Gumroad Has No Free Plan. It Has a 10% Cut.
There is no plan to choose. You pay nothing to list and a tenth of everything you sell, or a third if the buyer came from Gumroad.
Gumroad has no subscription and no free plan in the usual sense. It charges 10% plus 50 cents per transaction on sales through your own profile or direct links, and 30% per transaction when a new customer finds you through the Discover marketplace. There is no monthly fee, no product limit and no listing cost. Since January 2025 Gumroad is also a merchant of record, handling sales tax worldwide on your behalf.1
That absence of a plan is the whole product. You are not choosing a tier, you are choosing a take rate, and the take rate depends on where the buyer came from.
The pricing, measured
| Direct sale | Discover sale | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee | $0 | $0 |
| Gumroad cut | 10% + 50 cents | 30% |
| Who finds the buyer | You | Gumroad marketplace |
| Merchant of record | Yes | Yes |
| Product limit | None | None |
Prices measured on 22 October 2026. Vendor plan terms, allowances and prices change without notice, so treat every figure on this page as a dated snapshot rather than a permanent fact. Where a number here differs from the vendor's own pricing page, the vendor's page is correct and the figure above is simply older than it.
What the 10% actually costs
Ten percent plus fifty cents is a meaningful cut at low price points, because the fixed fifty cents dominates. This is the number to run before pricing a product.
| Product price | Gumroad takes | You keep | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| $5 | $1.00 | $4.00 | 20% |
| $10 | $1.50 | $8.50 | 15% |
| $25 | $3.00 | $22.00 | 12% |
| $50 | $5.50 | $44.50 | 11% |
| $200 | $20.50 | $179.50 | 10.25% |
At $5 a product, one in five dollars goes to Gumroad. That is not a criticism, it is the arithmetic of a fixed fee on a small number, and it is the reason cheap products and Gumroad do not combine well.
The 30% Discover rate is not a penalty
A sale through Discover costs triple the rate, but it also comes from a customer you did not have to find. Whether that is worth it depends entirely on what customer acquisition costs you elsewhere.
Marketing a $30 product to a cold audience frequently costs more than $9 in advertising. Seen that way, Discover is a referral fee rather than a tax, and it only applies when a new customer arrives through the marketplace rather than through your own links.
Merchant of record is the underrated feature
Since January 2025 Gumroad handles all sales tax collection and remittance worldwide. For anyone selling digital products across borders, that removes VAT registration, US state thresholds and Canadian GST administration.
That service is genuinely valuable and is usually billed separately elsewhere. It is baked into the 10% here, and for a small seller with international customers it may be worth more than the percentage difference against a rival.
When Gumroad is the right choice
Digital products sold to an audience you already have: an email list, a social following, a community. At that volume you pay 10% and nothing else, and the tax handling is done.
It is also the simplest possible setup. List a file, set a price, share a link. There is no store to design and no checkout to configure.
When it is the wrong choice
Physical goods, which Gumroad does not allow. High-volume low-price catalogues, where the fifty cents per transaction becomes punitive. And any business whose margins cannot absorb 10% at all.
If you sell more than a few thousand dollars a month, a flat-fee platform with payment processing at 2.9% becomes substantially cheaper. Payhip at 5% costs half as much on a direct sale.
How it compares
Against Payhip, Gumroad charges 10% plus 50 cents against Payhip's 5%, and both handle digital tax. Against Square, Gumroad is far more expensive per sale but requires no site building at all.
Against Big Cartel, the tradeoff is products against fees. Big Cartel charges no transaction fee and caps free shops at five products; Gumroad is unlimited and takes a tenth.
Frequently asked questions
Is Gumroad free?
There is no monthly fee, but it takes 10% plus 50 cents per direct sale. It is a fee-based model rather than a free plan.
Why is the Discover fee 30%?
Discover sales bring you customers you did not have to find. The higher rate covers marketplace placement.
Does Gumroad handle sales tax?
Yes. Since January 2025 it is the merchant of record and manages collection and remittance worldwide.
Can I sell physical products on Gumroad?
No. Physical goods are outside what the platform permits.
Is Gumroad cheaper than Payhip?
No, on direct sales. Gumroad charges 10% plus 50 cents where Payhip charges 5%.
Fees and merchant-of-record terms verified against Gumroad's own pricing page on 23 October 2026.
Sources
- Gumroad pricing: gumroad.com/pricing.
All sources are the vendor's own plan or documentation pages, checked on 22 October 2026. Plan terms change without notice, so confirm current limits before you rely on them.
