5 Top Gumroad alternatives that are less expensive and better (2023) -
Last updated: December 20 20, 2022
Version 1.0 UpdateAs as of the end of 2022 in December, Gumroad has announced 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 caught in the middle of this terrible news and you're considering switching to other platforms, here is the list of Gumroad alternatives that you'll definitely want to consider!
Gumroad is a popular platform for selling digital products. Gumroad offers a web-based storefront, allowing you to offer digital goods online for sale in just a few minutes. Gumroad also comes with other options like the ability that allow you to sell subscriptions, partnership to Paypal and Stripe, and more.
That said, Gumroad has disadvantages that deter people to staying on the platform. Reviews on the internet have revealed that , among other things, Gumroad's expensive pricing, lack of customer support, and lack of scalability for large volume sellers has led customers to move to other platforms.
In this piece, we'll explore Gumroad's top alternatives for selling digital products to help you make an informed decision for your company. We've included a variety of options that will be perfect for small businesses that are just starting out However, we've also included the issue of scalability in mind so you don't have move onto other platforms when your business expands.
This is a brief overview of the top Gumroad alternatives that are less expensive and better:
What is Gumroad and what does it offer?
Gumroad can be described as an eCommerce platform that's geared to digital products. Gumroad offers a variety of features, such as selling different product types including subscriptions and digital downloads. The software also provides analytical tools and marketing and the capability to integrate product pages on your website.
Gumroad is a great choice. Gumroad offers you a fully-hosted online store where you'll be able to sell your goods from. Gumroad also offers a tiny online marketplace named "Gumroad Discover" in which you are able to showcase your products' listings alongside other creators.
What is the cost of Gumroad Price?
Gumroad charges 10% flat for each sale you sell on their platform.
In addition, you will also need to be charged transaction costs from Paypal and Stripe which usually come out to be about 2.9 percent plus $0.30 for each transaction.
Note that Gumroad had a different pricing structure prior to 2023. they had since settled on this current pricing structure.
What are the reasons to look to Gumroad Alternatives?
1. Costly Pricing and no Scalability
Gumroad's standard rate of 10% commission for each purchase is extremely costly for companies new to the market, but it's more costly as the business expands because expenditures will grow as a proportion of your revenue.
Imagine making $100,000 per month while having to cover the $10,000 fee - it does not seem like a lot of fun at all. Additionally, the 10% fee doesn't notinclude any additional Paypal or Stripe charges (which generally cost between 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction) which you'll also have to pay.
2. The lack of customizability
Although Gumroad has a fully-hosted online storefront for you to sell your goods online, you'll not be able to customize the design of your web store in order to reflect your brand. Gumroad offers a distinct store theme that applies to the sellers' stores. The only thing you can modify on your storefront is one highlight color, as well as a couple of small changes such as your name, bio, as well as your logo.
In comparison, other alternatives that are discussed in this article offer advanced tools for building stores that are suitable for novices (no coding or design skills needed) however, they're able to give you complete freedom in creating a highly converting online store that matches your branding.
3. Find Better Alternatives for Selling Online Courses
If you're selling items like digital downloads, Gumroad is generally quite efficient in delivering the downloads to clients. But, if you're selling online courses, the platform isn't equipped with the powerful functionalities that other online platforms generally provide.
Gumroad's online courses feature lets the upload of a video or other files which your students download or click to watch the video. But this isn't the engaging educational experience you'd like to receive from an online course platform. There are no advanced course options like assessments and drip schedules, as well as the ability to award certificates for completion.
Here's an example from a student's learning experience
For comparison, consider this: an engaging learning experience with various lesson formats would appear to be (the example below is drawn from ):
Features to Look For in a Gumroad alternative
If you are looking for a replacement to Gumroad, there are a number of important factors to consider.
1. Specific Features for Selling Various Product Types
Does the platform have the necessary tools to market diverse digital products? This can help you increase the revenue you can earn from various verticals. Consider features such as:
- The features to market digital download Instant file delivery, the PDF stamping process, download limit as well as more
- The features to market online courses Engaging online course player that includes a variety of different types of lesson (e.g. video lessons, assignments and more) as well as a drip schedule of content, various course pricing options, certificates, and more
- Features to sell coaching service: integration with online meeting platforms like Zoom and Calendly, and more
- Options to sell subscriptions or membership: ability to charge recurring payment
Additionally, you should look for the flexibility to embed product pages on your site. This allows you to embed an online shopping cart as well as a seamless checkout functionality into any site.
2. Cost-effective Prices (Little to no upfront costs)
What is the take to complete a transaction? Do you have any monthly charges, hidden fees, or limits?
