Best platforms to sell digital products

TL;DR: Choosing a digital product platform on subscription price alone costs you money. At $5,000/month in revenue, Gumroad's reportedly 10% transaction fee takes $500 before payment processing. Our Builder plan at $69/month on annual billing removes the platform fee entirely and remits VAT and GST across 45+ countries automatically via Teachable Payments. The break-even between Gumroad and our Builder plan lands at approximately $690/month in sales, assuming an average sale price of $50. Calculate your full fee stack before you commit: subscription cost, platform transaction fee, card processing (2.9% + $0.30 for US cards, 3.9% + $0.30 for international cards), and currency conversion (0.95% for non-USD transactions via Stripe).

A 10% transaction fee sounds manageable when you're making $100 a month, but at $5,000 a month you're handing over $500 every single month to a platform that doesn't file your taxes. This guide leads with the math, not the marketing, and compares real take-home pay across the six most common platforms so you can choose the most profitable home for your PDFs, templates, courses, and coaching programs.

Which plan fits your situation?

Answer four questions to find the right starting point before running any fee math.

1. Do you already have an email list or social audience? (Yes / No)
2. Are any of your buyers located outside the US? (Yes / No)
3. Is your target monthly revenue above $533? (Yes / No)
4. Do you want to file your own VAT and GST returns? (Yes / No)

Yes to questions 2 and 3, and No to question 4: model our Builder plan first. Pre-revenue or targeting under $500/month from a local audience: the Starter plan's lower entry cost holds while you validate demand.

Platform fee comparison: Your net profit breakdown

Think of your platform cost like a receipt, not a subscription. The headline monthly fee is the sticker price at the top, but transaction fees, payment processing charges, and currency conversion costs are the line items at the bottom. The receipt only makes sense when every line is visible before you sign up.

Fixed monthly platform fees

Subscription costs vary considerably across the platforms worth comparing:

Our Builder plan removes the platform transaction fee entirely at $69/month on annual billing and adds affiliate tools. That's $74/month less than Kajabi's cheapest public plan, Basic at $143/month on annual billing, with a headline card processing rate of 2.9% + $0.30 on the Basic plan, though Kajabi's own help center documents an additional 0.7% surcharge on subscription and payment-plan transactions and 1.5% on international cards, pushing the effective rate to approximately 3.6% + $0.30 for creators selling memberships or to international buyers.

Monthly billing on our platform costs approximately 22% more than annual rates. All break-even calculations in this guide assume annual billing.

How per-sale fees eat your revenue

Think of the Starter plan or Gumroad like renting versus buying: the lower upfront cost makes sense early on, but past a revenue threshold, the per-sale percentage costs more than a flat subscription. On our annual billing, Starter and Builder break even at $533/month in course revenue. At that level, the 7.5% fee on Starter equals the $40/month cost difference to upgrade to Builder, so every dollar above $533 is cheaper to earn on Builder. For Gumroad versus Builder, the break-even lands at approximately $690/month, where Gumroad's reportedly 10% fee begins to exceed Builder's $69/month flat cost.

Merchant fees on digital sales

Platform fees are only one layer. Payment processing costs stack on top of transaction fees on every plan across every platform. Stripe's standard US rate is 2.9% + $0.30 per card transaction. International cards issued outside the US add a 1% cross-border fee, bringing the effective rate to 3.9% + $0.30. Stripe currency conversion adds approximately 0.95% for non-USD transactions, which Teachable shows separately for visibility. On a $100 sale to a UK buyer using a UK-issued card, expect to pay $4.20 in processing fees (3.9% + $0.30) plus $0.95 in currency conversion if you're pricing in USD.

Calculate your net profit per sale

The table below shows real take-home pay at three revenue tiers, assuming 10 sales at $50/sale ($500 tier), 40 sales at $50/sale ($2,000 tier), and 200 sales at $50/sale ($10,000 tier). Processing fees use Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction.

At $500/month, Builder produces slightly lower take-home pay than Gumroad by $19, but past $690/month, Builder's 0% platform fee produces higher take-home every month. At $10,000/month, Builder produces $931 more in take-home pay than Gumroad's transaction model, and that gap widens as revenue grows.

