. The only caveat is that these apps are often not completely free. You'll have to manage your expenses carefully.
While Shopify is an effective eCommerce platform however, it's offer no have built-in capabilities to market digital goods as Shopify's platform has been designed towards tangible items. It is necessary to download an additional app from third parties that can likely increase the costs of selling your digital products.
PRICING:
Small businesses who want to try different platforms before settling on one that suits the requirements of their company, Shopify offers a 14-day trial at no cost. It is not a forever-free program.
For a price of just $29 per month, Shopify's Basic Plan is the most loved plan. Additional Shopify plans are available for $79/month, 299/month in the case of Advanced Shopify, and $2000/month for Shopify Plus/Enterprise. You will be charged an extra transaction fee you'll need to pay for each sale.
The Shopify platform doesn't have integrated features for selling digital goods. Most likely, you'll require third-party applications from the Shopify app store which generally comes at additional cost.
PROS :
- You can access thousands of 3rd party apps on Shopify, the Shopify app store
- Supports multi-channel sales. This can be particularly useful if there is a brick-and-mortar shop.
- Shopify is used by many small-scale businesses in addition to content creators that specialize on Shopify content. The communities you join will likely provide you with lots of useful tips on online businesses
- The Shopify features may not be sufficient for those selling mostly digital, physical product sellers could profit from Shopify's extensive eCommerce capabilities
CONS
- No built-in features to sell digital goods. You'll need to install third party apps which will most likely come with extra charges. Shopify isn't a good option for creators
- The website does not come with any marketing tools like affiliate marketing, referralmarketing, upsell, cross-sell, and more
3. Kajabi
Kajabi is a different option to Gumroad since it offers an all-in-one platform to sell digital goods. One of the main advantages of Kajabi in comparison to Gumroad is that it lets creators set up an online community. The downside is that Kajabi is well-known for its monthly costs which aren't ideal for businesses with small budgets who are only beginning their journey.
PRICING:
Kajabi gives a 14-day trial. It is necessary to enter the details of your payment before being able to start your free trial.
After your trial period is over then you can choose between 3 paid plans:
- Basic: $149/month
- Growth: $199/month
- Pro: $399/month
There's a small amount of discounts if you decide to sign up for the year-long subscription.
PROS :
- Kajabi offers educational tools to their customers through Kajabi University (although it's worth noting that you'll probably find the information you need from YouTube videos available online)
- The ability to access features that aren't offered through Gumroad such as community sales funnels, community, and much more.
CONS:
- Small business owners can't afford it. customers
- Complex marketing feature such as affiliate program is only available in plans like the Growth and Pro plans
- Many restrictions on items like the amount of items, the number of contacts, number of members, the number of admin users, and more. Not recommended for those of you who would like to "set-it-and-forget-it" because you'll need to keep track of your usage
4. Podia
Podia is among the top choices for creators. One of the main advantages of using Podia is the fact they have a perpetually free plan, but bear in mind you won't be able upload more than one items on their free plan.
PRICING:
- For free, 8% fee
- Mover: $39/month
- Shaker: $89/month
- Earthquaker: $199/month
PROS :
- Options to market other product types that aren't available through Gumroad including community-based and webinars
- On-page chat widget to help you interact with your site's visitors
CONS:
- The free plan comes with 8% transaction fees and allows you to sell 1 digital download (you'll probably need to upgrade to one of Podia's paid plans to become a fully functional eCommerce store)
- Complex marketing tools such as affiliate marketing is only available with the Shaker ($75/month) or Earthquaker ($166/month) plans
- There's an additional 20 dollars per month to add team seats
- There is no way to disable Podia brand unless you purchase an annual fee for Shaker ($75/month) or Earthquaker ($166/month) plans
5. Mighty Networks
If you're searching for a Gumroad alternative to create an online community, offer coursesor the services of a coach, Mighty Networks is a very popular choice. Although this site may not be the best choice for selling digital downloads, you might find this a better Gumroad alternative to sell online courses.
PRICING:
There is a selection of two plans that are paid for:
- The Community Plan is $39/month.
- The plan for business: $119/month
- Mighty Pro: You'll have contact the team to inquire about price
PROS :
- Mighty Networks' community feature is more developed than other platforms in this list The interface is similar to what you would see on the social media platforms.
- Members may view one another's posts through content feed which can encourage more authentic interaction
CONS
- The absence of solid features for marketing product categories such as digital downloads
- Course features on online courses don't have the same quality as other platforms for online courses since it doesn't provide lesson type including assessments, quizzes along with certification of successful completion
- Does not have integration with PayPal
Last Thoughts on Choosing The Best Alternative For Your Company
Here you go! There are plenty of Gumroad options that you can try out, so don't not forget to use each of the platform's free trials to see what options offer the best combination of features and price plans that suit your business requirements.