Gumroad vs Etsy: which is better for digital products?
·Founder, Stakk
·
10 October 2026
·
6 min read
Etsy is better if you need buyers to find you, because it is a marketplace people already search. Gumroad is better if you bring your own buyers and want no listing fees and someone else handling sales tax. Etsy charges $0.20 per listing every four months plus 6.5% of each order, with payment processing on top. Gumroad charges 10% + $0.50 a sale plus card processing, or 30% on sales from its Discover marketplace. Gumroad checked 30 September 2026, Etsy 13 September 2026.
The two get compared because both sell downloads with no monthly plan required. But they answer different problems. Etsy is a place buyers go to look. Gumroad is a store you send buyers to, with a marketplace as an extra.
What is the difference between Gumroad and Etsy?
Where the buyer comes from. On Etsy, people search the marketplace and find your listing among everyone else's. That is the reason to be there, and it is worth something that is hard to put a price on.
On Gumroad, most sales come from people you send: your social accounts, your email list, your website. Gumroad also runs a marketplace called Discover, but it charges a much higher fee on the sales it brings.
The second difference is who the seller is. Gumroad has been the merchant of record since 1 January 2025, so it is the legal seller of your product and handles sales tax where it has an obligation as the seller.
What does Etsy charge to sell a digital download?
A listing fee, a transaction fee and payment processing, plus an ad fee on some sales. Etsy's own fees page sets them out.
The listing fee is $0.20 per listing, charged when the item is listed whether or not it sells. A listing expires after four months, and renewing it costs another $0.20. The transaction fee is 6.5% of the order total. Payment processing is a separate fee whose rate depends on your country, and it is not on the fees page, so check it in your own shop settings.
Two more lines can apply. Offsite Ads charge 15% of the order when a sale comes from an Etsy ad shown outside Etsy, falling to 12% above a $10,000 annual threshold. And opening a shop carries a one-time set-up fee that Etsy says varies by location.
What does Gumroad charge to sell a digital download?
A percentage and a fixed fee on each sale, with no listing fee and no monthly fee. Gumroad's fees article puts it at 10% + $0.50 per direct sale, and says that does not include card processing of 2.9% + $0.30.
Sales that come through Discover cost a flat 30%, with processing included. And once your paid sales in a calendar month reach $20,000, new direct sales that month drop to 5% + $0.50, resetting on the 1st.
One detail in Gumroad's favor: on a refund, it returns its own fee on the refunded amount and keeps only the processing. Our full breakdown of Gumroad's fees goes through every line.
Which costs less on a $20 download?
Etsy's own fees on one sale are lower than Gumroad's, but the sum cannot be finished from its fees page. Here is what each one publishes for a single $20 sale.
| Platform | Listing | Per sale | Payment processing | Known total on $20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Etsy | $0.20, every 4 months | 6.5% | Separate, varies by country | $1.50 before processing |
| Gumroad, direct sale | None | 10% + $0.50 | 2.9% + $0.30 on top | $3.38 |
| Gumroad, via Discover | None | 30% | Included | $6.00 |
| Stakk | None | From 10% + $0.50 | Included | $2.50 |
Etsy's $1.50 assumes one listing that sells once in its four months, and no Offsite Ad. Add your country's processing rate before comparing it with Gumroad's $3.38. If a sale comes through an Offsite Ad, the 15% adds $3.00 on its own.
What does the Etsy listing fee mean for a big catalog?
It is the one fee on either platform you pay before anything sells. A shop with 40 listings pays $8.00 every four months just to keep them up, sales or not.
Our own arithmetic on Etsy's published $0.20 listing fee and four-month expiry, with every listing renewed.
For a small catalog that sells steadily, it is a rounding error. For a large catalog of templates, where each design is its own listing and many sell rarely, it adds up. That is a structural difference, not a verdict on which is cheaper overall.
When do you get paid on Gumroad?
On a schedule, after Gumroad holds the money. Because Gumroad is the seller, sales land in your Gumroad balance first. Gumroad's payout article sets a $100 minimum on weekly, monthly and quarterly payouts and a 7 day hold on each sale before a scheduled payout.
Payouts through PayPal cost 2%, and instant payouts for eligible US accounts cost 3%. Our comparison of who holds your money sets out what that model means when something goes wrong.
Can you sell on both Gumroad and Etsy?
Yes. Nothing stops you running a marketplace shop and your own checkout side by side. Etsy brings in people who were searching. A direct store serves the people who already follow you, without a marketplace fee on sales you brought yourself.
If your buyers mostly come from your own audience, how to sell printables without Etsy goes through what changes when you leave the marketplace out.
When would I send you somewhere else?
If you have no audience yet and need buyers to find you, stay on Etsy. Stakk is the wrong choice there: it has no marketplace and no search, so every buyer is one you send. It also has no memberships, no subscriptions and no course hosting, sells in US dollars only and caps prices at $999.
If you want someone else to handle sales tax, Gumroad does and Stakk deliberately does not. And on price per sale with no monthly fee, Whop's 2.7% + $0.30 and Systeme.io's 0% free plan both beat Gumroad and Stakk.
Want a direct checkout for your own buyers?
Stakk is for the sales you bring yourself. It costs nothing a month, charges no listing fees, and takes from 10% + $0.50 a sale with card processing included. That is less than Gumroad's $3.38 on a $20 direct sale. The buyer pays into your own Stripe account rather than a balance someone else holds.
What it adds is the checkout. The order bump rides the same charge as the product, so it carries one fee rather than two, and the upsell after payment is one tap against the card already on file. Both ship on every account, and the layout came out of funnels that ran for agency clients before Stakk existed.