How to Sell Digital Products Without Monthly Fees
Where to sell digital products with no monthly fee, what each takes per sale, and the exact revenue where a flat $19 a month costs less.
You can sell digital products without a monthly fee on Gumroad, Payhip's free plan, Beacons' free plan, Linktree's free plan, Ko-fi or Etsy. None is free to sell on: each takes a cut of every sale instead, mostly 5% to 12%, plus $0.50 per sale on Gumroad. The cheapest option depends on how much you sell.
We should be upfront: shopspace does charge a monthly price, so it is not the answer if you want to pay nothing each month. It becomes the cheaper answer once your sales pass the break-even points below, because shopspace takes 0% per sale for a flat $19 a month billed yearly.
Where to sell digital products with no monthly fee (as of September 2026)
| Platform | Monthly fee | Cut per sale | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gumroad | None | 10% + $0.50 on direct sales; 30% on Discover marketplace sales | Merchant of record, so it handles sales tax and VAT. Discover's 30% includes processing |
| Payhip Free | None | 5% | Collects and remits EU and UK VAT; every feature is on the free plan |
| Beacons Free | None | 9% | Link-in-bio with a store |
| Linktree Free | None | 12% on digital products and courses | Paid digital products only in certain countries |
| Ko-fi | None | 5% on shop sales | One-time tips are 0% on Ko-fi Free |
| Patreon | None | 10% for new creators | Built for memberships |
| Etsy | None | $0.20 per listing + 6.5% | A marketplace with its own buyers; Offsite Ads add 12% or 15% on ad-driven sales |
| Lemon Squeezy | None | 5% + $0.50 | This figure already includes card processing and tax handling |
Sources: Gumroad pricing, Payhip pricing, Beacons plans, Linktree pricing, Ko-fi pricing, Patreon pricing, Etsy fees, Lemon Squeezy pricing.
Each of these is a real way to start with no fixed cost. The trade is the same everywhere: no rent, but a share of every sale for as long as you stay.
What "no monthly fee" costs at $500 and $2,000 a month
Here is what each platform takes on $500 and $2,000 a month of $25 products (20 and 80 sales). Card processing (Stripe or PayPal) applies on every platform, so it is left out to keep the comparison fair. Lemon Squeezy is not in the table because its 5% + $0.50 already includes processing, so it would not be a like-for-like line.
| Platform | Platform cost at $500 | You keep | Platform cost at $2,000 | You keep |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gumroad (10% + $0.50) | $60 | $440 | $240 | $1,760 |
| Linktree Free (12%) | $60 | $440 | $240 | $1,760 |
| Patreon (10%) | $50 | $450 | $200 | $1,800 |
| Beacons Free (9%) | $45 | $455 | $180 | $1,820 |
| Etsy ($0.20 + 6.5%) | $36.50 | $463.50 | $146 | $1,854 |
| Payhip Free (5%) | $25 | $475 | $100 | $1,900 |
| Ko-fi shop (5%) | $25 | $475 | $100 | $1,900 |
| shopspace Creator, billed yearly | $19 | $481 | $19 | $1,981 |
At $500 a month the gap is small, and Payhip or Ko-fi cost only $6 more than a flat fee. At $2,000 it is not small.
At $2,000 a month, the no-monthly-fee options above take between $100 and $240 of it. Start a 7-day free trial of shopspace and pay a flat $19 a month billed yearly instead, with 0% taken from each sale.
The break-even point: when $19 a month beats a per-sale cut
The break-even is the monthly revenue where a platform's cut equals the flat price. The formula is simple: flat price divided by the cut rate. Below that number the free option is cheaper. Above it, the flat price is.
| Platform | Cut on a $25 sale | Break-even vs $19 a month (billed yearly) | Break-even vs $29 (month to month) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Payhip Free | 5% | $380 | $580 |
| Ko-fi shop | 5% | $380 | $580 |
| Etsy | 7.3% ($0.20 + 6.5%) | $260.27 | $397.26 |
| Beacons Free | 9% | $211.11 | $322.22 |
| Patreon | 10% | $190 | $290 |
| Gumroad | 12% (10% + $0.50) | $158.33 | $241.67 |
| Linktree Free | 12% | $158.33 | $241.67 |
Gumroad and Etsy have a fixed part per sale, so their break-even moves with your price. On Gumroad, $10 products make the cut 15% (break-even $126.67 at $19, $193.33 at $29) and $50 products make it 11% ($172.73 and $263.64). Cheap products hit the break-even sooner.
Two examples. If you sell $300 a month on Payhip's free plan, its 5% is $15, less than $19: staying put is the right call. If you sell $1,000 a month there, 5% is $50, and a flat $19 saves you $31 a month, or $372 a year.
When staying on a free plan is the right call
A flat fee is not always better, and there are good reasons to stay where you are:
- You are under the break-even. If your sales sit below the numbers above, a percentage is the cheaper model. Pay it and put your time into selling.
- You are still testing. Before you know a product sells, no fixed cost is worth a lot.
- You need marketplace buyers. Gumroad Discover and Etsy show your product to people already searching. shopspace has no marketplace and sends you no traffic.
- You want tax handled. Gumroad and Lemon Squeezy act as merchant of record, and Payhip collects EU and UK VAT. shopspace does not handle VAT for you.
When a flat monthly price makes sense
Once you sell steadily past the break-even, and most of your buyers come from your own email list, social accounts or content, a percentage is a charge that grows every time you do.
That is the situation shopspace is built for. The Creator plan is $19 a month billed yearly ($228 a year) or $29 month to month, with 0% taken per sale. Payments go straight to your own Stripe account, so shopspace never holds your money. The plan includes a storefront with checkout, unlimited products, courses and members, community, memberships and bookings, email campaigns and sequences, automations on store events, and Instagram automations that auto-DM people who comment on your posts. A custom domain is on the Pro plan.
A simple plan if you are starting from nothing
- Start on a free plan. Pick the one with the lowest cut that fits your product; for most digital downloads that is Payhip's 5%.
- Build your email list from day one. A free lead magnet is the easiest way. Our guide to selling digital products for free walks through the first launch step by step.
- Check your monthly sales against the break-even table. When you pass it for two or three months in a row, the percentage is costing you more than a flat fee would.
- Move when the math says so, not before. Our guide to selling without transaction fees compares the flat-priced platforms, and the Gumroad fees breakdown shows how the $0.50 adds up on cheap products.
The verdict
If you want to pay nothing each month, you can: Payhip, Ko-fi, Beacons, Linktree, Gumroad, Patreon and Etsy all let you start without a fixed cost, and below a few hundred dollars a month in sales they are the cheaper choice. Past the break-even, a no-monthly-fee platform becomes the more expensive one, and the gap grows with every sale.
If your sales are past that line, try shopspace free for 7 days. A card is required at signup and nothing is charged during the 7 days; after that it is a flat $19 a month billed yearly with 0% taken from each sale.