Digital Product Platform Fees Compared (2026): Etsy, Gumroad, Payhip, Ko-fi & PayPal

Published July 2, 2026

Part of: Digital Products — our full guide on this topic.

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If you sell (or are about to sell) a digital product, one question decides how much of each sale actually reaches you: what does the platform take? The trouble is that every platform charges differently — a monthly fee here, a per-sale cut there, a listing fee, a processing fee stacked on top — so “which is cheapest” has no one-line answer. This guide puts the main options side by side, honestly, so you can see how each model works and work out which is cheapest for your numbers.

Fees change over time and vary by country, plan and payout method. This guide explains how each platform’s fee structure works rather than quoting exact percentages that go stale — always confirm the current numbers on each provider’s own pricing page before you build a margin around them.

The five fee ingredients to watch

Before comparing platforms, know what you’re comparing. A platform’s total cost is built from up to five ingredients:

1. Monthly / subscription fee — a fixed cost you pay whether or not you sell.
2. Per-sale platform fee — the percentage (and sometimes fixed amount) the platform takes from each sale.
3. Listing fee — a charge just to list a product, regardless of sales (marketplace-style).
4. Payment processing fee — the card/PayPal fee to actually move the money, commonly around 2.9% plus a small fixed fee. Sometimes it’s folded into the platform fee; sometimes it’s separate and charged by your Stripe/PayPal account.
5. Who handles VAT / sales tax — whether the platform acts as merchant of record and remits tax for you, or leaves that to you. Not a percentage, but a real cost in time and risk.

The single biggest mistake is comparing only ingredient #2 (the headline “X% per sale”) and ignoring the rest — especially the processing layer, which people forget when a platform doesn’t fold it in.

The comparison at a glance

Here’s how the main platforms differ in structure (not exact rates — check those live):

Each cell links to a full breakdown below. The pattern to notice: no platform is “free.” They just charge in different places — and the place they charge changes which one is cheapest at your volume.

The quick verdict on each

• Gumroad — simplest math, one number. No monthly fee and no listing fees; it takes a single flat cut per sale with card processing already folded in, so what you see is close to what you pay. Great for launching fast and for low volume. The flat percentage can feel expensive as sales scale. → How much Gumroad takes

• Payhip — pay nothing until you sell, then optimise. The free plan has no monthly cost and a small per-sale fee; paid monthly tiers lower that fee toward 0% once your volume justifies the subscription. Remember its platform fee is separate from your own Stripe/PayPal processing fee. → How much Payhip takes

• Ko-fi — the lowest headline fee. Its free plan famously takes 0% platform fee on tips, shop sales and memberships — you keep everything except your own processor’s cut. That makes it the cheapest headline deal, though it’s lighter on storefront features than a dedicated store. → How much Ko-fi takes

• Etsy — you pay more, but it brings shoppers. Listing fee plus a transaction fee plus payment processing, and it takes a cut on Offsite Ads sales. The extra cost buys something the others don’t: a marketplace full of buyers already searching. Worth it if you have no traffic of your own. → How much Etsy takes

• PayPal (or Stripe) direct — the processing layer itself. If you sell from your own site or a “Buy with PayPal” button, PayPal is the fee — a percentage plus a fixed amount per transaction, with extras for cross-border and currency conversion. No platform cut on top, but no storefront or traffic either. → How much PayPal takes · Stripe vs PayPal

The layer everyone forgets: processing stacks on top

This is the trap. When a platform advertises a low or 0% fee, it’s usually talking about its platform cut — not the payment processing fee. On Payhip and Ko-fi you connect your own Stripe or PayPal, and they charge their standard rate (commonly around 2.9% plus a fixed fee) on top. So Ko-fi’s “0%” doesn’t mean you keep 100% — you keep everything after the processor’s cut.

Gumroad is the exception that folds processing into one flat percentage, which is why its single number looks higher but isn’t necessarily worse. When you compare, always add the processing layer to any platform that charges it separately — otherwise you’re comparing a gross number against a net one.

What you keep ≈ price − platform fee − processing fee − (any listing fee).

Percentage vs monthly: how the “cheapest” flips with volume

The reason there’s no universal winner is that the two fee models cross over:

• Percentage-only tools (Gumroad’s flat cut, Payhip’s free plan, Ko-fi) are cheapest at low volume — you pay nothing when you don’t sell, and a modest slice when you do.
• Monthly-subscription / paid tiers (Payhip’s paid plans, Etsy’s optional plan) are cheapest at high volume — the fixed cost is dead weight when sales are small, but once you’re selling steadily the per-sale saving can dwarf the subscription.

The break-even is pure arithmetic. Estimate a month of sales, work out the per-sale fee you’d save by upgrading, and compare it to the plan’s monthly price. If the saving is bigger, upgrade; if not, stay free. Don’t buy a subscription to save on fees you’re not yet paying.

Plug your real price and monthly sales into the digital product profit calculator to see what you keep per sale, month and year on any fee structure — and if you’re still deciding where to list, the where-to-sell calculator and the Etsy fee calculator run the comparison for you.

Which is actually cheapest for you?

Match the platform to your stage, not to a leaderboard:

• Just testing an idea / very low volume → Gumroad or Ko-fi. Zero monthly cost, live in an afternoon, you only pay when you sell.
• Selling steadily from your own audience → Payhip (consider a paid tier to cut the fee) or a Gumroad/own-site setup. Do the break-even math above.
• No audience yet, need buyers → Etsy. You’ll pay more per sale, but the marketplace traffic can be worth far more than the fee difference. Pair it with the best Etsy alternatives if you outgrow it.
• Want everything in one place (funnel, email, checkout, courses) → an all-in-one is a different trade-off than a per-sale storefront; see Gumroad vs Systeme.io for when that math wins.

For the bigger picture beyond fees — features, ease of setup, who each tool suits — read the best platform to sell digital downloads.

How to keep more of what you earn

Whichever platform you pick, three habits protect your margin:

1. Bake fees into your price. Decide what you want to net, add up every fee layer that applies (platform + processing + any listing fee), and gross the price up so the fees come out of the buyer’s payment, not your target. How to price a digital product walks through the method.
2. Count both layers. For any platform that charges processing separately, always add ~3% + a fixed fee to the platform cut before you compare.
3. Own your audience. The biggest fee saving over time isn’t switching platforms — it’s building an email list so you can sell without paying a marketplace to reach the same buyer twice. That’s where taking payments on your own terms and an all-in-one funnel tool like Systeme.io start to pay off.

The bottom line

There is no single cheapest platform — only the cheapest one for your price point and volume. Ko-fi wins on headline platform fee (0%), Gumroad wins on simplicity (one folded-in number, no monthly cost), Payhip’s paid tiers win at scale, and Etsy costs more but brings the traffic. Compare the whole stack — monthly fee, per-sale cut, listing fee, processing and who handles VAT — not just the headline percentage, then get something live. For digital products, the fee is almost always a rounding error next to the real work: finding buyers.

Some links above are affiliate or product links — they never cost you extra. See our affiliate disclosure. Fee figures are illustrative and change over time; confirm current rates on each platform directly. This is general information, not tax advice.