Finding the right creator store platform can feel daunting, especially when you’re already busy running a content business. But if you’re in the market to sell digital products (read: monetize your audience), then you’re in the right place.
In this article, we’re comparing The Leap and Beacons, two popular creator monetization platforms. While Beacons has gained popularity among creators and talent managers since its launch in 2020, The Leap has proven to be a hot creator-tailored alternative, offering standout features for a $0 price tag. Read on for an in-depth comparison of the two platforms.
Build your link-in-bio creator store with The Leap today. It’s free!The Leap vs. Beacons: Key differences
The Leap 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.
| Platform | Pricing and key features |
| The Leap | Price: Free! Digital product builder: ✅ Types of digital products you can build: Mini-courses, guides, tutorials, challenges Creator store: ✅ Generative AI: ✅ Flexible payment options: ✅ |
| Beacons | Price: $0 – $90/month Digital product builder: ✅ Types of digital products you can build: Online courses Creator store: ✅ Generative AI: ✅ Flexible payment options: ✅ |
What is The Leap?
The Leap is the latest platform from creator tech company Thinkific. It’s an all-in-one creator store that features an AI-powered digital product builder and a mobile-optimized link-in-bio storefront, enabling creators to build and sell their digital products all from one platform.
The Leap is a ridiculously simple platform to use, yet it’s jam-packed with all the features you need to transform your knowledge and expertise into digital products — and your audience into paying customers, quickly and easily.
Key features
- AI-powered digital product builder: The Leap’s digital product builder is the only of its kind powered by generative AI. Have an idea but don’t know where to start? That’s where The Leap comes in. Whether you want to create a mini-course, guide, tutorial, or challenge, The Leap’s authoring tool can create your digital product for you, speeding up the process exponentially.
- Free to use: The Leap is 100% free. While many other platforms charge a monthly user fee or pocket a part of each sale, The Leap is totally free to use with no platform fees. Once you start making sales from your Leap store, all you need to pay is the standard 2.9% Stripe transaction fee.
- Analytics: The Leap offers a range of audience analytics including sales and leads reports, which give you the insight you need to build the products that will go flying off the (digital) shelves.
- Lead generation: The Leap’s authoring tool empowers you to turn your digital products into lead magnets, which help you grow your email list and, ultimately, boost your sales.
- Email marketing: Use The Leap’s pre-made email templates for setting up email flows and sending email broadcasts easily.
- Flexible payment options: The Leap creators have access to flexible selling and payment options like Buy Now, Pay Later payment plans via Klarna, Afterpay, and Affirm. Plus, discount/coupon codes and one-click payments via digital wallets like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and more.
Overall, The Leap is a powerful, all-in-one creator store designed to help creators kickstart their monetization journey. Its robust and one-of-a-kind features and its $0 price tag make it the number one alternative to other creator stores on the market. Create your free Leap account today.
Build, market, and sell digital products all in one spot with The Leap!
What is Beacons?
Beacons serves as both a link-in-bio tool and a launchpad for a comprehensive content creation toolkit.
With Beacons, you can effortlessly set up a link-in-bio page filled with all your links, but the platform truly excels when you take advantage of its diverse features, including a sponsored content pricing calculator and a pitch email generator. Its user-friendly interface ensures that you don’t need any technical or design expertise to make the most of what Beacons offers.
Beacons’ free plan allows you to share unlimited links and sell your products, though at a steep 9% transaction fee. For $10/month, its Creator Pro plan unlocks additional perks like a custom domain and the option to remove Beacons branding from your page. For more premium features and 0% transaction fees, users can upgrade to the Store Pro plan for $30/month, or the Business Pro plan for $90/month.
The Leap vs. Beacons: Comparison
Now that you’re familiar with the basics of The Leap and Beacons, let’s explore the details. Read on for a comprehensive comparison of the two platforms, highlighting key aspects such as pricing, AI tools, and payment options.
- Pricing
- Digital product builder
- Types of digital products you can build
- Creator store functionality
- AI tools
- Payment options
1. Pricing
It’s hard to beat The Leap on pricing, especially when you’re comparing the platform with Beacons.
That’s because The Leap is the only all-in-one creator store that provides creators with everything they need to build, sell, and market their digital products all for free. On the other hand, Beacons’ free plan comes with limited features and a 9% transaction fee on digital product sales.
To access more advanced features on Beacons, you’ll have to upgrade to its Creator Pro, Store Pro, or Business Pro plans, which range from $10 to $90/month.
The Leap provides you with the same set of features plus a more advanced and versatile digital product builder, all for $0 with no platform fees. Once you begin generating sales from your Leap store, the only thing you’ll need to pay is Stripe’s standard 2.9% transaction fee.
Click here to start creating and selling digital products with The Leap. It’s free!2. Digital product builder
The key difference between The Leap and Beacons comes down to their digital product builders.
It’s simple: The Leap’s digital product builder is powered by generative AI. What’s so special about generative AI? Well, it means that The Leap’s authoring tool can brainstorm and create your digital products for you, speeding up the process and minimizing effort on your end.
