Stan Store vs Linktree: which is better for selling?
·Founder, Stakk
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6 October 2026
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7 min read
Stan Store is better for selling once you sell regularly, and Linktree is better if selling is a side feature of your page. Linktree lets you sell on its free plan at 12% a sale, 9% on Starter at $8 a month or Pro at $15, and 0% on Premium at $35, with Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 on every plan. Stan takes 0% but has no free plan: $29 a month, or $99 for order bumps, upsells and email. On a $20 product Linktree's free plan costs less up to 12 sales a month, and Stan costs less from 13. Checked 30 September 2026.
The two started from opposite ends. Linktree was a page of links that added a checkout. Stan was built as a store that happens to live in your bio. That history still shows in what each one charges for and what each one leaves out.
What is the difference between Stan Store and Linktree for selling?
Linktree charges you a percentage of each sale that falls as you pay more each month. Stan charges a flat monthly fee and takes no percentage at all.
That makes Linktree the cheaper way to start, because its free plan can sell from day one and costs nothing in a month with no sales. It makes Stan the cheaper way to run a store that sells every week, because its cost does not grow with your sales.
The tools differ too. Stan's paid plans are built around selling: courses, bookings and a community on the $29 plan, then order bumps, upsells, funnels, discount codes and email on the $99 plan. Linktree's paid plans are mostly about the page: themes, analytics, branding, link scheduling and, on Premium, a social media scheduler. Its pricing page lists digital products and courses, but no order bump or upsell on any 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. Linktree's prices are the US dollar prices its pricing page shows a US visitor, billed monthly.
| Plan | Monthly fee | Cut per sale | Taken from a $20 sale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linktree Free | $0 | 12% | $3.28 |
| Linktree Starter | $8 | 9% | $2.68 |
| Linktree Pro | $15 | 9% | $2.68 |
| Linktree Premium | $35 | 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 Linktree and Stan figure includes Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30, which is $0.88 on $20. Linktree's help center says that processing fee applies on every plan, and that all fees are deducted automatically and are not refundable. Annual billing brings Linktree down to $6, $12 and $30 a month.
Stan adds two lines its transaction fees article spells out: 1.5% more when the buyer is in another country, and 0.25% + $0.25 each time you cash out, with a $1 minimum. Stakk takes $2.50 of the same sale, less than Linktree's Free, Starter and Pro plans and more than Stan or Linktree Premium per sale.
When does Stan's $29 beat Linktree's free plan?
At 13 sales a month on a $20 product. Below that, Linktree's free plan costs less. From the 13th sale, Stan's Creator plan does.
Our own arithmetic on both vendors' published US rates. At 12 sales Linktree Free costs $39.36 and Stan $40.56, counting card processing and Stan's $1 minimum payout fee. At 13 sales Linktree costs $42.64 and Stan $41.44.
Linktree's paid plans move the line. On Starter at $8 the crossover is still 13 sales, and on Pro at $15 it drops to 9, because both still take 9% on top of their monthly fee.
Premium is the fair comparison. Linktree Premium and Stan Creator both take 0%, so they cost the same per sale, and Stan is $6 a month cheaper before its payout fee. At that level you are choosing on tools rather than price.
Where does the money go on each one?
Both run on Stripe, and both set up a new Stripe account for your store rather than using one you already have.
Stan's Stripe setup article says you create a new Custom Stripe account that is managed by Stan, and that you cannot connect an existing one. Sales show in Stan's Income tab, take 2 to 7 business days to settle inside Stripe, usually around 2, and then you cash out, paying the payout fee each time.
Linktree also creates a new Stripe account for your store. Its guide to selling digital products says funds are available in Stripe straight after a purchase, and that you set daily, weekly or monthly payouts and issue refunds from the Stripe Dashboard. The same guide says you are the seller of record and handle disputes and refunds yourself.
So Stan holds a balance you draw down, and Linktree pays out on a Stripe schedule you control. Which platforms hold your money explains why that difference tends to matter more than the fee.
Which one has better tools for selling?
Stan, by a distance, if you pay for Creator Pro.
At $99 a month Stan adds an order bump on each product, funnels with post-purchase offers, discount codes, limited-quantity offers, payment plans, affiliate management, email broadcasts and email flows. The order bump is one per product and does not exist on the $29 plan, which is covered in whether Stan Store has order bumps.
Linktree sells digital products and courses, the courses powered by Kajabi, at prices from $1 to $10,000. It collects emails on every plan and connects to mailing list tools from Pro. What it does not list is anything that raises the value of an order already won: no order bump, no upsell and no funnel.
Linktree wins on the page. If your bio link does ten jobs and selling is one of them, its themes, link scheduling, smart routing and social scheduling on Premium are the reason to be there.
Which should you pick?
Pick Linktree if the page comes first and you sell now and then. The free plan costs nothing until you sell, and 12% of a handful of sales is less than $29.
Pick Stan if selling is the job and you will pass about 13 sales a month on a $20 product. Its $29 plan is a lot of tool for the money, and its $99 plan is the one with the selling features Linktree does not have.
There is also a middle route: keep whichever page you like and point its buy button at a separate checkout. Which link in bio tools have a real checkout covers how that works across the category.
When would I send you somewhere else?
If you want the page, Stakk is the wrong choice. Stakk has no link-in-bio page builder, no link list, no themes and no social scheduling. It also has no tips, no memberships, no subscriptions, no course hosting and no call booking. If any of those is why you are comparing Stan and Linktree, pick one of them.
And if the lowest cost per sale is what you want, two platforms beat all three of us. Whop takes 2.7% + $0.30 with no monthly fee, $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 to keep your page and sell through Stakk?
Stakk is the checkout, not the page. Keep Linktree or Stan's page for your links, and send the buy button to a Stakk product page. It is 10% + $0.50 a sale with card processing included and no monthly fee, so a month with no sales costs nothing, and the money lands in your own Stripe account rather than one a platform manages.
Cheaper exists, and I have named it. What neither Linktree's plans nor Stan's $29 plan give you is an order bump and a post-purchase upsell on every account. On Stakk the 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. The layout came out of funnels that ran for agency clients before Stakk existed.