Linktree vs Beacons: which is better for selling?
·Founder, Stakk
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3 October 2026
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7 min read
For selling, Beacons comes out ahead on the published numbers. Its free plan takes 9% of a sale where Linktree's takes 12%, its 0% plan costs $30 a month where Linktree's costs $35, it takes PayPal as well as cards, and its $30 plan adds an order bump at checkout. Linktree is the simpler page and puts social scheduling in its top plan. Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 comes off every card sale on both, and Linktree's prices below are what it shows a US visitor, since they vary by region. Checked 30 September 2026.
Both started as a page of links and both now sell files. The question is which one does the selling part better, so this leaves the themes and the button styles alone and looks only at money, checkout and what each plan unlocks for a seller.
What does each one take from a sale?
Four plans each. On Beacons the cut moves once, from 9% to 0%, and on Linktree it moves twice, from 12% to 9% to 0%. Linktree's pricing page lists the fee on digital products and courses by plan, and Beacons lists its transaction fee the same way.
| Plan | Monthly | Billed yearly | Cut on a sale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beacons Free | $0 | $0 | 9% |
| Beacons Creator | $10 | $100 a year | 9% |
| Beacons Creator Plus | $30 | $300 a year | 0% |
| Beacons Creator Max | $100 | $900 a year | 0% |
| Linktree Free | $0 | $0 | 12% |
| Linktree Starter | $8 | $6 a month | 9% |
| Linktree Pro | $15 | $12 a month | 9% |
| Linktree Premium | $35 | $30 a month | 0% |
| Stakk | None | None | 10% + $0.50, processing included |
Two notes. Linktree's pricing page shows prices in local currency, so the dollar figures are what a US visitor sees. And Beacons disagrees with itself on Creator Max: its pricing page says $100 a month, while its own help center still lists $90. I have used the pricing page.
Card processing sits on top of every row except ours. Both platforms quote Stripe at 2.9% + $0.30 a sale, and Beacons adds PayPal at 3.49% plus a fixed fee that depends on the currency.
Which is cheaper on a $20 sale?
Beacons, on every plan you can compare like for like. On the free plans, Linktree takes $2.40 from a $20 sale and Beacons takes $1.80, and Stripe takes $0.88 on either, so the sale costs $3.28 on Linktree and $2.68 on Beacons. On Linktree's Starter and Pro plans the cut matches Beacons' free one at 9%, so you are paying $8 or $15 a month to reach the rate Beacons gives away.
Our own arithmetic on the two platforms' published rates. It is a per-sale figure, so it grows with every sale on the free plans and disappears on the 0% ones.
At the top, both drop to 0% and charge a monthly fee instead. From Linktree's free plan, Premium at $35 pays for itself at about $292 of sales a month. From Beacons' free plan, Creator Plus at $30 pays for itself at about $333. Below those lines the free plan is cheaper.
For comparison, Stakk is $2.50 on the same $20 sale with processing included. That is less than either free plan and either 9% plan, and more per sale than either 0% plan, which make up the difference with a monthly bill.
What does the monthly fee buy you on each?
On Beacons, mostly selling tools. Beacons' plan guide puts the custom domain on the $10 Creator plan, free for your first year, and keeps the 9% fee there. Creator Plus at $30 is where the fee goes to 0% and where buy now pay later, memberships, unlimited courses with video hosting, order bumps, unlimited email sends and removing the Beacons logo all arrive. Creator Max adds Google Workspace, a physical NFC card and white glove support.
On Linktree, mostly page and social tools. Starter at $8 personalizes the page and adds basic analytics. Pro at $15 removes Linktree branding, unlocks custom themes and advanced analytics, and adds mailing list integrations. Premium at $35 brings the 0% fee, dynamic links and smart routing, data export, social media scheduling and unlimited Instagram auto-replies.
The shape is the useful part. Beacons charges you to sell more things more ways. Linktree charges you to run the page and your social accounts, and the 0% selling fee comes along with that at the top.
How do checkout and payouts work on each?
Both run card payments through Stripe and both leave you as the seller, but they wire the account differently.
Linktree's selling guide says that when you connect Stripe, Linktree creates a new Stripe account for your Linktree store, even if you already have one. Money is available in that account right after a purchase and pays out daily, weekly or monthly on the schedule you choose. You are the seller of record, refunds and chargebacks run through the Stripe dashboard, and the fees are non-refundable. Prices can run from $1 to $10,000, and selling is open in a listed set of countries rather than everywhere.
Beacons has you link a Stripe account and a PayPal account. PayPal sales pay out every day, card sales are managed in your own Stripe dashboard, and the pricing page lists selling in more than 20 currencies. Who holds the account matters more than it sounds, and which platforms let you use your own Stripe account goes through why.
Which one can sell a second item at checkout?
Beacons, from the $30 plan. Its plan guide lists order bumps on Creator Plus, described as upselling at checkout, so a buyer can tick an add-on before paying and it joins the same order. Linktree's pricing page lists no order bump and no upsell on any plan.
Neither lists a post-purchase upsell, the offer that appears after the payment goes through and is taken with one tap. That half is rarer across the whole category, and the Beacons side of it is covered in whether Beacons has order bumps. So on the checkout itself Beacons does more, but only once you are paying for Creator Plus.
So which is better for selling?
Beacons, if selling is the main job of the page. It takes less on the free plan, reaches 0% for $5 a month less, takes PayPal, has its own email sending where Linktree's plans list mailing list integrations, and has an order bump on the plan that removes the fee.
Linktree, if the page is mainly links and a product is an occasional extra. It is the simpler tool, its top plan bundles a social scheduler that Beacons' pricing page does not list, its courses are powered by Kajabi, and its price ceiling of $10,000 is high. If you already live in Linktree and sell twice a month, moving to save $0.60 a sale is probably not worth the afternoon.
When is Stakk the wrong choice instead of either?
If you want the page itself, Stakk is the wrong choice. Stakk has no link-in-bio page builder, no link list and no themes. It has no tips, no memberships and no subscriptions, no course hosting and no booking. Prices are US dollars only and cap at $999. Pick Beacons or Linktree for the page, and the Beacons alternatives breakdown covers the rest of that shelf.
On the rate alone we lose too. Whop takes 2.7% + $0.30 a sale with no monthly cost, and Systeme.io charges no transaction fee on any plan, free included, with an order bump and a one-click upsell on that free plan. What Stakk adds is the checkout behind the page: a bump that rides the same charge as the product so it carries one fee rather than two, a post-purchase upsell taken with one tap against the card on file, both on every account with nothing behind a tier. That layout came out of funnels that ran for agency clients before Stakk existed.
Want a checkout behind whichever page you pick?
Keep the Linktree or Beacons page you like and point its buy button at Stakk. The money lands in your own Stripe account rather than a balance we hold, it is 10% + $0.50 a sale with card processing included, there is no monthly plan to climb, and the bump and the upsell are there on day one. You change one link, not your whole profile, and you can see whether the new checkout works before committing to it.