If you sell rebranded PLR or your own digital products, Payhip and Gumroad are two of the most common places to start. Both let you upload files and take payments without building a full online store. The biggest differences are in how they charge you and how they handle sales tax. This overview is based on each company’s published pricing and help pages; we haven’t run a hands-on test.
Fees (as of October 2026)
Payhip
- Free Forever: $0 per month plus a 5% transaction fee
- Plus: $29 per month plus a 2% transaction fee
- Pro: $99 per month with no Payhip transaction fee
Payhip says all plans include all features, with unlimited products and revenue. PayPal and Stripe processing fees apply on top, at their standard rates, on every plan.
Gumroad
- Direct sales (through your profile or your own links): 10% + $0.50 per transaction
- Sales through Gumroad Discover, its marketplace: 30% per transaction
- No monthly fee
Gumroad’s help center notes that its 10% + $0.50 fee doesn’t include card processing or PayPal fees.
Sales tax and VAT
Both platforms take on much of the tax work, which is a big help if you sell to customers in many places.
- Payhip says it handles EU and UK VAT on digital products, acting as a marketplace facilitator in the US (collecting and paying sales tax) and a digital platform operator in Canada.
- Gumroad says that since January 1, 2025, it acts as merchant of record and handles sales tax collection and remittance worldwide at no extra cost to creators.
You may still have your own income tax obligations, so talk to a tax professional about your situation.
Pros and cons
Payhip
- Pros: Free plan available; transaction fee drops as you move to paid plans; same features on every plan
- Cons: Monthly fees on the paid plans; processor fees are added on top
Gumroad
- Pros: No monthly fee; built-in marketplace for discovery; merchant-of-record tax handling
- Cons: Higher per-sale cut on direct sales; Discover sales cost 30%; the fixed $0.50 per sale weighs more heavily on low-priced products
Who each one suits
Payhip’s model tends to suit sellers with steady sales volume, because paying a monthly fee to reduce or remove the transaction fee can make sense once revenue grows. Its free plan is also a low-risk way to start.
Gumroad suits sellers who want no fixed costs and value tax handling and a marketplace option. If you sell many low-priced items, such as $3 printables, do the math carefully on that $0.50 fixed fee.
Whichever you choose, check your PLR license allows selling on that platform, and recheck pricing pages before you commit, since fees change.
Sources
- Payhip: Pricing
- Payhip: We report and pay digital EU & UK VAT
- Gumroad: Pricing
- Gumroad Help: Gumroad’s fees
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