What are the alternatives to Bandcamp for selling music?
·Founder, Stakk
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16 October 2026
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7 min read
You can sell music downloads outside Bandcamp on Ko-fi, Gumroad, Payhip, Systeme.io, Whop or Stakk, or build your own music site with Faircamp and point it at a checkout. What none of them has is Bandcamp's store full of fans browsing for records. Bandcamp takes 15% of digital sales and 10% of merch, plus processor fees, so the real trade is that audience against a different fee and more control. Checked 12 October 2026.
How much does Bandcamp take from each sale?
15% of digital sales and 10% of physical ones, before payment processing. Bandcamp's own fees article calls this its revenue share.
The digital rate drops to 10% above a $5,000 sales threshold, and it stays at 10% as long as your sales over the past 12 months stay above $5,000. Shipping and tax are left out when the merch fee is worked out. The share also only applies to the first $100 of an item. That matters for deluxe packages, and for fans who use name-your-price to pay far more than the minimum.
Payment processor fees are separate. Bandcamp says they vary with the size of the sale but typically run between 4 and 6%. So a digital sale below the threshold costs you somewhere around a fifth of the price once both are counted.
Artist accounts are free, with no monthly fee. If you want the processor rates line by line, our full breakdown of Bandcamp's fees works through them.
Which Bandcamp alternatives take a smaller cut?
Systeme.io takes nothing, Whop charges 2.7% + $0.30 on a domestic card, and Ko-fi and Payhip's free plan take 5%. Gumroad and Stakk charge a percentage plus a fixed amount, so how they compare depends on your price.
| Platform | Monthly fee | Cut per sale | Card processing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bandcamp | $0 | 15% on digital (10% above a $5,000 sales threshold), 10% on physical | Extra, typically 4 to 6% |
| Gumroad | $0 | 10% + $0.50 direct, 30% on its Discover marketplace | Extra on direct sales, 2.9% + $0.30. Included in the 30% |
| Ko-fi | $0 | 5% on shop sales | Extra |
| Payhip | $0, $29 or $99 | 5%, 2% or 0% | Extra, PayPal or Stripe fees |
| Stakk | $0 | 10% + $0.50 | Included |
| Systeme.io | $0 on the free plan | 0% | Extra, your Stripe or PayPal fees |
| Whop | $0 | 2.7% + $0.30 on a domestic card | Part of the 2.7% + $0.30 |
A fixed fee per sale, like Gumroad's or ours, weighs more on a $1 single than on a $20 album. Price your own releases through each row before you choose. Gumroad's rate has a few more moving parts, which our Gumroad fees breakdown covers.
Which alternative feels most like Bandcamp to a fan?
Ko-fi, if your fans want to back you, and Gumroad, if you want a marketplace. Neither is a record store, but each gets one part of Bandcamp right.
Ko-fi's shop has no listing or monthly fees and takes 5% when you make a sale, with normal card processing on top. It sells digital and physical products from one page, next to tips and memberships. Fans who already use Ko-fi to support creators will know what to do with it.
Gumroad has a marketplace called Discover, where buyers browse. Sales that come through it cost a flat 30%, with processing included. Sales from your own link cost 10% + $0.50, plus card processing of 2.9% + $0.30.
What neither one has is a music community. Nobody browses Ko-fi by genre, and Gumroad's Discover is built for every kind of digital product, not records. None of the others on this list is a music store either.
Can you sell music from your own website instead?
Yes, and Faircamp is one way to build that site. Faircamp is free software that turns a folder of audio files into a complete music website. Listeners can stream on the page, download in the formats you choose, and subscribe through a podcast app. The site needs no database and works on almost any web host.
What Faircamp does not do is take payment itself. Its own page says it can link to third-party platforms for download or purchase, and ask for support on third-party platforms. So the sale happens somewhere else.
That split is simple to run. The site is the home for the music, with every release and every track. Under each release sits a link to a checkout where a fan pays once and gets the files. You keep the look of the site, and the checkout does the one job of taking the money.
Before you build either half, our guide to selling music online covers which files to deliver, the two copyrights in every song, and how to price a release you sell direct.
Who holds the money on Bandcamp and on the alternatives?
On Bandcamp, Bandcamp processes the sale and then pays you. Its page for artists says the money goes into your PayPal account, typically within 24 to 48 hours.
The alternatives work one of two ways. Either the platform takes the payment and pays you on its own schedule, or the sale lands straight in a Stripe or PayPal account in your name. Stakk is the second kind. The fan pays a charge on your own Stripe account, and Stakk never holds the money or decides when you get it.
How a sale moves on Stakk. On Bandcamp, Bandcamp processes the sale itself and pays your PayPal account afterward.
Neither model is wrong. A platform that holds the money takes some work off your hands. One that pays you directly puts the money in your own account, and the paperwork comes with it. We sort the main platforms into both groups in which platforms hold your money.
What do you give up when you leave Bandcamp?
Mostly the audience. Bandcamp's page for artists says joining makes you part of a larger marketplace that brings you new fans, and that it notifies your followers whenever you release new music or merch. Fans can pay more than your minimum price if they want. Its editorial site, Bandcamp Daily, covers records from new and established acts.
Then there are Bandcamp Fridays. On those days Bandcamp waives its revenue share, though processor fees still apply. Its Bandcamp Friday help page lists the 2026 dates, and two are left after this post goes up: November 6 and December 4.
None of the alternatives above is built to send music buyers your way like that. Expect most of your fans to come from your own posts, videos and mailing list.
So you do not have to choose one or the other. You can keep Bandcamp for the full catalog and sell one release, or a deluxe bundle with the stems, from a checkout of your own.
When is Stakk the wrong choice for selling music?
When you want a record store, Stakk is the wrong choice. Use Bandcamp instead: nobody browses Stakk by genre, and it does not tell your followers when you release. Stakk is also wrong for tips, memberships or a fan club with monthly releases, because it has no tips and no subscription billing. Ko-fi does both. Every price is fixed between $1 and $999, so there is no name-your-price, and Stakk sells in US dollars only. It does not host files either: you paste in a link to wherever the file lives, such as a Google Drive folder or a Notion page, and Stakk emails that link to the buyer once they pay. And if cost per sale decides it, Systeme.io is the better pick, with no transaction fees on its free plan. Whop charges 2.7% + $0.30 on a domestic card with no monthly cost. Both take less than our 10% + $0.50.
What Stakk has instead is the checkout. Put the stems or the instrumentals on the payment screen as an add-on, and they ride the same charge as the album, so the order carries one fee rather than two. After payment, a one-tap upsell can offer the next release against the card the fan just used. Both are on every account, with nothing behind a tier.
Ready to sell your next release from your own checkout?
You can keep Bandcamp and still sell one release your own way. Paste the folder link as the delivery link, set the price, add the stems as an optional extra, and put the checkout link under the release on your site. Stakk is 10% + $0.50 a sale with card processing included and no monthly fee, and each sale lands in your own Stripe account.