Followrs-published cost research

Creator Store Cost Index

Estimate what six creator-store platforms cost under the same US direct digital-product sales scenario. The ranking measures cost only—not which platform is universally best.

Published by FollowrsDataset 2026-08-19.1Verified 2026-08-18

Scope: USD, United States, domestic online cards, and direct digital-product sales. No affiliate placement or pay-to-include relationship influences the ranking.

Calculate a scenario

Gross monthly revenue and successful paid digital-product sales. Inputs stay in this browser and are not stored.

Lowest estimated monthly cost under this scenario

#1Free

Followrs

$35.00

estimated monthly cost

Creator keeps $965.00

Plan details
Subscription
$0.00
Platform fee
$0.00
Processing
$35.00
#2Creator

Stan Store

$64.00

estimated monthly cost

Creator keeps $936.00

Plan details
Subscription
$29.00
Platform fee
$0.00
Processing
$35.00

Lowest of 2 eligible monthly plans for this platform.

#3Creator Plus

Beacons

$65.00

estimated monthly cost

Creator keeps $935.00

Plan details
Subscription
$30.00
Platform fee
$0.00
Processing
$35.00

Lowest of 4 eligible monthly plans for this platform.

#4Plus

Payhip

$84.00

estimated monthly cost

Creator keeps $916.00

Plan details
Subscription
$29.00
Platform fee
$20.00
Processing
$35.00

Lowest of 3 eligible monthly plans for this platform.

#5Direct sales

Gumroad

$145.00

estimated monthly cost

Creator keeps $855.00

Plan details
Subscription
$0.00
Platform fee
$110.00
Processing
$35.00
#6Free

Linktree

$155.00

estimated monthly cost

Creator keeps $845.00

Plan details
Subscription
$0.00
Platform fee
$120.00
Processing
$35.00

Plan break-even points

Approximate gross revenue where the higher-subscription plan first costs no more, holding 20 successful paid sales fixed.

  • Beacons: Creator Plus vs Free at $332.40.
  • Payhip: Plus vs Free Forever at $962.00.
  • Payhip: Pro vs Plus at $3,495.00.
Download public CSV No visitor inputs in the CSV

Cost is not everything

A Merchant-of-Record platform can handle tax obligations that an external-processor storefront leaves to the seller. Other platforms may offer stronger discovery, email, courses, memberships, support, or workflow. Those differences matter, but this index does not turn them into a subjective score.

What the estimate excludes

Annual, founding, early, legacy, marketplace, membership, and subscription offers; refunds, disputes, taxes, payouts, international cards, currency conversion, and alternative payment methods.

Methodology

Each platform contributes every generally available monthly plan. The engine automatically selects that platform's lowest eligible estimated plan.

Gross cents are split across successful paid sales by quotient and remainder. Percentage fees round half-up on each charge, fixed fees apply per charge, then subscription and processing are added. A verified credit is min(processing fee, credit cap).

Revenue-qualified fee tiers use the same charge-level integer math. Gumroad direct or profile sales use 10% + $0.50 per sale, reduced to 5% + $0.50 only when monthly paid sales are over $20,000; normalized card processing remains additional. Discover marketplace sales are outside this index.

Equal costs tie alphabetically. A plan older than 45 days, unverified, or with an unresolved pricing or source discrepancy stays visible but cannot affect ranking. Break-even comparisons hold the sales count fixed and search the documented $10,000,000 safety range; no crossing is reported when none exists.

  1. 1. Subscription = public monthly plan price.
  2. 2. Platform fee = summed per-charge percentage + fixed platform fee.
  3. 3. Processing = normalized Stripe assumption, unless the published platform fee is all-in.
  4. 4. Total = subscription + platform fee + processing − verified processing credit.
  5. 5. Creator keeps = gross revenue − total estimated cost.

Plan and source ledger

Live official values win. Conflicts are recorded and not included in rankings until reconciled.

Followrs — Pro

Not included in rankings.
Monthly
$59.00
Platform fee
0%
Processing
2.9% + $0.30

Current code records $59 and a capped $15 processing credit, but generic public upgrade copy still shows $29. Not included in rankings because public pricing is inconsistent.

Followrs sourceFollowrs sourceStripe source

Gumroad — Direct sales

verified
Monthly
$0.00
Platform fee
10.0% + $0.50/sale; 5.0% + $0.50/sale over $20,000 monthly paid sales
Processing
2.9% + $0.30

Direct/profile sales are 10% + $0.50, or 5% + $0.50 when monthly paid sales are over $20,000; normalized external card processing is additional.

Direct or profile sales only; Discover marketplace sales are excluded.

Gumroad sourceGumroad sourceStripe source

Changelog and corrections

2026-08-19 · v2026-08-19.1: Approved Gumroad for ranking using its live direct/profile fee: 10% + $0.50 per sale plus normalized external processing, or 5% + $0.50 plus processing when monthly paid sales are over $20,000. Discover remains excluded.

2026-08-18 · v2026-08-18.1: Initial six-platform ledger. Live Linktree paid monthly prices ($8/$15/$35) conflict with the definition baseline ($5/$9/$24), so they are not included in rankings. Followrs Pro is recorded at the current $59 configuration with a capped $15 processing credit, but is not included because public upgrade copy still lists a different price.

Found a pricing error? Email corrections@followrs.store with the official source and affected plan. Corrections are proposed in review; this dataset never updates or publishes automatically.

Frequently Asked Questions

Keep researching

Followrs vs Stan StoreFollowrs vs GumroadFollowrs vs PayhipWhy Followrs is free

Build your storefront when the numbers fit

Followrs is included in this publisher-owned research and receives no ranking preference. If its workflow fits after you compare cost and non-cost factors, you can start free.

Create a free Followrs page