In the last few years, Stan Store has become one of the most popular creator monetization platforms, helping content creators build and sell their own digital products. However, despite its popularity, Stan’s features — and its pricing — aren’t for everyone.
Luckily, there are tons of Stan Store alternatives out there that provide additional or alternative features to fit your needs and budget. If you’re not sold on Stan, read on as we dive into the 12 best Stan Store alternatives on the market today.
Click here to start creating and selling digital products with The Leap. It’s free!Stan Store alternatives at a glance
| Best overall | The Leap Designed to help creators monetize and powered by generative AI, The Leap enables you to create, market, and sell digital products all from one platform quickly and easily — and all for free! |
| Best premium option | Shopify Shopify offers a plethora of premium features and tools like Shopify Pay, Shopify Email, and more for a premium price tag. |
| Best lightweight option | Thrive Cart Want to do away with the clunky storefront? This online shopping cart allows you to embed your checkout virtually anywhere online. |
| Best advanced option | Beacons Want tons of auxiliary features like an invoice generator and auto-updating media kit? Beacons’ got them in spades. |
| Best for creator entertainers | Ko-fi From cosplayers to guitar players, this platform is geared towards creator entertainers with its tipping, donation, and crowdfunding features. |
Launched in 2020, Stan is an online platform that enables creators to monetize by selling digital products and services though a single link-in-bio landing page. Stan equips users with a link-in-bio storefront, an online course builder, and various marketing features like email collection, native calendar booking, and audience analytics
That being said, Stan isn’t necessarily a one-size-fits-all solution for all creators. The platform charges a hefty monthly user fee: $29/month for its most basic plan, and $99/month for its premium plan, which offers additional features like native email.
Stan’s digital product builder also leaves a lot to be desired. While it’s fairly easy to use, the tool’s functionality is limited to creating only online courses. In other words: if you’d like to create other digital products, you’ll have to use a third-party app.
Best Stan Store alternatives
While Stan is one of the most popular platforms for creators looking to sell digital products, there are other platforms out there that offer features Stan doesn’t, or that offer Stan’s functionality for a lower price — or for free. Read on as we take a deep dive into the 12 best Stan Store alternatives currently on the market.
Stan Store alternatives comparison
| Platform | Pricing | Digital product builder | Native email |
| Stan | Creator plan: $29/month Pro plan: $99/month | ✅ Course builder | ✅ Only with paid plan |
| The Leap | Free! | ✅ AI-powered 🪄 | 🔜 |
| Gumroad | Free, with 10% transaction fee | ❌ | ✅ |
| Beacons | Free plan: with 9% transaction fee Creator plan: $10/month Creator Pro plan: $30/month VIP plan: $50/month | ✅ Course builder | ✅ Unlimited emails only with paid plan |
| Pensight | Basic plan: $0/month Pro plan: $29/month Biz plan: $99/month | ✅ Course builder | ✅ Only with paid plan |
| Snipfeed | Starter Plan: $9/month Pro Plan: $29/month Pro Plus Plan: $59/month | ✅ Course builder | ✅ |
| Linktree | Free plan: $0/month Starter plan: $5/month Pro plan: $9/month Premium plan: $24/month | ❌ | ✅ Only with paid plan via Mailchimp integration |
| Sellfy | Starter plan: starting at $19/month Business plan: starting at $49/month Premium plan: starting at $99/month | ❌ | ✅ |
| Shopify | Basic plan: starting at $29/month Shopify plan: starting $79/month Advanced plan: starting at $298/month | ❌ | ✅ At additional cost |
| Payhip | Free plan: with 5% transaction fee Plus plan: $29/month (+ 2% transaction fee) Pro plan: $99/month | ✅ Course builder | ✅ |
| SendOwl | Free plan: with 5% transaction fee Starter plan: $9/month (with 5% transaction fees) Growth plan: $15/month ( $0.33 fee per order) Pro plan: $39.month (+ $0.17 fee per order) | ❌ | ✅ Via Mailchimp integration |
| Ko-fi | Free plan: with 5% transaction fee Ko-fi Gold: $6-8 with 0% transaction fee | ❌ | ❌ |
| Thrive Cart | Starter plan: $495 one-time payment Pro plan: $690 one-time payment | ❌ | ✅ Via Mailchimp integration |
1. The Leap
Looking for the ultimate all-in-one creator store? Then look no further than The Leap.
