Best Platforms to Sell Digital Products
Compare the main types of platforms for selling digital products, from marketplaces to your own store, and learn how to choose one that fits what you sell.
Bento Team · October 11, 2026
TL;DR
- There is no single best platform. The right choice depends on what you sell and where your buyers come from.
- Compare fees, file delivery, payouts and email tools before you commit.
- Many ranked lists come from vendors, so read them as one view.
- Bento is one option for creators who want a link-in-bio page, a store and scheduling together.
If you make ebooks, templates, courses or printables, the platform you pick shapes how much work selling takes. There is no single best choice for every creator. This guide compares the main types of platforms and names the tools that come up most often, so you can choose with a clear head. It is written for creators in Europe, the US and Australia.
What to look for first
One review of digital product platforms suggests checking transaction fees, ease of use, payment processing, file hosting and delivery, built-in marketing tools, and integration with other tools. The same guide explains that a digital selling platform lets you create a page where you sell your products, stores your files, and delivers them to customers after they buy.
That is a useful checklist, and fees are only one part of it. Ask how a buyer receives the file, how you get paid in your own country, and whether you can email the people who bought from you. Read the latest fee page of any tool before you decide, because fees can change.
Marketplaces or your own store
One creator who writes on Medium describes starting out by selling ebooks only on Amazon and enrolling them in KDP Select, a program that keeps ebooks exclusive to Amazon readers. Taking them out meant a minimum 90-day wait, and the writer said that income from that one source was not very reliable. The writer then moved the ebooks to several platforms to build more than one income source.
The same writer lists marketplaces such as Gumroad, Creative Market, Adobe Stock and AppSumo. The writer says Gumroad is best if you can drive traffic yourself, and finds that social media templates sell well on Creative Market, where traffic is huge.
The writer also says Facebook Marketplace works for almost any niche, and notes that many creators sell their templates on the AppSumo marketplace.
That is one creator's view, not a test, but it points to a real tradeoff. Marketplaces can put your work in front of people who are already browsing, though you share the spotlight with every other seller. Your own store gives you more control over branding and customer relationships, but you bring the audience yourself. Many creators use both.
Platforms that come up most often
EmailToolTester notes that Shopify, Wix and WooCommerce are well known but are often geared toward physical products, and may be overkill for someone who wants a simple store for digital downloads. It chose to focus on tools that cater to digital downloads, and says they all offer very different solutions.
Its list includes Sellfy as an online store with basic email marketing, Payhip as a fully featured online store with integration options, Kit and MailerLite as email marketing tools with digital selling features, Beehiiv for newsletter creators, SendOwl for people who already have a website, Gumroad, and Easy Digital Downloads as a plugin for WordPress sites.
The same review points out that digital products can be created once and sold repeatedly to many customers without having to replenish inventory. It found Sellfy easy to navigate, with basic email marketing, decent analytics and a website builder, but missing some key features such as SEO options and a CRM.
The easy.tools guide ranks its own product, Easytools, first, followed by Gumroad, Podia, Sellfy, Payhip, Beacons AI, Teachable, Samcart, SendOwl and Stan Store. It lists Easytools, Gumroad, Etsy, Payhip, Teachable and Creative Market as the best free platforms to sell digital products.
Notice that easy.tools puts its own product at the top of its list. Guides written by tool makers often do the same, so treat any ranked list as one view and not as a verdict.
What to sell
The easy.tools guide names online courses, e-books, templates, software and mobile apps, membership programs, and subscriptions as the most profitable digital products to sell online.
Which type of platform fits which creator
| If you | Consider |
|---|---|
| Want a simple store for downloads | A dedicated download store such as Sellfy or Payhip |
| Already write a newsletter | An email tool with selling features, such as Kit or MailerLite |
| Already run a WordPress site | A plugin such as Easy Digital Downloads |
| Mostly sell to your own audience | Your own store, plus a link-in-bio page that points to it |
| Want built-in discovery | A marketplace, accepting that you share attention with other sellers |
| Sell courses or memberships | A course or membership platform such as Teachable |
Where Bento fits
Bento is one honest option among many, not the answer for everyone. It suits creators who want a link-in-bio page, a creator store and social media scheduling in one place, instead of stitching several tools together. If you only need to host a few files and have no interest in the rest, a dedicated download tool may be simpler. Hosted Bento offers a 3-day trial so you can see whether it fits. A self-hosted open-source edition also exists for people who prefer to run it on their own server.
A simple way to decide
- Write down what you sell and how buyers will receive it.
- Decide whether you already have an audience or need marketplace discovery.
- Compare transaction fees, payout options and payment methods for your country on each tool's own site.
- Check that file delivery, email follow-up and tax handling meet your needs.
- Start with one platform, test it with a small product, and add a second channel later.
Creators in Europe, the US and Australia should also check how each tool handles payouts and taxes in their own country. A short test sale will tell you more than any list.