The Thousand Solutions Blog

Gumroad and Shopify which is better to Sell Digital Products 2023? -

Mar 2, 2023

 Last updated: 23 February 2023

Gumroad and Shopify are two popular ecommerce platforms for selling digital products on the internet. It is possible to use either platform to create an online store that sells online courses or digital downloads, month-long subscriptions, or even physical products. Whatever you choose to sell online, you'll find the ability to build an appealing custom website with Gumroad, Shopify, or other ecommerce platforms that are different.

In this post this article, we'll compare Gumroad and Shopify to help you find the ideal platform to sell digital products.

 Gumroad Overview

Gumroad is an e-commerce platform where you can sell anythingthat you want to sell - from graphics and software to cookbooks. You can create your own online shop using Gumroad or link your personal domain with the platform in order in order to access the payment processing. You can sell a few products (or lots!) via your online shop using Gumroad at a cost of 10% transaction charge per purchase.

Gumroad Core features

  • Payment service: You can easily embed Gumroad's payment provider on your existing website and add payment options to your existing website, so you can sell products online. Also, you are able to offer discounts and collect VAT as well.
  • Set up memberships, subscriptions, or subscriptions Certain digital goods do not require one-time purchases. Fortunately, Gumroad allows you to create recurring payment plans in a biannual, monthly, quarterly, biannually, or yearly basis. Be aware that this isn't the typical membership you're acquainted with (more on this later).).
  • Secure digital goods: Gumroad offers piracy prevention options to protect your own items from being taken over by pirates on the internet, such as light DRM.
  • Make keys to licenses: If you're selling software, you can make custom license keys that allow all of your clients to use your product online.
  • Different file types The options aren't limited to a specific file type on Gumroad. If you offer documents in PDF, ePub, or Mobi it is possible for customers to choose which kind of file they want.

Gumroad Pricing

Contrary to platforms for e-commerce like Shopify, you can run your online shop on Gumroad with no monthly fees. Yup, that's right! It's a simple transaction fee per transaction made. Therefore, if your business doesn't generate income, you won't need to pay a dime. Currently, Gumroad charges a 10% transaction fee for every sale. Furthermore, you'll need to pay for Paypal/Stripe costs, which amount to 2.9 percent plus $0.30 for each transaction.

Advantages of Gumroad

1. Make use of your existing website

In making a comparison between Gumroad vs Shopify the majority of people who use Gumroad already have a website which can be connected to the platform in order to connect to the payment processor and cool perks to simplify selling digital goods online. While it isn't an ideal platform for building your own website on, it's a great choice for those who already have a functional website they use and want to add more options to their existing site.

2. A wealth of education materials from Doers

A lot of e-commerce platforms offer an education hub where you can learn from professionals who market digital items. Gumroad includes people on its platform who offer digital goods and offer their knowledge in order to assist others on their journey. You can learn from the other creators of content on their blogs. When comparing Gumroad vs Shopify each of them offers instructional resources. But unlike Shopify most of the writers who write their blogs are customers instead of their employees which gives the content a different spin. It's always a good idea to acquire the latest techniques from individuals who've worked in areas such as selling digital goods as well as marketing products.

Disadvantages of Gumroad

1. Transaction fees that are expensive

The fact that you don't have to pay a monthly fee is an enormous benefit especially for those just beginning their journey. The goal behind running an online business offering digital goods is hopefully you'll continuously grow and ultimately earn plenty of money. A 10% fee per transaction (without an upper limit) will mean that the Gumroad costs will grow with the growth of your online store. If you're earning $100,000 per month, you'll be paying fees of $10,000!

Keep in mind that the 10% fee doesn't include the Stripe/PayPal fees of 2.9 percentage plus $0.30 per transaction that are also due. Transaction fees can take away your earnings. Many platforms that charge transaction fees charge nowhere near 10 percent.

A transaction fee of 10% per sale at Gumroad can make the difference between running a successful company and one that isn't. There are platforms like that which charge only five percent transaction charges and no commitment to monthly payments (you may also change to 's monthly plans when the size of your business increases which means you'll never have to have to pay more than $99 monthly in fees). Therefore, financially speaking, an alternative online platform might be a better fit to your requirements.

