Stan Store vs Beacons: which is better for selling?
·Founder, Stakk
·
8 October 2026
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7 min read
Beacons is the cheaper way to start selling and the cheaper way to get an order bump. Stan Store is the cheaper way to run a busy store on its $29 plan. Beacons' free plan sells at 9% a sale plus Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30, its $10 Creator plan is still 9%, and Creator Plus at $30 a month drops the cut to 0% and adds order bumps. Stan takes 0% but has no free plan: $29 a month, with order bumps only on Creator Pro at $99. On a $20 product Beacons' free plan costs less up to 16 sales a month, and Stan from 17. Checked 30 September 2026.
Both put a store in your bio link, and both have grown well past that. The useful comparison is not which one has more features. It is which one charges you less for the features you will actually use.
What is the difference between Stan Store and Beacons?
Beacons charges a percentage that disappears once you pay $30 a month. Stan charges a flat monthly fee from the start and never takes a percentage.
That gives Beacons the free way in. Its pricing page lists a free plan that can sell unlimited digital products at 9% a sale, so a month with no sales costs you nothing. Stan has no free plan, so you pay $29 whether you sell or not.
The products lean different ways too. Beacons is built around the creator as a brand: a media kit that updates itself, brand deal tools, email marketing, an auto-reply for Instagram DMs and daily AI credits. Stan is built around the creator as a seller: a course builder, calendar booking, a community and subscriptions on its $29 plan, then order bumps, funnels, discount codes and email on the $99 plan.
What does each plan cost to sell on?
Here is every plan on both, with Stakk for reference, and what each takes from one $20 sale paid by a US card.
| Plan | Monthly fee | Cut per sale | Taken from a $20 sale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beacons Free | $0 | 9% | $2.68 |
| Beacons Creator | $10 | 9% | $2.68 |
| Beacons Creator Plus | $30 | 0% | $0.88 |
| Beacons Creator Max | $100 | 0% | $0.88 |
| Stakk | $0 | 10% + $0.50, processing included | $2.50 |
| Stan Store Creator | $29 | 0% | $0.88 |
| Stan Store Creator Pro | $99 | 0% | $0.88 |
Every Beacons and Stan figure includes Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30, which is $0.88 on $20. Beacons' transaction fees article lists 9% on Free and Creator, 0% on Creator Plus and Creator Max, and Stripe or PayPal fees on top. The monthly prices are from Beacons' pricing page; billed yearly they are $100, $300 and $900.
Stan's fees article adds 1.5% when the buyer is in another country, and 0.25% + $0.25 every time you cash out, with a $1 minimum. Stakk takes $2.50 of the same sale: a little less than Beacons' free plan, and more per sale than any 0% plan here.
When does Stan's $29 beat Beacons' free plan?
At 17 sales a month on a $20 product. At 16 sales Beacons Free costs $42.88 and Stan costs $44.13, counting card processing and one payout fee. At 17 sales Beacons costs $45.56 and Stan $45.06.
Beacons' $10 Creator plan does not move that line in your favor. It keeps the 9% cut and adds $10, so on price alone it costs more than the free plan every month.
Creator Plus is the fair match for Stan. At $30 against $29, both at 0%, the two cost the same per sale, and Stan's payout fee, $1 at its minimum, closes the $1 gap between the plans. At that level the choice is about tools, not price, and the tool that decides it is usually the order bump.
Against Stakk, Beacons' free plan costs $0.18 more per $20 sale. Creator Plus becomes cheaper than Stakk at 19 sales a month.
Where does your money land on each one?
In an account you set up yourself on Beacons, and in an account Stan manages on Stan.
Beacons' payments setup article has you link your Stripe account and view it in your own Stripe dashboard, or connect PayPal, which it says pays out every day. Stan's setup is different. You create a new Custom Stripe account that is managed by Stan, you cannot connect an existing one, and your sales sit in Stan's Income tab until you cash out.
Stan's path, from its own help center. On Beacons the middle step is a Stripe or PayPal account you connected yourself, so the payout schedule is set there rather than by a cash-out button.
Neither is wrong, but they are not the same thing. Which platforms let you use your own Stripe account covers what you keep and what you give up with each kind.
Which one gives you an order bump for less?
Beacons, by $69 a month.
Beacons' pricing plans article lists order bumps on Creator Plus at $30 a month, alongside the 0% cut. Stan's order bump is on Creator Pro at $99 a month, one bump per product. So a seller who wants a bump at checkout and nothing else pays $30 on Beacons and $99 on Stan. Whether Beacons has order bumps goes through its version in detail.
Stan's $99 does buy the second half. Its funnels, also Creator Pro only, can show an upsell after a purchase and a downsell after a skip, with up to five of them in one funnel, paid by Stripe card only. Beacons' pricing page lists order bumps but no offer after the payment. The Stan side is covered in whether Stan Store has order bumps.
If you want both halves for less than either, Stakk puts the order bump and the post-purchase upsell on every account with no monthly fee. The upsell is a second charge, so it takes our fee a second time.
What else does each one do besides selling?
Quite a lot, and this is often what decides it.
Beacons' free plan includes the media kit, 30 AI credits a day, 50 email sends a month, the Instagram auto-reply and one course without video hosting. Creator Plus adds unlimited AI, unlimited email sends, unlimited courses with video hosting, memberships and buy now pay later.
Stan's $29 Creator plan includes the storefront, calendar booking, an unlimited course builder, recurring subscriptions, lead magnets, community features and an Instagram auto-reply. Email broadcasts and flows wait for Creator Pro.
Put simply: if you sell coaching calls, courses and a community, Stan's $29 covers more of it. If you work with brands and want email and AI tools on the same account, Beacons does.
When would I send you somewhere else?
If you want the page, the media kit or the courses, Stakk is the wrong choice. Stakk has no link-in-bio page builder, no media kit, no tips, no memberships, no subscriptions, no course hosting and no call booking. Pick Beacons or Stan for any of those.
If the lowest cost per sale is the whole decision, two platforms beat all three of us. Whop takes 2.7% + $0.30 with no monthly fee, which is $0.84 on a $20 sale. Systeme.io is 0% on a free plan up to 2,000 contacts, and that plan includes one order bump and one one-click upsell. Stakk also sells in US dollars only, with no prices above $999.
Want the bump and the upsell with no monthly fee?
Keep your Beacons or Stan page for your links, and send the buy button to a Stakk checkout. It is 10% + $0.50 a sale with card processing included, nothing a month, and the money lands in your own Stripe account.
Cheaper exists, and I have named it. What Stakk adds is the pair Beacons and Stan both put behind a monthly plan. 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 are on every account with nothing held back for a tier, and the layout came out of funnels that ran for agency clients before Stakk existed.