Stan Store vs Beacons:
which should you actually use?
Beacons is free to start and takes 9% of every sale; Stan Store takes no platform cut at all but bills $29 a month before you have sold anything. The two cost the same at about $322 a month in store sales. Below that Beacons is cheaper, above it Stan is.
The short answer
It comes down to how much you’re already selling.
Pick Stan Store if you are already selling
Stan takes no cut of any sale on either plan, so past roughly $322 a month in salesits $29 Creator plan costs less than Beacons’ 9%. It is also the more complete selling tool: bookings, courses, subscriptions and lead capture sit in the base plan. At $1,000 a month in sales, 9% would be $90 to Beacons; Stan would be $29.
Pick Beacons if you are not selling much yet
Beacons has a real free tier, $0 a month for a link-in-bio page, a store and a media kit. On $200 of sales its 9% costs $18against Stan’s $29, and in a month where you sell nothing it costs you nothing at all. It is also the better fit if brand deals, rather than product sales, are how you actually earn.
Either way, be careful with Beacons’ $10 plan
The $10 Creator tier does not lower the 9% sales fee. Beacons’ own help centre puts 0% at Creator Plus, $30 a month. If selling is the point, the real choice is free-with-9% or a $29 to $30 plan with no cut. The $10 tier sits between them doing nothing for your margin.
Feature by feature
A percentage of every sale, or a bill every month.
| Feature | Stan Store | Beacons |
|---|---|---|
| Per-sale fee, entry tier | Edge. No platform cut on either plan | 9% on the free plan |
| Lowest per-sale fee, and what it costsA dollar apart. Decide on features, not this row. | Even. No cut, from $29/mo (Creator) | Even. 0%, from $30/mo (Creator Plus) |
| Monthly costOnly Beacons has a genuinely free tier. | $29 (Creator) or $99 (Creator Pro) | Edge. $0, $10, $30 or $90 |
| You keep on a $49 saleMonthly cost excluded. See the breakeven below. | $47.28 | $42.87 free plan · $47.28 on Creator Plus |
| Merchant of recordNeither publishes a merchant-of-record service. | Even. You. Your own Stripe or PayPal | Even. You. Your own Stripe or PayPal |
| Payouts | Even. To your processor, on its own schedule | Even. To your processor, on its own schedule |
| StorefrontSame link in the same bio. Different centre of gravity. | A store first, on one shareable link | A link-in-bio page with a store attached |
| File hosting and delivery limitsAsk support before you build around a large pack. | Included; file-size cap not published | Included; file-size cap not published |
| EU VAT and sales taxPlan for Stripe Tax or an accountant either way. | Not published as a tax service | Not published as a tax service |
| Discovery beyond your own link | No marketplace | Edge. No product marketplace; media kit for brand deals |
| Builds the product for you | Even. No. You bring the finished product | Even. No. AI writing helpers, not the product |
| Best for | Coaches and creators already selling steadily | Creators starting at zero, or living on brand deals |
Verified August 2026 against Stan Store's own pricing post and Beacons' own help-centre articles on plans and product transaction fees. A green dot marks the platform with the edge on that row; a dot on both means it is a wash. "You keep" assumes one $49 digital sale with estimated card processing of 2.9% + $0.30 removed, and excludes monthly plan cost entirely. Where a platform does not publish a figure the cell says so rather than guessing. Both change pricing, so check their own sites before you commit.
Where each one wins
Two good tools built for different months.
Stan Store
Stan Store: it never takes a cut
Neither Stan plan takes a percentage of a sale. Once your store is doing real volume that is the cheaper shape by a wide margin. The fee stops growing while your revenue keeps going.
You still pay your processor about 2.9% + $0.30, as you would anywhere, and Stan notes an extra charge on international cards.
Beacons
Beacons: you can start at $0
Beacons is the only one of the two you can run without a card on file. A quiet month costs nothing, which matters a great deal in the first year when nobody knows whether the product will sell.
The 9% is real, but it is only ever charged against money you actually received.
