Gumroad vs Payhip:
which should you actually use?
Payhip keeps more of every sale: 5% on its free plan against Gumroad’s 10% plus 50¢, at every price. Gumroad wins if you want sales tax handled everywhere, or you want its marketplace putting your product in front of strangers.
The short answer
One is cheaper. The other does more for you.
Pick Payhip if the platform fee is what matters.
Payhip’s free plan takes 5% and nothing else. Gumroad takes 10% plus 50¢ on every direct sale, with no lower rate to move to. On a $49 product that is $2.45 to Payhip against $5.40 to Gumroad, the same gap on your first sale and your thousandth. Neither figure includes card processing; both charge it separately.
Pick Gumroad if you sell worldwide, or want its marketplace working for you.
Gumroad became a merchant of record on 1 January 2025 and now collects and remits sales tax, VAT and GST globally on your behalf. Payhip covers EU and UK VAT only. US sales tax and every other jurisdiction stays yours to work out. Gumroad Discover can also put your product in front of buyers who have never heard of you, at 30% on those sales.
Pick a paid Payhip plan once you are past about $363 a month.
Payhip’s $29 Plus plan drops the rate to 2%, which costs less than Gumroad’s 10% above roughly $363 in monthly sales. Its $99 Pro plan takes 0% and passes Gumroad at about $990. Below those lines the free plan is still the cheaper choice, and a subscription bills you in slow months too.
Feature by feature
Where the two actually differ.
| Feature | Gumroad | Payhip |
|---|---|---|
| Per-sale fee (entry tier) | 10% + $0.50 on direct sales | Edge: Payhip. 5% on the free plan |
| Lowest per-sale fee available | 10% + $0.50. There is no lower tier | Edge: Payhip. 2% on the $29/mo Plus plan; 0% on the $99/mo Pro plan |
| Monthly cost | $0, always | $0 free · $29 Plus · $99 Pro |
| Gumroad has no plan to buy; Payhip’s paid plans are optional. | ||
| You keep on a $49 sale | $41.88 | Edge: Payhip. $44.83 on the free plan |
| Both figures are after estimated card processing of 2.9% + $0.30. | ||
| Merchant of record | Edge: Gumroad. Gumroad, since 1 January 2025 | You are. Payhip acts as your EU and UK VAT agent only |
| Sales tax and VAT | Edge: Gumroad. Collected and remitted worldwide on your behalf | EU and UK VAT handled automatically; every other jurisdiction is yours |
| Payouts | Gumroad holds the funds and pays out on its own weekly schedule | Edge: Payhip. Paid into your own PayPal or Stripe as each sale completes |
| Gumroad publishes its current payout minimum and holding period in its help center. | ||
| Storefront | Hosted profile and product pages on gumroad.com | Hosted store with themes and your own product pages |
| Product file size limit | Edge: Gumroad. 16 GB per file on paid products (250 MB on free ones) | 5 GB per file, with no storage or bandwidth cap |
| Marketplace and discovery | Edge: Gumroad. Gumroad Discover. 30% on the sales it sends you | None. Every buyer is one you brought |
| Builds the product for you | No | No |
| Best for | Selling worldwide with tax and discovery handled for you | Keeping the most of every sale you drive yourself |
Verified August 2026 against each platform's own published pricing and help pages. Card processing (est. 2.9% + $0.30 on a US card) is charged separately by both and is not folded into either platform fee. Payhip's per-sale figures exclude the $29 or $99 monthly cost of the plans that produce them, and Gumroad's exclude the 30% rate on sales it sends you through Discover. Platforms change pricing, so check their sites for the latest.
The dots mark an edge, and they point both ways. Payhip wins the money rows outright; Gumroad wins tax, file size, and the only marketplace either of them has.
Where each one wins
Two good products with different priorities.
Payhip · the fee
Payhip: the lowest rate needs no plan
Half of Gumroad’s cut, on the free plan, with no card on file and no monthly bill. On a $49 sale Payhip takes $2.45 and Gumroad takes $5.40, and the gap widens with every product you price higher.
Payhip also pays you as each sale completes, straight into your own PayPal or Stripe, rather than holding a balance for you.
Gumroad · tax
Gumroad: tax handled everywhere
Since 1 January 2025 Gumroad has been the merchant of record, collecting and remitting sales tax, VAT and GST worldwide. That is real administrative work removed, not a marketing line.
Payhip covers EU and UK VAT and stops there. If you sell into the US, Canada or Australia at any scale, the difference is yours to manage.