2. Store themes are not available and only limited store customizations

The majority of people who sign up with Gumroad already have their own web pages. What if you don't already have a website? You'll have to join a different platform, build your website, invest in a site builder, pick the theme, join hosting and other services for Gumroad after the site is completed. That's almost too much upfront effort when you're ready to begin today.

It's not common for an e-commerce platform with sophisticated features that accept payments and allow the seller to begin selling items online , but not to have themes to develop an online store within their platform. There are a few Gumroad themes online, but they're available only through third-party vendors. If you purchase themes through a third-party it is possible that you won't find a developer who updates their theme as Gumroad evolves its offering, which could cause problems months or even years further down the road.

3. Extensively lacking in terms of online course features

Even though Gumroad advertises as having an option to sell online courses, that's not exactly what you'd want from an online platform for courses.

Gumroad's online course feature allows you to upload a video as well as other documents which your students download, or simply click on to view the video. But, it doesn't provide the necessary features of an online course, such as various lesson types (video or text, tests survey, etc.) as well as drip content calendars as well as certificates of achievement, study progress, etc. Without these features, you won't be able create a fun learning environment to your students.

Here's an example from a student's learning experience

Gumroad Online Course

In comparison, here's what an enjoyable learning experience ought to appear to (the image below is taken from ):

4. Extensively lacking in terms of the features of membership

While Gumroad boasts of having the ability to sell memberships or subscriptions, this isn't what you'd expect from a membership platform either.

When a user subscribes to Gumroad, once they've signed up to Gumroad, they'll have access to a set of files in digital format that they can download or view. Check out the following example:

However, this again isn't an ordinary membership model where you can easily share exclusive content with your members , in exchange for a monthly subscription. The interface also doesn't promote the active participation of your customers because they'll download information from you with no meaningful interactions. If you're familiar with other subscription platforms such as Patreon or  PayPal, your user experience will be different.

Here's an example of what the ideal membership experience for members should look like (the image below comes taken from ):

 View of Shopify

Shopify is an online store that allows you to sell digital and physical items online. Shopify serves smaller, medium-sized and big enterprise firms. Shopify offers an extensive selection of third-party applications, has an unlimited number of products, as well as an array of customizable options so you can build a beautiful online shop for your online merchandise.

The Shopify Core feature

  • Shopify Point of Sale: For those selling goods in person, Shopify offers a state-of-the-art point of sale system that can handle online transactions.
  • Unlimited product range: With Shopify, you can add any number of items in your store with any plan . This makes the platform a favorite choice for a small business testing out trending products in an early stage.
  • Unlimited bandwidth and storage: You'll have access to hosting, storage, as well as bandwidth, on Shopify with dependable uptime and without caps.
  • Fraud analysis: You can decide whether or not to complete orders for your own small-scale business using a fraud analysis tool that's built into Shopify's platform.
  • Abandoned cart recovery can easily build an abandoned cart email funnel to recover lost sales using Shopify without installing any third-party apps.

Shopify Pricing


Shopify offers five pricing levels for a merchant account on its platform. The lowest tier is $5/month but only allows you to sell through messages and social media platforms. The most expensive price can be found in Shopify Plus which starts at $2,000/month. There are three pricing tiers in the middle which tend to be the most popular plans that people pick among. The basic plan costs $39/month, and permits you to have two staff accounts. The Shopify Plan costs $105/month, and allows you to get five employee accounts. The Advanced plan will run you 399 per month, but you'll have the option to set up 15 employee accounts. Most people start on the basic plan and evolve into Shopify Advanced or Advanced. Enterprise businesses typically choose Shopify Plus.

The advantages of Shopify

1. User-friendly

The Shopify user interface is friendly and attracts young entrepreneurs who want to create an online shop so that they can offer digital and physical products. Your Shopify store can be quickly customized using a straightforward path when using a theme for your site. It doesn't require any knowledge of technology or programming for building your own website, which makes it a popular choice for online sales of products.

