If you sell a $10 template, the platform you pick decides whether you keep $9.43 or $7.91. That’s a $1.52 difference on every single sale — and it scales fast. Sell 500 copies and the gap is $760.
A fresh fee comparison from Digital Seller Guide (published October 5, 2026, rates pulled from each provider’s public pricing page) ran the numbers on a $10 sale across 13 platform plans from nine providers. The range: $0.57 to $2.09 in fees. This article turns that dataset into a practical answer — what you’d actually keep, per platform, and which setup makes sense at your sales volume.
The short answer: cheap products are decided by the fixed fee
The single most important finding: on a $10 product, the fixed per-sale charge matters more than the percentage. A $0.30 to $0.80 fixed fee is already 3% to 8% of a $10 price before any percentage is applied. That’s why two platforms charging similar percentages can land very differently on a $10 sale — and why the ranking barely changes between a $10 and a $50 product.
Digital Seller Guide’s numbers, checked October 5, 2026: on a $10 sale paid by a US card, sellers pay $0.57 on Whop, about $0.59 on Stan Store, Payhip Pro, Skool Pro and Kajabi plans, $1.00 on Paddle and Lemon Squeezy, $1.59 on Patreon, and $2.09 on Gumroad. On a $50 sale, sellers keep $48.35 on Whop and $42.75 on Gumroad — the gap narrows in percentage terms but widens in dollars.
What you actually keep on each major platform
Whop: $9.43 of a $10 sale
Whop charges 2.7% + $0.30 per card sale, all-inclusive — that processing fee covers both the platform cut and card processing. It’s the cheapest of the 13 plans in the dataset at $0.57 on $10. Whop is strongest if you sell access products, memberships, or communities, and it has a built-in marketplace. One wrinkle: Whop’s optional managed tax service adds 2% and collects the tax, but leaves you as the legal seller of record — fine for many, but not the same as a true merchant of record.
Stan Store, Payhip Pro, Skool, Kajabi plans: ~$9.41
These land around $0.59 on a $10 sale — basically tied with Whop on per-sale math. The catch is the monthly subscription underneath:
- Stan Store charges no per-sale fee but costs $29/month. At $500/month in sales, that subscription alone eats 9.3% of revenue; at $10,000/month it drops to 3.8%. It’s built for link-in-bio creators who sell from TikTok or Instagram.
- Payhip’s paid plans shrink the free plan’s 5% fee, and it handles EU/UK VAT — a quiet advantage if you sell internationally.
- Kajabi ($179/month Basic plan) absorbs a painful 39.3% of revenue at $500/month in sales, falling to 5.3% at $10,000/month. It only makes sense once your volume supports it — and it comes with courses, email, and community tools, so you’re paying for the whole stack.
The rule: monthly plans only pay off at volume. Don’t sign up for a $179 platform to sell three $10 templates a month.
Paddle and Lemon Squeezy: $9.00
Both cost about $1.00 on a $10 sale — roughly 2 to 3 percentage points more than the cheapest options. What you’re buying: merchant-of-record status. They take on sales-tax and VAT liability worldwide, so you don’t have to think about whether you owe tax in someone else’s country. For software and SaaS sellers with international buyers, that’s real value, not overhead.
Patreon: $8.41
Patreon takes about $1.59 on a $10 sale in the dataset. Patreon isn’t really a per-product storefront — it’s a membership platform, so comparing it on single $10 sales flatters its competitors. If you’re selling recurring memberships, its math is a different conversation.
Gumroad: $7.91
Gumroad is the most expensive per sale in the comparison: 10% + $0.50 per direct sale, plus card processing, landing at $2.09 on $10. (Sales through Gumroad Discover cost 30%, so don’t count on discovery traffic for margin.) The trade-off: zero monthly fee, the fastest setup of any platform here, and since 2025 Gumroad acts as merchant of record, handling sales tax for you. If you’re starting out and want the simplest possible path to your first sale, that convenience has a real dollar cost — and now you know what it is.
