Gumroad fees, explained with real numbers
Short answer
Gumroad takes 10% + $0.50 on every sale you bring in yourself, and card processing (2.9% + $0.30) comes on top. When a buyer finds you through Gumroad's own Discover marketplace, the cut is a flat 30%. There is no monthly fee, so the platform only earns when you do, and the $0.50 per sale means the cheaper your product, the bigger the bite: 28.9% of a $5 sale, 14.5% of a $50 one.
Part of the article Selling on Gumroad with AI: 130 products, 0 sales. Greg is wrong. This page answers one question from it in depth.
On this page · 10 sections
Gumroad sells itself as "simple, transparent pricing", and the page is honest. What it does not spell out is the shape of the curve: a flat per-sale fee is a tax on cheap products, and the marketplace that is supposed to find you buyers only opens after you have found $100 of buyers yourself. We have 130 products listed there, so we read every line of it.
Key numbers
| What | Number | Source (checked Oct 25 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Fee on sales from your own traffic | 10% + $0.50 per sale | Gumroad's fees |
| Card processing, charged on top | 2.9% + $0.30 (PayPal fees separate) | same |
| Fee on Discover marketplace sales | flat 30%, processing included | same, and Gumroad pricing |
| High-volume rate (after $20,000 paid sales in a calendar month) | 5% + $0.50 on direct sales | Gumroad's fees |
| Monthly fee | $0 | Gumroad pricing |
| Merchant of record (handles sales tax and VAT) | since Jan 1 2025 | same |
| Minimum payout | $100 | Getting paid by Gumroad |
| PayPal payout fee / US instant payout fee | 2% / 3% | same |
| Discover entry bar | $100 of genuine sales + risk review (about 3 weeks) | Gumroad Discover |
| Price where Discover gets cheaper than direct | about $4.68 | our math from the fees above |
| Our store: products / published / sales | 131 / 130 / 0 | Gumroad API, Oct 25 2026, 2:09 PM ET |
How the fee works on one sale
Every sale through your profile, your own link or an embed pays three things:
- Gumroad's cut: 10% of the price.
- Gumroad's flat fee: $0.50, whatever the price.
- Card processing: 2.9% + $0.30 for a card (PayPal charges its own fees instead).
Add them up and a direct sale costs 12.9% + $0.80. That is the formula to remember. Here it is at the prices people actually charge:
| Price | Gumroad (10% + $0.50) | Card (2.9% + $0.30) | Total fees | You keep | Share lost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $1 | $0.60 | $0.33 | $0.93 | $0.07 | 92.9% |
| $5 | $1.00 | $0.45 | $1.45 | $3.55 | 28.9% |
| $10 | $1.50 | $0.59 | $2.09 | $7.91 | 20.9% |
| $20 | $2.50 | $0.88 | $3.38 | $16.62 | 16.9% |
| $49 | $5.40 | $1.72 | $7.12 | $41.88 | 14.5% |
| $100 | $10.50 | $3.20 | $13.70 | $86.30 | 13.7% |
Our math from Gumroad's published fees, one US card sale, before sales tax (which Gumroad adds and remits as merchant of record). The full table for every price in our store is in the data file on this page.
Gumroad also takes a flat 30% when Discover sold it, and that 30% already includes processing. Run the formula against it and the two lines cross at $4.68. Sell a $3 template and Discover is the cheaper channel. Sell a $49 course and every Discover sale costs you about twice what a sale from your own audience does.
Work it out for your price
The calculator uses the fees above for a US card sale. It ignores PayPal's own fees, refunds, affiliate splits and sales tax, which Gumroad collects on top of your price.
Gumroad next to the alternatives
One $10 sale on each platform's published pricing, checked Oct 25 2026. Payhip Plus also costs $29 a month; Stripe alone leaves sales tax and VAT to you. Our math.
On a $10 sale Gumroad is the most expensive mainstream checkout on this list: roughly double Lemon Squeezy's 5% + 50 cents and Payhip's free plan at 5% plus card fees. Lemon Squeezy is a merchant of record too, so with it, tax handling is not the difference.
What the extra 5 points buy is the Gumroad name, a buyer account people already have, and a shot at Discover. That is a real product. It is also exactly the kind of toll a platform can charge once creators believe the crowd lives there. Run the numbers on who actually sends your buyers before you pay it.
The Discover catch
Discover is the reason to pay 30%: Gumroad shows your product to its own shoppers. To get in, per Gumroad's help center, you need payout settings filled in, a balance of at least $100 "from enough genuine sales", and a pass through a risk review that "can take on average 3 weeks". Then each product needs at least one successful sale of its own, a category and ratings turned on.
So the marketplace that is supposed to bring you your first buyers is closed until you have already found buyers. That is not a scam; it keeps spam out. But it means Discover is a reward for traction, not a source of it.
Our own store, read-only API pull, Oct 25 2026, 2:09 PM ET. 43 paid listings from $4 to $149, median $9, and not one sale, so Gumroad has taken $0 from us. The story is in 130 products, 0 sales.
We are the receipt for this. Our 130 AI-built products have been live since September with 0 sales, so we never reached the $100 bar and Discover never showed them to anyone. If all 43 paid listings sold once each, that would be $1,307 gross and about $203 in fees on our own traffic, or about $392 through Discover. The fee was never what stopped us. Traffic was.
