Platform Reviews

Pensight vs. Beacons: Which Creator Store Platform Is Better?

by · Published Oct 28, 2024

Looking for a creator store to monetize your knowledge? In this article, we deep dive into the pros and cons of two of popular creator store platforms on the market: Pensight and Beacons

The two platforms share similar features and are designed to help creators sell digital products. But if you’re on the fence about which platform is best for you, then read on to learn more about the key differences between Pensight and Beacons.

By the end of this article, you should be able to determine which platform works best for you, or if you should consider an alternative altogether. 

Click here to start creating and selling digital products with The Leap. It’s free!

Pensight vs. Beacons: Key differences

Pensight and Beacons are both user-friendly creator store platforms with similar feature offerings, like the ability to build an online storefront quickly and sell digital products. However, there are some key differences to consider.

PlatformPricing and key features
PensightPrice: $29-$99/month (0% transaction fees)

Digital product builder: lets you build online courses only

Creator store: ✅

Generative AI: ❌

Flexible payment options: ✅
BeaconsPrice: $0-$90/month (9% transaction fees on certain plans)

Digital product builder: lets you build online courses only

Creator store: ✅

Generative AI: ✅

Flexible payment options: ✅

What is Pensight?

On Pensight‘s homepage, the platform claims it can help you “launch your knowledge business in minutes.” How exactly? Pensight offers an intuitive interface for building your online storefront and several features for selling digital products and services, including online courses, 1:1 coaching sessions, and subscriptions, to name a few. 

Creators mostly use Pensight to sell digital products and services, manage email marketing, and track important analytics about their audience and digital product sales.  

pensight vs beacons

With Pensight, you can: 

  • Create a customizable online storefront and link-in-bio landing page.
  • Sell digital products, 1:1 coaching sessions, consultation calls, subscriptions, and memberships.
  • Build and sell online courses.
  • Track audience analytics.
  • Generate automated customer testimonials. 
  • Access video call and scheduling features. 

What is Beacons?

Beacons serves as both a link-in-bio tool and an online store. It allows you to effortlessly create a link-in-bio page to showcase all your essential links and sell digital products. Additionally, the platform offers a variety of features for creators, including a pricing calculator for sponsored content and a pitch email generator.

beacons creator store

With Beacons, you can: 

  • Create a customizable online storefront and link-in-bio landing page.
  • Sell digital products, 1:1 calls, and more. 
  • Build and sell online courses.
  • Accept a broad range of payment methods in multiple currencies.
  • Track audience analytics. 
  • Use AI to generate product descriptions, images, and newsletters. 
  • Create a media kit for managing brand sponsorships. 

It’s important to note that while Beacons is an easy-to-use creator store platform with some robust features, it also comes at a cost. Beacons offers a free plan, but to benefit from its features you’ll need to upgrade to its Creator Pro plan, which is $10/month plus a 9% transaction fee. 

Pensight vs. Beacons: Comparison

Trying to decide between Pensight or Beacons as your online storefront? While both platforms are popular options, they both come with their own pros and cons. 

Beacons is a good option for creators who already have a leg up in the digital products game and don’t mind paying a 9% transaction fee on sales (or shelling out bigger bucks for transaction-free paid plans). Thanks to its media kit feature, Beacons is particularly useful for creators who are focused on brand sponsorships as a form of income.

On the other hand, Pensight may be a better option for creators who are just getting started in the digital product game as the platform charges 0% transaction fees across all of its plans. It’s important to note, however, that the platform does not offer a free plan.

Read on for an in-depth comparison between the two platforms.

  1. Pricing
  2. Digital product builder
  3. Creator store functionality
  4. Flexible payment options
  5. Generative AI

1. Pricing

The biggest difference between Pensight and Beacons is their pricing structure. 

Long story short, Pensight does not offer a free plan. In order to use the platform, you must subscribe to either its Pro plan for $29/month or its Biz plan for $99/month. Both plans come with 0% transaction fees.

pensight pricing plan
Pensight’s pricing plans.

On the flip side, Beacons has a free plan option with limited features and 9% transaction fees. If you want to access Beacons’ more advanced features and 0% transaction fees, you’ll have to pay at least $30/month for its Store Pro plan.

beacons pricing plans
Beacons’ pricing plans.

So, if you hate transaction fees (who doesn’t?), then Pensight might be a better option for you.


2. Digital product builder

While you can sell an infinite range of digital products on both Pensight and Beacons, each of the platform’s digital product builders is limited to creating online courses only

Additionally, neither creator store’s digital product builder has AI features to help you build your online courses. That being said, Pensight does offer some unique online course features, like drip for course content and a comments section.


3. Creator store functionality

Both Pensight and Beacons come equipped with mobile-optimized link-in-bio storefront tools, which both offer intuitive interfaces. 

However, each platform’s online store has certain unique features. For example, Beacons’ Media Kit feature places an emphasis on helping out creators who are interested in pursuing brand sponsorships as a source of income. 