From the minds behind Thinkific, The Leap is a new creator monetization platform that functions as a link-in-bio storefront, an AI-powered digital product builder, an email list builder, and — soon — an email marketing hub. In other words: everything a creator needs to create, market, and sell their digital products, all in one place and free of charge.
That’s right: The Leap is 100% free to use. When you sign up for a free account, you gain access to all of its premium features, including its supercharged digital product builder. Wave goodbye to those monthly fees! Once you start making sales from your Leap store, all you need to pay is a standard 2.9% Stripe transaction fee.
The Leap’s AI-powered digital product builder enables creators to create a myriad of the best digital learning products, including mini-courses, tutorials, guides, and challenges. Its generative AI technology creates comprehensive drafts of your digital products for you, saving you tons of time and brain power, so you can start earning money sooner. Because it’s so easy to use, The Leap’s authoring tool also empowers users to quickly create lead magnets, which helps you grow your email list — and your pile of cash.
The Leap also offers creators an array of audience analytics, including sales and leads reports, that give you the insights you need to build and sell the digital products your audience will love.
Key features
- Link-in-bio storefront
- AI-powered digital product builder for mini-courses, tutorials, guides, and challenges
- Email list builder
- Native email (soon!)
- Audience analytics
- It’s free!
Pricing
Free! Try The Leap today to start monetizing with your creator store.
Start monetizing your audience with The Leap, your all-in-one creator store.
2. Gumroad
Gumroad is many creators’ go-to for selling digital products directly to their audience. This e-commerce platform lets creators build an online storefront and sell virtually any digital product their heart desires, from online courses and ebooks, to Notion templates and digital art and much more. It even allows creators to sell memberships and subscriptions for recurring income. Simply upload your product, set a price, and Gumroad will handle the rest.
While Gumroad doesn’t offer a digital product builder, it does provide a number of marketing tools including email collection and native email, which allows you to send email updates to followers directly through the the platform. Gumroad also integrates with Google Analytics and Meta Pixel, so you can track your sales and engagement, and retarget your followers.
Gumroad doesn’t charge users a monthly fee, which means it’s technically free to set up a store and start selling. However, it’s important to note that the platform takes a 10% cut of each transaction.
Key features
- Online storefront
- Embeddable checkout buttons
- Sell memberships and subscriptions
- Multiple currencies and payment methods
- Audience analytics
Pricing
Free, with a 10% transaction fee per sale (plus credit card processing and PayPal fees).
3. Beacons
Beacons launched in the same year as Stan, and like its competitor, has gained popularity as a creator monetization platform. This platform provides creators with the tools they need to sell their digital products (a link-in-bio storefront) and market them (an extensive marketing suite).
The platform has a host of auxiliary tools designed to boost your income. These include native email, an auto-updating media kit, an invoice generator, and a pitch email generator.
On the downside: Beacons’ free plan isn’t entirely free. That’s because free users are charged a 9% transaction fee on each of their sales. And if that isn’t enough, Beacons’ free plan also places a cap on how much you can use various key features, including email marketing. If you want to go unlimited or pay 0% transaction fees, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan.
Key features
- Link-in-bio storefront
- Native email (unlimited only with paid plans)
- Advanced audience analytics
- Invoice and email copy generator
- Auto-updating media kit
Pricing
A Free plan is available with a 9% transaction fee per sale. In terms of paid plans, Beacon’s Creator plan will run you $10/month, while its Creator Pro plan is priced at $30/month for advanced and auxiliary features. If you really want to splash out on all the extras, its VIP plan starts at $50/month.
4. Pensight
Although it’s fairly new, Pensight has already gained significant popularity as a creator store platform. Why? Because it equips you with not just an online storefront, but also a course builder and various marketing tools like native email.
In addition to digital products like courses and ebooks, Pensight allows you to sell, schedule, and host one-on-one calls, like consultations and coaching sessions, thanks to its native calendar booking tool and video call integration. These features are available for free. However, if you want to start selling subscriptions and memberships, you’ll have to upgrade to paid.
