*This post was updated in August 2023. Contains affiliate links.*
Why this post exists
In 2014 I was desperate for a tool to help me sell stuff online… specifically digital products like ebooks, videos, audio files, etc. for an English as a Second Language website I built with my sister. That need drove me to research different solutions to solve this problem. I wanted to avoid implementing an e-commerce solution on our WordPress site.
It needed to be simple, easy, and cheap.
I eventually found and tested a few platforms that were designed to solve my problem. Fast forward almost 10 years and several side-projects later, I thought I would circle back on a state of the union of online selling tools. I’ve left Sellfy out of the in-depth analysis because I’ve tried them several times and didn’t care for the interface, but also the traffic that was sent there didn’t seem to convert as well as similar traffic sent to SendOwl and Podia. If you try them and like them, let me know I’m wrong in the comments below.
BEFORE YOU GET TOO FAR: If your main focus is on selling video courses online, check out my article comparing the top online course platforms.
Who this post is for
I wrote this post for people who have side hustles or teams fewer than 10 people where money, time, and people are scarce. I wrote it essentially for myself because I couldn’t find the right answers in my research and instead of complaining about it, I wrote a post about it.
Selling digital products and subscriptions online is so fun, but turning that idea into reality can be really difficult. If you find yourself with the same types of problems and frustrations that I had, this post is probably for you.
Frustrations like:
- Lack of Technical Knowledge: I was able to build wordpress sites and know how to manage several domains on Bluehost, but I don’t have time to code checkout systems from scratch or build integrations with marketing platforms. All of the selling platforms below handle setting up websites, payment gateways, and other online tools required for selling digital products with ease.
- Finding a Platform that Works with Marketing Tools I Already Know: It was really frustrating when I found a good ecommerce or selling platform, but they didn’t integrate with the marketing systems I was comfortable. Or even worse, they only integrated with expensive tools… sometimes more expensive than the original solution.
- Finding the Right Tool to Grow With You: If you are planning to scale quickly or need specific features of a platform that will immediately put you in their most expensive tier of the platform, that can change your budget dramatically. I try to outline all of the costs and features that impact cost for each platform.
- Lead Generation and Upselling Tools: If you know anything about Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula (for more information see my Turning PLF Into Reality post), you know that growing an audience and providing value to that audience BEFORE the sale is critical. Digital selling platforms should help you grow your audience with ‘free products’ that require email collection before downloading.
- Simple Content Publishing: You’re working really hard to make the products you’re giving to the world. The process to put that on your selling platform shouldn’t be complicated.
- Payment and Security Concerns: Setting up secure payment gateways and ensuring that your products won’t be distributed without your consent or secure delivery is stressful. Most of these platforms make this easy so you can have peace of mind.
- Reducing Income Unpredictability: Solopreneurs and small teams often experience fluctuating income, especially in the early stages of their business. Finding platforms that support recurring payments and subscriptions can help smooth the peaks and valleys of one-off sales.
I took these challenges into my research to help you navigate the world of selling digital products and memberships.
Now… here’s a look at SendOwl vs. Sellfy vs. Gumroad vs. Payhip vs. Podia vs. SamCart
This post focused on selling digital goods online.
HOW I’M EVALUATING
For each company, I walk through the costs, pros vs. cons, and my summary. I’m working on a feature comparison chart of the tools so you can see the differences at a glance. If this is something you would like to see for free, let me know in the comments below.
SELZ WAS GREAT, BUT…
I was a massive fan of Selz, but they were acquired by Amazon and then 18 months later, Amazon shut it down.
CHARGING FOR MEMBERSHIPS & SUBSCRIPTIONS?
Although Payhip wasn’t around when I first started my search, they’ve been my recent winner for subscriptions and memberships. If you are looking to start with Free and scale up… this is a great choice!
HIGHLIGHTS
Payhip is really powerful for subscriptions and membership billing. Their simple interface and integration with Stripe had me selling in almost no time at all.