Meanwhile, Pensight offers unique customization features and the ability to automate customer testimonials.


4. Flexible payment options

Both platforms offer mobile-optimized checkouts and flexible payment options like Buy Now, Pay Later payment plans. While Beacons offers multi-currency support, Pensight allows creators to offer their audiences discounts and coupon codes.


5. Generative AI

In this day and age, AI features are expected in most online creator platforms. But not every platform compares to the next. While Beacons incorporates basic AI tools — like generative AI for text and images — Pensight severely lacks in this department and doesn’t offer any generative AI tools significant enough to note. 

Pensight vs. Beacons: Which creator store should you use? 

Both Pensight and Beacons share the same primary goal: helping creators set up their online store easily, so they can monetize their audience through selling digital products and services.

Both platforms also come with some pretty sweet monetization features, like the ability to sell digital products, an online course builder, audience analytics, customization options, and more. 

However, there are some key differences to consider, most notably their pricing structure. While Beacons offers a free plan, its features are limited and it comes with a steep 9% transaction fee. To access more advanced features, you’ll need to pay a minimum of $10/month. To upgrade to more features and waive transaction fees, you’ll have to pay $30/month. 

On the other hand, Pensight has 0% transaction fees across all of its plans. However, it does not offer a free plan. To use Pensight, you must pay either $29 or $99/month for its Pro or Biz plans.

TL;DR

Pensight is best if…

Beacons is best if…

  • You’re willing to pay for a creator store.
  • You don’t want to pay any transaction fees.
  • You don’t need help with creating your digital products.   
  • You want to sell subscriptions. 
  • You need video call and scheduling features. 
  • You’re willing to pay for premium features, and don’t mind paying high transaction fees. 
  • You need tools to help you source and manage brand deals.
  • You want to seriously customize the look of your online store or website.

With the right strategy and quality digital products, you could find success on either platform. Ultimately, the choice between Pensight or Beacons should be based on your business objectives, budget, and most desired features. 

Not so sure about all those monthly subscription costs and transaction fees? Read on for the best free alternative on the market! 

A free alternative to Pensight and Beacons: The Leap

The Leap is an all-in-one creator store that boasts an easy-to-use, time-saving digital product builder. With The Leap, you can quickly build your own link-in-bio storefront, where you can create, market, and sell digital products all on one platform. 

The Leap also helps you capture leads and grow your email list, set up automated email flows and broadcasts, and offer native calendar booking

The best part? The Leap is totally free to use with zero transaction fees.

The Leap’s AI-powered digital product builder doesn’t just give you content suggestions, it can actually generate mini-courses, guides, tutorials, and more in minutes. In a nutshell, it helps creators like you bring your product ideas to life way faster. 

You can also use The Leap’s super-smart digital product builder to create effective lead magnets (aka freebies) to grow your email list, which in turn helps you grow your income.

the leap ai digital product builder

The Leap also offers built-in email marketing tools, including pre-made email templates for setting up automated email flows and sending email broadcasts to leads and customers.

the leap email marketing automation

If you’re a creator looking to jumpstart your monetization journey, then The Leap is for you. Looking for an alternative to Pensight and Beacons? Try The Leap for free today.

image

Build, market, and sell digital products all in one spot with The Leap!

Pensight vs. Beacons FAQ

What is Pensight used for?

Pensight offers an intuitive interface for building your online storefront and several features for selling digital products and services, such as online courses, 1:1 coaching sessions, and subscriptions. Creators can also use Pensight to manage email marketing and track important analytics about their audience and digital product sales.  

How much does Pensight cost?

Pensight charges 0% transaction fees across all of its plans. However, it’s important to note that the platform does not offer a free plan. Users must subscribe to either its Pro plan at $29/month or its Biz plan at $99/month. 

Is there a free alternative to Pensight and Beacons? 

While both Pensight and Beacons are great options for a creator store tool, if you’re looking for a free alternative with even smarter features, look no further than The Leap.

Brought to you by Thinkific, The Leap is an all-in-one creator store with an AI-powered digital product builder that can help you generate mini-courses, guides, tutorials, and more in minutes — and it’s free to use, with zero transaction fees!

Additionally, The Leap offers many of the same features that Pensight and Beacons have — like audience analytics, simple payment and order fulfillment, and built-in email marketing tools for nurturing your leads.

With The Leap, you can easily upload your digital products to your storefront or create your own using the platform’s AI-powered product builder. Simply answer a few questions, like what your expertise is and what type of product you’d like to build, and The Leap’s powerful authoring tool will generate digital product ideas and build out comprehensive, customizable drafts in seconds.

image

Create and sell digital products in minutes using The Leap!

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Further reading

jenni stablein
About the author

Jenni Stablein

Jenni Stablein is a content marketer and freelance writer passionate about producing compelling and educational content for a range of clients across tech, fashion, product design, and art. When she's not writing, Jenni is nerding out about clouds (yes, clouds) or how to keep things alive in her garden. 
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