Where Pensight lacks is with its digital product builder, which allows users to create online courses only (vs. other kinds of digital products). When it comes to Pensight’s course builder, users will also have to upgrade to paid plans to access advanced features, like drip content and in-course comment sections.
Key features
- Online storefront
- Course builder (plus advanced features like drip content and comment sections available with paid plan)
- Native email (only with paid plans)
- Native calendar bookings
- Video call integrations
- Sell memberships and subscriptions (only with paid plans)
Pricing
Pensight operates on a freemium model. That means it offers a Free plan with limited features. If you want more advanced features, you’ll have to upgrade to a Pro plan ($29/month) or a Biz plan ($99/month).
5. Snipfeed
Snipfeed is all about helping creators monetize their audience via digital product sales, on-demand content, and direct interactions. This creator store platform provides users with an online course builder, a booking tool for selling appointments, and video integrations to host said one-on-one calls and livestreams.
First and foremost: Snipfeed isn’t free (and it isn’t exactly cheap, either.) Along with monthly fees, paid plans also arrive with transaction fees that range from a steep 10% to a cool 2%. However, the expense does come with plenty of attractive advanced features, including SMS and email marketing, a tip jar, and loads of Zapier integrations to streamline your workflow.
Snipfeed’s drag-and-drop course builder is easy to use and allows you to track your students’ progress, receive user reviews, and add bonus content for paid subscribers.
Key features
- Online storefront
- Course builder
- Email and SMS marketing
- Video call integrations
- Sell memberships and subscriptions
- Media kit
Pricing
Snipfeed offers its Starter Plan at $9/month, its Pro Plan at $29/month, and its Pro Plus Plan at $59/month. Not ready to commit? Snipfeed also offers a free trial.
6. Linktree
Linktree was the first-ever link in bio tool on the market. And, today, with over 40 million users worldwide, it’s also one of the most popular. Like most link-in-bio tools, Linktree provides users with a landing page to host their links, along with monetization features that allow them to sell products, collect tips, and more.
Linktree also offers integrations to several popular online storefront and digital payment platforms, like PayPal, Shopify, and Square. And while the platform allows you to accept tips and request funds, it isn’t exactly the best place to sell digital products. In order to host and sell your products directly through Linktree, you need to place “Payment Locks” on each of your downloadable files. This feature allows customers to purchase your downloads, however, you’ll have to upgrade to a paid plan to use it.
Key features
- Online storefront via third-party integrations (or host and sell digital products with paid account)
- Email list builder (only with paid plan)
- Email marketing via Mailchimp integration
- Advanced audience analytics (only with paid plan)
- Accept tips and request funds via in-app payment integrations
Pricing
Linktree operates on a freemium model. It offers a Free plan with limited features. For advanced features, you can purchase a Starter plan for $5/month, a Pro plan for $9/month or a Premium plan for $24/month. Linktree also offers a 7-day free trial for their Pro plan, if you want to try out its premium features without committing right away.
7. Sellfy
Sellfy is geared towards selling both physical and digital products. So, if you’re looking for a quick and simple way to get those products flying off the (digital) shelves, then this might be a good option for you.
Sellfy’s user-friendly website builder gets your online store up and running in just a few minutes. From there, you can upload an unlimited amount of digital products and even sell subscriptions and on-demand video. But, beware, the platform places a cap on just how much you can earn per pricing tier. So, if you plan on making more than $10,000 a year, you’ll have to upgrade to a higher-tiered plan.
While the platform lacks a digital product builder, it does feature a variety of marketing features geared towards conversion. Coupon codes and email marketing are available with even the lowest tier plan. If you want more advanced features, like product upselling and cart abandonment automation, you’ll have to level up your plan.
Key features
- Online storefront
- Sell subscriptions
- Email collection
- Native email
- Coupon codes, upselling, and cart abandonment
Pricing
The platform’s Starter plan starts at $19/month, its Business plan starts at $49/month, and its Premium plan starts at $99/month. Prices vary depending on whether you want to pay monthly, annually, or bi-annually.