Marketplace vs. self-hosted: Platform breakdown

Our pricing and transaction fees

Our current plans on annual billing run from $29/month (Starter, 7.5% transaction fee, 5 products) to $69/month (Builder, 0% transaction fee, 10 products) to $139/month (Growth, 0% transaction fee, 50 products), students are unlimited on every plan. Creators outgrowing Growth's 50-product cap can contact sales about a Custom plan, per our pricing page, for sellers doing more than $12,000/year.

"It is a great platform that provides courses on how to create, design, and sell online courses. It is a great learning tool that is easy to use and helps me easily create, design, and sell my courses on the web." - Barathkumaar R. on G2

Gumroad: Fee structure and take-home pay

Gumroad reportedly charges 10% per sale with no monthly subscription. That reportedly zero-dollar monthly entry point makes Gumroad worth considering if you're making under $100/month and want to test whether your product sells before committing to a platform fee. Past $690/month in revenue, however, Gumroad's fee model costs more than Teachable Builder's flat $69/month. At $5,000/month, Gumroad reportedly takes roughly $500 in platform fees alone, compared to Builder's $69.

Since January 2025, Gumroad operates as a Merchant of Record and collects sales tax, VAT, and GST globally, which removes the tax filing burden, but its transaction fees scale infinitely against you and its course delivery tools are far shallower than our gradebook, compliance settings, and watch-time enforcement.

Podia: Fee structure and take-home pay

Podia's Mover plan runs $42/month on annual billing with a 5% transaction fee, while Shaker reportedly runs around $84/month on annual billing with 0% fees. Podia's Mover plan caps products at 50 and Shaker at 150, both higher than our 5-product Starter cap and 10-product Builder cap, which is a relevant difference for creators selling large digital download catalogs. That said, Podia reportedly lacks graded quizzes and interactive assignments compared to us, and it has no native mobile app at any tier. We include iOS and Android apps on every plan, giving students app-based access with offline playback rather than a mobile browser experience.

Kajabi: Pricing and fee structure

Kajabi's Basic plan starts at $143/month on annual billing and includes a built-in email funnel builder and CRM. We don't include a native CRM, but we integrate with dedicated email platforms through our paid plan integrations, while keeping the deeper course-delivery tooling (gradebook, minimum watch-time enforcement, per-student progress tracking) that Kajabi doesn't match at the same price point.

Kajabi's Basic plan at $143/month on annual billing is 107% more expensive than our Builder plan's $69/month, with a headline card processing rate of 2.9% + $0.30 on the Basic plan. Kajabi's own help center documents an additional 0.7% on subscription and payment-plan transactions and 1.5% on international cards, so creators running memberships or selling globally should model the effective rate of approximately 3.6% + $0.30 before comparing plans.

Payhip: Fee structure for new creators

Payhip's free forever plan carries a 5% transaction fee with no monthly cost, making it a low-friction entry point for selling basic digital downloads like PDFs and templates. Its Plus plan at $29/month drops the fee to 2%, and its Pro plan at $99/month removes it entirely. Payhip automatically collects and remits EU VAT and UK VAT on your behalf.

Per Payhip's own help center, it acts as a marketplace facilitator in the US and as a digital platform operator in Canada. Either way, it does not match our Teachable Payments' 45+ country remittance coverage. Payhip supports tax-inclusive pricing as an option. Payhip's student management and course delivery tools also fall short of our structured learning features for creators building beyond single-file downloads.

SendOwl: Pricing and revenue impact

SendOwl's Launch plan reportedly charges $39/month with 0% transaction fees but caps annual sales at $10,000, which limits its usefulness once a product catalog grows. It handles file delivery efficiently for templates and downloadable assets, but it offers no structured student learning portal. SendOwl assists with EU VAT calculation and collection but does not automatically remit taxes globally like a full Merchant of Record, so international tax filing stays largely with the creator.

Key features for growing your creator revenue

Real take-home pay after all fees

A creator in the UK selling a $100 product to US buyers via our Builder plan on annual billing keeps roughly $96.80 per sale after Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 processing fee, with no platform fee. The same sale on Gumroad leaves $86.80 after the reportedly 10% platform fee and $2.90 + $0.30 in Stripe processing, before any international card surcharges.

Managing email lists and automations

We don't include a built-in email funnel builder or CRM. Creators who need one typically connect a dedicated email platform through our integrations, keeping the course-delivery depth that goes further than all-in-one platforms at the same price. Dedicated email platforms connect through native integrations and Zapier, both available from the Builder plan up.