Payhip · the ladder
Payhip: the rate drops if you subscribe
$29 a month takes the per-sale fee to 2%, and $99 a month takes it to zero. Gumroad has nothing equivalent. 10% plus 50¢ is the rate at every volume, forever.
Above roughly $363 in monthly sales the $29 plan already costs less than Gumroad. That is a low bar for anyone selling seriously.
Gumroad · reach
Gumroad: a marketplace that sometimes sells for you
Gumroad Discover surfaces products to buyers who arrived with no idea who you are. Those sales cost 30% instead of 10% plus 50¢, expensive but revenue you would not otherwise have had.
Payhip has no marketplace. Every sale there is one your own audience, list, or ads produced.
The honest breakeven
When a Payhip plan starts beating Gumroad.
Gumroad has no plan to buy, so the comparison is a subscription against a percentage. Payhip’s $29 Plus plan charges 2% where Gumroad charges 10%, so it breaks even at $29 ÷ 0.08, about $363 in monthly sales. The $99 Pro plan charges nothing per sale, so it breaks even at $99 ÷ 0.10, about $990. Both lines sit lower in practice, because Gumroad’s 50¢ per order is not in that arithmetic.
Against Payhip’s own free plan the lines are further out: Plus pays for itself around $967 a month and Pro around $1,980. Below all of it, the free plan is the cheapest thing either company sells, and the subscription is a bill that arrives in the months you sell nothing.
A third option
Both assume the product already exists.
Gumroad and Payhip are places to put a finished file. If the file is written, pick on fee and tax and stop reading. MKKT is built for the other case: you know the thing, you have not made it yet, so it drafts the product, the copy, and the store page with you, then charges 7%when someone buys, two points above Payhip’s free plan, with no paid tier above it and no monthly bill under it.
| Platform | You keep on a $49 sale | Per-sale fee | Monthly fee | Builds the product with you |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gumroad | $41.88 | 10% + $0.50 | $0 | No |
| Payhip | $44.83 | 5% (free plan) | $0 to $99 | No |
| MKKT | $43.85 | 7% flat | $0 | Yes, AI product studio |
Verified August 2026. "You keep" assumes one $49 digital sale, and shows card processing (est. 2.9% + $0.30) separately for all three, because none of them fold it into their platform fee. Gumroad's figure is a direct sale; sales it sends you through Discover are charged 30%. Payhip's figure is its free plan. The $29 and $99 plans lower the rate but add a monthly bill this column excludes. Platforms change pricing, so check their sites for the latest.
- 7% per sale, $0 a month, no tiers
- AI drafts the product, the copy, the page
- One branded storefront holding your whole catalog
- Instant file delivery, no buyer account needed
The honest limits: MKKT is newer than both, it is not a merchant of record, product files cap at 100 MB, and you verify your identity with the payment provider once before your first withdrawal. If worldwide tax handling or multi-gigabyte files are the job, Gumroad is the better answer.
FAQ
Questions, answered straight.
- Which is cheaper, Gumroad or Payhip?
- Payhip, at every price and every volume. Gumroad takes 10% plus 50¢ on each direct sale and has no lower rate to move to; Payhip’s free plan takes 5% and nothing else. On a $49 product that is $5.40 to Gumroad against $2.45 to Payhip, before the card processing both charge separately.
- Can I move my products from Gumroad to Payhip?
- Yes. The files are yours. Download them from Gumroad, create the matching products on Payhip, and rebuild the descriptions and pricing there. What does not move automatically is your buyer list, your ratings, and your existing product links, so export your customer emails first and keep both stores live during the switch.
- Does Gumroad or Payhip handle EU VAT?
- Both do, but Gumroad goes further. Gumroad became a merchant of record on 1 January 2025 and now collects and remits sales tax, VAT and GST worldwide on your behalf. Payhip collects and remits EU and UK VAT automatically, but it is not the merchant of record anywhere else, so US sales tax and other jurisdictions stay your responsibility.
- Is there an alternative to both Gumroad and Payhip?
- Several, and they differ mostly in what they do beyond checkout. MKKT is one: 7% per sale, no monthly plan, and an AI studio that drafts the product itself, the sales copy and the store page from what you describe or upload. It is newer than both, it is not a merchant of record, and product files cap at 100 MB.
Compare MKKT with more platforms
Or start from
what you know.
If the product isn't written yet, MKKT drafts it with you, then takes 7% when it sells.
Free to start · 7% per sale · no card required