13 Best Gumroad Alternatives in 2024 (Cheaper & More Powerful)

Hi friend! I‘ve been building websites with WordPress for over 15 years, so I‘ve tried all the popular platforms for selling digital goods.

Recently, I‘ve seen a lot of creators move away from Gumroad after their latest fee changes.

In this guide, I‘ll share the top 13 alternatives I recommend checking out in 2024 based on my own extensive experience.

Let‘s start by quickly going over the limitations with Gumroad that have creators looking for better options:

• High 10% fees on all transactions that never decrease
• Lack of marketing features like coupons or upsells
• No customization options for your storefront
• No built-in LMS for selling online courses

Now let‘s look at the best Gumroad competitors and alternative platforms I recommend for selling digital products in 2024:

1. MemberPress – Best for Membership Sites

MemberPress is my #1 recommendation for creating a membership site or selling subscription-based access.

It nicely integrates WordPress with features specifically for managing members and selling digital goods.

Some of the key features include:

• Subscription management
• Content restriction
• Drip content
• Online courses
• Affiliate management
• Coupons
• Membership portals
• App integrations like Zapier

I‘ve used MemberPress for several client sites that needed a full membership solution. It handles all the core functionality you need seamlessly with WordPress.

They claim over 10,000 satisfied users and a 4.7 rating on WordPress.org after being in business for over 8 years.

Pricing starts at $199 per year. They also offer higher tier plans if you need additional features.

Overall, I highly recommend MemberPress, especially if you want to run a subscription site.

2. Easy Digital Downloads – Most Popular Free Option

Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) is a free WordPress plugin used on over 1 million websites for selling digital goods.

It‘s completely free to get started and comes with all the core features you need like:

• Payment gateways
• Discount codes
• Download management
• Tax options
• Detailed reporting

EDD has been around since 2012 and is maintained by a dedicated team of developers. I‘ve used it myself on several smaller sites with great success.

It‘s also super easy to use. You can literally install it and have products ready for sale within 5 minutes.

There are also hundreds of free and paid EDD extensions that add advanced features like recurring payments or membership management.

For a completely free, self-hosted WordPress solution, EDD is hard to beat.

3. WP Simple Pay – Best Stripe Plugin

WP Simple Pay is my recommended Stripe payment plugin for WordPress.

It allows you to easily accept one-time or recurring credit card payments without dealing with an eCommerce store.

The free lite version lets you accept unlimited payments through Stripe with a 2.9% + 30¢ fee per transaction.

The pro version for $49 per year removes those fees and adds advanced features like:

• Coupons
• Custom checkout
• Subscriptions
• Form builder

They claim over 20,000 happy users. I‘ve used WP Simple Pay on client sites where all they needed was a simple payment form without a full store.

It‘s extremely easy to use and implements Stripe beautifully into WordPress.

4. WooCommerce – Most Powerful eCommerce Platform

If you want maximum design flexibility and features, then WooCommerce is the best free, open-source eCommerce platform.

It powers over 6 million online stores globally and offers complete control to sell anything you want.

Some of the features include:

• Physical/digital products
• Flexible shipping
• Payment gateways
• Tax calculation
• Coupons
• Inventory management
• Reporting
• 1000s of themes and extensions

I‘ve built dozens of online stores with WooCommerce over the years. With the right plugins, you can achieve just about any eCommerce functionality you can imagine.

They have detailed small business and enterprise solutions available as well.

For the best Gumroad alternative with unlimited customization options, WooCommerce can‘t be beaten. The core plugin is 100% free as well.

5. WPForms – Best Form Builder

WPForms is the most beginner-friendly drag & drop form builder for WordPress.

It allows you to create any type of online form, including:

• Contact forms
• Payment forms
• Registration forms
• Survey forms
• Online booking forms

With the paid version, you can use WPForms to build custom order forms and accept payments right on your site through providers like Stripe, Authorize.Net, and PayPal.

It‘s a simple alternative to Gumroad for selling digital goods through your own order forms.

WPForms has over 1 million active installs and a 4.9 rating on WordPress.org. I‘ve used it for several years and find it extremely easy for quickly building custom forms.

Paid licenses start at $199 per year.

6. MemberMouse – All-in-One Membership Plugin

MemberMouse is a popular WordPress membership plugin used by over 50,000 websites.

It allows you to easily create a membership site, sell courses, manage members, restrict content, and much more.

Some of the features include:

• Unlimited membership levels
• Content restriction
• Drip content
• Coupons
• Landing pages
• Course authoring tools
• Zapier integration

I‘ve used MemberMouse for several education sites that needed a full-featured membership management system. It handles all the core functionality you need.

They have over 50 5-star reviews on Capterra as well.

Pricing starts at $199 per year for the core features.

7. LearnDash – Best Learning Management System

If you‘re solely interested in creating and selling online courses, then LearnDash is the best premium LMS plugin available for WordPress.

It allows you to create robust courses, lessons, quizzes, progression tracking, and much more.

Over 200,000 students use courses built with LearnDash. It‘s trusted by big universities and Fortune 500 companies.

Some of the features include:

• Course builder
• Lessons
• Quizzes
• Certificates
• Student reporting
• Multi-instructor courses
• Zapier integration

I‘ve built several advanced online education sites with LearnDash. It has all the tools you need for managing professional courses in WordPress.

Pricing starts at $199 per year.

For the best Gumroad alternative focused specifically on online courses, LearnDash is my top choice.

8. ConvertKit – Email Marketing Automation

ConvertKit is a powerful email marketing and automation platform built for digital creators.

It allows you to not only build an email list, but also automate workflows to sell products and courses.