If you are looking to sell subscriptions and memberships, this is top-notch. You can tell they have zeroed in on this part of the market with their Free Trial and Custom Billing Internal features.
PRICING
Monthly plans run from Free, $29/mo., and $99/mo. Transaction fees are 5% (Free), 2% ($29/mo) and 0% ($99/mo).
GOOD FOR
Creators just starting out who need a cheap option.
PROS
Here are the pros that help them stand out in a crowded market of platforms…
- Member Management
- Free Membership Trials
- Custom Billing Intervals
- Blogging functionality
- Embed the Membership System on Your Site
- 100 Product Limit on Free Version
- Unlimited Products with Paid Plans
- Includes Physical Products (NEW)
CONS
Here are the short-comings too consider…
- Limited 3rd Party Integrations
FINAL GRADE: B+
THIS ONE’S A HOOT
I think people sometimes forget about what a pioneer SendOwl was in this space. They have been around since 2010 and have done a lot for their customers. Everyone using their tool is a customer since no free plan exists beyond a 3-month trial period.
HIGHLIGHTS
SendOwl has a great suite of tools for their customers and is probably the most customization as they offer the ability to host content yourself.
They’re based out of the UK, but have built an internationally friendly platform with an interface that supports many languages. This is a great option for people selling internationally.
EMAIL INTEGRATIONS
SendOwl works with email platforms like…
GOOD FOR
International sellers or tech-savvy creators needing to self-host.
PRICING
Monthly plans run from $9/mo. to $99/mo. No additional transaction charges above your payment gateway charge (usually 2.9% + $0.30)
PROS
Here are the pros that help them stand out in a crowded market of platforms…
- They don’t take an extra cut of each transaction
- Multi-language Interface
- Pre-checkout & post-payment upsells
- They have the option of self-hosting
- Insanely robust help center
- Built-in Affiliate System
- Starter price of $9/mo is affordable
- Integrations with LinkTree and Notion
CONS
Here are the short-comings too consider…
- Bandwidth pricing is confusing
- Storage limitations
- No free plans available
FINAL GRADE: A
IF YOU’RE SELLING COURSES TOO
HIGHLIGHTS
Podia has earned a great reputation as an all-in-one solution for creators. In fact, here’s the pitch they make on their website…
“Sell online courses, memberships, and digital downloads. No technical headaches, zero transaction fees, and unlimited everything.”
They really are the all in one place to grow and build your business. They even provide place to for form with an interface that supports many languages. This is a great option for people selling internationally.
EMAIL INTEGRATIONS
Podia integrates with some email vendors, but they’ve also built a native email marketing platform directly into their platform. It does come with an additional cost.
GOOD FOR
Creators building multiple income streams like products, members, and courses.
PRICING
Monthly plans are either $39/mo. and $79/mo. No additional transaction charges above your payment gateway charge.
PROS
Here are the pros that help them stand out in a crowded market of platforms…
- Online Courses – Sell, build, host and manage
- They don’t take a cut of each transaction
- Email marketing included
- Sell memberships (Shaker Plan)
- Simple editor
- Blog functionality
- Built in Cross-Selling tools & discounts
- Built-in Affiliate System (Shaker Plan)
CONS
- Monthly cost can be prohibitive if you’re just getting started.
FINAL GRADE: A+
PRICE COMPARISON
One of the trickiest parts about choosing a vendor is trying to figure out exactly what the costs will be. Some have the payment processing baked into the transaction fee (Gumroad). Some have total account storage limitations (SendOwl). Some have price jumps based upon your number of ALL TIME customers (Gumroad). The platforms that scale the best with you are Podia and SendOwl. Gumroad and Payhip have downsides on the transaction fees or prohibitive monthly costs once you reach a certain size.
If you don’t anticipate any sales for a while, I recommend Payhip.
Payhip has the best free option compared to everyone else. It is worth noting that SendOwl has a 30 day trial while Podia and Selz offer 14 day free trials of their platforms before payments.
If you anticipate sales, I’d go with a paid Podia or SendOwl.
