Alternatives
The best Stan alternatives in 2026 (honest picks)
Full disclosure before these Stan alternatives: I'm the founder of Pinned, which is one of the options below, so yes, I'm biased. Pinned doesn't sell anything, though, and most people leaving Stan still want to sell. So I'll mostly point you at other products.
The short version. If $29 a month feels heavy for the sales you make, Beacons and Gumroad let you sell without a subscription and take a cut instead. If you stream and earn from tips, Ko-fi is built for you. If your courses have become a real business, Kajabi is the step up. And if you've realized your Stan page is mostly links, a free link in bio page may be all you need.
Stan alternatives at a glance
| Product | Best for | Price | Fees on sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pinned (mine) | Creators who mostly share links | Free; $39/month for Creator | None, it doesn't sell |
| Beacons | A free all-in-one creator store | Free; paid from $10/month | 9%, or 0% from Creator Plus |
| Gumroad | Selling a few digital products | No monthly fee | 10% + $0.50 direct, 30% via Discover |
| Ko-fi | Tips, commissions, small shops | Free; Gold $12/month | 0 to 5%, 0% on Gold |
| Kajabi | Course and coaching businesses | From $143/month billed yearly | No revenue share; payment fees apply |
Why people look for Stan alternatives
First, what Stan gets right. It turns your bio into a store: downloads, courses, coaching calls with booking, memberships and lead magnets all work on the $29/month Creator plan, and Stan takes 0% of each sale. For a creator who sells every week, that is a fair deal, and I'd tell most of them to stay.
The reasons people leave are usually about fit and price:
- No free plan. Stan is $29/month or $300/year even in a month with zero sales. That stings when you sell one template a month.
- The good extras sit on Creator Pro. Email broadcasts, discount codes, upsells, pixels and removing the Stan branding all need the $99/month plan, as Stan's plan comparison shows.
- No custom domain. Your store stays at stan.store/username. Stan's help center suggests forwarding your domain instead.
- One store per account, and the phone app is iPhone and iPad only.
- The page turned into a link list. If you signed up to sell and mostly share your channels now, you're paying for a store you don't use.
1. Pinned
Mine- Best for
- creators, streamers and gamers who found they don't need a store
- Price
- Free; Creator $39/month or $390/year, 14-day free trial
- Fees on sales
- None: Pinned doesn't sell anything
I put Pinned first because it is mine, and because it is the right answer for one kind of Stan user: the one whose Stan page is mostly links to their channels. You don't need a $29 store for that.
The free plan gives you pinned.gg/username, every theme and color, and a "Live now" badge that switches on when you go live on Twitch or Kick. You can add a weekly stream schedule, a Discord invite card, clips, galleries, an FAQ and a contact form. Creator adds a scheduler for X, Instagram, Facebook Pages, Threads, LinkedIn, Bluesky and Discord, a media kit, a custom domain and analytics.
What it lacks matters here: no checkout, no downloads, no courses, no tips and no email capture. If you sell, keep reading.
2. Beacons
- Best for
- creators who want a store, link in bio and media kit without a subscription
- Price
- Free; Creator $10/month or $100/year; Creator Plus $30/month or $300/year; Creator Max $100/month
- Fees on sales
- 9% on Free and Creator, 0% on Creator Plus and Creator Max
Beacons is the closest thing to Stan with a free plan. The free tier sells unlimited digital products, includes a daily-updating media kit, affiliate links, an Instagram auto-DM and 50 email sends a month. Creator adds a free custom domain and 500 email sends.
The catch is the 9% seller fee on the two cheaper plans. Creator Plus drops it to 0% and adds courses with video hosting, memberships, buy now pay later and unlimited email sends. At about $333 a month in sales, the 9% fee equals the $30 Creator Plus price, so do that math before you pick a tier.
3. Gumroad
- Best for
- selling a few digital products with no monthly bill
- Price
- No monthly fee
- Fees on sales
- 10% + $0.50 per sale through your profile or direct links; 30% on sales from its Discover marketplace
Gumroad flips Stan's model: no subscription, a bigger cut. You can sell digital products, e-books, courses and memberships. Since January 1, 2025, Gumroad acts as merchant of record, so it collects and pays sales tax for you, which is a real chore off your plate.