2. More than 6,000 applications from third parties

It is worth noting that the Shopify App Store has over 6,000 apps that you can make use of to take payments as well as add important features to draw more customers in, analyse and monitor sales, enhance customer management, and other. You can customize your website to suit your needs with these apps. Be aware, however, that the costs of monthly subscriptions for these applications can add up fast.

The disadvantages of Shopify

1. It is expensive for those who are just beginning.

Shopify isn't an affordable choice for the majority of entrepreneurs. There's a good chance that you'll need to invest in premium themes, paid applications with a monthly cost, charges for transactions from payment processors, and more. Making sure costs are low on Shopify isn't easy. In contrast to Gumroad the Shopify service doesn't offer a cost-free plan on Shopify. Plus, as you scale the cost of a each month's subscription increase. Shopify Plus starts at $2,000 however, the price can be steep for enterprise businesses.

2. Focused more on physical items than digital

In comparing both systems, Shopify excels at physical merchandise, however it isn't the best choice for digital goods. It is possible to install and utilize third-party Shopify applications for your individual requirements as a digital product the entrepreneur, however it could make the costs of running your business skyrocket. Shopify is a Shopify platform was designed for selling physical products. Many people who run dropshipping companies use Shopify however, sellers who sell digital products would probably consider competitors such as Gumroad or .

 Does anyone know of a better alternative?

When looking at Gumroad and Shopify as platforms that can be used to begin selling digital items You might be wondering if there's an even better alternative than the Gumroad and Shopify store.

There is, however.

is an e-commerce platform that is specialized in digital goods. It is able to use the platform for selling software, online courses eBooks, graphic designs and virtually any kind digital products. Additionally, if you wish to sell physical products to go hand-in-hand with your digital items it is easy to build product pages as well.

Here are a few additional reasons to prefer Shopify over Gumroad. Shopify.

  • Cheap option: offers generous forever free plan with unlimitted access to Shopify's whole platform. When comparing Gumroad and Shopify the two result in costing sellers a lot. Gumroad's 10% fee for every transaction is not subject to a limitation. There's no way to get any discount or reduced charge, regardless of selling thousands of items on your ecommerce store. Shopify has a monthly fee and transaction fee. Only is charged an 5% transaction cost on the Free Forever plan, but it is possible to switch to 's monthly subscriptions, which means you'll be charged a minimum of $99 per month regardless of how large your company grows!
  • Flexible and customizable It is different from Gumroad and Shopify, allows you to sell anything but with a twist. There are special features designed specifically designed for certain types of items. In the case of creating an online course website, you'll be able to make use of a gorgeous, native course player for your lessons instead of needing to design a customized course player. If you're selling digital downloads, you'll have the ability to access security features to protect against piracy, and marketing options including affiliate systems as well as offer immediate downloads. People who decide to offer coaching services can profit from calendar integrations as well as other. No matter what you sell there are unique functions available for those types of digital products.
  • Effective marketing tools on platforms such as Shopify You'll probably have to go to the Shopify App store to access most marketing tools. That means that you'll have to spend more money on the platform to provide an improved experience and additional options for customers of your online shop. On , most of those marketing tools are already available to the platform. With a plethora of features , you'll be able offer discounts for your customers, create your own affiliate program and referral system to help you better sell items, as well as offer cross-sells and up-sells in your shopping process. It is also possible to allow your customers review their experience and then approve the reviews you get. also offers a comprehensive tools for marketing via email so that you can email customers who are GDPR compliant.
  • The best customer service The customer support team is unlike any other platform. Both Gumroad and Shopify have a comprehensive support for customers You can get in touch with's help desk at any time, and you will receive the highest level of service regarding your company. Plus, you can easily access their support email via their website , unlike other online stores (in case you're wondering which one it's [email protected]). Additionally, they provide a wealth of educational resources on their blog as well as a Help Center so you can receive the help and training that you require quickly.

 Gumroad Shopify vs HTML0: Which should you choose in 2023?

When comparing Gumroad vs Shopify, it's clear that both are superior at different levels. Gumroad is an excellent eCommerce platform to sell digital products if you already have a site. Shopify is an incredible e-commerce platform for dropshipping printing-on-demand and print-on-demand as well as other physical items.