Tool Choices
Best free-plan tools to sell your first digital product
How to sell digital products free to start: systeme.io, Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy and Kit compared on monthly cost, fee per sale, tax handling and limits.
The flow
- Decide what you're selling
- Compare fees per sale
- Check tax handling
- Start on a free plan
- Re-check costs once sales are steady
If you want to sell digital products free, meaning without a monthly bill, you can. Several platforms let you start at US$0 and take a fee per sale instead, or give you a free plan up to a size limit. This guide compares them for a first product such as a template, guide or short course.
Prices and fees checked 9 Oct 2026 on each official pricing page, in US dollars.
Some links to tools are affiliate links: if you sign up or buy through one, Slizzy OS may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. systeme.io has an affiliate link on its tool page; Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy, Kit, Canva and Shopify don't. That doesn't change the advice here. Read the affiliate disclosure for details.
Free-plan options at a glance
| Tool | Monthly cost to start | Fee per sale | Limits and notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| systeme.io | US$0 | 0% platform fee. Stripe or PayPal charge their own fees. | 2,000 contacts, 3 funnels, 1 course, unlimited emails |
| Gumroad | US$0 | 10% + 50¢ on direct sales. 30% on sales through its Discover marketplace. | Acts as merchant of record and handles sales tax |
| Lemon Squeezy | US$0 | 5% + 50¢, with some extra fees in edge cases | Merchant of record. Email marketing free up to 500 subscribers. |
| Kit | US$0 | 3.5% + 30¢, which Kit says includes card processing | Free plan up to 10,000 subscribers, with landing pages and digital product sales. Automations and sequences are listed on Creator. |
| Canva | US$0 | Not a store | For designing covers and product images. Paid plans not checked for this guide. |
What a US$20 sale costs
This is illustrative and simulated, platform fees only:
- Gumroad direct sale: 10% of US$20 + 50¢ = US$2.50
- Lemon Squeezy: 5% of US$20 + 50¢ = US$1.50
- Kit: 3.5% of US$20 + 30¢ = US$1.00, including card processing
- systeme.io: US$0 platform fee, plus whatever Stripe or PayPal charges
The cheapest fee isn't always the cheapest overall. Gumroad and Lemon Squeezy act as merchant of record, so they handle sales tax collection, which matters if you sell internationally. With the others, check how tax is handled where you and your buyers are.
Pick by what you're selling
- One download, no list yet: Gumroad or Lemon Squeezy. There's no monthly bill, and you only pay when you sell.
- A product plus a newsletter: Kit's free plan lets you grow a list and sell from the same account.
- A course or a sales funnel: systeme.io's free plan includes 1 course and 3 funnels.
- Software or licence keys: Lemon Squeezy issues licence keys after each sale.
When free stops being free
- systeme.io: past 2,000 contacts, the next plan is US$17 a month.
- Kit: automations and email sequences sit on the Creator plan, from US$33 a month billed yearly for 1,000 subscribers.
- Gumroad: 10% + 50¢ on every sale adds up. Once sales are steady, compare it with a flat-price plan.
- Podia, a common next step, has no free plan. See systeme.io vs Podia.
What the blueprint adds
The Digital Product Storefront blueprint uses Shopify as its essential storefront, which isn't a free-plan tool. We haven't checked its price for this guide. It lists systeme.io and Gumroad as optional cheaper routes.
Whichever you choose, test demand first. A free checkout doesn't make a product sell. The blueprint's testing path shows how to check before you build.