After testing dozens of platforms, I can confidently say Shopify is the best alternative to Gumroad for anyone selling print-on-demand or ecommerce products.

But if you’re tired of Gumroad’s limited features, high fees, and lack of store control, you’re probably searching for something better. And fast.

Whether you sell digital downloads, merch, or memberships — I’ve tested the top platforms that give you more freedom, better features, and full control over your business.

Best Alternatives to Gumroad

Shopify – For building scalable ecommerce and print-on-demand stores
Payhip – For selling digital downloads, courses, and memberships
Sellfy – For creators offering both digital products and physical merch
Lemon Squeezy – For SaaS, software, and subscription billing

Key Takeaways

• Shopify offers the most control and scalability, but takes more time to set up
• Payhip is the easiest way to start selling digital products, with no monthly fee
• Sellfy lets you sell merch and downloads from the same dashboard
• Lemon Squeezy is ideal for developers or creators selling tools and software licenses

Recent Updates:

• Payhip now supports course bundles and drip content
• Sellfy expanded its built-in print-on-demand catalogue
• Lemon Squeezy added customer-facing license management tools

Comparing Gumroad Alternatives

Platform	Overall Rating	Starting Price	Better Than Gumroad For
Shopify	⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4.8)	$29/month	Branding, POD, advanced ecommerce tools
Payhip	⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆ (4.5)	$0/month	Simplicity, subscriptions, and international VAT compliance
Sellfy	⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆ (4.6)	$29/month	Selling digital + physical products in one storefront
Lemon Squeezy	⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆ (4.4)	$0/month	License keys, SaaS features, and global tax support

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Feature	Shopify	Payhip	Sellfy	Lemon Squeezy
Sell digital products	✅	✅	✅	✅
Sell physical products	✅	❌	✅	❌
Print-on-demand integrations	✅	❌	✅	❌
Subscriptions/memberships	✅	✅	✅	✅
Software licensing tools	❌	❌	❌	✅
Custom domain support	✅	✅	✅	✅
Free plan available	❌	✅	❌	✅

Who Is Each Tool Suitable For?

Shopify is best for creators ready to launch a branded, scalable ecommerce store. With full control, print-on-demand apps, and deep integrations, it’s built for real businesses.

Payhip is ideal for digital product creators, authors, or coaches who want a simple, free solution to start selling files, courses, and memberships with global tax handling.

Sellfy is great for influencers, designers, and multi-product sellers who want to offer digital downloads, subscriptions, and merch all in one place—without plugins.

Lemon Squeezy is built for SaaS founders, coders, and developers selling software, plugins, or licenses. It includes tax tools, license key management, and recurring billing.

1. Shopify — Best Overall Alternative for Ecommerce and POD

Shopify is the best Gumroad alternative for anyone selling physical products, print-on-demand items, or scaling their digital brand. It offers complete control over your store, a massive app ecosystem, and powerful marketing tools built to grow with you.

Why Shopify Beats Gumroad

With Shopify, you’re building a fully-owned storefront. That means no platform branding, no limitations on design, and a checkout process that belongs entirely to you.

Print-on-demand integrations with platforms like Printful, Printify, and Gelato allow you to launch and automate product fulfillment in minutes. No manual shipping, no inventory. This is something Gumroad doesn’t even attempt to support.

Plus, Shopify’s analytics, discount engine, and customizable product pages give you deeper insights and more ways to optimize your sales funnel.

Key Benefits

• Own your domain and customer experience
• Sell digital, physical, subscription, and POD products
• Use thousands of marketing and logistics apps
• Automate fulfillment with POD platforms
• Accept global payments through Stripe, PayPal, and more

Shopify Pricing (USD)

Plan	Price per Month	Highlights
Basic	$29	2 staff accounts, basic reports
Grow	$79	Better shipping rates, analytics
Advanced	$299	Custom reports, 15 staff accounts

Great For:

• Sellers launching a brand
• POD ecommerce businesses
• Digital sellers scaling into merch
• Content creators monetizing their audience

Potential Drawbacks

• Steeper learning curve than Gumroad
• Apps and plugins can raise monthly costs
• Setup requires more time and testing

2. Payhip — Best for Selling Digital Products and Subscriptions

If you’re looking for a simple, low-commitment way to sell digital products, Payhip is the easiest entry point. It’s especially strong for selling ebooks, templates, courses, and memberships—all without upfront fees.

