Creator platform fee index 2026: what 15 platforms take from a $10, $50 and $200 sale

What makes this useful: A sourced EarnThread field guide written for creators turning attention into an owned business.

Last updated: 13 October 2026. We'll update this index every quarter. Next update planned: January 2027.

Every creator platform has a headline fee, but what you actually keep from a sale depends on three things together: the monthly price, the platform's cut, and card processing. We read 15 platforms' own pricing and help pages on 13 October 2026, recorded every number with the page it came from, and ran the same five sales scenarios through each one: a single $10, $50 and $200 sale, and a month of $500 and $2,000 in sales.

The headline findings ([how we counted](#method)):

• On a single $50 sale, creators keep between $42.25 and $48.25, depending on the platform. The top figure, 96.5%, is shared by eight plans that charge no platform fee and use the standard 2.9% + 30¢ card rate. The lowest, 84.5%, is Linktree's free plan.
• Small sales lose the most to fixed fees. On a $10 sale, card processing alone takes 5.9%. With Gumroad's 10% + $0.50 on top, the creator keeps $7.91 (79.1%).
• In a $500 month, the subscription matters more than the percentage. The cheapest options cost $29.50 (Ko-fi Gold) and $30 (Lemon Squeezy). Kajabi Basic costs $196.50, because its $179 monthly price is fixed whatever you sell.
• In a $2,000 month, flat plans with no platform fee pull ahead. Ko-fi Gold ($82), Stan Creator ($99) and Beacons Creator Plus ($100) cost least. Linktree's free plan costs the most, at $310.
• Each platform has its own break-even point, the monthly sales level where its paid plan becomes cheaper than its free or lower plan. Across the platforms we checked, that point ranges from $240 a month (Ko-fi) to $1,000 a month (Podia).

Key takeaways

• On a single $50 sale, creators keep between $42.25 (84.5%, Linktree Free) and $48.25 (96.5%, any of eight plans with no platform fee).
• Fixed fees hurt small sales most: card processing alone takes 5.9% of a $10 sale, and with Gumroad's 10% + $0.50 on top, the creator keeps $7.91.
• In a $500 month, the cheapest options cost about $30 (Ko-fi Gold, Lemon Squeezy). In a $2,000 month, flat plans with no platform fee cost least (Ko-fi Gold $82, Stan Creator $99, Beacons Creator Plus $100).
• Each platform's paid plan pays for itself above a different monthly sales level, from $240 (Ko-fi) to $1,000 (Podia); EarnThread Growth beats Launch above $475.
• Prices vary by country: Shopify, Thinkific and Linktree's paid plans showed only euro prices from Ireland, and Linktree's Pro fee is listed as 0% on the plan card but 9% in its comparison table.

The index: what you keep from a $10, $50 and $200 sale

This table covers the plans a first-time creator is most likely to start on, sorted by the share of a $50 sale you keep. It shows per-sale fees only. The monthly price is listed separately because a single sale doesn't tell you how to share out a subscription. The monthly tables further down include it.

Ties are sorted by monthly price, lowest first. Patreon, Shopify, Thinkific and Linktree's paid plans aren't in this table. We explain why under [Platforms we couldn't fully price in US dollars](#platforms-we-couldnt-fully-price-in-us-dollars).

Gumroad and Linktree swap places depending on the sale size. Gumroad's fixed $0.50 hurts most on a $10 sale. Linktree's 12% hurts most on a $200 sale.

A month of sales: $500 and $2,000

A single sale hides the subscription. These two hypothetical months add the monthly price to the fees on every sale. Both assume $50 orders, so $500 is 10 sales and $2,000 is 40 sales. The table is sorted by what you keep in the $2,000 month.

Lemon Squeezy and EarnThread Scale both keep 94.0% at $2,000. Lemon Squeezy is listed first because it has no subscription. Its cost rises with sales, while Scale's stays flat.

Chart: the cheapest plans at six sales levels

This chart, shown as a table, ranks the three lowest-cost plans at each monthly sales level, using the same $50 orders and the same fees as above. Read it from top to bottom to see the order change as your sales grow.

At $100, Ko-fi Standard also costs $8.50, tied with EarnThread Launch and Payhip Free Forever. At $1,000, Stan Creator also costs $64, tied with EarnThread Growth.

Fees are only part of the choice. The platforms sell different things: Ko-fi is built around tips, memberships, commissions and a shop; Kajabi, Teachable, Thinkific and Podia around courses; SamCart around checkout pages; Stan, Beacons, Linktree and EarnThread around a link-in-bio storefront. A platform that costs $20 more a month but sells the offer you need is still the cheaper choice. And whichever you pick, your own offer usually pays far more than platform payouts do: see why platform payouts aren't enough.