While Beacons offers generative AI for descriptions, images, and email copy, its online course builder doesn’t have the same supercharged AI as The Leap’s digital product builder. In other words, Beacons course builder won’t have you pumping out products as fast.
Take The Leap user Dawn Richardson for example, who said it only took her 30 minutes to customize her mini-course, and 30 minutes to record videos for it. That’s one hour of time for infinite passive income potential.
Create and sell digital products in minutes using The Leap!
3. Types of digital products you can build
Not only is Beacons’s digital product builder less powerful than The Leap’s, it’s also limited to creating online courses only. Whereas The Leap’s digital product builder can help you create a range of products from mini-courses and guides to tutorials and challenges.
4. Creator store functionality
Both The Leap and Beacons come equipped with mobile-optimized link-in-bio storefront tools, which both offer intuitive interfaces.
Beacons also offers a Desktop Website Builder if you want to go above and beyond a link-in-bio page. When it comes to the two platform’s storefront builders, they both enable you to set up shop in just a few minutes.
5. AI tools
Another difference between The Leap and Beacons is the types of AI tools each platform offers.
The Leap uses generative AI in its digital product builder. It also offers a smart AI assistant to help you generate descriptions for your landing pages, copy for email marketing, content for an ebook, and more. See it for yourself!
Beacons also uses generative AI for text and images, but this feature is only available with its paid plans, whereas The Leap offers its AI tools for free.
6. Payment options
Both platforms offer mobile-optimized checkouts and Buy Now, Pay Later payment plans to make it easier for your audience to buy your products.
While Beacons has multi-currency support, The Leap allows creators to offer their audiences discount and coupon codes through Stripe Standard, plus one-click payments via digital wallets including Apple Pay, Google Pay, Cash App, and more.
Boost your digital product sales with The Leap’s flexible selling and payment options.The Leap vs. Beacons: Which one should you choose?
When it comes to choosing an all-in-one creator store, you want to consider your needs, goals, and budget.
If you’re looking to diversify your income stream by selling digital products, but you can’t afford to take the risk of shelling out for pro features, then The Leap is the best option for you. With The Leap, all of its features are 100% free, and there’s no transaction fee when you sell digital products on the platform.
Plus, The Leap’s AI-powered product builder is far more robust than Beacons, helping you create multiple digital products in just seconds. Beacons’ digital product builder only allows you to create online courses, and you have to pay $30/month to access the feature.
If you’re on a budget, you’ll want to consider The Leap since it provides you with most of Beacons’ features plus an AI-powered digital product builder without the hefty price tag.
That being said, Beacons might be for you if you’re a creator looking to pursue income streams outside of selling digital products, like the ability to create media kits for brand sponsorships. Keep in mind though that when it comes to Beacons, these features come at a cost — even Beacons’ free plan comes with a 9% transaction fee.
TL;DR
Long story short? The Leap is best if you’re a creator or entrepreneur who wants a free platform that enables you to create and sell digital products in almost no time.
The Leap is best if… |
Beacons is best if… |
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Kickstart your monetization journey with The Leap
Now that you know all about the key features and differences between The Leap and Beacons, you can decide which platform suits you best.
If you’re more interested in pursuing brand sponsorships or selling memberships (and you don’t mind shelling out some extra bucks to access these features), you might want to consider Beacons.
If you’re looking to monetize your audience with little effort, time, or money spent, The Leap is your best option. The Leap is an all-in-one creator store that provides you with all the tools you need to start creating and selling digital products, with no monthly subscription or transaction fees.
Once you sign up for free, you’ll gain access to all of The Leap’s features, from its link-in-bio storefront to its AI-powered digital product builder. You can literally get your income machine up and running today. Try The Leap for free now!
Start monetizing your audience with The Leap, your all-in-one creator store.
The Leap vs. Beacons FAQ
How is The Leap better than Beacons?
When it comes to The Leap and Beacons, The Leap stands out for its digital product builder and pricing.
First, The Leap’s digital product builder is much more versatile than Beacons’. With The Leap’s AI-powered product builder, you can create a range of digital products, including mini-courses, guides, tutorials, and challenges. With Beacons, you’re limited to creating online courses only.
Secondly, The Leap is 100% free to use, whereas Beacons’ free plan comes with limited features and a 9% transaction fee on digital product sales. For more advanced features, Beacons charges a monthly subscription fee ranging from $10 to $90/month.
What is The Leap?
Brought to you by creator tech company Thinkific, The Leap is an all-in-one creator store designed to help creators jumpstart their monetization journey. This platform provides creators with everything they need to start earning money by selling digital products, including an AI-powered digital product builder, a link-in-bio storefront, and email marketing tools.
How does The Leap work?
The Leap is an all-in-one creator store with a digital product builder powered by AI. The Leap enables you to set up your link-in-bio storefront quickly and easily with its user-friendly store builder tool.
You can upload your existing digital products to your Leap store, or create new products from scratch using the platform’s AI-powered authoring tool. Simply answer a few questions, like what your niche is and what type of product you’d like to build, and The Leap will generate digital product ideas and build out comprehensive, customizable drafts in seconds.
Create and sell digital products in minutes using The Leap!
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