I tried 5 different platforms to sell digital products — here's what I found

I am not someone who switches platforms for fun. Every time I moved my products to a new platform, it was because something was genuinely not working.

Over the past two years, I've tried five: Etsy, Gumroad, Shopify, Payhip, and MadeThis. I've made real sales on all of them except Shopify, where I gave up before I even launched.

Here's the honest breakdown.

1. Etsy

Time I used it: 8 months
Monthly revenue at peak: ~$700

Etsy is where I started. It's where a lot of digital product creators start, and for good reason: the built-in audience is real.

Etsy has millions of shoppers actively looking for downloadable products. When I listed a Notion template pack, I got views within 48 hours without doing anything. That felt like magic after trying to build traffic from scratch elsewhere.

What I liked:

• Built-in organic discovery
• Quick setup
• Familiar to buyers (most people know how to check out on Etsy)

What broke it for me:

• 6.5% transaction fees that never decrease
• Zero customer email capture — I never owned my buyer relationships
• Constant algorithm anxiety — one update wiped out my best-performing listing
• Their rules, not mine. I had a listing flagged incorrectly and had no recourse.

Etsy is great for testing products. It's a poor foundation for building a durable business.

2. Gumroad

Time I used it: 10 months
Monthly revenue at peak: ~$1,200

Gumroad is the most common platform for indie creators, and the reputation is earned. Setup is genuinely simple. Products look clean. Checkout works on mobile.

What I liked:

• Fast setup — product live in under 30 minutes
• Clean, trusted checkout experience
• You do get customer emails
• Good for simple product types (PDFs, templates, ebooks)

What pushed me to look elsewhere:

• 10% transaction fees on the free plan (ouch)
• No meaningful AI features
• Limited product page customization
• No built-in marketing tools — you're entirely on your own for traffic

Gumroad works. I made my first $1,000 here. But at scale, the fees compound and the absence of marketing tools becomes a real limitation.

3. Shopify

Time I used it: 3 weeks before giving up
Revenue: $0 (never launched)

I tried Shopify because everyone says it's the "serious" ecommerce platform. What I found: Shopify is built for physical products, and the digital product experience is bolted on through third-party apps.

To sell digital products on Shopify, you need a third-party app for file delivery ($15–$30/month). You need to configure themes, understand liquid templating if you want any real customization, and pay $29+/month just to have a store.

I spent three weeks building my store and never launched because I kept running into technical walls. I gave up and went back to Gumroad.

If you have a developer, Shopify is powerful. If you're a solo creator, it's overkill that will eat your time.

4. Payhip

Time I used it: 4 months
Monthly revenue at peak: ~$400

Payhip is an underrated platform that almost no one talks about. It has a genuinely generous free plan (5% transaction fee only, no monthly charge), solid product pages, and a decent checkout.

What I liked:

• Free plan is actually useful
• Lower fees than Gumroad at entry level
• Built-in affiliate program
• Basic course functionality

What limited me:

• Very little AI or automation
• No outbound marketing tools
• The interface feels dated
• Limited customization

Payhip is a solid backup option. It's especially good if you're very early stage and fee-sensitive. But I eventually moved on because it doesn't grow with you well.

5. MadeThis

Time I've used it: Current platform
Monthly revenue range: $1,800–$3,200/month

MadeThis is where I landed, and where I've stayed. I want to be clear about why, because there are real reasons rather than just preference.

What's actually different:

The AI co-founder is genuinely useful in a way that nothing else I've tried comes close to. I've used it to refine my product lineup, rewrite underperforming product descriptions, plan a pricing restructure, and think through how to handle customer refund spikes. It's a business advisor built into the platform.

The outbound marketing tools drive early traffic when you don't have organic traffic yet. This was critical in my first months on MadeThis — I had sales coming in before my SEO content had time to rank.

The fee structure rewards scale. The more you sell, the better the economics get, rather than the flat-rate percentage that Gumroad and Etsy charge regardless.

Full customer data. Every buyer's email is mine. I can follow up, upsell, and launch new products to a warm audience.

What's missing:

• Smaller ecosystem than Gumroad or Shopify
• Fewer third-party integrations
• The platform is newer, so some power-user features are still developing

The Honest Recommendation

If you're brand new and want to test whether your product idea works: Etsy or Gumroad. Low friction, quick start.

If you've validated your products and want to build a real business: MadeThis. The AI features, fee structure, and marketing tools create compound advantages that matter more as you scale.

The platform you start on doesn't have to be the platform you stay on. I wish I'd known that earlier — I'd have moved to MadeThis sooner.

More detail: my full MadeThis review or MadeThis vs Gumroad comparison.