Break-even notes: when a paid plan starts to pay for itself

Within a platform, a paid plan with a lower fee becomes cheaper once your monthly sales pass the point where the fee you save covers the subscription. The formula is: extra monthly price ÷ percentage points saved. Card processing is the same on both plans, so it cancels out.

The two EarnThread figures match the ones on EarnThread's own pricing page: Growth is cheaper than Launch above $475 a month, and Scale is cheaper than Growth above $3,000. Beacons' $10 Creator plan has the same 9% fee as its free plan, so on fees alone it never comes out cheaper. We left it out of this table.

You can use the same formula to compare platforms. For example, Stan Creator ($29, 0%) costs less than a 5% free plan once you sell more than $580 a month ($29 ÷ 5%). Then weigh the rest of the choice, such as features, payouts and data export, with our creator platform scorecard.

Platforms we couldn't fully price in US dollars

We fetched pages from Ireland. Four platforms either showed us euro prices or didn't publish a rate we could read. We didn't convert currencies or fill gaps with estimates. Here's what we could confirm.

Shopify and Thinkific showed only euro prices. Shopify's pricing page (opens in a new tab) listed Basic at €32 a month paid monthly (€24 paid yearly), with online card rates of 2% + €0.25 excluding VAT through Shopify Payments, and a 2% fee if you use a third-party payment provider. Shopify sells digital products through an app; Shopify's Digital Downloads app (opens in a new tab) is listed as free. Thinkific's pricing page (opens in a new tab) listed Basic at €53 a month billed monthly (€39 billed annually). Thinkific says there's no third-party gateway fee when you use its own Thinkific Payments, and its payments help article (opens in a new tab) gives an Irish business a rate of 1.7% + €0.25 on European Economic Area cards, or 2.9% + $0.30 for a US business.

Linktree's page contradicts itself. Linktree's pricing page (opens in a new tab) showed us Starter at €6, Pro at €13 and Premium at €32 a month, billed monthly. The Pro plan card says "Sell and earn with 0% fees", but the same page's plan comparison table lists digital products and courses at a 9% fee on Pro. It lists 12% on Free, 9% on Starter and 0% on Premium. We show both readings below. Linktree's fees help article (opens in a new tab) gives Stripe processing only in US dollars (2.9% + $0.30), so for the euro plans we show the subscription and Linktree's fee only. Linktree's free plan costs nothing in any currency, so it appears in the main index in dollars.

Don't compare these figures directly with the dollar table. European card rates are lower than US ones, which is why Shopify and Thinkific keep more per sale here. If you sell in euros from Ireland using your own Stripe account, Stripe's Irish pricing page (opens in a new tab) lists 1.5% + €0.25 for standard EEA cards. For UK creators, Stripe's UK page (opens in a new tab) lists 1.5% + 20p for standard UK cards.

Patreon's processing rate isn't on its pricing page. Patreon's pricing page (opens in a new tab) states a 10% fee on "the income you earn on Patreon", plus "payment processing, currency conversion, and payout fees, and applicable taxes". The rates are in Patreon's help centre, which blocked our automated fetch, so we can't price them. Before processing, Patreon's 10% leaves $45 of a $50 sale (90%). The real figure is lower.

Other gaps. SamCart's pricing table has a "3rd Party Processors" row whose value we couldn't read, so we priced SamCart on its own SamPay rate. We didn't see Shopify's Starter plan on the Irish page.

What the fees don't show

Some real costs sit outside this index:

• International buyers and currency conversion. Stripe's US page (opens in a new tab) adds 1.5% for international cards and 1% if currency conversion is needed. Lemon Squeezy (opens in a new tab) adds 1.5% for buyers outside the US and 1.5% for PayPal. Teachable lists international card sales at 3.9% + 30¢ (opens in a new tab).
• Payouts. Gumroad's payouts page (opens in a new tab) says PayPal payouts carry a 2% fee, and its optional US instant payouts cost 3%. Linktree's pricing page says it charges USD$0.25 per payout (opens in a new tab). Lemon Squeezy's Stripe payouts are free for US bank accounts and cost 1% per payout outside the US (opens in a new tab). Ko-fi says it charges no payout fees (opens in a new tab). Most other pages we read didn't mention payout fees.
• Sales tax and VAT. Gumroad (opens in a new tab) and Lemon Squeezy (opens in a new tab) act as merchant of record and handle sales tax for you. Lemon Squeezy calculates its fee on the total order value, including tax. Payhip collects EU and UK VAT for you (opens in a new tab). Platforms that pay into your own Stripe account leave tax to you.
• Refunds and disputes. Card processing fees usually aren't returned on a refund. Teachable lists a $15 chargeback fee (opens in a new tab).
• Marketplace sales. Gumroad charges 30% on sales that come through its Discover marketplace (opens in a new tab), which includes processing. Our figures assume buyers come through your own link.

