Platform Reviews

The Leap vs. Linktree: Which Link-in-Bio Tool Is Better?

by · Published Oct 30, 2024

Want to build a link-in-bio storefront to monetize your knowledge? In this article, we deep dive into the pros and cons of two link-in-bio creator store platforms: The Leap and Linktree

While Linktree is the OG link-in-bio tool, The Leap is a 100% free alternative with an AI-powered digital product builder that saves you time and money. 

Ahead, we’ll explain how The Leap and Linktree compare, so you can decide which platform might work best for you.

Set up your link-in-bio store on The Leap today. It’s free!

The Leap vs. Linktree: Key differences

The Leap and Linktree are both link-in-bio tools 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
The LeapPrice: Free!

Digital product builder: ✅

Types of digital products you can build: Mini-courses, guides, tutorials, challenges

Creator store: ✅

Audience analytics: ✅

Generative AI: ✅

Email marketing: ✅

Native calendar booking: ✅

Flexible payment options: ✅
LinktreePrice: $0-$24/month

Digital product builder: ❌

Creator store: ✅

Audience analytics: ✅

Generative AI: ❌

Email marketing: ❌

Native calendar booking: ✅ (via integration)

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. Whether you want to create a mini-course, guide, tutorial, or challenge, The Leap can create your digital product for you, speeding up the process exponentially.
  • Free to use: The Leap is 100% free. While many 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 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 automation: Use The Leap’s pre-made email templates for setting up email flows and sending email broadcasts easily.
  • Native calendar booking: The Leap’s Book My Time feature allows coaches, consultants, and creators to schedule one-on-one calls to clients and take payment all from one place. 
  • 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. 

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 link-in-bio storefronts on the market. Create your free Leap account today.

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Start monetizing your audience with The Leap, your all-in-one creator store.

What is Linktree?

Linktree is the OG link-in-bio tool that’s on a mission to help creators build the best landing pages. The platform’s genius lies in its simplicity. It helps creators efficiently and effectively direct their followers to all their most important links. 

The platform also offers various monetization features like a tip jar, the ability to offer personalized services (like one-on-one coaching sessions), affiliate revenue links, as well as a Buy Me A Gift feature. 

Creators can sell up to 10 digital products at once on Linktree via a SendOwl integration, displayed as a browsable carousel on your link-in-bio storefront. Linktree also comes with advanced analytics and tracking that some other link-in-bio tools don’t.

It’s important to note that most of these more advanced features come at a cost. Linktree offers a Free plan with basic features, including unlimited links and a tip jar. For more advanced features, users can opt for the Starter plan ($5/month), Pro plan($9/month), or Premium plan ($24/month). 

Linktree also charges a ton of transaction fees that it isn’t necessarily super transparent about. For example, the Buy Me A Gift feature comes with a 5% transaction fee. As well, any digital products sold through the SendOwl integration will incur a 5% transaction fee. 

Key features

  • Create a simple, customizable online storefront and link-in-bio landing page.
  • Sell digital services like one-on-one calls and digital products via a SendOwl integration. 
  • Accept a broad range of payment methods.
  • Track audience analytics. 
  • Include a tip jar or Buy Me A Gift button on your online storefront. 
  • Add a contact form for lead generation. 
  • Add affiliate links via Amazon. 

The Leap vs. Linktree: Comparison 

Now that you understand the basics of The Leap and Linktree, let’s take a look at how the two platforms compare, from their pricing structure to their key features.

  1. Pricing
  2. Digital product builder
  3. Email automation tools
  4. Native calendar booking
  5. Flexible payment options

1. Pricing

The biggest difference between The Leap and Linktree is their pricing structure. 

While Linktree offers a Free basic plan, its features are limited. For more advanced features, users can opt for the Starter plan ($5/month), Pro plan($9/month), or Premium plan ($24/month). Linktree also charges fairly steep transaction fees across most of its monetization features. 

linktree pricing plans
Linktree’s pricing structure.

The Leap, on the other hand, is 100% free without any hidden transaction fees. Once you start making sales from your Leap store, all you’ll have to pay is the standard 2.9% Stripe fee.

Long story short: If you don’t want to pay high transaction fees, then The Leap might be a better option for you.

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

2. Digital product builder

Another significant difference between The Leap and Linktree is their digital product builder offering. 

For Linktree, a digital product builder is essentially non-existent. So, while you can sell digital products on the platform, you can’t use it to create the products themselves.

With The Leap, not only do you get a digital product builder that can help you create anything from mini-courses, guides, tutorials, and challenges, but it’s also AI-powered. That means you can use The Leap’s digital product builder to generate polished digital products for you in no time at all. 

image

Create and sell digital products in minutes using The Leap!