I like Podia the most out of these two tools, but it is more expensive. If you’re building multiple types of digital products like memberships and courses, go with Podia. If you don’t plan to sell video courses, I’d go with SendOwl.
MY FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS…
Best ‘FREE’ Option…
They make having a free version easy and don’t force you into a paid version if you want to integrate your email platform. If you go with Payhip and need some email help, I put together some instructions on how to choose and set up your email marketing tool within Payhip.
Best ‘BANG FOR YOUR BUCK’ Option…
Although SendOwl doesn’t provide a free option, they have the most favorable pricing brackets as you grow. You can start out with an option cheaper than a Netflix subscription and as you need it, you can add more functionality onto your account. They are affordable and don’t take a transaction fee! If this sounds like a fit for you, I’d check out SendOwl.
Best ‘All In One’ Option…
As someone who tries a lot of side projects, I wish Podia had a free version, but there’s no denying the fact that Podia is an extremely robust tool that has put an emphasis on customer service and quality. If cost isn’t really a factor for you and you care about simplicity, quality, flexibility and scaleability… , go with Podia.
Thanks for writing this. I’m always seeing references to Gumroad on artist’s sites, but I was recently referred to Selz. I’m looking into Selz now and your comparison was really helpful.
I think Selz has changed their pricing again since you wrote this. I’m also going to have to look into their refunding policy since you mentioned problems with that.
Thanks for the head’s up. This post is due for an update.
Is there an update?
Mitzie, thanks for the comment. I do this site in my spare time and haven’t completed the design of the comparison. It should be updated by Monday.
Mitzie, I’ve added the pricing comparison. I hope you find it helpful.
We want to sell ‘Fillable PDFs’.
Big Picture
We want to sell Legal Forms online one at a time and in bulk, to our small and large Customers. We want to try to restrict the number of hardcopies. Functionally this can be done by requiring fields be filled in. Our Customer can still print and use “White Out”. That customer might cut and paste our forms anyway so there is only so much we can do.
We would like to create a library so large Customers can access ‘their library’, perform “MINOR” Changes to make an additional purchase.
Example: Large property owner/operator wants to buy our lease either one at a time or in bulk. They want to save their logo and other consistent text (Landlord/Agent name, property address etc.) so each new purchase all that changes is the date and Tenant name.
I’ve conversed with SendOwl, Sellfy and Selz without any luck.
Any Ideas?
We’ve been selling hardcopy for a lot of years and I’ve been looking for a digital solution for years.
This is worth more coffee than you could possibly drink for many years to come!
Norm, it doesn’t get you all the way there, but the individual watermark functionality with Selz on each PDF could make it slightly harder to copy.
As far as the membership to a whole suite of documents, it may be worthwhile to take a look at Podia. They have a nice way to build memberships and engage with those members. They also keep track of who’s downloading the content and can alert you if someone is sharing the account.
Your situation is pretty unique, so, if I come across a better solution, I’ll be sure to let you know.
Norm, you might have found a solution by now, but have you checked Templett? Would it be a right fit for you? I have never used it but I often hear about it in Etsy groups I’m in, and they seem to be satisfied.
I was here for Selz by the way! But I’m not sure whether it complies with the different tax authorities around the world…
Stephan, what countries specifically are you needing help with? Selz does allow you to collect different tax percentages by country or region. Of course, the seller is ultimately responsible for paying those taxes to the right place. Here’s a little more information about tax management from their website.
Which of these solutions provide DMR if you are selling ebooks?
Andy, thanks for the comment! None of these solutions have digital rights management truly baked into their system. I know at least Selz allows you to protect your ebooks with automated PDF stamping and limited downloads. Of course, that can’t stop someone from sharing it with other people. Hope that helps!
Thank you for this review! It was extremely useful, especially in a sea of posts that claim to review things but just randomly copy and paste info.
Thanks for the feedback, Jeanette. I’m so thankful you found it useful!