Etsy: roughly $8.60 (my math)
Etsy wasn’t in the 13-plan dataset, but since many helpmeboss readers sell printables and planners there, here’s the honest math on a $10 digital download: 6.5% transaction fee ($0.65) + $0.20 listing fee + Etsy Payments processing (3% + $0.25 = $0.55) = $1.40 total, so you keep about $8.60. No monthly fee, massive built-in buyer traffic, but you compete with every other printable seller on the platform. Pair this with the site’s guide to selling digital products on Etsy for beginners if you’re going this route — and the passive income with digital products guide if you’re still picking what to sell. The underlying October 2026 fee data comes from Digital Seller Guide’s 13-plan comparison, with platform-by-platform fee structures cross-checked against ResellReady’s 2026 platform table.
Why digital margins beat physical products structurally
Here’s the part people miss: fees compute on a smaller base with digital products, because there’s no materials, shipping, or platform fulfillment cost. One seller’s October 2026 math showed digital products keeping an 87% margin vs 49% for physical products at the same price point. Etsy’s fee schedule applies to both — but 6.5% of a $25 digital download hurts a lot less when there’s no $9 in materials and postage underneath.
That’s also why the fixed fee deserves your attention first. If you sell $5 presets, a $0.50 fixed charge is 10% of your price before the platform takes a single percent. Low-price digital sellers should sort platforms by fixed fee, not by headline percentage.
How to choose: three questions
1. How much will you sell per month? Under $500/month, stick with no-monthly-fee platforms (Whop, Payhip free, Gumroad if you want simplicity, Ko-fi). The subscription plans only beat per-sale fees once you have volume — Stan Store’s $29 plan needs roughly $500+ in monthly sales before it beats Whop’s per-sale math on cheap products.
2. Do you need tax handled? If you sell to buyers in the EU or UK and don’t want to register for VAT schemes, a merchant of record (Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy, Paddle) earns its extra couple of points. Otherwise, the cheapest per-sale option wins.
3. Where do your buyers already shop? A platform with 6.5% fees and millions of searching buyers (Etsy) can beat a 2.7% platform with zero traffic — fees are only part of the equation. Discovery, trust, and checkout conversion do the rest.
The bottom line
On a $10 digital product in October 2026, the fee spread runs from $0.57 (Whop) to $2.09 (Gumroad) — a $1.52 gap per sale. Cheap products are won or lost on the fixed fee, monthly subscriptions only pay off at volume, and merchant-of-record tax handling costs a couple of points but removes real liability. Pick your platform by your price point and your monthly volume, not by the brand name — and re-run the math every year, because these fee schedules move.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the cheapest platform to sell digital products in 2026?
On a per-sale basis, Whop is cheapest in October 2026 data at $0.57 in fees on a $10 sale (2.7% + $0.30, card processing included). Stan Store, Payhip Pro, Skool Pro, and Kajabi plans land around $0.59 per $10 sale — but Stan Store and Kajabi charge monthly subscriptions ($29 and $179/month respectively) that only pay off at higher sales volume.
How much does Gumroad take from a $10 sale?
Gumroad takes 10% + $0.50 per direct sale plus card processing, which totals $2.09 on a $10 sale — leaving you $7.91. It’s the most expensive per sale among the platforms in the October 2026 comparison, though it has no monthly fee and handles sales tax as a merchant of record. Sales through Gumroad Discover cost 30%.
Are monthly fee plans worth it for digital products?
Only at volume. Stan Store’s $29/month plan takes 9.3% of revenue at $500 in monthly sales but just 3.8% at $10,000. Kajabi’s $179/month Basic plan absorbs 39.3% of revenue at $500/month, falling to 5.3% at $10,000/month. Below roughly $500/month in sales, no-monthly-fee platforms keep you more of each sale.
Does Etsy charge fees on digital downloads?
Yes. On a $10 digital download, Etsy takes a 6.5% transaction fee ($0.65), a $0.20 listing fee, and Etsy Payments processing (3% + $0.25 = $0.55) — about $1.40 total, leaving roughly $8.60. Digital sellers avoid Etsy’s shipping and materials costs, which is why digital products keep much higher margins than physical ones on the same platform.
Which platform handles sales tax for digital products?
Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy, and Paddle act as merchant of record — they take on sales-tax and VAT liability in exchange for fees about 2–3 percentage points higher per sale. Whop offers an optional managed tax service (+2%) but leaves you as the legal seller. If you sell internationally and don’t want to deal with VAT registration, a merchant of record is worth the extra cost.