3. Email automation tools

The Leap offers email flows and broadcast features that simplify your email marketing efforts by turning your nurturing process on autopilot. Choose and customize a premade template (e.g. “Warm welcome,” “Friendly check-in,” or “Nurture funnel”) or build your own flow from scratch. Then, select a send trigger, like when a customer claims a lead magnet or purchases a specific digital product.

With The Leap’s email marketing automation tools, you can even add CTA buttons for that extra attention effect. 

the leap email marketing automation

Linktree only offers email collection with its Pro plan and no other advanced email marketing options. In contrast, The Leap’s built-in email marketing tools — including an email list builder, automated email flows, and broadcasts — are free to use.

image

Set lead nurturing on autopilot with The Leap’s email features.


4. Native calendar booking

Both The Leap and Linktree offer a native calendar booking feature that makes it easy for coahces, consultants, and creators to host one-on-one calls, set availability, and allow customers to book time slots. However, Linktree’s calendar booking is offered via integration with Calendly, whereas The Leap’s booking feature is built into the platform.

Plus, The Leap’s Book My Time feature is 100% free! Linktree’s Calendly integration is only available with paid plans.  

image

Offer micro-consulting and sell coaching sessions with The Leap.


5. Flexible payment options

Both platforms offer mobile-optimized checkouts, but only The Leap has flexible payment options like Buy Now, Pay Later payment plans via Klarna, Afterpay, and Affirm. In addition, The Leap creators can offer one-click payments, plus discount and coupon codes to their customers.

Boost your digital product sales with The Leap’s flexible selling and payment options.

The Leap vs. Linktree: Which creator store should you use? 

Both The Leap and Linktree are designed to help creators build their own link-in-bio page quickly and easily, and share their content and product offering with their audience.

Linktree is the OG link-in-bio tool, so its popularity appeals to a both experienced and beginner creators. However, its monetization features are limited and come with many hidden transaction fees.

If you’re looking for an all-in-one link-in-bio creator store that helps you monetize your audience, without breaking the bank, then The Leap is your best option.

When it comes to selling digital products, The Leap is a far superior platform. Why? Because while Linktree has no digital product builder at all, The Leap comes with a digital product builder that’s AI-powered, meaning it can generate engaging digital learning products for you in just seconds

That being said, Linktree might be for you if you’re a creator looking primarily for a simple link-in-bio tool with the option to sell digital products, but it’s not necessarily your main income stream. 

A note on pricing

In terms of pricing, while Linktree does offer a Free plan with limited features, keep in mind that most of its monetization features come at a cost — anywhere from $5 to $24 per month to be exact, plus steep transaction fees.

On the other hand, The Leap is totally free to use, with zero transaction fees.

Set up your link-in-bio store on The Leap today. It’s free!

TL;DR

The Leap is best if…

Linktree is best if…

  • You want a free, all-in-one creator store.
  • You want to create, sell, and market your digital products all from one place.
  • You want to build bingeable, mobile-first digital learning products like mini-courses and guides.
  • You want to convert followers into customers with just one link.
  • You want to save time creating lead magnets (aka freebies).
  • You primarily want a simple link-in-bio tool, with the option to sell digital products.
  • You don’t mind paying $$$ for robust audience analytics. 
  • You want to set up a tip jar or Buy Me A Gift feature. 

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

Build, market, and sell your digital products with The Leap

Now that you know all about the key features and differences between The Leap and Linktree, you can decide which platform suits you best. 

If you’re more interested in a super straightforward link-in-bio tool that allows you to collect tips and gifts from your audience, but isn’t big on pushing digital product sales, then Linktree is for you.

If you’re looking to monetize your audience and diversify your income stream 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.

Kickstart your monetization journey with The Leap. Try The Leap for free now!

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Start monetizing your audience with The Leap, your all-in-one creator store.

The Leap vs. Linktree FAQ

How is The Leap better than Linktree?

When it comes to The Leap and Linktree, The Leap stands out for its digital product builder and pricing. 

First, The Leap has an AI-powered digital product builder, whereas Linktree does not. With The Leap’s AI authoring tool, you can create a range of digital products, including mini-courses, guides, tutorials, and challenges. 

Secondly, The Leap is 100% free to use, whereas Linktree’s free plan comes with limited features. For more advanced features, Linktree charges a monthly subscription fee ranging from $5-$24 per month, plus various transaction fees. 

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, email marketing automation, a native calendar booking feature, and more.

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 builder tool. 

You can upload your exisiting digital products to your Leap store, or create a new product 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.

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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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