Payhip also has automatic stamping, but they also now include a physical products option for selling. This changed is mid-2019 as they made many changes to there actual cart. There is also a new system for people with many products to group them into a “collection” (category type option), and the ability to cross-sell your products at checkout.
Marian, thanks so much for this additional information about Payhip.
Thank you for writing this. It is exactly what I needed. Read this and the comments (which helped greatly too) while on chat with Podia. At this point I was only researching easily selling a PDF. I liked the look of Sellfy, but need things to work. This exercise has me considering bundling some books together in a second stage. So then… start with a free service to get a feel for my market, generate some sales and then see.
Thanks for the comment, Kimberly! I’m really glad you found it helpful.
Josh, do any of these alternatives handle payments? For me Gumroad’s biggest draw has always been the fact that it also does the job of a payment gateway. Paypal and Stripe are not bad but come with their own issues and I would want the simplicity of not dealing with a gateway. Is there an alternative that does that or is Gumroad the only game in town?
Thanks for the question Abhijeet! Although an external payment gateway like Stripe or Paypal isn’t required in Gumroad, they are still charging the same or (usually) more. Stripe and PayPal generally charge 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction while Gumroad charges 8.5% + $0.30 per transaction. If you pay Gumroad $10/mo, they will ‘only’ take 3.5% + $0.30 per transaction… which is still more than what Stripe or PayPal charge.
Another downside to Gumroad doing this is that you don’t have much control over when you get your funds. All of the tools featured above have easy integrations with PayPal or Stripe, but if you need a no-monthly cost option, Payhip is your best bet, but if you can afford a monthly fee, I like Selz or Podia.
Thanks, Josh, I do understand your point about pricing and the other things you have mentioned. The problem with using your own external payment gateway, for someone like me who’s not in the U.S., is that first, you have worry about chargebacks and we know how bad Paypal is with that (Stripe is better I guess).
There are some other issues too which I have come across in my years of using payment gateways before I switched to Gumroad. Unless you make a sizeable amount of sales per month (which I don’t currently), dealing with a payment gateway might not be worth it.
$10 per month or any monthly cost is not a problem for me, as long as payment gateway is integrated in the service. Does Payhip have that? Or any other Gumroad competitors have that? Because I am looking to switch but lack of built-in payment gateway in other tools is stopping me.
Abhijeet, your best bet for switching from Gumroad, but keeping a tool with its own payment processor is Selz. There is more flexibility on when you get paid as you can set the payment schedule to be paid daily, weekly, or monthly. Payments with the free plan have a total processing cost of 4.9% + $0.30 vs. Gumroad’s 8.5% + $0.30.
If you have a paid plan, the processing percentage goes down to 2.9% vs. Gumroad’s 3.5%. The percentage goes down by 0.1% for each additional level of the paid plan, so the lowest processing percentage is 2.7% if you are on the advanced plan.
Hope this helps!
Hi!
What a good resource you have made Josh,thanks multiple times . I now know where to head.
DjPetPhet
Thanks so much! What are you working on that led you to this post?
Thanks so much for this detailed review! I’m currently trying to figure out what would work best for us. We want to sell digital informative videos along with PDFs grouped together as bundles. We already use google drive for organizing and storing the videos. And we’d like to continue to use google drive once we start selling the video bundles. The files tend to be large.
We’re currently designing our website using Wix. And like to sell the downloads on that site. We tried uploading our video/PDF files to the Wix store as well as tried using Shopify to upload them to the Wix site but both failed as their limits for uploading files are too small for us. So we’d like to create links to the google files for customers to buy.
We also have a business PayPal account as I’ve read that’s a good option for processing payments. It’s a bit overwhelming trying to pick the best setup for selling our digital goods. Can you give me any helpful advice on what you think would be a good option for us? Thanks a bunch!
Janeen, thanks for reaching out. Instead of unpacking all the options here, I shot you an email. It includes a way to accomplish this with just Drive and Paypal, but it may be a little technical or frustrating with PayPal. If you don’t go the DIY route, I think Thinkific sounds like a great fit for you because of their integration with Google Drive for your media library.