Who owns your audience data

Your email list is the one business asset that doesn't change when a platform restructures its pricing or an algorithm shifts. On marketplace platforms, the platform controls the customer relationship. With us, you own the student data, email addresses, and transaction history outright and can export everything at any time. Creators who've built audiences inside marketplace ecosystems often discover they can't take that list with them when they switch. With us, the student database is yours from day one.

Mobile checkout and native app access

We include native iOS and Android apps on every plan, giving students app-based learning with offline playback and automatic progress sync. Thinkific charges $199/month as a separate add-on for its branded mobile app, and Thinkific sits around 2/5 on Trustpilot. Podia has no native app at any tier. For creators whose students consume content on mobile, the app question translates directly into completion rates and student satisfaction.

Automatic tax compliance for global creators

If you sell a single PDF to a student in Germany, you owe VAT to the German government from your very first sale. Non-EU sellers face no minimum threshold: EU VAT applies from the first cross-border transaction. Filing manually means registering for VAT in each relevant country, calculating tax by jurisdiction each quarter, filing returns in local currencies, and retaining audit documentation for years across multiple jurisdictions. Missing a quarterly deadline in Italy carries penalties of 25% of VAT due, and missing a UK payment triggers 7.75% late-payment interest from day one.

VAT and sales tax remittance comparison

Teachable Payments automatically calculates, collects, and remits sales tax, VAT, and GST across 45+ countries, including the US, EU, UK, Canada, and Australia, removing you from the filing loop entirely. Kajabi leaves VAT filing to the creator on standard plans, as confirmed in Kajabi's own help documentation. It supports tax-inclusive pricing so the number your students see is what they pay, taxes included.

Managing US sales tax obligations

US sales tax nexus rules require sellers to collect and remit state sales tax once they cross economic thresholds in individual states. The rules vary by state, apply to digital products in many jurisdictions, and change regularly. Teachable Payments calculates and remits US sales tax automatically on your behalf, so you never track nexus thresholds or file state returns. Eligibility requirements and supported countries for Teachable Payments are detailed in the Help Center.

How to reach your first sale in hours

The gap between "platform chosen" and "first payment received" is where most creators stall. Setup complexity is measured in lost launch momentum, and every hour between signing up and going live is an hour during which audience attention drifts.

Payment account verification delays

Standard payment gateways typically require KYC (Know Your Customer) identity verification and payout account linking before you can accept a single payment. This process can delay revenue acceptance by days or weeks depending on the gateway's review queue. With Teachable Payments, the onboarding is built into the Teachable signup flow, reducing the configuration steps required before your checkout is live.

Setup steps to reach your first sale

The workflow from signup to live, purchasable product follows five steps on Teachable:

1. Create your account: Sign up at teachable.com and start your 7-day trial. No developer setup required.
2. Upload your product: Drag and drop your content files into the Course Builder. Video and file hosting are built in with no third-party platform needed.
3. Set your price: Choose one-time purchase, payment plan, or subscription. Coupon codes, order bumps, and one-click upsells are available on all plans.
4. Enable Teachable Payments: Complete the payment onboarding to accept credit cards and activate automated tax remittance.
5. Share your checkout link: Send the direct checkout URL to your email list or social audience. No full storefront build-out required before your first sale.

Testing your payment flow for success

Run a test transaction before you send your checkout link to a warm audience. Verify the checkout completes, confirm your email integration fires the welcome sequence, and check that your digital product file downloads correctly. A broken checkout during a 48-hour launch window is a business emergency with no recovery window, and a test transaction run the day before launch catches it before it costs you real revenue.

Fee math, tax coverage, and platform stability compared

Calculate your true earnings per sale

A creator selling a $100 digital download at 100 sales per month ($10,000 revenue) on Gumroad reportedly pays $1,000 in platform fees (reportedly 10% × $10,000) plus approximately $320 in Stripe processing. Total cost: roughly $1,320. Switching to our Builder plan at $69/month with 0% platform fees reduces total cost to approximately $389 ($69 subscription plus $320 processing). The monthly saving is approximately $931, and it comes with automated VAT remittance across 45+ countries and native iOS and Android app delivery for students.