Some of the features include:

• Email marketing
• Landing pages
• Forms
• Checkout pages
• Memberships
• Automation
• Analytics

ConvertKit has over 50,000 active customers and maintains a 4.8/5 rating on Capterra.

I‘ve used it for several years both personally and with clients to automate marketing funnels. It handles email, landing pages, and payments in one easy-to-use platform.

Pricing starts at $29 per month when billed annually. They also offer a generous free plan.

9. Teachable – Simple Course Platform

Teachable is a hosted platform dedicated specifically to creating and marketing online courses.

It aims to provide everything you need in one easy-to-use solution including:

• Course builder
• Marketing tools
• Secure hosting
• Integrated payments
• Analytics

Some of the key features include:

• Drag and drop course creator
• Coupons
• Drip content
• Student management
• Mobile optimization
• Email marketing integrations
• Affiliate management

Teachable claims over 24 million students and has an Excellent 4.6/5 rating on Capterra.

For a simple yet powerful course-building solution, Teachable is a great option to consider.

Pricing starts at $29 per month billed annually.

10. Thinkific – Feature Rich Course Platform

Thinkific is another robust platform dedicated to creating and selling online courses just like Teachable.

It aims to provide a complete solution for course creators with features like:

• Course creator
• Memberships
• Drip content
• Coupons
• Affiliate management
• Email marketing
• Analytics

Thinkific has over 40,000 active users and has been featured in Forbes, Business Insider, and Inc.

It‘s newbie-friendly yet packed with advanced functionality for scaling a course business.

I like that they also let you fully white-label and embed your courses anywhere with their customizable domains and powerful APIs.

Pricing starts at $49 per month billed annually.

11. Payhip – Lean Digital Goods Platform

Payhip offers a simple yet effective ecommerce solution focused on selling digital goods.

It aims to provide just the core features you need like:

• Instant downloads
• Cross-platform (mobile + desktop)
• Clean, customizable checkout
• PayPal and Stripe integration
• Affiliate management
• Detailed analytics

Payhip is used by over 50,000 sellers and maintains a 5/5 rating on Trustpilot.

I like Payhip for quick mini-membership sites or selling smaller digital products. It‘s easy to use and maintain.

They offer a free plan with 5% transaction fees. Paid subscriptions start at $9 per month.

12. Sellfy – Digital Store Builder

Sellfy is an online store builder designed specifically for selling digital goods.

It aims to make it easy for anyone to create a beautiful online store with features like:

• Instant downloads
• Responsive design
• Marketing tools
• Secure hosting
• Developer friendly APIs
• Fraud protection

Sellfy claims over 1 million customers with a 4.3/5 rating on Trustpilot.

I‘ve used Sellfy myself for quick stores where I wanted complete branding control and embeddable buy buttons.

It offers a free starter plan. Paid subscriptions start at $22 per month when billed annually.

Helpful Comparison Chart

Here‘s a quick overview of the core features offered by each platform:

Platform	Free Version	Online Courses	Memberships	Marketing Tools	Custom Storefront	LMS
MemberPress	❌	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
EDD	✅	❌	❌	Extensions	Extensions	❌
WP Simple Pay	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
WooCommerce	✅	Extensions	Extensions	✅	✅	✅
WPForms	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
MemberMouse	❌	✅	✅	✅	❌	✅
LearnDash	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅
ConvertKit	✅	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌
Teachable	❌	✅	❌	✅	✅	✅
Thinkific	❌	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Payhip	✅	❌	❌	✅	✅	❌
Sellfy	✅	❌	❌	✅	✅	❌

This table gives you an at-a-glance view of the core features offered by each platform.

For example, if you need full membership management, marketing tools, and custom storefronts, then MemberPress and MemberMouse stick out.

If you just want to focus on online courses, then Teachable, Thinkific, and LearnDash offer the best LMS solutions.

And platforms like EDD, Payhip, and Sellfy provide more general lightweight solutions for digital goods.

Review this table along with the details above to select the platform that best aligns with your needs.

7 Key Factors to Consider

Here are the main criteria I would consider when choosing a Gumroad alternative:

1. Types of Products You Want to Sell

Consider what digital goods, courses, or subscriptions you want to sell. This will determine if you need a full membership site vs. just a simple ecommerce platform.

2. Your Budget

Gumroad does charge higher fees compared to most other platforms. So consider how much you‘re able to pay monthly or annually for software.

3. Desired Features

Review the feature list of each alternative against what‘s important for managing your particular products or members.

4. Customization Requirements

If you want to fully customize your branding and store design, platforms like WooCommerce are best. Others offer less flexibility.

5. Technical Expertise

Solutions like Teachable require less technical skill vs. something like WooCommerce that gives you more responsibility. Assess your comfort level.

6. Audience Size

Some platforms offer enterprise plans that scale better for huge audiences while others are designed for smaller businesses.

7. Built-in Marketing Tools

If you want email marketing, landing pages, affiliates, and other marketing features built-in, then solutions like ConvertKit or MemberMouse are great options.

Carefully weighing these key factors will lead you to the ideal Gumroad alternative for your specific needs.

Don‘t be afraid to try more than one platform to see which you like best! Many offer free trials.

Final Thoughts

I hope this overview gave you a better idea of the best Gumroad alternatives available in 2024 to sell your digital goods and courses.

Let me know if you have any other questions! I‘m always happy to offer advice based on my own experience using these platforms over the years.

The good news is that Gumroad definitely isn‘t your only option. Many great competitors exist that also integrate beautifully with WordPress.

I recommend starting with either the free Easy Digital Downloads plugin or a free trial of Teachable/Thinkific/ConvertKit.

WooCommerce is also 100% free and extremely powerful if you want maximum design control.

Once you pick a platform, the rest is just focusing on creating awesome products, marketing them effectively, and providing stellar customer service!