Hi, thank you so much for doing this review. I am finding all the options confusing to say the least and it is so nice when someone has had to do it too then turns back around to try and make it easier for others. Do you mind sharing your opinion on which option you think is best for me: I plan to do mostly video / digital ‘rentals’; plus some video tutorials. But then hope to scale to in future also offer ebooks/books. I also need the 3rd party payment part easy. The digital video rentals need that special pin/number assigned so it can’t be shared/fwd etc. I was headed down the Gumroads route until tonight a trusted fellow seller told me to watch out for Gumroads calling them fraudsters… kept their money for years etc. Do you have any advice for me? Anything is greatly appreciated. And thank you again for your hard work.
oh, forgot to add, while I would rather not start out at a super high price…. I think there is value if I have that security with video rentals, payment option to skip payment gateway company, pays my taxes for me, and also if it can be a sort of email addresses management for me. I am in a business field in which email addresses management companies are charging a lot per month so I would like to skip using one of them. (they cost $79 / month upwards of $350 / month just for email addresses management).
Ann, based upon what you’ve described, I think SendOwl is your best bet. They offer secure video sharing, so people won’t unfairly share your content and they are extremely affordable with a $24/mo option that would get you started. As far as email goes, I’d recommend this article about which email tool to choose.
Hi… great article… I’m just researching options…
Maybe if I share you can help me??
I want to sell 30-45 minute videos (14 different ones) and 5 ebooks and an audio – 30 minutes.
These are to all be digital downloads… and I also want the options of selling t-shirts and caps as well. I want it to have email marketing built in and affiliate opportunity as well as an option to sell bundles. I want the payment providers to be included. I do not have a website to link. I want the platform to be that. What is your best recommendation for all of that? Please and thank you in advance 😉
Amber, thanks for the comment! Based upon what you’re describing, Selz is the clear winner. They are the best option for you because they handle the sale of digital and physical goods seamlessly and they can be your full website with a blog and everything. Best of luck!
This is such a great guide for a newbie like me. For someone who overthinks having options, this is a relief for me to see how you wrote about each site. I appreciate your honesty! Thank you so much! I saw a creator in my country use Payhip and I was wondering how much bang for my buck it can give. I’m just new to content creation and I wanted to create beautiful pdf magazines on my food creations and then later on sell curated goods or meal kits
I’m wondering, if you would give a recommendation for someone just starting out, what would be the best option? Thanks for taking time to read this and looking forward to reading you again soon 🙂
Thank you for the kind words, Czarra! My best advice for your situation is to roll with Payhip. It’s free to get started while you’re building out your first products. Also, early on it’s not too much work to switch platforms if you don’t like it.
Thanks for sharing your info Josh! In addition to a few videos I want to sell as rentals, I have a (90 min.) video I would like to give away for free to viewers. However, I want to be able to collect the viewers email address in exchange for the ability to view the video. How can I give them a link (or the ability to view the video) without them being able to share the link with someone else? Is that possible? If people share the link then I won’t be able to collect all of the email addresses, which I want to use down the road to promote new rental releases.
I was originally thinking of using Gumroad. Does this work? Or what can you suggest? Thank you!
Dave, your best option to accomplish this is Selz.
Thanks for getting back to me Josh. I just investigated Selz as you mentioned. Then, I also saw in your article you mention other services including Podia (a bit more expensive but seemed to have an email marketing piece). So, it’s becoming difficult to decide.
So, Just to be sure (because I trust your opinion), I have 5 videos on Amazon but I’m not making that much royalty, so I figure i will just “stream” them myself on one of these services and possibly make more. I will make only a couple more videos, maybe 12 total. I also want to be able to collect emails, but perhaps I can do that using a different app. That’s basically it. Do you still think Selz is the best one for me? Whichever I choose I will go through your link.