"The best part about Teachable is definitely its ease of use. No special coding knowledge required, everything is pretty drag and drop. We're able to upload videos and PDFs and add things like quizzes and text to each lesson." - Verified user on G2

Handle global VAT automatically

Teachable Payments removes the creator from quarterly VAT filing, country-by-country registration, and audit documentation for every international sale. No comparable platform in this price range matches our coverage across 45+ countries. For any creator with students in the EU, UK, Canada, or Australia, the automated remittance alone justifies modeling us against alternatives. Our payments page details exactly which countries are covered.

Platform reliability and compliance credentials

We are SOC 2 Type II certified, audited annually, and GDPR and CCPA compliant. These are verifiable third-party validations that matter when selling to buyers in regulated industries or when enterprise clients ask about platform security before committing to a program. Run this launch readiness checklist the day before your go-live:

• Run a test transaction on your checkout page to confirm payments process end-to-end.
• Verify your email integration is syncing new buyers to your list automatically.
• Confirm your digital product files are fully uploaded and downloadable without errors.
• Set up an order bump or one-click upsell to increase average order value per transaction.
• Check that your support contact info is visible on your school homepage so students can reach you.

Full student data ownership

Every student email address, transaction record, and enrollment history on our platform belongs to you and is exportable at any time. If you ever move platforms, your entire student database moves with you. Creators on the Custom plan access white-glove migration assistance and a dedicated success manager for larger catalog transfers. Student data ownership is not a peripheral benefit: it's the reason your email list stays a fully owned asset regardless of what any platform does next with its pricing or terms.

Run the fee math for your expected revenue volume before choosing a plan: teachable.com/pricing. Or start a 7-day trial and build your first product before committing.

FAQs

How do I calculate my actual take-home pay per sale?

Subtract the platform transaction fee (7.5% on Teachable Starter, 0% on Builder), the payment processing fee (2.9% + $0.30 for US cards via Stripe), and any applicable international card fee (an additional 1% cross-border charge for cards issued outside the US via Teachable Payments) from your product price. If you're selling internationally with currency conversion, add approximately 0.95% on top.

Do we handle VAT and GST for you?

Yes. If you use Teachable Payments, we automatically calculate, collect, and remit VAT and GST across 45+ countries and US sales tax across US states, as confirmed in our payments documentation. You're completely removed from the tax filing loop for covered jurisdictions.

Can I migrate my digital products and student list to us from another platform?

Yes. You can export your student list and upload your product files directly into our Course Builder. Creators on the Custom plan get white-glove migration assistance from a dedicated success manager for larger catalogs.

At what revenue level does it make sense to upgrade from Starter to Builder?

On our annual billing, the break-even point is $533/month in course revenue. At that level, the Starter plan's 7.5% transaction fee ($40) equals the $40/month cost of upgrading to Builder. Above $533/month, Builder produces higher take-home pay.

What payment methods does our checkout support?

Teachable Payments accepts credit cards. PayPal is available on one-time purchases but not on recurring payment options when an order bump is applied or when a first-payment-only coupon is applied. Standard card processing via Teachable Payments runs at 2.9% + $0.30 for US cards and 3.9% + $0.30 for international cards, per our current pricing page.

Key terms glossary

Platform transaction fee: The percentage a platform takes from each sale, on top of payment processing. Our Starter plan charges 7.5%, Builder and Growth charge 0%.

Payment processing fee: The fee charged by the payment processor (Stripe or PayPal) to move money. Stripe's standard US rate is 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction.

Cross-border fee: Stripe adds 1% for cards issued outside the US via Teachable Payments, bringing the effective rate to 3.9% + $0.30 for international card transactions.

Teachable Payments: Our native payment gateway that automatically calculates and remits VAT, GST, and US sales tax across 45+ countries, removing creators from the tax filing loop entirely.

Break-even point: The monthly revenue level at which upgrading to a higher plan costs the same as staying on a transaction-fee plan. For our Starter vs. Builder plans on annual billing, this is $533/month. For Gumroad vs. Builder, this is approximately $690/month.

Tax nexus: A legal connection between a seller and a tax jurisdiction that creates an obligation to collect and remit sales tax. US states each have their own nexus thresholds for digital products.

Order bump: A low-friction add-on offer shown on the checkout page before payment that increases average order value without requiring a separate sales page.

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