Payhip vs Sellfy: Fees, Features, and What They Don't Tell You

Payhip and Sellfy are two of the most popular self-serve platforms for selling digital products. Both let you accept payments through your own Stripe or PayPal account and sell downloads, subscriptions, and more without writing code. But their pricing structures and feature sets are different enough that the wrong choice can cost you real money. This guide breaks down everything that matters as of 2026 so you can pick the right one.

Payhip vs Sellfy at a glance

Here is a high-level snapshot. All details reflect what each platform publishes at the time of writing — always check Payhip and check Sellfy for the latest.

The sections below dig into each area so you can see how the differences play out.

Pricing compared

Payhip lets you start free and scales its per-sale fees down as you pay more monthly. Sellfy charges a subscription from day one but never takes a cut of your sales. Both models have real trade-offs.

Payhip pricing

As of 2026, Payhip offers three plans:

• Free plan — $0/month, 5% transaction fee on every sale
• Plus plan — $29/month, 2% transaction fee
• Pro plan — $99/month, 0% transaction fee

All plans include unlimited products and no revenue caps. Every feature is available on every plan — the only difference is the per-sale fee. On top of that, you pay Stripe's or PayPal's standard processing fee (typically ~2.9% + $0.30 per transaction for Stripe).

Sellfy pricing

Sellfy requires a paid subscription on all plans (as of 2026, verify with their site for current pricing):

• Starter — $19/month, 0% transaction fee
• Business — $49/month, 0% transaction fee
• Premium — $99/month, 0% transaction fee

Sellfy never takes a percentage of your sales. Plans differ in features and, on some tiers, annual revenue limits. You connect your own Stripe or PayPal and pay the processor's standard fee. Sellfy does not offer a free plan but provides a 14-day trial.

Fee examples: platform fees only

Here is what each platform takes per sale before Stripe or PayPal processing fees (which are roughly the same on both).

The real trade-off

On a per-sale basis, Sellfy looks cheaper because it takes no cut at all. But Sellfy always has a monthly cost. On Payhip Free at 5%, you would need to sell $380/month before the fee ($19) equals Sellfy Starter. Below that volume, Payhip Free is cheaper overall. Above it, Sellfy or a higher Payhip tier starts to save you money.

At the top tier ($99/month), Payhip Pro and Sellfy Premium cost the same and both charge 0% platform fees. The difference at that level comes down to features, not pricing.

Features side by side

Both platforms cover the essentials. Here is where they overlap and where they diverge.

What both platforms offer

• Digital downloads (PDFs, zip files, audio, video, design assets)
• Membership and subscription products
• Discount codes and coupon campaigns
• Affiliate marketing programs
• Basic email marketing tools
• Embeddable buy buttons and checkout widgets
• Customer email collection and export
• Analytics and sales reporting dashboards

Payhip-only features

• Coaching sessions — sell one-on-one coaching as a product type with built-in calendar scheduling, so you do not need a separate booking tool.
• Course builder — create and sell structured online courses directly on the platform, with drip content and student progress tracking.
• Truly free plan with all features — every product type and feature is available on the free plan. The only trade-off is the 5% per-sale fee.

Sellfy-only features

• Print-on-demand integration — sell custom t-shirts, mugs, phone cases, and other merchandise without managing inventory. Sellfy handles printing and shipping when a customer orders.
• Physical product support — sell physical goods alongside digital downloads with inventory tracking and shipping management, all from one storefront.
• Built-in storefront with custom domain — Sellfy provides a fully hosted storefront you can connect to your own domain, with more advanced design customization than most competitors.
• Video streaming — built-in video streaming with download protection and anti-piracy features, so buyers can watch in the browser rather than downloading large files.

Payment ownership: a shared advantage

Both Payhip and Sellfy let you connect your own Stripe or PayPal account and own the payment relationship with your customers. This matters more than it sounds.