What Makes Payhip a Good Alternative

Payhip is built with simplicity in mind. You can launch a store in less than an hour without worrying about tech headaches. Whether you’re selling PDFs or pre-recorded videos, the setup is clean and fast.

Unlike Gumroad, Payhip handles EU VAT for you, which is a huge win if you’re selling to international audiences. It also supports subscription billing and memberships without needing any plugins or external apps.

Key Features

• No monthly fee on the free plan
• Supports digital products, courses, memberships
• Built-in VAT and tax compliance
• Accepts payments via PayPal and Stripe
• Embeddable checkout on your own site or blog

Payhip Pricing (USD)

Plan	Monthly Cost	Transaction Fee	Ideal For
Free Plan	$0	5% per sale	Testing new products or small shops
Plus Plan	$29	2% per sale	Creators scaling digital sales
Pro Plan	$99	0% per sale	High-volume digital businesses

Best Suited For:

• New digital product sellers
• Course creators, authors, musicians
• Creators testing product ideas
• Freelancers selling templates or guides

Limitations

• No support for physical or POD products
• Fewer customisation options for branding
• Not suitable for complex ecommerce needs

3. Sellfy — Best for Mixed Digital, Physical, and Subscription Sales

If you want to sell digital files, merch, print-on-demand, and subscriptions—all from one platform—Sellfy hits the sweet spot. It’s the most flexible Gumroad alternative for creators who need a bit of everything.

Why Sellfy is a Versatile Gumroad Upgrade

Sellfy gives you an out-of-the-box storefront with tools to sell all product types without needing to connect third-party apps. From PDFs and music files to hoodies and coffee mugs, Sellfy lets you sell from one dashboard.

You can use Sellfy’s built-in print-on-demand tools to launch a merch line and automate shipping—something Gumroad simply doesn’t offer. For creators monetizing through recurring income, Sellfy also supports subscription billing.

Sellfy Highlights

• Supports digital, physical, POD, and subscription products
• Built-in email marketing and analytics
• Drag-and-drop store customizer
• No plugins or external services needed
• Custom domain support for full branding

Sellfy Pricing (USD)

Plan	Price per Month	Features
Starter	$29	Digital/physical sales, POD support
Business	$79	Upsells, cart recovery, email marketing
Premium	$159	Priority support, advanced tools

Best For:

• YouTubers, influencers, streamers selling mixed products
• Designers offering merch + templates
• Creators who want everything in one place
• Brands without coding or app setup experience

Where Sellfy Lags

• Limited store design customization
• Fewer integrations compared to Shopify
• No support for complex inventory setups

4. Lemon Squeezy — Best for Developers, SaaS, and Software Creators

If you’re building software, selling digital tools, or offering subscription-based access, Lemon Squeezy is a smart pick.

It’s specifically built for indie developers, SaaS startups, and code creators—a segment that Gumroad doesn’t serve well.

What Makes Lemon Squeezy Developer-Friendly

Selling software isn’t just about taking payments. You need license keys, subscription management, and compliance with global tax laws. Lemon Squeezy handles all of this out of the box—no need for multiple third-party tools.

With Lemon Squeezy, you can sell one-time licenses or set up recurring billing with advanced customer controls. The platform also handles EU VAT, U.S. sales tax, and worldwide compliance automatically—making it ideal for international SaaS or plugin businesses.

Standout Features

• Secure software license key generation
• Recurring billing and customer portals
• Built-in email marketing
• Global tax compliance (EU VAT, US sales tax)
• Lightweight, fast-checkout pages

Lemon Squeezy Pricing (USD)

Plan	Monthly Fee	Transaction Fee	Best For
Free	$0	5% per sale	New devs testing tools or small SaaS
Creator	$29	3% per sale	Active software sellers
Enterprise	Custom	Custom	High-volume SaaS with advanced needs

Ideal For:

• Plugin and theme creators
• SaaS founders needing license keys
• Digital product sellers targeting developers
• Coders offering downloads or gated tools

Considerations

• Not suited for physical or POD products
• Customization is more limited than ecommerce platforms
• Not built for visual branding or product design

