Stan Store vs Payhip vs Shopspace: Honest Comparison
Stan Store, Payhip, and Shopspace compared on fees, checkout UX, and product types. Find out which platform actually costs less for creators selling digital products.
Stan Store vs Payhip vs Shopspace: Honest Comparison
You want to sell a digital product. You've landed on three names: Stan Store, Payhip, and Shopspace. The pricing pages look similar at first glance — free tiers, optional upgrades — but the math works out very differently depending on what you sell and how much you make.
This comparison breaks down stan store pricing, Payhip fees, and Shopspace's free tier side by side so you can make a clean decision without reading four different FAQ pages.
How Much Does Stan Store Actually Cost?
Stan Store is widely reported to cost $29/month, with no free tier available. You can verify the current price at stanstore.com/pricing — their page blocks automated tools, so we're not confirming a number we can't read directly.
What's consistently reported across creator communities: Stan Store is a subscription-only model. You pay monthly regardless of whether you make any sales. In exchange, you get a link-in-bio storefront with built-in checkout, digital product delivery, memberships, and a set of influencer-oriented tools (affiliate links, booking pages, upsells).
For a creator already making consistent revenue, $29/month is a rounding error. For someone just starting out, paying $348/year before your first sale is a real cost of entry.
Payhip Fees: Free Plan, 5% Cut, and What That Means Per Sale
Payhip's pricing is transparent and verified. Three tiers:
| Plan | Monthly Fee | Transaction Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 5% per sale |
| Plus | $29/mo | 2% per sale |
| Pro | $99/mo | 0% |
(Source: payhip.com/pricing)
All plans include the same features — courses, memberships, digital downloads, coaching, physical products, and EU/UK VAT handling. No feature-gating.
The 5% transaction fee on the free plan is worth doing the math on. If you sell a $20 ebook, Payhip takes $1. Sell 100 copies in a month ($2,000 revenue) and Payhip's cut is $100. At that volume, the $29 Plus plan breaks even almost immediately — you'd save $71 that month alone by upgrading.
Note: Payhip's transaction fee is on top of standard PayPal and Stripe processing fees, which apply on all plans.
For the "payhip vs gumroad" comparison: Gumroad is widely reported to charge around 10% per sale on its free tier, more than double Payhip's 5%. If you're choosing between those two specifically, Payhip's fee structure is the better starting point for most sellers.
Shopspace: No Transaction Fee on the Free Tier
Shopspace charges 0% transaction fees on the free plan. No monthly fee, no percentage taken per sale, unlimited products. You keep every dollar your payment processor passes through.
The free tier covers digital products, courses, memberships, tips, bookings, and physical goods. The Pro plan ($29/month) adds a custom domain and additional branding controls — but it doesn't unlock transaction-fee savings, because there are no transaction fees to begin with.
For a creator selling $2,000/month in digital products: Payhip Free takes $100. Stan Store (reported $29/mo) takes $29 flat. Shopspace Free takes $0.
Side-by-Side: Fees, Product Types, and Checkout UX
| Stan Store | Payhip | Shopspace | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee (entry) | ~$29/mo (reported) | $0 | $0 |
| Transaction fee (free tier) | None reported | 5% | 0% |
| Digital products | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Courses | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Memberships | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Physical goods | Limited | Yes | Yes |
| EU VAT handling | Not confirmed | Yes (auto) | — |
| Custom domain (free) | No | No | No |
| Custom domain (paid) | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | Yes ($29/mo) |
Checkout UX across all three is embedded/hosted — no separate cart to configure. Stan Store's checkout is tightly integrated with its link-in-bio layout. Payhip's checkout is clean and conversion-tested. Shopspace's checkout is minimal by design.
Where Each Platform Wins
Stan Store is built for creators who already have an audience on TikTok or Instagram and want a fast, opinionated setup. The influencer-first toolset — affiliate links, DM automation integrations, upsell flows — is genuinely useful if that's your distribution channel. You're paying for a workflow, not just a storefront.
Payhip is the strongest option for EU-based sellers or anyone selling to European customers. Automatic EU VAT and UK VAT collection and remittance is a feature that saves real accounting headaches. It's also the right call if you want zero monthly commitment but expect to scale — you can stay on the free plan at low volume and upgrade when the 5% cut exceeds $29.
Shopspace wins on pure economics at the free tier. Zero transaction fees from day one, no monthly cost, no volume threshold before it makes sense. If you're launching your first product and you don't want to pay anything until you're consistently profitable, this is the straightforward answer. See also: How to Sell Digital Products for Free.
Which Platform Should You Pick?
Run the numbers for your situation:
- Under $500/month in sales, just starting out — Shopspace free tier. You pay nothing, lose nothing to fees.
- $500–$2,000/month, EU customers, no monthly budget — Payhip free plan. The 5% fee is manageable and VAT handling is automatic.
- Over $2,000/month on Payhip — Upgrade to Plus ($29/mo, 2% fee) or run the math on Pro ($99/mo, 0%).
- Already have a large TikTok/Instagram audience — Stan Store's toolset may be worth the reported $29/month for the influencer-specific features.
- Comparing to Gumroad — both Payhip and Shopspace undercut Gumroad's reported ~10% free-tier fee significantly. More detail in What Gumroad Actually Takes Per Sale and Best Gumroad Alternatives in 2025.
Stan store pricing is the most opaque of the three — there's no free tier and the page resists verification tools, which is worth noting when you're making a long-term platform decision. Payhip is transparent and well-documented. Shopspace publishes its pricing plainly.
If you want to start selling today without paying a platform anything, Shopspace is the free option that doesn't cripple the free tier — 0% transaction fees, unlimited products, no monthly fee until you want a custom domain.