Look for platforms that have good records of solid pricing models. While a lot of companies will offer you a reasonable pricing structure in the beginning, you'd want to make sure that you won't face unexpected price increases in the future.
3. The Robust Marketing Tools
Aside from the basic marketing tools such as discount codes, you should aim to find a platform that can offer more complex and powerful marketing tools including affiliate marketing. This lets you run various marketing campaigns to scale the size of your business.
It is the sole alternative on this list that offers the affiliate marketing feature for free Other platforms require monthly subscription fees to access these features.
4. A Beginner-Friendly Store Builder that is Fully Customizable and Fully-Custom
The digital world is awash with opportunities, and the online store, or site is essential for every company or brand to build the brand's popularity and demonstrate their professionalism. If done correctly creating your own site will not just set you to be a professional in your field but will also aid in building relationships with customers as it allows them to learn about the company's brand better.
Look for platforms that allow users to create a completely custom online store that will present your business in the best possible manner. There's a myriad of choices that do not require any design or coding abilities.
5. Tax-Free So You Don't Have To
A fear of the complicated tax system could hinder you from growing your business and dampening your growth. You should consider a system which is compliant and able to not only take VAT payments at the time of checkout from customers as well as remit taxes on behalf of your business which means you do not have to do anything.
5 of the Best Gumroad Solutions to Market Digital Products
We'll now take a review several of the best alternatives to Gumroad when it comes to selling digital products. Each one has distinct features and pricing plans, making it important to review the options carefully prior to making a selection.
1.
The best Gumroad option overall in terms of value and affordability.
is by far the most well-known platform and frequently gets compared to Gumroad as they are the closest Gumroad rival that has all the features that Gumroad offers, but and a price that is much more reasonable that is perfect for businesses of all sizes.
It is well-known for its forever-free subscription that allows the sellers access to all of the features which the platform can offer. Instead of the massive 10% that Gumroad charges, only charges 5percent for each sale. When your sales increase, you can move to a monthly subscription to keep your costs low. It is not necessary to fret about scaling your company's size .
If you're searching for an online platform that's dedicated to the success of your company, this is your ideal choice.
PRICING:
The company has disrupted the market by offering an unconventional pricing plan that is geared towards helping small-scale businesses grow, while making sure that companies maintain their prices at a low level in the process of growing into million-dollar businesses.
There are three pricing plans:
- Forever-free with 5% fees (perfect for beginners)
- Amount of $29 per month with 2% fee
- A monthly payment of $99 with no charges
So why is the pricing "unconventional"? It's because the pricing plans offer all users the exact same accessibility to all of their amazing options. The founders of's company came up because of their belief of creating a platform that assists small-scale businesses through never having to limit their access to the capabilities they require. This sentiment is greatly appreciated by the majority of buyers on its online reviews.
If you're only starting out then you should start off on 's most popular free-forever planswith no monthly charges and the 5% fee per transaction (excluding shipping costs). As your business expands and you need to expand, you may switch to 's Plus plan at $29 per month fee plus the 2% fee per sale, or to the Pro plan with $99 for month fee (no additional fees for sales).
The price has been maintained for years, and it is possible to have assurance that this price isn't going anywhere.
PROS :
- A more affordable alternative for Gumroad.
- Key features built-in to help sell various products including:
- Unlimited product listings and unlimited revenue
- Optimized check out experience for high conversion
- Powerful but easy-to-use store builder - no coding or design abilities required
- Ability to fully customize your online store to match your brand
- Fully hosted and free storefront (you may also join to a domain you have created)
- If you already have your own website, you can easily embed onto any eCommerce website.
- Instant and secure payouts via Paypal and Stripe
- Pay-what-you-want pricing option for your products (a.k.a. Tip Jar)
- Pays for and collects UK & EU VAT on your behalf
- Analytics for the store and ability to connect to Google Analytics
- Bonus: also acknowledged for its support level. All customers are given respect regardless of what price plans you're currently on.
CONS
- The shipping label is not integrated with any automated system or software (e.g. Shippo, or ShipStation). Its platform is more focused toward digital products, but it's still possible to offer physical goods if would like to.
2. Shopify
One of the most popular online marketplaces in the world, Shopify is often a popular option as a Gumroad alternative. Shopify is an extensive e-commerce platform that allows users to set up an online store and manage your merchandise. Additionally, it offers a vast variety of features and software, such as payments processing, analytics as well as marketing tools. Furthermore, Shopify has a variety of pricing plans to suit various budgets.
Due to the sheer size of this online marketplace, you will find hundreds of third-party applications every business category that you can connect to the Shopify store. This lets you equip your shop online with distinctive software from tweaking the design of your website , to marketing tools, and many more. There is one caveat: these apps are often not cost-free, which means you'll be able to control your spending with care.