The trade is simple. In a slow month you pay almost nothing. In a good month, 10% + $0.50 per sale costs more than Stan Creator's $29 once you sell somewhere under $290. Put your Gumroad links on whatever link in bio page you use.
4. Ko-fi
- Best for
- streamers and artists who earn from tips, commissions and a small shop
- Price
- Free; Ko-fi Gold $12/month
- Fees on sales
- Ko-fi Free: 0% on tips, 5% on memberships, shop and commissions; Gold: 0%; payment processor fees on top
Ko-fi is a support page first, with tools made for streamers. Tips, monthly memberships, a shop for digital or physical items and commissions all work on the free account, and you get paid straight into your own PayPal or Stripe account.
It also speaks the language of streams: stream overlays and alerts, Discord roles for supporters, and Twitch and YouTube integration. Its pricing page is about tips, memberships, shop sales and commissions. I didn't see a course builder there, so for a course launch I'd look elsewhere.
5. Kajabi
- Best for
- course and coaching businesses that have outgrown a bio store
- Price
- Basic $143/month billed yearly or $179 month to month; Growth $199 or $249; Pro $399 or $499
- Fees on sales
- No revenue share; Kajabi Payments card fees from 2.9% + $0.30 (US), or 2% on Basic with another payment provider
Kajabi is the next step when your courses have become a business, and it is priced like one. You get courses, funnels, landing pages, unlimited marketing emails, a website and a community, with 2,500 contacts and 5 products on Basic.
The price is the point to weigh. Basic billed yearly is $1,716, more than five times Stan Creator at $300/year, so it only makes sense once email and course delivery drive most of your income. It has a free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
My pick
If you sell every week and Stan works, stay. Its 0% fee is hard to beat, and moving a store can cost you time and a few sales.
If you sell now and then, go to Beacons' free plan or Gumroad and pay only when you make a sale. If you're a streamer living on tips, go to Ko-fi. If your course business has outgrown Stan Creator Pro, Kajabi is the serious upgrade.
And if your Stan store is really a list of links, move to Pinned's free plan and keep the $29.
What I'd do today
- Add up your Stan sales for the last 3 months and divide by 3. That one number tells you whether a monthly plan or a per-sale fee is cheaper.
- Set up the free plan of your top pick (Beacons, Gumroad, Ko-fi or Pinned) and rebuild your best product or links there first.
- Test a purchase or a click yourself, then swap the link in your bios.
- Cancel Stan only when the new page has worked for a full week, so you don't lose a sale in between.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest alternative to Stan Store?
Beacons, Gumroad and Ko-fi all let you start selling for $0 a month. Beacons takes 9% of sales on its free plan, Gumroad takes 10% + $0.50 per direct sale, and Ko-fi charges no service fee on tips on Ko-fi Free and 5% on shop sales. Which is cheapest depends on how much you sell, so compare your real monthly sales against each fee.
Is there a Stan alternative with no transaction fees?
Yes, if you pay a subscription. Beacons Creator Plus is $30/month or $300/year with 0% seller fees, Ko-fi Gold is $12/month with 0% service fees, and Kajabi has no revenue share if you use Kajabi Payments. Payment processor fees, such as Stripe's card fees, still apply everywhere. Stan itself also takes 0% on both of its plans, starting at $29/month.
Can Pinned replace Stan?
Only if you don't sell. Pinned has no storefront, digital downloads, courses, tips, payments or email signup forms right now. It replaces the link side of Stan with a free page, a live badge, a stream schedule and, on Creator, a scheduler and media kit. If you sell, keep a store and put its link on your page.
What is the best Stan alternative for streamers?
For earning, Ko-fi: tips with no service fee on Ko-fi Free, memberships, commissions, stream alerts and Discord roles for supporters. For your bio page, Pinned, because the live badge, stream schedule and Discord card are built in. You can use both, with the Ko-fi link sitting on the Pinned page.
Try Pinned free
If your bio is mostly links, make a free Pinned page and see if it covers what you used Stan for. The Creator plan has a 14-day free trial, and you can cancel any time in the trial at no cost.
I checked prices and features for every product here on October 3, 2026. They change often, so double-check before you buy.