When a platform processes payments on your behalf as a Merchant of Record, the payment relationship belongs to that platform. If you leave, your subscribers do not come with you. With both Payhip and Sellfy, payments flow directly to your account. If you switch platforms, your Stripe account stays yours and recurring subscriptions continue without interruption.

This is one of the strongest reasons sellers choose Payhip or Sellfy over platforms like Gumroad, which operates as a Merchant of Record. On either platform, you build on your own payment infrastructure rather than renting someone else's. Since both handle this identically, payment ownership is not a differentiator between the two — it is a shared strength.

The gap both platforms share: sales tax

Most Payhip vs Sellfy comparisons stop at pricing and features. But there is one area where both platforms leave you on your own, and it can be expensive to ignore: sales tax compliance.

As of 2026, 41 U.S. states plus Washington, D.C. impose sales tax on at least some categories of digital products. If you sell ebooks, templates, software, or courses to buyers in those states, you may be required to collect and remit sales tax once you exceed that state's economic nexus threshold — typically $100,000 in sales or 200 transactions per year. See our guide on sales tax for digital products for a deeper look.

Neither platform handles it

Payhip does not calculate tax at checkout, does not track nexus thresholds, and does not generate filing-ready reports. Sellfy is in the same position — no tax added at checkout, no threshold monitoring, no compliance reports. On both platforms, the full responsibility for understanding your obligations, collecting the correct amount, and filing returns falls entirely on you.

What this means for you

If you are a small seller, sales tax may not be an immediate concern. But as your business grows and your sales cross into more states, the obligation grows with it. Many sellers end up hiring an accountant, subscribing to a separate tax service, or building spreadsheets by hand. This is not a fault unique to these two platforms — most digital product platforms leave tax compliance to the seller. But it is a real gap you should factor into your total cost of doing business, not just platform fees.

Which should you choose?

Both are capable platforms. The right choice depends on your product mix, your budget, and where you are in your business.

Choose Payhip if:

• You want to start without a monthly commitment — the free plan lets you launch immediately. You pay 5% per sale, but nothing if you sell nothing.
• You sell coaching or courses — built-in coaching and course builder mean you do not need Calendly, Teachable, or another third-party tool.
• You are at lower or unpredictable volume — the percentage model means your costs scale with revenue rather than staying fixed.
• You want all features on day one — every feature is available on the free plan, no upgrade required.

Choose Sellfy if:

• You want a full-featured storefront — Sellfy's storefront builder gives you more design control for a standalone store on your own domain.
• You sell print-on-demand merchandise — the built-in POD integration lets you sell custom merch without a separate service like Printful.
• You sell physical and digital products together — Sellfy can manage both with inventory tracking and shipping in one place.
• You sell video content — native video streaming with download protection offers a viewing experience without large file downloads.
• You want zero platform fees from the start — every Sellfy plan charges 0% transaction fees, so the platform never takes a cut of your sales.

Run the numbers at your specific volume — Stripe or PayPal processing fees are roughly the same on both platforms, so the decision comes down to the platform fee model and features.

A third option

If you value payment ownership — and both Payhip and Sellfy get this right — but you also want the tax compliance piece handled for you, SurcoPay is building a platform that combines both.

Like Payhip and Sellfy, SurcoPay lets you connect your own Stripe account so you own the payment relationship with your customers. But SurcoPay adds what most digital product platforms leave out:

• Threshold monitoring — tracks your sales against each state's economic nexus thresholds so you know when new obligations kick in.
• Tax calculation at checkout — the correct rate is applied automatically based on the buyer's location, so you do not need to research rates yourself.
• Filing-ready reports — when it is time to file, your data is already organized by jurisdiction and ready to go.

SurcoPay is currently in development. If tax compliance is the piece missing from your digital product business, join the waitlist to get notified when we launch.

Keep reading

• Gumroad vs Payhip: Pricing, Features, and the Tax Question Nobody Asks
• Sellfy Alternatives: 7 Platforms Compared on Price, Ownership, and Tax
• Gumroad Alternatives: 7 Platforms Compared for Digital Creators
• How to Price Your Digital Product (With Real Examples)