Stan Store vs Payhip vs shopspace: Honest Comparison
Stan Store vs Payhip: Stan is $29 a month at 0% per sale, Payhip Free takes 5%. Break-even is about $580 a month. See the math and where shopspace fits.
Payhip is cheaper until you sell about $580 a month; above that, Stan Store keeps more. Payhip's Free plan costs nothing but takes 5% of each sale, and its paid plans cut that to 2% for $29 a month or 0% for $99. Stan Store charges $29 a month ($25 billed yearly) and takes 0% per sale.
The third option in this comparison, shopspace, also takes 0% per sale, for $19 a month billed yearly or $29 month to month.
Prices below are as of September 2026, from Payhip's pricing page and Stan's own pricing breakdown.
Stan Store vs Payhip vs shopspace at a glance
| Stan Store | Payhip | shopspace | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | Creator $29 ($25 billed yearly), Creator Pro $99 ($79 billed yearly) | Free $0, Plus $29, Pro $99 | Creator $29 ($19 billed yearly), Pro $49 ($39 billed yearly) |
| Platform fee per sale | 0% | 5% on Free, 2% on Plus, 0% on Pro | 0% |
| Plan with no monthly cost | No | Yes | No |
| Trial | 14 days | Not needed, signup takes no card | 7 days, card required |
| EU and UK VAT handled for you | Not stated | Yes | No |
| Your own domain | Not supported on any plan | Every plan | Pro only |
| Email marketing | Creator Pro only | Every plan | Included on Creator |
| Physical products | Not stated | Yes | Yes |
Payhip is unusual in one way: every plan gets every feature. You pay for a lower fee, not for extra tools. Stan works the other way round: 0% on both plans, with email, discounts and upsells held back for Creator Pro.
Payhip fees vs Stan Store's flat price: the math
Here is what each plan costs the same seller. Card processing (Stripe or PayPal) applies on every platform, so it is left out to keep the comparison fair.
| Plan | Price a month | Fee per sale | At $500 a month | At $2,000 a month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payhip Free | $0 | 5% | $25, you keep $475 | $100, you keep $1,900 |
| Payhip Plus | $29 | 2% | $39, you keep $461 | $69, you keep $1,931 |
| Payhip Pro | $99 | 0% | $99, you keep $401 | $99, you keep $1,901 |
| Stan Store Creator | $29 ($25 billed yearly) | 0% | $29, you keep $471 | $29, you keep $1,971 |
| shopspace Creator | $29 ($19 billed yearly) | 0% | $29, you keep $471 | $29, you keep $1,971 |
The costs use month to month prices. Billed yearly, Stan Creator is $25 a month and shopspace Creator is $19.
What the table says:
- At $500 a month, Payhip Free is the cheapest of the month to month options. 5% is $25, a little under Stan's $29.
- The crossover is about $580 a month. That is where 5% equals $29. Past it, Stan's flat plan wins, and the gap grows with every sale.
- Payhip Plus rarely pays off against a flat 0% plan. It moves you from 5% to 2%, but you still pay $29 plus 2%, so at $2,000 a month upgrading from Free saves only $31 ($100 down to $69). Against Payhip's own Free plan it breaks even at about $970 a month; against Stan it never does.
- Payhip Pro only beats Plus above $3,500 a month, and even then it costs $70 more a month than Stan.
At $2,000 a month, Payhip Free takes $100 of your sales and Plus still takes $69. Start a 7-day free trial of shopspace and keep it: 0% per sale, $19 a month billed yearly.
Where Payhip wins
You can start with no monthly bill and no card. For a first product, 5% of a few sales is a small price, and nothing leaves your account if nothing sells.
EU and UK VAT is done for you. Payhip collects and pays EU and UK VAT on your sales automatically. If you sell digital products to European buyers, that is real accounting work you skip. shopspace does not offer it, and Stan's pricing does not mention it.
Every feature on every plan. Your own domain, email marketing, courses, coaching, memberships and physical products are all on the Free plan. Payouts arrive immediately after each sale.
It is cheaper than Gumroad. Payhip's 5% is about half of Gumroad's 10% plus $0.50 per direct sale; the Gumroad fee breakdown has the full math. For more detail on Payhip's own tiers, see the Payhip pricing breakdown.
Where Stan Store wins
A fixed cost that beats every Payhip plan past about $580 a month. Stan's $29 at 0% is always cheaper than Payhip Plus, and always cheaper than Payhip Pro.
A 14-day free trial, and a Creator plan that covers digital products, courses and webinars, coaching bookings, memberships, communities and lead magnets.
Sales tools on Creator Pro: discount codes, payment plans, Afterpay and Klarna, upsells and order bumps, funnels, affiliate management and advanced pixels.
Where Stan falls short: no plan without a monthly fee, email broadcasts and flows only on Creator Pro at $99 a month ($79 billed yearly), and no custom domain on any plan. Your store stays at stan.store/yourname.
If you would rather not pay a percentage, or $99 for email
Here is shopspace on the same math. Creator is $19 a month billed yearly ($228 a year) or $29 month to month, with 0% taken from every sale. Money goes straight to your own Stripe account; shopspace never holds it.
Against Payhip, the fee is the story. On yearly billing, shopspace costs less than Payhip Free once you sell about $380 a month (5% of $380 is $19). It costs less than Payhip Plus and Pro as soon as you make a sale.
Against Stan, it is not a fee story, because both take 0%. Month to month, both are $29; billed yearly, shopspace is $19 against $25, or $72 a year less. The difference is what the base plan includes: email campaigns and sequences (Creator Pro on Stan), Instagram automations that send a DM when someone comments, community, memberships, bookings, automations on store events, and eleven product types including physical products, courses with progress tracking and webinars.
Be clear on what it lacks. It does not handle EU or UK VAT, so if most of your buyers are in Europe, Payhip has a real edge. Your own domain is on the Pro plan ($39 a month billed yearly, $49 month to month), while Payhip includes one on every plan. There is no plan that costs nothing after the 7-day trial, no marketplace, and no affiliate management for people promoting your products.
Stan Store or Payhip: which should you pick?
- Just starting, or selling mostly to EU and UK buyers: Payhip Free. Keep it while you sell under about $580 a month, and let it handle VAT.
- You want discount codes, upsells, affiliate management or Afterpay, and $99 a month is fine: Stan Creator Pro.
- You already sell a few hundred dollars a month to your own audience, and want 0% per sale with email included: shopspace. The Stan Store vs Gumroad vs shopspace and Beacons vs Stan Store comparisons run the same math against other options.
Start a 7-day free trial of shopspace and set up your store before you pay anything: a card is required at signup, nothing is charged for 7 days, and if you cancel inside the trial you pay nothing.