Common misconceptions
"Gumroad takes 10%, full stop."
The recordThe record: 10% plus $0.50 per sale, and card processing (2.9% + $0.30) is not included. On a $5 product the real total is $1.45, or 28.9%.
"Discover is always the expensive option."
The recordOnly above about $4.68. Below that, the flat 30% (which includes processing) costs less than 12.9% + $0.80.
"Listing on Gumroad gets you buyers."
The recordDiscover needs $100 of genuine sales and a review of about 3 weeks first. Until then, every buyer is one you sent. Our 130 listings got 0 sales in that state.
"Gumroad has a monthly fee."
The recordIt does not. You pay only per sale. A $20,000 month drops the direct rate to 5% + $0.50 for the rest of that month.
"You get paid right away."
The recordPayouts need a $100 balance, and on weekly, monthly or quarterly schedules each sale sits at least 7 days first. PayPal payouts cost 2%; US instant payouts cost 3%.
What this means for you
The fee is a rounding error next to the real question, which is who sends the buyers. If you have an audience, a cheaper checkout keeps more of every sale, and owning the buyer list is worth more than any marketplace placement. If you do not, fix the page and the traffic first: run your product page through our free landing page teardown (26 checks, a score and the fix for each), and read how 500K views turned into 3 checkouts before you list product two. Publishing by API is in our Gumroad API guide.
Related
- Is selling on Gumroad worth it? 130 AI-built products made $0: the parent story.
- How to create and publish a Gumroad product with the API.
- What is x402?: the agent-to-agent way to take a payment with no checkout page at all.
- Landing page grader on 2,077 pages.
- App Store fee calculator: the same question for iPhone apps.
FAQ
What are Gumroad's fees in 2026?
For sales through your profile or your own links, Gumroad charges 10% + $0.50 per transaction, and card processing (2.9% + $0.30) or PayPal fees come on top. Sales that Gumroad's Discover marketplace brings you cost a flat 30%, processing included. There is no monthly fee. Checked on Gumroad's fees page on October 25, 2026.
How much does Gumroad take from a $10 sale?
On your own traffic with a US card: $1.00 + $0.50 to Gumroad and about $0.59 to card processing, so about $2.09 (20.9%) and you keep about $7.91. If the buyer came through Discover, Gumroad takes $3.00 and you keep $7.00.
Is Gumroad Discover cheaper than direct sales?
Only on very cheap products. Direct sales cost 12.9% plus $0.80 per sale once card processing is included, Discover costs 30%. The two meet at about $4.68: below that, Discover's 30% is the smaller cut; above it, your own traffic is cheaper.
Does Gumroad lower its fee for big sellers?
Yes. Once your paid sales in a calendar month reach $20,000, new direct sales that month cost 5% + $0.50 instead of 10% + $0.50. It applies automatically, resets on the 1st, and does not change the 30% Discover fee or the $0.50 per-sale fee.
Does Gumroad handle sales tax?
Yes. Gumroad has been the merchant of record since January 1, 2025, so it collects and remits sales tax and VAT on your sales worldwide. That is part of what the fee pays for, and it is the main thing a bare Stripe account does not do for you.
Sources
All checked October 25, 2026.
Gumroad
- Gumroad Help Center, Gumroad's fees: 10% + $0.50 per transaction on sales made on Gumroad's website, card processing (2.9% + $0.30) and PayPal fees not included, flat 30% on Discover sales including processing, the $20,000-a-month high-volume rate of 5% + $0.50, affiliate fee split, refund rules.
- Gumroad, Pricing: 10% + 50 cents direct, 30% via Discover, no monthly charges, merchant of record since January 1, 2025.
- Gumroad Help Center, Gumroad Discover: payout settings, a $100 balance from genuine sales, risk review of about 3 weeks, one successful sale per product, category and ratings.
- Gumroad Help Center, Getting paid by Gumroad: $100 minimum payout, 7-day holding period on weekly, monthly and quarterly schedules, 2% PayPal payout fee, 3% US instant payouts up to $10K.
Other platforms
- Lemon Squeezy, Pricing: 5% + 50 cents per transaction, merchant of record.
- Payhip, Pricing: Free plan 5% transaction fee, Plus $29 a month with 2%, Pro $99 a month with none; PayPal and Stripe fees charged on top on all plans.
- Stripe, Pricing: 2.9% + 30 cents per successful domestic card transaction.
Our data
- Tensorust Gumroad account, read-only Gumroad API v2 calls to /products and /sales on October 25, 2026 at 2:09 PM ET: 131 products, 130 published, 87 free, 15 pay-what-you-want with a floor, 28 fixed price, sales_count 0 on every product, 0 sale records. No buyer data exists or was read.
- Fee math: our own arithmetic from the published fees above for one US card sale, before sales tax. The per-price table is in data.csv on this page.
Images
- All charts by Tensorust from the sources above.
Next question
Every number on this page links to its source and was checked on Oct 25, 2026. Spot an error or a newer figure? Email matt@tensorust.com and it gets fixed. Related: App Store fee calculator, Free landing page teardown.
Read next
- Article · Oct 19, 2026Selling on Gumroad with AI: 130 products, 0 sales. Greg is wrong
- Article · Oct 12, 2026Day 3: my AI agents got 500K views, 3 checkouts and $0. Here's what they changed.
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