Best Link-in-Bio Stores for Digital Products in 2026: Fees Compared

A link-in-bio store sits behind the single link in an Instagram or TikTok profile. The choice between stores mostly comes down to arithmetic: a flat monthly fee, a cut of each sale, or both. This page runs the same $20 product through five stores using the prices each one lists, then adds the part creators in Europe care about: who deals with VAT.

Figures were read from each seller's own pages on 3 November 2026. Payment-processor charges (Stripe, PayPal) are shown separately because every platform passes them on in some form, and they are not part of the platform fee compared here.

How we score

Scores are derived from listed prices and terms, not from usage tests. Each seller gets 1 to 5 on four criteria; the total is the weighted sum.

• Cost at 10 sales a month (30%). Cheapest listed plan for $200 of monthly revenue. Lowest cost scores 5, highest scores 1.
• Cost at 100 sales a month (25%). Same method at $2,000 of revenue, picking each seller's cheapest plan at that volume.
• EU VAT handling (30%). 5 if the seller says it handles tax as merchant of record, 4 if it says it collects and remits EU VAT for you, 1 if no VAT handling is listed.
• Payouts (15%). 5 for payment immediately after each sale, 3 for a fixed twice-monthly schedule, 2 where the schedule is not listed or varies by country.

VAT carries the same weight as early-stage cost because a shop selling to EU buyers has to deal with it from the first sale. A seller with no VAT line on its pricing page is not necessarily non-compliant, but the work then sits with you.

Fees on a $20 product, side by side

Platform fees only. Stan describes its charge as "the standard Stripe or PayPal processing fee" on top of the plan price. Gumroad's pricing page does not itemise a separate processing fee. Payhip lists PayPal and Stripe fees as applying on every plan.

The ranking, with sub-scores

Dollar figures in brackets are the monthly platform cost on the cheapest plan at that volume. Payhip at 100 sales: Plus plan, $29 + 2% of $2,000 = $69. Beacons at 100 sales: Creator Plus, $30. Check any total: for Payhip, 5×0.30 + 3×0.25 + 4×0.30 + 5×0.15 = 4.20.

Scorecards

1. Payhip

• For: $0 monthly on the free plan, immediate payouts, EU and UK VAT collected and remitted for you, all features and unlimited products on every plan.
• Against: the 5% free-plan fee becomes expensive at volume. The Plus plan ($29, 2%) breaks even against Free at about 49 sales of $20 a month ($29 ÷ $0.60 saved per sale).
• Who it's for: a seller with one to a few products and sales still in the tens per month.

2. Lemon Squeezy

• For: a flat 5% + 50¢, no monthly fee, a stated merchant-of-record role, and payouts to bank wire or PayPal in 200+ countries.
• Against: the 50¢ is 2.5% of a $20 sale on top of the 5%, so the effective rate is 7.5%. It also lists that "some payments may be subject to additional fees". Payouts run twice monthly, not per sale.
• Who it's for: an EU seller who wants someone else to carry the tax liability and is comfortable with a pay-as-you-sell model.

4. Gumroad

• For: no monthly fee, and Gumroad says it handles all tax obligations worldwide, including VAT and GST.
• Against: 10% + $0.50 is a 12.5% effective rate on a $20 product, and 30% applies when a new customer arrives through its Discover marketplace. There is no plan that lowers the rate as you grow.
• Who it's for: someone who wants the least setup and sells occasionally.

3. Beacons

• For: a free plan, and 0% store fees from Creator Plus at $30 a month, which beats the free plan from about 17 sales of $20 a month.
• Against: the $10 Creator plan still carries the 9% fee, so it adds cost without cutting the rate. No VAT handling is listed on its pricing page.
• Who it's for: a creator who wants the bio page and the store in one tool and expects 17+ sales a month.

5. Stan Store

• For: no transaction fee on either plan, so each extra sale costs the platform nothing. Its own pricing post contrasts this with Gumroad and Linktree taking a percentage.
• Against: the $29 monthly floor makes it the most expensive option at 10 sales. No tax or VAT handling is listed in the pricing post, so EU VAT stays your job.
• Who it's for: a creator past 12+ sales a month (vs Gumroad) or 29+ (vs Payhip Free) who sells mainly to non-EU buyers or handles VAT separately.

Stan Store vs Gumroad: the break-even point

On a $20 product, Stan's flat fee overtakes each rival at these volumes:

• Gumroad direct sale: $2.50 per sale. Stan's $29 plan equals 11.6 sales, so Stan is cheaper from the 12th sale each month.
• Against Lemon Squeezy ($1.50): Stan needs 19.3 sales, so 20 a month.
• Against Payhip Free ($1.00): Stan needs 29 sales a month.
• Gumroad Discover sales: the 30% rate is $6.00 on $20, which pushes Stan's break-even down to 5 sales if that is how buyers find you.

The crossover moves with price. At $50, Gumroad's fee is $5.50, and Stan's $29 equals 5.3 sales. Higher-priced products favour flat-fee plans.

Selling to EU buyers

None of the five pricing pages lists a seller-country restriction. What each states about tax and payouts:

• Payhip: collects, reports and remits digital EU/UK VAT and US/Canadian sales tax for you.
• Lemon Squeezy: merchant of record across all jurisdictions, payouts supported in 200+ countries.
• Gumroad: worldwide tax collection and remittance; the payout method (direct deposit or PayPal) varies by country, so check the options for your country when you connect your account.
• Stan Store and Beacons: payments run through Stripe or PayPal. Neither page lists VAT handling.

Where the store is not the merchant of record, you are the seller for VAT purposes and need to decide how to register and report. That is a tax question for an accountant, not something a store's fee table settles.

What happens after a customer buys

1. The buyer pays on the store's checkout, reached from your Instagram or TikTok bio link.
2. The store (or Stripe/PayPal behind it) takes the fees listed above.
3. Under a merchant-of-record model (Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy), the store collects the buyer's VAT and remits it. Under Payhip, VAT is collected and remitted on your behalf as well.
4. Your net amount is paid out: immediately on Payhip, as "instant cash-outs" on Beacons, twice monthly on Lemon Squeezy, by a country-dependent method on Gumroad.
5. Where VAT is not handled by the store, you record the sale and handle the VAT yourself.

Alternatives: growing the traffic to the store

A cheap checkout does nothing without visitors. Organic is where most of it comes from: a product link works best when the content around it already earns attention. Our comparison of TikTok, Instagram and YouTube Shorts pay shows where platform payouts sit relative to selling your own product, and the ranking of 15 social media income streams puts product sales in context. If you are weighing platform payouts first, see Creator Rewards vs LIVE Gifts vs TikTok Shop.

Paid promotion is the other option: a small ad budget pointed at a single product page, tested at a low spend before scaling. Use the break-even numbers above to decide your maximum cost per sale. At a $20 product on Payhip Free, each sale leaves $19.00 before processor fees, and that is the ceiling for your ad cost per sale.

Page updates

3 November 2026: first published. Prices read from Payhip, Lemon Squeezy, Gumroad and Beacons pricing pages and Stan Store's pricing post on this date. Stores change plans often, so confirm the figure on the checkout page before you commit.