Thanks,
Dave
Dave, for your specific needs I still think Selz is a good fit for you. Partly for the cost savings, but also the ‘pay what you want’ feature in case you decide to provide that option to your viewers. This has been the only shortcoming I’ve encountered with Podia, but they have told me it’s on their product roadmap. Don’t let all of the choices hinder your decision making… I currently use both tools on different projects and you can’t go wrong. If I were you though, I’d get started with Selz.
Hi Josh,
I began my free trial on Selz, thank you. My main purpose as I mentioned is to have streaming videos available for purchase. I just started to build my site and add products and ran into a big obstacle…. it appears Selz does not give cusomers the option of selecting to use captions (especially if they are deaf). I currently have videos on Amazon who request an “.srt” file. So, I have all the .srt files for my videos but it doesn’t seem like I can have captions as an option with Selz. Is there some way to work around this? Or perhaps a different service you could recommend?
Thanks,
Dave
Hi Josh,
Your suggestion of using Selz was the perfect recommendation and solution for me… while it lasted. To my surprise, I just found out that Selz is closing next month! Now I am searching for another Video Streaming service that I can use to sell my video rentals without paying s fortune. Do you have any new suggestions?
Thanks,
Dave
Apologies for the delay, David. I was bummed about the Selz outcome, too. Are you still searching for a solution?
Thank you Josh! You really clarified lot of things about these platforms. I was scratching my head about the options and which one is suitable for me.
Definitely Selz/SendOwl are my choices at the moment
So glad you found it helpful, Patrick!
Hello, Im a filmmaker. I would love your expert guidence in this. Thank you in advance.
I would like a website where I can stream or sell my feature length videos. I would like to also have a paying subscribers feature and allow exclusive content only for them. Also be able to sell physical goods like shirts and posters. Im currently using gumroad, but their customer service is very slow. I want to grow my subscription base somewhere I can stay for a long time. Thank you.
Chou, based upon what I think you need, it seems like Selz will be your best bet. They are a nice blend of selling digital and physical goods.
Josh! What a great dialogue you have going here. I too am a newbie and would appreciate your perspective. Thank-you in advance for your time and input. I just published my first book (yay!). It is on Amazon as a starting point. All good. Some people have asked to order the book but want an inscription. Which means I need to handle the transaction myself. So, no need for a huge e-commerce site, but I do need something (super cost effective) which can handle the minimal traffic. I purchased Square for LIVE events, and also have a WordPress website. Any thoughts? (I’ve been going around in circles with Shopify, WooCommerce, SquareOnline, BigCommerce,SquareSpace) H-e-l-p! Again, you are SO appreciated!!!
Heidi, first off… congratulations on publishing your first book!!! To answer your question, I think you should be able to make it work with Square Online, no? I would make a product page using their free tool that has your book on it. I would use it as the primary “buy now” link across the site, social media, etc. so it simply acts as a checkout page without needing to upend your current WordPress site. Unless I’m missing something, that would get you over the finish line quickly and cheaply.
Thanks for such a well maintained post Josh!
Id like to securely sell art PDFs and potentially upsell to fine art prints while growing and maintaining an email list and blog/art portfolio. I was here for Selz. Now I’m boggled all over again.
Any clarity would be appreciated and I’d be sure to go via your links.
Hi Josh,
Thank you for such an instructive post. We are trying to sell our books in ebook version. We already sell them on AMZ and our our website in hardback. Which of these options has a shoplift store integration? if none, do you know of any solution that offers PDF stamping and that also integrates with shopify? Thanks!
K. Marie, I didn’t realize Shopify didn’t have their own digital content delivery system. I know for sure that SendOwl has a Shopify integration and they also provide PDF stamping.
Josh
As an author I have several books published and in ebooks as well on Amazon. I would like to write, publish and be able to combine a free Store, or web site with an economical way to collect. And of course, most importantly, an easy way to set up ebooks on a site to sell? Am I asking for too much here?
Eileen, I’m not aware of any one tool that combined the writing, editing/formatting, publishing, ecommerce and distribution in one place. If I find one I’ll be sure to let you know.
Josh, thanks for a very insightful article. Given the time that has passed since then and the developments that have occurred, have you updated the article?