For how the platform fee and Stripe's fee fit together on a single checkout, see how Stripe Connect works for creators.

Method

What we collected. For each of 15 creator platforms, we recorded the plan or plans a first-time creator is most likely to start on: the free plan where one exists, and the lowest paid plan that removes or lowers the platform fee. For each plan we recorded the monthly price (billed monthly), the platform's fee per sale, the card processing rate, and any payout fees the page stated.

Where from. Every number comes from the platform's own pricing or help page, fetched on 13 October 2026. We recorded the URL and the exact wording for each figure. Pages were fetched from Ireland. Where a page showed euros, we recorded euros and didn't convert them.

Card processing. Where a platform sets the processing rate (Gumroad, Beacons, Podia, Teachable, SamCart's SamPay, Kajabi Payments, Linktree, Lemon Squeezy), we used the rate it publishes for US card sales. Where you connect your own Stripe or PayPal account (EarnThread, Stan, Payhip, Ko-fi), we used Stripe's standard US rate of 2.9% + 30¢ for domestic cards, from Stripe's US pricing page. Your rate depends on your country and currency: Stripe's Irish and UK pages both list 1.5% plus a fixed fee for standard domestic cards.

How we counted. Per-sale fees = sale × platform % + platform fixed fee + sale × processing % + processing fixed fee. For a single sale, the share you keep = (sale − per-sale fees) ÷ sale. The monthly price is shown separately. For a month, we assumed $50 orders (10 sales for $500, 40 sales for $2,000). Monthly cost = monthly price + per-sale fees × number of sales, and the share you keep = (sales − monthly cost) ÷ sales. Break-even = difference in monthly price ÷ difference in platform fee %. A script does all the arithmetic, so we can re-run it every quarter.

Limitations. We assumed US buyers paying by card, no sales tax or VAT, no refunds or chargebacks, no currency conversion and no payout fees. The $50 order size is a hypothetical example: smaller orders raise the effect of fixed fees and larger ones lower it. We compared fees only, not features or plan limits; Kajabi's Basic plan (opens in a new tab) and Teachable's Starter plan (opens in a new tab), for example, each include 5 products. We list monthly prices, not the lower annual-billing prices. Pricing pages change often and can differ by country, so check the live page before you decide. Where a page was unclear or contradicted itself, we show both readings and don't pick one.

Pages we used, by platform

What changed since the last update

This is the first edition (13 October 2026). From the next quarterly update, this section will list price and fee changes since the previous edition, along with any platforms added or removed.

How to use this index

1. 01
   Estimate your monthly sales honestly

   for the next six months. Most first products start small, and the price you set affects which row matters to you.

2. 02
   Find the cheapest plan at that level

   in the chart above, then check the break-even table to see when you'd upgrade.

3. 03
   Check what you're actually selling

   Downloads, coaching calls, courses and memberships aren't supported equally everywhere.

4. 04
   Check where your money lands

   and whether you can export your customers if you leave. For plans and features side by side, see our platform pricing comparison.

If you're starting from zero, a free plan with a percentage fee keeps your costs at zero until you sell. EarnThread's Launch plan is free with a 5% platform fee. Payments go to your own Stripe account, and each sale is traced back to the post that brought it in. Growth ($19 a month, 1%) and Scale ($49 a month, 0%) lower the fee as you grow. Start free on EarnThread and publish your first offer or lead magnet.

Frequently asked questions

Which creator platform has the lowest fees?

It depends on how much you sell. In our hypothetical months of $50 orders, Lemon Squeezy (no subscription, 5% + 50¢ including processing) was cheapest at $100 and $250 a month, and Ko-fi Gold ($12 a month, 0% fee) was cheapest from $500 a month upwards. Fees are only part of the choice: check the platform sells the kind of offer you need.

Do I still pay Stripe fees on a platform with 0% fees?

Yes. A 0% platform fee means the platform doesn't take a cut, but card processing still applies. In the US, Stripe's standard rate is 2.9% + 30¢ per domestic card payment, so a $50 sale costs $1.75 in processing.

When should I move from a free plan to a paid plan?

When the fee you'd save each month is more than the subscription. Divide the extra monthly price by the percentage points you'd save. For example, EarnThread Growth ($19, 1%) is cheaper than Launch ($0, 5%) once you sell over $475 a month.

Why are some prices in euros?

Several pricing pages show local currency based on where you visit from. We fetched pages from Ireland, and Shopify, Thinkific and Linktree's paid plans showed only euro prices. We recorded them as shown and didn't convert them.

How often is this index updated?

Every quarter. Each update re-reads every platform's pricing page, re-runs the same calculations, and lists what changed since the previous edition.