Stan Store
Stan Store: built around the sale
Bookings, courses, subscriptions, lead magnets and analytics come in the $29 plan; upsells, order bumps, discount codes, affiliates and email automations come in the $99 Pro plan.
If your business is coaching, calls or a course, that is a shorter list of tools to bolt on afterwards.
Beacons
Beacons: a media kit beside the store
Beacons is a creator platform that happens to sell things, not a store that happens to have a link page. The media kit and brand-deal side is included, and for a lot of creators that is the larger revenue line.
Neither platform has a marketplace, so traffic is yours to bring either way.
The honest breakeven
Divide Stan’s monthly fee by Beacons’ sales fee and you get the line: $29 ÷ 9% = about $322 a monthin store sales. Under that, Beacons’ free plan is cheaper. Over it, Stan’s $29 is, and the gap widens with every sale. Beacons’ own upgrade sits a few dollars along the same line, at $30 ÷ 9% = about $333 a month. That is the point its free plan stops being the cheap one even inside Beacons.
Processing fees are ignored in that comparison on purpose: both platforms charge them the same way, so they cancel out. Illustrative only. Nothing here is a promise of sales volume.
A third option
Both assume the product already exists.
Stan and Beacons are both very good at taking money for a file, a call or a course, once that file, call or course exists. Neither one helps you make it, and for most people that is the step that never happens. MKKT is built the other way round: it drafts the product from what you describe or upload, writes the page around it, and charges 7% per sale with no monthly fee.
| Platform | You keep on a $49 sale | Per-sale fee | Monthly fee | Builds the product with you |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MKKT | $43.85 | 7% flat | $0 | Yes, AI product studio |
| Stan Store | $47.28 | No platform cut | $29 to $99 | No |
| Beacons | $42.87 | 9% (free and $10 plans) | $0 to $90 | No |
Pricing verified August 2026. "You keep" assumes one $49 digital sale with estimated card processing of 2.9% + $0.30 removed, and excludes monthly plan cost. Beacons' figure is its free plan; its $30 and $90 plans take no sales fee. Stan's figure applies on both its plans, which start at $29 a month. Platforms change pricing, so check their sites for the latest.
- 7% per sale, $0 a month, no plan ladder
- AI drafts the product, the copy and the page
- One branded storefront holding your whole catalogue
- Files delivered by email the moment payment clears
Honest limits: MKKT is newer than both, it is not a merchant of record, product files cap at 100 MB, and payments are processed by Whop, which means verifying your identity once with them before your first withdrawal.
FAQ
Questions, answered straight.
- Which is cheaper, Stan Store or Beacons?
- It depends how much you sell. Beacons' free plan costs $0 a month but takes 9% of every sale, while Stan Store takes no platform cut at all and starts at $29 a month. The two land in the same place at about $322 in monthly store sales, because 9% of $322 is roughly $29. Below that line Beacons costs less; above it Stan does.
- Can I move from Stan Store to Beacons?
- Yes, but nothing moves automatically. Neither platform publishes a migration tool, so you re-upload your files, rebuild your product pages, and repoint the link in your bio. Your Stripe or PayPal account connects to either one, so past payouts are unaffected. Export your customer and email list before you cancel anything. That is the part people lose in a switch.
- Does Beacons charge a transaction fee on sales?
- Yes, on its lower tiers. Beacons' own help centre lists a 9% transaction fee on the free plan and on the $10 Creator plan, then 0% on Creator Plus at $30 a month and Creator Max at $90. Stripe or PayPal processing is charged on top of that on every plan. Stan Store charges no platform fee on either of its two plans.
- Is there an option with no monthly fee and no 9% cut?
- Yes. MKKT charges 7% per sale and $0 a month, and it drafts the product itself rather than handing you an empty store. A $49 sale leaves you $43.85 after estimated card processing. It is newer than either platform, it is not a merchant of record, and payments run through Whop, so you verify your identity once before your first withdrawal.
Compare MKKT with more platforms
Or start from
what you know.
If the product isn't written yet, MKKT drafts it with you. 7% per sale, $0 a month.
Free to start · 7% per sale · no card required