Quick Comparison Table

Platform	Best For	Digital	Physical	POD	Subscriptions	Starting Price
Shopify	Full ecommerce and POD brands	✅	✅	✅	✅	$29/mo
Payhip	Digital products and memberships	✅	❌	❌	✅	$0/mo
Sellfy	Mixed product types, merch, creators	✅	✅	✅	✅	$29/mo
Lemon Squeezy	Developers, SaaS, software licenses	✅	❌	❌	✅	$0/mo

When to Leave Gumroad

You might be fine with Gumroad in the beginning, but here’s when it makes sense to switch:

• You’re selling print-on-demand or physical products
• You want a custom domain and full brand control
• You’re tired of transaction fees eating your margins
• You need better support for subscriptions or licenses
• You’re scaling and need analytics + email marketing

Gumroad was made for simplicity—not for growth.

How to Choose the Right Gumroad Alternative

Choosing the best Gumroad alternative depends on what you’re selling — and what’s frustrating you most about Gumroad right now.

Are you scaling a print-on-demand brand? Selling high-ticket digital products? Launching a membership? Each platform on this list solves a different problem.

Here’s how to narrow it down:

If You’re Focused on Branding and Store Ownership

Use Shopify. You get your own domain, full design control, and a powerful ecommerce backend.
Gumroad limits your ability to control the buyer experience — Shopify hands it all over to you.

If You Want to Keep Things Simple and Free

Choose Payhip. It’s perfect for ebooks, PDFs, guides, and entry-level subscriptions.
You won’t pay a monthly fee unless you upgrade, and the dashboard is built for creators, not tech pros.

If You Sell Digital + Physical Products

Go with Sellfy. You can sell everything from music files to t-shirts from one dashboard.
It’s a strong middle ground between Gumroad’s simplicity and Shopify’s scalability.

If You’re Selling Software or Tools

Use Lemon Squeezy. It handles license keys, recurring billing, and global tax compliance.
Gumroad doesn’t support any of this — and if you sell software, it’s a must-have.

Key Questions to Ask Before Choosing:

• Do I sell digital-only, or do I need support for physical/POD products?
• Am I just starting, or am I scaling a growing business?
• Do I need subscriptions, licenses, or recurring billing?
• How important is custom branding and full store ownership?

The clearer you are about what you need next, the easier it is to choose the right platform to grow with.

How We Tested These Platforms

To find the best Gumroad alternatives, we tested each platform from the perspective of a real seller. Our process focused on the key areas that matter most to ecommerce and creator businesses.

We signed up, set up stores, listed products, ran test checkouts, and compared each tool side-by-side using the same set of criteria.

Our Testing Categories

Area	Weight	Why It Matters
Sales Features	30%	Can you sell all product types? Subscriptions? POD?
Ease of Use	20%	How fast can a new user get set up and make a sale?
Design + Branding	15%	Can you make your store feel like your own brand?
Payment + Tax Setup	10%	Is it easy to get paid, globally and legally?
Scalability	10%	Can the platform grow with your business?
Support + Documentation	10%	Are there tutorials, live support, or community help?
Cost and Value	5%	Are the plans affordable and worth the features?

Our Testing Process

• Created a real storefront on each platform
• Set up physical, digital, subscription, and POD test products
• Walked through the full checkout and customer experience
• Tested customer portals, refund systems, and analytics tools
• Contacted support to evaluate response time and accuracy
• Compared real-world setup time, app availability, and limitations

Real-World Scenarios We Tested

• Selling a print-on-demand hoodie (Shopify, Sellfy)
• Listing a recurring PDF newsletter membership (Payhip)
• Selling a licensed Notion template or script (Lemon Squeezy)
• Building a landing page with custom checkout (all platforms)

We didn’t just read feature pages — we put each tool through its paces to see how it holds up in real-world ecommerce workflows.

Final Thoughts

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution. The right Gumroad alternative depends on what you’re selling and how far you want to take your brand.

Here’s a quick recap:

• Choose Shopify if you’re launching or scaling a real ecommerce or POD store
• Choose Payhip if you’re just starting with digital products or courses
• Choose Sellfy if you want to sell a mix of merch, digital, and subscriptions
• Choose Lemon Squeezy if you’re a dev or SaaS founder selling digital tools

All four platforms offer free trials or free plans—so you can test each one before fully committing.