Gumroad vs Payhip in 2026: 10% + 50¢ against 5%
Gumroad takes 10% + 50¢ all-in and handles tax worldwide. Payhip takes 5% free, 0% at $99, plus Stripe. Where each wins, and the Telegram option.
Open your storefront today
Open your shopTL;DR. Gumroad’s number is one number: 10% + $0.50 on a direct sale, 30% through its Discover marketplace, no monthly fee, and — since 1 January 2025 — merchant-of-record status that handles sales tax worldwide. Payhip’s is two numbers stacked: $0/month + 5%, $29 + 2% or $99 + 0% — all three with identical features — plus whatever PayPal or Stripe charges, which Payhip does not publish and Stripe puts at 2.9% + $0.30 for domestic cards. On money Payhip wins almost everywhere, and since July 2026 its tax coverage reaches the US as well as the EU, UK and Canada. Gumroad still owns the rest of the world’s tax map, and a marketplace that finds you buyers.
Both sell digital products to the whole internet, both are free to start, and both have a marketplace. It looks like a fee comparison and is not: the fees answer different questions depending on where your buyers are and where they pay tax.
The fee is not one number
Gumroad’s pricing page is the shorter read. No monthly charge; the cut is 10% plus 50 cents of every sale through your profile or your own links, and 30% on a sale Discover introduces. Nothing else is added: as merchant of record, the fee you see is the fee you pay.
Payhip’s is a ladder with a footnote: Free Forever takes 5%, Plus is $29 a month and takes 2%, Pro is $99 a month and takes no transaction fee. All three carry the same features — “all plans have the same features” is Payhip’s phrasing — with unlimited products and revenue. The footnote: PayPal and Stripe “will still charge at their standard rates”, and Payhip does not print them. Stripe does: 2.9% + $0.30 for domestic cards, +1.5% for international ones and +1% where a currency conversion is needed.
Put a $30 product through both:
| Route | Fee | You keep |
|---|---|---|
| Gumroad, direct | $3.50 | $26.50 |
| Gumroad via Discover | $9.00 | $21.00 |
| Payhip Free + Stripe domestic | $1.50 + $1.17 | $27.33 |
| Payhip Plus + Stripe domestic | $0.60 + $1.17 | $28.23, less $29/month |
| Payhip Pro + Stripe domestic | $1.17 | $28.83, less $99/month |
Two conclusions fall out, neither what the plan names suggest. Payhip’s free plan beats Gumroad at every price on a domestic card — 83 cents on a $30 sale, widening as the price does. Add an international card and a conversion, though, and Stripe’s surcharges eat the difference: the rails cross at about $50, above which Gumroad edges ahead.
The paid plans pay for themselves later than they look. Plus buys 3 percentage points for $29 and breaks even at roughly $970 a month in sales; Pro buys 2 more for $70 and breaks even at roughly $3,500 a month. Below those, upgrading costs you money.
Who each one is built for
Gumroad is built for someone who wants to sell today and never think about the plumbing. One fee, no plan decision, no processor account to reconcile, and since January 2025 no tax obligations of your own anywhere. Its pricing page answers “what can I sell” with digital products, e-books, courses, tutorials and memberships; the exclusions sit on a prohibited-products page last revised 2 August 2026 and rule out more than people expect — AI tools fulfilled outside Gumroad, jewellery and beauty, food, crypto and NFTs, and physical goods.
Payhip is built for someone who wants a shop, not a product page. It ships a store builder, a free custom domain, themes, embeds for an existing site and email marketing, and it sells five product types: digital downloads, courses, coaching, memberships and physical products. Its courses carry videos, files, quizzes and assignments, drip release and certificates — a small course platform rather than a checkout, all of it on the free plan.
