Gumroad vs Payhip: which is better for digital products?
·Founder, Stakk
·
7 October 2026
·
7 min read
For most people selling digital products, Payhip is the better deal. Its free plan takes 5% against Gumroad's 10% + $0.50, both before card processing, and Payhip pays straight into your own Stripe or PayPal account while Gumroad holds sales in its own balance first. Gumroad is the better pick if you want one company to be the seller and handle sales tax everywhere, or if its Discover marketplace sends you buyers. Checked 30 September 2026.
From the outside they look alike: no monthly fee to start, an add-on offer at checkout, a simple store page. Underneath they make opposite choices about who the seller is, and that one choice explains most of the differences below.
What do Gumroad and Payhip charge?
Gumroad has one plan and one rate. Gumroad's fees article puts it at 10% + $0.50 per direct sale, and says that figure does not include card processing of 2.9% + $0.30. Sales through its Discover marketplace are a flat 30% with processing included.
Payhip has three plans, and its pricing page gives every one of them all features, unlimited products and unlimited revenue. The monthly fee buys a lower percentage and nothing else. Stripe and PayPal charge their own standard rates on top of every plan.
| Platform and plan | Monthly | Platform fee | Card processing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gumroad | $0 | 10% + $0.50, or 30% on Discover | 2.9% + $0.30 on top, except Discover |
| Payhip Free Forever | $0 | 5% | Stripe or PayPal, on top |
| Payhip Plus | $29 | 2% | Stripe or PayPal, on top |
| Payhip Pro | $99 | 0% | Stripe or PayPal, on top |
| Stakk | $0 | 10% + $0.50 | Included |
Stakk is in the table so you can see where it lands. It is not the cheap row.
Which is cheaper on a $20 sale, Gumroad or Payhip?
Payhip, by a clear margin. A $20 card sale on Gumroad costs $3.38 in fees: $2.00 and $0.50 to Gumroad, then $0.88 of processing. On Payhip's free plan the same sale costs $1.88: $1.00 to Payhip and $0.88 to Stripe at its standard US card rate of 2.9% + $0.30.
Our arithmetic on each platform's published rates. Stakk's all-in fee on the same sale is $2.50, which sits between the two.
Gumroad only narrows the gap in a busy month. Once your paid sales in a calendar month reach $20,000, its direct rate drops to 5% + $0.50 for the rest of that month, which puts the same sale at $2.38. That is still above Payhip's free plan, and Payhip's paid plans cut the percentage further.
Stakk sits between them at $2.50 on that sale, card processing included. Payhip's free plan is cheaper than Stakk, and I am not going to pretend otherwise.
Who handles sales tax, Gumroad or Payhip?
Gumroad handles more of it. It has been the merchant of record since 1 January 2025, which makes it the legal seller of your product, and its pricing page says it manages sales tax collection and remittance worldwide, in the places where it has an obligation as the seller.
Payhip covers the biggest markets without becoming the seller everywhere. Its pricing page says it collects and remits EU VAT and UK VAT automatically. From 1 July 2026 it also handles US sales tax as a marketplace facilitator, and its US sales tax article answers the cost question with "Nothing at all." Canadian GST/HST and PST moved over on the same date, with Quebec's QST still pending while Payhip registers. Anywhere else, Payhip lets you set up other taxes and reports them to you rather than paying them for you.
Gumroad says its tax handling comes at no extra cost, and Payhip says the same of US sales tax. What the difference means for you depends on where you and your buyers are, and that is a question for an accountant in your own country rather than a platform blog.
Which one pays you faster?
Payhip. Its pricing page says it deposits your sales "immediately after a transaction has been completed", because the payment goes into a processor account you connect yourself. Payhip supports 13 of them, and in most cases you connect PayPal plus one other for cards. From there your processor's own payout schedule applies.
Gumroad takes the money first. In general your sales land in your Gumroad balance, and Gumroad's payout article sets a $100 minimum before a payout and a 7 day hold on each sale on the weekly, monthly and quarterly schedules. Payouts through PayPal carry a 2% fee, and instant payouts for eligible US accounts cost 3%.
Neither is wrong, they are two different models. Our comparison of who holds your money sets out what each one means when something goes wrong.
Which has better tools for selling digital products?
Closer than the fees, and Payhip covers more product types. Both put an add-on offer in front of the buyer before the charge goes through, on the free plan. Payhip calls it a cross-sell, shown in the cart, and Gumroad shows its checkout upsell after the buyer presses Pay. Neither has a one-click upsell after payment. Payhip's upgrade discount comes after checkout, but its own help center describes it as another transaction.
Payhip's homepage lists digital downloads, online courses with quizzes and completion certificates, memberships, one-to-one coaching with Zoom and Calendly, and physical products. Gumroad's pricing page lists digital products, e-books, courses and memberships.
Both run a marketplace too. Gumroad's Discover takes 30% of each sale it brings. Payhip's marketplace adds no extra fee on top of your usual plan rate, lists digital products only, and needs a store to have $10 in total sales and pass a review first.
Which should you choose?
Choose Payhip if the fee matters, if you want each sale to land straight in your own Stripe or PayPal account, or if you want courses, coaching and downloads in one store. Its free plan is the cheaper start, and the paid plans only make sense once you are selling enough for the lower percentage to cover the monthly fee.
Choose Gumroad if you sell into a lot of countries and want one company to be the seller everywhere, with the tax paperwork that comes with it. Choose it too if Discover is putting you in front of buyers who would not have found you otherwise, since you pay its 30% only when a Discover sale actually happens.
When would I send you somewhere else?
If the fee is what you are comparing, look past both of them. Whop charges 2.7% + $0.30 on a domestic card with no monthly costs, and Systeme.io takes 0% on its free plan, which also includes one order bump and one one-click upsell. Both beat Payhip's free plan on a $20 sale, and both beat Stakk.
Stakk is the wrong choice if price is the only number, since Payhip's free plan is cheaper too. It is also wrong if you want someone else to handle sales tax, which both Gumroad and Payhip do and Stakk deliberately does not. And Stakk has no memberships, no subscriptions, no course hosting and no call booking, no prices above $999 and no currency other than US dollars, and it needs a Stripe account, so if any of that rules it out, Payhip is the better home.
Want the upsell neither of them has?
Stakk is 10% + $0.50 a sale with card processing included and no monthly fee, and the buyer's payment lands in your own Stripe account. What it adds over both Gumroad and Payhip is the step after payment: an order bump and a post-purchase upsell on every account, with nothing behind a higher tier. The bump rides the same charge as the product, so it carries one fee rather than two, and the upsell is one tap against the card already on file rather than a second checkout, charged as its own sale at the same rate. That layout came out of funnels that ran for agency clients before Stakk existed.