8. Shopify
Shopify is tops when it comes to selling stuff online — and that means digital products too. In addition to physical merch, this platform allows creators to sell virtually any kind of digital product, from online courses to journal templates and everything in between.
To start selling digital products, you’ll need to download and use Shopify’s free Digital Downloads app. From there, upload your product, disable shipping, and Shopify will deliver your digital product directly to your customers. If you’d like to sell memberships and subscriptions, you’ll also need to integrate another app through Shopify’s app store.
If you don’t mind dealing with the platform’s multiple apps (and paying a premium for some of them), you’ll get to benefit from all of the platform’s robust features, including its powerful email marketing tool.
Key features
- Online storefront builder
- Sell memberships and subscriptions through third-party app integrations
- Email marketing (at additional cost depending on number of emails sent)
- Email list builder
- Advanced audience analytics
Pricing
Shopify recommends its Basic plan (starting at $29/month) for solo entrepreneurs, its Shopify plan (starting $79/month) for small teams, and its Advanced plan (starting at $298/month) if you really want to scale your business. You can choose to pay for your plan in monthly or yearly installments.
Shopify charges transaction fees when you sell using third-party payment gateways (2% for Basic plan, 1% for Shopify plan, and 0.5% for Advanced plan.) However, it waives these fees if you sell using the Shopify Payments app.
9. Payhip
Payhip is an all-in-one platform with a focus on creators looking to sell digital downloads. In addition to its online storefront tool, the platform offers users with an online course builder tricked out with an assortment of features like drip content, quizzes, and assignments.
Want to sell more than online courses? Payhip supports practically every digital product on the market. From ebooks to templates, simply upload them to your storefront and you’re ready to cash in. The platform also allows you to sell (and schedule) coaching sessions through its native calendar booking feature, as well as memberships and subscriptions.
If you’re looking to grow, this platform also offers users a marketing suite that includes coupons, an upselling feature, and referrals. In terms of email marketing, the platform offers a robust array of integrations with apps like Mailchimp and Zapier to help you build your email list and send newsletters to your customers.
Key features
- Online storefront
- Online course builder
- Email marketing integrations (Mailchimp, Zapier, etc.)
- Marketing features like upselling, coupons, and referrals
- Native calendar bookings
- Audience analytics
Pricing
Payhip offers a Free plan with a 5% transaction fee, a Plus plan for $29/month with a 2% transaction fee, and a Pro plan for $99/month with no transaction fee. All Payhip’s plans offer the same features. The only difference between the tiers is the percentage of transaction fees you pay per sale.
10. SendOwl
SendOwl is an e-commerce platform geared specifically towards selling digital products. Which is exactly why you’re here, right? The platform allows you to sell almost any digital product under the sun, including ebooks, online courses, digital art, music, and more.
SendOwl allows you to sell products virtually anywhere online via its embeddable product buttons. In addition to its storefront feature, it offers tons of extras, from marketing tools to audience analytics. If we’re talking marketing, SendOwl offers email and affiliate marketing programs alongside one-click upselling, discounts, and promo codes. On the analytics front, the platform provides users with all the reports they need (on income, zero sell, abandoned carts, and more) to boost sales and grow their business.
SendOwl corners the market on extras — but these features will cost you. The platform offers its plans in a tiered price system, starting at $9 a month. On top of your monthly fee, you’ll also be paying transaction fees on each order. It’s also important to note that each plan places a limit on just how many digital products you can host — and that your SendOwl storefront can only host up to 10 products. So it’s important to have a game plan before you subscribe.
Key features
- Online storefront
- Email marketing integrations
- Marketing tools like upsells and cart abandonment emails
- Sell subscriptions
- Audience analytics
Pricing
SendOwl offers a 3-month free trial of its Starter plan. After that, the Starter plan jumps up to $9/month with a 5% transaction fee. For the same features but lower, fixed transaction fees, you can sign up for the Growth plan at $15/month (with $0.33 fee per order), or the Pro plan at $39/month (with $0.17 fee per order).
11. Ko-fi
Like Stan, Ko-fi lets creators sell all their digital products with just a link. Setting up a Ko-fi shop allows creators to sell all their digital products from one landing page. Once you’ve opened your shop and uploaded your products, you can share links to individual products or your storefront on your social channels, website, or wherever your followers are.
