Gumroad vs Stan Store: which is better for digital products?
·Founder, Stakk
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9 October 2026
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7 min read
Gumroad costs nothing a month and takes 10% + $0.50 a sale, with card processing of 2.9% + $0.30 charged on top. Stan Store takes 0% of each sale but has no free plan: $29 a month, or $99 for the plan with order bumps. On a $20 product the two cost the same at 12 sales a month, and from the 13th sale Stan is cheaper. Gumroad is also the merchant of record, so it collects and remits sales tax on your sales. Checked 30 September 2026.
Neither of these is better in general. They charge in opposite shapes, so each one wins in a different month. The useful thing is to know which month you are in before you pick.
What is the real difference between Gumroad and Stan Store?
One charges you per sale and the other charges you per month. Most of what follows comes from that.
Gumroad has no plans at all. Its pricing page says it does not charge a monthly fee, and its fees article puts direct sales at 10% + $0.50, adding that this does not include card processing at 2.9% + $0.30. Sales that come through Gumroad's Discover marketplace cost a flat 30%, which does include processing.
Stan Store has two plans and no free one. Its plan comparison lists Creator at $29 a month or $300 a year, and Creator Pro at $99 a month or $948 a year. Stan takes 0% of each sale, so what you pay Stan is fixed whether you sell nothing or a great deal.
That makes Gumroad cheaper in a quiet month and Stan cheaper in a busy one. The second difference matters almost as much: Gumroad is the legal seller of your product, which changes who handles tax and how refunds work. Stan is also a bigger product for the money, with courses, bookings and a community on its $29 plan.
What does each one take from a $20 sale?
Here is one $20 sale, paid by a US card, on each platform.
| Platform | Monthly fee | Cut per sale | Card processing | Total on a $20 sale |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gumroad | $0 | 10% + $0.50 | 2.9% + $0.30, on top | $3.38 |
| Stakk | $0 | 10% + $0.50 | Included | $2.50 |
| Stan Store, Creator | $29 | 0% | 2.9% + $0.30 | $0.88, plus the $29 |
Gumroad takes $3.38 once processing is added: $2.50 to Gumroad and $0.88 to card processing. Stakk takes $2.50, because card processing sits inside our 10% + $0.50 rather than on top of it. So on the same headline rate, Stakk costs $0.88 less per $20 sale than Gumroad.
Stan takes nothing from the sale itself. Its transaction fees article lists Stripe's US rate of 2.9% + $0.30, so the same sale costs $0.88. That is cheaper per sale than both Gumroad and Stakk. The catch is the $29 you pay before the first sale, plus two smaller lines in the same article: 1.5% extra when the buyer is in another country, and a payout fee of 0.25% + $0.25 every time you cash out, with a $1 minimum.
At what point does Stan's monthly fee beat Gumroad's percentage?
On a $20 product, at 12 sales a month. That is where the two cost the same, and every sale after it is cheaper on Stan.
Our own arithmetic on both vendors' published US rates. Twelve sales on Gumroad cost 12 x $3.38, which is $40.56. On Stan they cost $29, plus 12 x $0.88 in processing, plus a $1 minimum payout fee, which is also $40.56.
The line moves with your price. On a $50 product Gumroad takes $7.25 a sale and Stan $1.75, so Stan's Creator plan is cheaper from the sixth sale a month. On Creator Pro at $99, the $20 crossover is 41 sales a month.
Gumroad has one lever in the other direction. Its fees article says that once paid sales in a calendar month pass a $20,000 threshold, new direct sales that month drop to 5% + $0.50, resetting on the 1st. It applies automatically, and it only matters at a volume where Stan's flat fee has long since won.
If you are not yet sure you will sell 12 of anything in a month, the per-sale shape is the safer one. What Stan Store actually costs has the full plan breakdown if you are leaning that way.
Who handles sales tax and refunds on each one?
Gumroad handles tax, and that is its strongest argument. Its pricing page says it has been a merchant of record since 1 January 2025 and manages sales tax collection and remittance worldwide, and that tax settings in your dashboard are switched off because Gumroad takes care of them. That is a description of what Gumroad does, not advice on what you owe, which is a question for an accountant in your own country.
None of the Stan help articles I read describe Stan as the merchant of record, and its fees article says Stan does not handle your payments directly. So do not assume Stan does what Gumroad does here.
Refunds go the other way. Gumroad's fees article says that when a sale is refunded, Gumroad's own fee on the refunded part comes back to you, and only the processing part is kept. Stan's article says a refund takes the full amount the buyer paid out of your balance, and Stripe does not return its fee. On Stakk our fee is not returned when you refund either, so on refunds Gumroad treats you better than both of us.
How quickly does each one pay you?
Neither pays you the moment a sale clears, and the delays have different shapes.
Gumroad's getting paid article sets a $100 minimum balance before a scheduled payout. On the weekly, monthly and quarterly schedules each sale sits in your Gumroad balance for at least 7 days first. Daily payouts exist for US accounts with an eligible bank and at least four prior payouts, and eligible US creators can take an instant payout for a 3% fee.
Stan keeps your sales in its Income tab until you cash out. Its help center says funds take 2 to 7 business days to settle inside Stripe before they can be cashed out, usually around 2, and each cash out carries the payout fee above.
Both are a balance someone else holds for you. Stakk is not, because the charge lands in your own Stripe account and Stripe pays your bank on the schedule you set. Which platforms hold your money covers why that difference matters more than it sounds.
Which one has order bumps and upsells?
Both have something at checkout, and neither is quite the full pair.
Stan's order bump is real, one per product, and only on Creator Pro at $99 a month. Its funnels, which is where post-purchase offers live, carry the same gate. On the $29 plan you get neither, which is covered in whether Stan Store has order bumps.
Gumroad's upsell is free on every account. Its help article describes an offer shown after the buyer enters their card and presses Pay, which can add a product, replace one, or offer an upgraded version of it. What Gumroad does not document is a second offer after the payment has gone through, bought with one tap against the card on file.
Stakk has both on every account with nothing behind a tier: an order bump that rides the same charge as the product, and a post-purchase upsell that is one tap against the saved card. The upsell is a second charge, so it takes our fee a second time. That is worth knowing before you plan a funnel around it.
When would I send you somewhere else?
If you want the platform to be the legal seller and handle sales tax, Gumroad does that and Stakk does not, so Stakk is the wrong choice for you. If you need courses, bookings, a community, memberships or subscriptions, Stan's $29 plan covers all of them. Stakk has no course hosting, no call booking, no community, no email marketing and no subscription billing, and it sells in US dollars only, with no prices above $999.
And if cost per sale is the whole decision, two platforms beat all three of us. Whop takes 2.7% + $0.30 a sale with no monthly fee, which is $0.84 on a $20 sale. Systeme.io charges 0% on a free plan that includes one order bump and one one-click upsell, up to 2,000 contacts. Either is cheaper than Stakk on every sale.
Want a per-sale price with processing already in it?
Stakk is 10% + $0.50 a sale with card processing included, no monthly fee, and no plan to climb. On a $20 product that is $2.50 against Gumroad's $3.38, and in a month with no sales it costs you nothing, which a subscription cannot do. Past a certain volume Stan's flat fee wins, and I have shown you where.
What sits on top of the price is the checkout. The order bump rides the same charge as the product, so it carries one fee rather than two, and the upsell after payment is one tap against the card already on file. Both ship on every account with nothing held back for a $99 tier, the money lands in a Stripe account that belongs to you, and the layout came out of funnels that ran for agency clients before Stakk existed.