Best Platform to Sell Digital Products (2026): The Real Fee Math

Five platforms advertise a single number. Gumroad says 10%, Lemon Squeezy 5%, Paddle 5%, Polar 5%, Payhip 5% on its free tier. Four of those five are comparable. One is not — and it is the one that looks cheapest.

Payhip's rate excludes card processing. Stripe or PayPal bill separately at roughly 2.9% plus $0.30, which turns 5% into about 7.9% plus $0.30 per sale. The other four bundle processing into the headline figure.

Put the pricing pages side by side and Payhip looks like the bargain. Run the numbers and something else comes out. This guide runs them: two revenue figures, the same platforms, and the point at which a monthly plan starts paying for itself.

The two questions that decide everything

First: who owes the tax? Sell a PDF to a consumer in another country and the tax rules of their jurisdiction apply, not yours. In the US that means state-by-state sales tax on digital goods, with each state setting its own registration thresholds. In the UK and EU it means VAT, and selling digital services to consumers abroad triggers registration obligations that your domestic threshold does not shield you from.

A merchant of record takes that away. The platform becomes the legal seller, owes the tax and files it. You receive a payout, not a filing. Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy, Paddle and Polar all work this way — Gumroad worldwide since 1 January 2025, Polar across more than 100 markets. With Payhip and Podia you remain the seller, and the tax is yours.

That is not a footnote. It is the reason Gumroad's 10% is not outrageous. You are not paying for a checkout button; you are paying for someone else to file the return.

Second: how much do you turn over? Percentage models are cheap while little is happening and expensive once it goes well. Monthly plans work the other way around. The crossover sits lower than most people assume.

All fees checked against the providers' own pricing pages on 23 September 2026. Figures in US dollars.

Scenario 1: 50 products at $29 — $1,450 in revenue

At this size four platforms sit within $2.40 of each other, so price is not what decides — the last column is. And the platform that looks cheapest on its own pricing page is not: Payhip Free costs $32 more than Lemon Squeezy despite both advertising 5%.

Gumroad is the outlier at $170. It is the same fee structure that makes it effortless to start with and expensive to stay on.

Scenario 2: 100 course seats at $199 — $19,900 in revenue

The order changes almost completely. Gumroad now costs nearly three times the cheapest option — the same platform that was only $72 behind one scenario earlier.

The rule behind both tables: percentage models punish high prices, monthly plans punish low volume. Gumroad's extra five points cost $1.45 on a $29 product and $9.95 on a $199 one. Polar's $20 a month is dead weight at ten sales and irrelevant at a thousand. Match the model to your price point, not to the headline rate.

Two crossovers worth knowing: Polar Pro ($20 base, 3.80%) beats Lemon Squeezy (5%, no base) from roughly $1,300 a month. Payhip Pro ($99, 0%) beats Payhip Free from roughly $2,000. Leave the switch too late and you hand over a three-figure sum every month.

Scenario 3: 20 consulting calls at $150 — and why no platform wins here

$3,000 of consulting, billed through a platform:

• Gumroad: 10% + $0.50 × 20 = $310
• Lemon Squeezy: 5% + $0.50 × 20 = $160
• Stripe direct plus a scheduling tool: 2.9% + $0.30 × 20 = $93, plus Calendly or TidyCal at $10–16 a month = roughly $105

For services the direct route is cheapest by a wide margin, and the reason is the first question in reverse. Consulting sold to business clients abroad generally shifts the tax obligation to the buyer, so you are not exposed to foreign tax in the first place. The most expensive part of a platform is the part you do not need.

The exception: the moment the consulting becomes a recorded product — a course, a template, a membership — it flips back. Now you are selling to consumers, and the tax question returns.

Where the free tier ends

Podia is still listed as a free option in most comparisons. That stopped being true at the last plan change — there is a fourteen-day trial, after which the cheapest plan starts at $42 a month.

Selling physical goods?

Then this is the wrong comparison. Digital platforms bill per sale and know nothing about inventory or shipping labels. Physical goods point towards a store builder instead: Shopify for anything that grows and needs sales channels, Ecwid for a store bolted onto a site you already have, or WooCommerce if WordPress is already running. The fee logic there is different — a monthly plan plus card processing, without a cut of revenue.

Mixed cases are more common than the comparisons admit. Selling templates digitally and books in print usually means two rails and two sets of books.

What I would take

Want the tax handled and selling at low price points: Polar Pro. Cheapest of the merchant-of-record options in the $29 scenario, and the gap widens as revenue grows. Below roughly $1,300 a month the free Starter tier or Lemon Squeezy does the same job — both 5% all-in with no base fee.

Handling tax yourself, because you only sell domestically and stay under the registration thresholds: Payhip Pro or Podia Shaker. At that point a monthly plan beats any revenue share.

Services only: Stripe directly plus a scheduling tool. No platform.

Gumroad is the most expensive choice in both scenarios. It stays the right one for anybody testing a single product without wanting to think about plans — create it, sell it, done. Once it turns into a business, that convenience costs double digits.

If you are looking for a whole toolkit rather than a storefront, the comparison of the best tools for small businesses covers it. And if courses are the product, put the course platforms side by side first.