Even though Shopify is an effective eCommerce platform, it does not offer built-in functions to sell digital products because Shopify's platform is geared toward tangible products. There is the requirement to install an additional app from third parties that can likely increase the costs for selling digital goods.
PRICING:
For businesses with a small budget who wish to explore various platforms before choosing one that best suits the requirements of their company, Shopify offers a 14-day free trial. The service isn't a permanent free option.
At $29/month, Shopify's Basic Plan is the most well-liked plan. Other Shopify plans are available at $79/month, $299/month for Advanced Shopify, and $2000/month for Shopify Plus/Enterprise. The extra transaction fee will be charged per sale.
As mentioned above, Shopify's platform is not equipped with built-in functions to market digital goods. It is likely that you will need to install third party apps through the Shopify application store. This typically comes with additional cost.
PROS :
- Access to thousands of third party apps through Shopify, the Shopify app store
- Multi-channel sales are supported. This can be particularly useful if there is a brick-and-mortar shop.
- Shopify is used by many small and medium-sized businesses, in addition to the creators of content who are specialized in Shopify content. The communities you join will likely be able to give you a lot of helpful tips on online businesses
- Although Shopify's capabilities aren't enough for retailers whose catalogue is predominantly digital items, physical product sellers could benefit from Shopify's robust eCommerce tools
CONS:
- There are no built-in functions to market digital goods. There is the requirement to install an app from a third party, and it will be accompanied by additional costs. Shopify isn't the best choice for designers.
- The website does not come with any marketing instruments like affiliate marketing, referralmarketing, cross-sells, upsells, and much more.
3. Kajabi
Kajabi is a different option to Gumroad since it offers an all-in-one platform to sell digital products. The major benefit over Kajabi against Gumroad is the fact it also allows creators to set up an online community. However, Kajabi is also famous for the monthly charges that are not quite friendly for small businesses that are just starting out.
PRICING:
Kajabi offers a 14-day trial. You will need to input the details of your payment before being able to start your free trial.
After your trial period is over then you can choose to choose between three paid plans:
- Basic: $149/month
- Growth: $199/month
- Pro: $399/month
There's a tiny discount if you choose to sign up for the year-long subscription.
PROS :
- Kajabi offers educational tools for users via Kajabi University (although it's important to note that you're probably going to be able to obtain this information through free YouTube videos online)
- The ability to access features that aren't offered via Gumroad such as community, sales funnels, and much more.
CONS:
- It is not affordable for small-scale business customers
- A complex marketing function, such as the affiliate program is only available with the Growth and Pro plans.
- Many restrictions on items like the amount of items, the numbers of contacts, the number of members, the number of administrators, and so on. 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 one of the most popular alternatives for designers. One of the biggest advantages of using Podia is the fact that they offer a forever-free plan, but bear that in mind that you will not be able to upload multiple products on the free plan.
PRICING:
- Free: 8% of fees
- Mover: $39/month
- Shaker: $89/month
- Earthquaker: $199/month
PROS :
- The features are designed to help sell additional kinds of products that aren't offered through Gumroad like community or webinars
- Chat widget on the page to let you interact with your site's users
CONS:
- The basic plan has 8% transaction fees which means you're only able to offer one digital download (you'll probably need to upgrade to Podia's paid plans to become a fully functional eCommerce store)
- The more complex marketing tools, such as affiliate marketing are only available on the Shaker ($75/month) or the Earthquaker ($166/month) plans.
- There's an additional fee of $20 per month for any additional team seating
- You can't turn off Podia branding unless you pay for the Shaker ($75/month) or the Earthquaker ($166/month) plans.
5. Mighty Networks
If you're in search of a Gumroad alternative to establish a community, sell online courses, or sell coaches services Mighty Networks is a popular option. Although this site may not be suitable for selling digital downloads, you might discover this as a more suitable Gumroad alternative to sell courses.
PRICING:
You have a choice between two plans that are paid for:
- The community plan is $39/month.
- The business planis $119 per month.
- Mighty Pro: You'll have contact the team to inquire about pricing
PROS :
- Mighty Networks' community feature is more developed than other platforms in this list The interface is similar to the interface of the social media platforms.
- Members are able to view each other's posts by logging into a content feed, which could encourage genuine interactions
CONS:
- Insufficient features to support the sale of product types like digital downloads
- The online course options aren't as strong as the other online course platforms as it doesn't provide lesson type including assessments, quizzes along with the certificates of achievement
- Does not have integration with PayPal
The Final Thoughts: Finding The Best Alternative For Your Company
There you have it! There's plenty of Gumroad options to test Don't not forget to use all of the platforms' free trials to see what options offer the best combination of features and price plans that suit your business demands.