Side by side
| Gumroad | Payhip | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | None | $0, $29 or $99 |
| Direct-sale cut | 10% + $0.50 | 5%, 2% or 0% by plan |
| Processor fees | Included in the fee shown | On top, at PayPal or Stripe’s own rates |
| Marketplace cut | 30% via Discover | No additional fee |
| Marketplace entry | Open to your products | $10 in sales, a store review, then per-product approval up to 10 days |
| Sales tax | Merchant of record worldwide since 1 Jan 2025 | Collected and remitted in the EU, UK, US (since 1 Jul 2026) and Canada; elsewhere you set the rate and file |
| Your own website | Profile and product links | Store builder, themes, free custom domain, embeds |
| What you can sell | Digital products, e-books, courses, tutorials, memberships — no physical goods | Digital downloads, courses, coaching, memberships, physical products |
| Course features | Courses and tutorials as products | Videos, files, quizzes, assignments, drip, certificates |
| Payouts | Direct deposit or PayPal, by country | Deposited immediately after the transaction completes |
Where Gumroad wins
- Tax, where nobody else reaches. Merchant of record since 1 January 2025: Gumroad collects and remits sales tax worldwide and you file nothing. Payhip matches that across the EU, UK, US and Canada — outside those four you set the rate, Payhip collects and reports, and the filing is yours.
- One fee, fully loaded. The 10% + 50¢ is the whole bill; on Payhip you always add a second, unpublished number to the first.
- It can bring you buyers. Discover is an acquisition channel with an open door and a price on it. Payhip’s marketplace is cheaper and harder to enter.
- No plan to get wrong. No break-even to calculate, no monthly fee to outgrow, nothing to downgrade in a slow month.
Where Payhip wins
- The fee, nearly everywhere. Free Forever plus Stripe leaves you more than Gumroad’s 10% + 50¢ on a domestic card at any price, and the paid plans widen the gap past the break-evens.
- A marketplace that costs nothing extra. No additional fee for sales it sends you, against Gumroad’s 30%. The trade is the door: $10 in sales, a store review, then approval per product, up to 10 days.
- It is a website. Store builder, themes, a free custom domain and embeds on any site you already run — Gumroad gives you a profile and links.
- A real course product. Quizzes, assignments, drip release and completion certificates, on every plan including the free one.
- Physical goods, memberships and coaching sit alongside the downloads, so one shop covers a mixed catalogue — Gumroad prohibits physical goods outright.
The third option: doing it inside Telegram
Both send the buyer to a browser. If yours already read you in a Telegram channel, a storefront that opens inside the chat deletes that trip: Telegram renders the shop and identifies the account before anything is tapped, so paying in Stars asks for no sign-up, no password and no card details. Digital files, courses delivered in the bot chat and paid channel subscriptions run on Stars, physical orders and bookings on cards — the rail follows the product — and it all lands in one order feed.
Our cut is 0% and there is no monthly floor — not the whole cost. Telegram policy puts digital goods on Stars only, and that rail has economics of its own: a buyer pays $19.99 per 1,000 Stars as a store pack or $14.10 at Telegram’s sell rate while the payout to you is $13.00 per 1,000 — about 65 cents on the dollar through a store pack, 92 at Telegram’s rate. Gumroad’s direct rate returns more above roughly $2.30, Payhip’s free plan above $1.30. On fees, both win. The withdrawal floor and the 21-day hold are in what withdrawing Stars actually pays; the Stars calculator runs your own price list.
Who should not choose it: anyone whose buyers arrive from search, a blog or marketplace; anyone who needs a public product URL, an embed or an indexable page; anyone selling to buyers who will not pay in Stars, since digital delivery has no second rail; anyone whose course needs quizzes, certificates or a roster of who finished — none exist here; and anyone who chose a platform for merchant-of-record tax handling.
