TL;DR
This guide sorts Beacons alternatives by how you make money. We make Beacons, so it's in the table for reference: free link in bio, store, email, media kit and Beam on every plan. Each section says when the other tool fits better. Stan Store ($29 a month, 0% fee) is the closest storefront swap; the rest fit specific ways of earning, from links only to a full course business.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Free plan | Paid from (billed monthly) | Platform fee on sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beacons (for reference) | Yes | Creator $10/mo | 9% on Free and Creator; 0% on Creator Plus and Max |
| Stan Store | No (14-day trial) | Creator $29/mo | 0% |
| Linktree | Yes | Starter $9/mo; Pro $17/mo | Free products only below Pro; 0% on Pro and Premium |
| KOMI | Yes | Pro $20/mo | Can't sell on Starter; 0% on Pro |
| Gumroad | No subscription | n/a | 10% + $0.50; 30% on Discover |
| Payhip | Yes | Plus $29/mo; Pro $99/mo | 5% / 2% / 0% |
| Kit | Yes, to 10,000 subscribers | Creator $39/mo at 1,000 subscribers | 3.5% + $0.30, processing included |
| Podia | No (14-day trial) | Mover $49/mo | 5% on Mover; 0% above |
| Kajabi | No (trial) | Basic $179/mo | 0% with Kajabi Payments |
Prices in USD, checked Nov 2, 2026. Sources: Beacons pricing; Stan Store pricing; Linktree pricing; KOMI pricing; Gumroad pricing; Payhip pricing; Kit pricing; Podia pricing; Kajabi pricing.
What selling costs you
| Plan | Plan price | Platform fee | You keep on $200/mo in sales | You keep on $1,000/mo in sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beacons Free | $0 | 9% | $173 | $866 |
| Beacons Creator Plus | $30/mo | 0% | $161 | $926 |
| Stan Creator | $29/mo | 0% | $162 | $927 |
| Linktree Pro | $17/mo | 0% | $174 | $939 |
| KOMI Pro | $20/mo | 0% | $171 | $936 |
| Gumroad direct | $0 | 10% + $0.50 | $166 | $831 |
| Payhip Free | $0 | 5% | $181 | $906 |
| Kit Free | $0 | 3.5% + $0.30, processing included | $190 | $950 |
You keep = sales minus plan price, platform fee and processing (Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 per order unless included), with monthly billing and $20 orders. Podia and Kajabi are priced for course businesses; see their sections.
At low volumes, free plans with a small fee keep the most: Kit Free and Payhip Free lead at $200 a month. Past a few hundred dollars, $17 to $30 a month buys 0% on Linktree, KOMI, Stan and Beacons. On Beacons, I'd stay on Free while testing, then move to Creator Plus for 0% fees, email with no monthly send limit, and courses with video hosting.
Start free at a 9% seller fee, and drop it to 0% on Creator Plus for $30 a month.
How we compared
We used official pricing pages and help centers (Nov 2 and Nov 6, 2026). I read every competitor listicle about us first; most get our prices wrong, so every number here comes from a pricing page.
Beacons, for reference
Beacons puts a link in bio, store, email, media kit and Instagram auto-DMs in one free account, with Beam, an AI assistant on every plan, to build your page, write and schedule emails, and find brands and draft pitches that go out only after you approve them.
Each paid plan has a job. Creator ($10) is for your own brand: a custom domain, free for the first year, email sent from that domain and 500 sends. Creator Plus ($30) is for selling: 0% Beacons fees, buy now, pay later at checkout, email with no monthly send limit, courses with video hosting, memberships and 100% of affiliate commissions on Creator Plus (no Beacons fee). Creator Max ($100 a month, or $83.33 billed annually) adds white-glove onboarding, prioritized support, Google Workspace on your custom domain, an NFC card and VIP events.
Where Beacons falls short: the 9% fee below Creator Plus, page pixels from $30 a month (store pixels are free on every plan), no VAT or sales-tax collection, and no drip lessons, quizzes or community spaces for courses.
Get a link in bio, store, email and media kit in one free account.
1. Stan Store: best focused storefront
Stan is a $29-a-month storefront with 0% fees and a 14-day trial. Creator Pro ($99) adds funnels, upsells, order bumps, discount codes, limited-quantity offers and email.
It wins on funnel tooling and 0% from the first sale. You pay before you sell anything, and Beacons includes order bumps, discount codes and limited-quantity offers on every plan.
2. Linktree: best if you only need links
Linktree's free plan handles a list of links, and the format is familiar to brands and fans. Selling a paid product means Pro at $17 a month, and past about $190 a month in sales, Linktree Pro costs less than Beacons Free. Linktree has a media kit too, so the gap is email and the store's extras rather than brand tools.
3. KOMI: best for inbound brand deals
KOMI's free Starter plan includes links, fan contacts and access to its brand-deal platform, which matches creators with campaigns. Pro ($20 a month) adds digital product sales at 0%, email campaigns and a custom domain. KOMI wins when you want brands to come to you; Beacons is built for pitching them yourself. Memberships aren't listed.
4. Gumroad: best with no monthly fee
Gumroad charges 10% + $0.50 per direct sale and 30% through its Discover marketplace, with no subscription. That suits occasional sellers, and Gumroad handles VAT and sales tax as merchant of record. On $1,000 of monthly sales in $20 orders it takes about $125 before processing; Beacons Creator Plus costs $30.
5. Payhip: best for EU/UK VAT handling
Payhip is free at 5% per sale, $29 a month at 2% or $99 at 0%, with every feature on every plan. It handles VAT on EU/UK digital sales and, since July 2026, US sales tax and most Canadian sales tax, and its free-plan fee undercuts Beacons' 9%. The catch: 0% costs $99, and there's no bio page, media kit or Instagram auto-DM.
6. Kit: best when email is the business
Kit is free up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited broadcasts; automations start at $39 a month at 1,000 subscribers. Every sale costs 3.5% + $0.30, processing included, and no plan drops that to 0%. Kit's automations and deliverability tools are stronger than Beacons' email. Its Creator Profile works as a simple link-in-bio page, and Kit Pro's Subscriber Signals shows your list's demographics for sponsor pitches.
7. Podia: best for courses and community
Podia combines a website, course player, community and email, from $49 a month with a 5% fee on Mover and 0% from Shaker ($99). Email subscribers are capped per tier, and there are no brand-deal tools.
8. Kajabi: best for a full course business
Kajabi runs $179 to $499 a month ($143 to $399 billed annually), with caps by tier and no cut of sales through Kajabi Payments. It has the deepest course, coaching, community and funnel stack here, but costs at least $1,716 a year and has no media kit.
Our data: how Beacons creators use their media kits
- About 4,100 creators shared their Beacons media kit in one month.
Source: Beacons product data (PostHog), Sep 28 to Oct 27, 2026: distinct creators who used the media kit share button.