In addition to digital downloads like ebooks and online courses, Ko-fi allows creators to sell subscriptions and tiered memberships, paywall premium content, and even take commissions directly through their storefront. It also allows creators to receive tips and donations from their fans (and takes 0% transaction fees on them).
Ko-fi offers both a free plan and a paid plan, Ko-fi Gold (starting at $6/month). Both tiers allow you to sell products, memberships, and commissions through your Ko-fi shop. However, if you’re selling through a free account, be prepared for a 5% cut from your profits. With Ko-fi Gold, you get to kiss those transaction fees goodbye.
Key features
- Online storefront
- Sell memberships and exclusive content
- Accept tips and donations
- Take commissions
- Receive crowdfunding
Pricing
Ko-fi offers a free plan with 5% transaction fees. If you want to ditch the fees (and gain a few extra perks), you’ll need to upgrade to Ko-fi Gold for $6 to $8/month.
12. Thrive Cart
Want feature-rich functionality with lightweight UX? Consider Thrive Cart. This online shopping cart and checkout platform allows creators to sell their digital products wherever they want with just a link.
Whatever your niche, Thrive Cart allows you to sell virtually any kind of digital product, including online courses and memberships. Once you’ve uploaded your digital products to your dashboard, you can sell them by embedding checkout links on your blog, website, social channels, or wherever your followers are.
Like its name suggests, Thrive Cart is designed to boost conversions, sales, and profits. It does this through its range of advanced marketing features, including one-click upselling, customer retargeting, coupon codes, and more. The platform also provides users with a plethora of analytics reports including funnel stats and link tracking.
Key features
- Online storefront
- Email marketing (via Mailchimp integration)
- Marketing tools like upselling, retargeting, coupon codes, and more
- Advanced audience analytics
Pricing
Gain lifetime access to the Standard plan with a one-time payment of $495, or the Pro plan with a one-time payment of $690.
Choosing the best Stan Store alternative
Choosing the Stan Store alternative that’s right for you depends on a number of factors. Namely, it depends on your business’ needs, your audience’s needs, and your budget.
If you want to create, market, and sell digital products in no time, then The Leap is the totally free, all-in-one creator store for you. The Leap’s digital product builder is powered by generative AI, which means it creates your products for you, saving you time and effort (because those = money, right?). In addition to its online storefront tool, The Leap offers you an email list builder, audience analytics, and — soon — native email, so you can supercharge your business. The best part? It’s all free!
Ready to start monetizing with your creator store? Try The Leap free today.
Build, market, and sell digital products all in one spot with The Leap!
Stan Store alternatives FAQ
How much does a Stan Store cost?
Stan Store’s Creator plan costs $29/month. Its Creator Pro plan costs $99/month and offers advanced features.
Is there a free alternative to Stan Store?
Yes, there are a few free alternatives to Stan Store. For example, The Leap is free with no platform fees.
Other free alternatives, including Gumroad, Ko-fi, and Payhip, don’t charge a monthly subscription fee but do charge transaction fees (between 5% and 10%).
Is The Leap or Stan Store better?
The Leap and Stan Store offer similar functionality, including an online storefront builder and digital product builder. While the platforms are similar, The Leap is different from Stan in two big ways.
First, The Leap is totally free to use, whereas Stan is only accessible through paid subscription. The second reason has to do with both platforms’ digital product builders. The Leap’s AI-powered authoring tool allows users to create a range of engaging digital learning products — including mini-course, guides, tutorials, and challenges — faster and with less effort, whereas Stan’s tool only lets you build online courses.
Want to create and sell your own digital products? Get our Digital Product Launch Checklist for useful tips on how to go from an idea to your first sale.
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Further reading
- The Best Platforms To Sell Digital Products Online
- The Best Link in Bio Tools for TikTok and Instagram
- The Leap vs. Stan Store: Which Creator Store Platform Should You Choose?
- The Best Linktree Alternatives for Your Link in Bio
- The Best Gumroad Alternatives for Selling Digital Products
- Stan Store vs. Linktree: Which Link-in-Bio Tool Is Better?
This article was originally published in September 2023, and updated in March 2024 with additional information.