If… then…
| If… | Then… |
|---|---|
| A real share of your buyers sit outside the EU, UK, US and Canada | Gumroad — merchant of record worldwide |
| Fees decide it and your buyers pay on domestic cards | Payhip, starting on the free plan |
| You are past roughly $970 a month in sales | Payhip Plus starts paying for itself |
| You are past roughly $3,500 a month | Payhip Pro removes the transaction fee entirely |
| You need a marketplace to find you new buyers | Gumroad Discover, at 30% — Payhip’s is cheaper but gated |
| Your course needs quizzes, drip and certificates | Payhip, on any plan |
| Your buyers already read you in a Telegram channel | The chat storefront, at about 65 cents on a store-pack dollar |
| A real share of buyers will not pay in Stars | That settles it — there is no card option for digital goods |
Where to start
Answer two questions first. Where did your last hundred buyers come from — search and the open web, or a chat you already write in? And which tax jurisdictions do they sit in? The first decides whether a Telegram storefront belongs here at all. The second used to settle Gumroad versus Payhip alone; now it does only if a real share of your buyers sit outside Payhip’s four regions.
Otherwise run the arithmetic on your own price list, not a $30 example: Payhip is the cheaper rail for most catalogues on domestic cards, Gumroad stops being more expensive once international cards and conversions enter, and the Telegram option is not competing on price.
The full ledger against Gumroad alone is Gumroad alternatives. What a chat-native shop is, and where it loses, is Telegram Mini App store; the setup is how to sell on Telegram.
Gumroad’s direct and Discover rates, monthly fee, merchant-of-record status and payouts: gumroad.com/pricing; exclusions: gumroad.com/prohibited, last revised 2 August 2026. Payhip prices, fees, feature parity, the processor-fee note, payouts and products: payhip.com/pricing and payhip.com; tax coverage: VAT and taxes and the US and Canada sales tax FAQ; marketplace fee and entry: Payhip help centre. Card rates: stripe.com/pricing. All checked September 2026. Star payout rate: Telegram’s terms for bot developers, 6.2.4.
What people usually ask
- What do Gumroad and Payhip charge in 2026?
- Gumroad has no monthly fee and takes 10% plus 50 cents of a sale through your profile or your own links, or 30% of a sale that comes through its Discover marketplace. Payhip runs three plans, all with the same features: Free Forever at 0 dollars a month with a 5% transaction fee, Plus at 29 dollars a month with 2%, and Pro at 99 dollars a month with no transaction fee at all.
- Which one leaves more money on a 30 dollar sale?
- Payhip, on a domestic card. Gumroad's 10% plus 50 cents takes 3.50 and leaves 26.50. Payhip's free plan takes 1.50 and Stripe's published domestic rate of 2.9% plus 30 cents takes another 1.17, leaving about 27.33. On Plus the same sale leaves about 28.23 before the monthly fee, and on Pro about 28.83.
- When is a paid Payhip plan worth it?
- Plus saves 3 percentage points for 29 dollars a month, so it pays for itself at roughly 970 dollars of monthly sales. Pro saves another 2 points for 70 dollars more, so it pays for itself at roughly 3,500 dollars a month. Below those numbers the free plan keeps more of your money than either upgrade.
- Does either handle sales tax for me?
- Both do, over different maps. Gumroad became merchant of record on 1 January 2025 and handles your tax obligations worldwide. Payhip is your reseller for EU and UK VAT, a marketplace facilitator for US sales tax since 1 July 2026, and a digital platform operator in Canada, so it collects and remits in all four. Anywhere else you set the rate yourself, Payhip collects it and sends it on with a monthly report, and the filing is yours. Gumroad's tax advantage is now the rest of the world, not the whole of it.
- Do both have a marketplace?
- Yes, and they price it very differently. Gumroad's Discover charges 30% of a sale it introduces. Payhip's marketplace charges no additional fee at all, but you have to get in: your store needs at least 10 dollars in genuine sales and a review by the accounts team, and each product is then approved separately, which can take up to 10 days.
- Is selling in Telegram cheaper than either?
- No. The Stars rail returns about 65 cents on a dollar spent through a store pack (92 at Telegram's own rate), because a buyer pays 19.99 dollars per 1,000 Stars as a store pack or 14.10 at Telegram's rate while the payout to you is 13.00. Gumroad beats that above about 2 dollars 30, and Payhip beats it above about 1 dollar 30. A Telegram storefront wins on where the buyer already is, never on the fee.