TL;DR
Beacons asks for nothing to start: a free plan with a store, email, a media kit and Instagram auto-DMs, and Beam, the built-in AI, sets them up for you on every plan. Stan Store asks for $29 a month before your first sale: Creator is $29 and Creator Pro $99, both with a 14-day trial and 0% Stan fees. Beacons takes a 9% Beacons fee on Free and Creator; Creator Plus ($30 a month) drops that to 0%.
At a glance
| Beacons | Stan Store | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes: link in bio, store, media kit, 50 email sends/mo, auto-DMs, Beam; 9% fee | No; 14-day trial |
| Paid plans (monthly) | Creator $10 / Creator Plus $30 / Creator Max $100 | Creator $29 / Creator Pro $99 |
| Billed annually | $8.33 / $25 / $83.33 per month | $25 / $79 per month |
| Platform fee on sales | 9% on Free and Creator; 0% on Creator Plus and Max | 0% on both plans |
| Selling tools | Discount codes, order bumps and limited-quantity offers on every plan; buy now, pay later and payment plans on Creator Plus | Discount codes, limited-quantity offers, order bumps, upsells, funnels and payment plans on Creator Pro |
| Courses & memberships | One course (no video hosting) on Free and Creator; unlimited courses with video plus memberships on Creator Plus | Course builder, subscriptions and communities on Creator |
| Email marketing | 50 sends/mo Free, 500 Creator, no monthly limit on Creator Plus; welcome automation on every plan | Email collection on Creator; broadcasts and flows on Creator Pro |
| Media kit / brand deals | Media kit on every plan; affiliate marketplace with 12,000+ brands | No media kit |
| Custom domain | From Creator, free for the first year | Not on current plans |
Prices in USD, checked Nov 2, 2026. Sources: Beacons pricing; Stan Store pricing; Stan Creator vs Creator Pro; Stan transaction fees; Stan custom domains.
What selling actually 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 | $10/mo | 9% | $163 | $856 |
| Beacons Creator Plus | $30/mo | 0% | $161 | $926 |
| Stan Creator | $29/mo | 0% | $162 | $927 |
| Stan Creator Pro | $99/mo | 0% | $92 | $857 |
You keep = sales minus plan price, platform fee and Stripe processing (2.9% + $0.30 per order), with monthly billing and $20 orders.
Beacons Free costs less than Stan Creator until about $320 a month in sales; past about $333, Creator Plus pays for itself and costs about the same as Stan's $29 plan. The $10 Creator plan is for a custom domain and 500 email sends; at 9% it costs more than Stan Creator past about $211 a month. Under a few hundred a month, I'd start on Free. Creator Max ($100 a month, or $83.33 billed annually) adds white-glove onboarding, prioritized support, Google Workspace, NFC and VIP events.
Start free at a 9% seller fee, then pay 0% on Creator Plus for $30 a month.
How we compared
We used Stan's pricing post and help center and Beacons' pricing page (Nov 2, 2026). We make Beacons, so where Stan fits better, we say so.
Store and selling tools
Stan is a storefront first; Beacons is a link-in-bio page with a store on it.
Stan puts discount codes, limited-quantity offers, upsells, order bumps, funnels, payment plans, Afterpay and Klarna on Creator Pro. Beacons includes discount codes, order bumps and limited-quantity offers on every plan; Creator Plus adds Klarna, Affirm and Afterpay through Stripe, plus installment plans for products over $100. Beam can draft a product listing; you add the file.
Where Stan wins: funnels and upsells built into one plan at 0%.
Where Beacons wins: order bumps and limited-quantity offers on every plan, buy now, pay later and payment plans at $30 where Stan puts them on $99, and a free tier to test an offer first.
Courses, memberships and coaching
Stan's $29 plan includes a course builder, recurring subscriptions, bookings and communities. Beacons includes one course (no video hosting) on Free and Creator, and unlimited courses with video plus memberships on Creator Plus. Both sell coaching as booked calls.
Email and audience
Beacons includes email on every plan: 50 sends on Free, 500 on Creator and no monthly limit on Creator Plus, with a welcome automation of up to 5 emails on every plan and longer sequences on Creator Plus. Beam can write, schedule and send a broadcast for you. Stan collects emails on Creator, but broadcasts, flows and contact import need Creator Pro at $99. Beacons imports a CSV on every plan, with a Stan format option; imported contacts get an opt-in email first.
Both automate Instagram DMs: Smart Reply on Beacons, including Free, and Stan AutoDM on both Stan plans.
Brand deals, domains and analytics
Stan's affiliate feature manages people who sell your products, and it has no media kit. Beacons' media kit is on every plan and refreshes daily; brands message you through its "Work with me" form, and Beam can find brands that fit and draft pitches that go out only after you approve them. In the affiliate marketplace (12,000+ brands), Creator Plus keeps 100% of commissions.
Beacons includes a custom domain from Creator, free for your first year, and store pixels (GA4, Meta, TikTok, Pinterest) on every plan. Stan has pixels on Creator Pro and no custom domain.
Would you still need a second tool?
For digital products, courses, coaching and brand deals, Beacons covers it in one account. If multi-step funnels drive your launches, Stan Creator Pro does more.
Switching from Stan Store to Beacons
Rebuild each product (Beam can draft listings) and upload its file. Import Stan contacts with Audience Manager's Stan option; each gets an opt-in email first, so expect the list to shrink. Active Stan subscriptions don't move, so members re-subscribe. Build the new page before you cancel.
When to choose Stan Store vs Beacons
Choose Stan Store if:
- You want 0% fees from your first sale.
- Funnels and upsells are core to how you sell.
- You don't need a media kit or custom domain.
Choose Beacons if:
- You want to start free, then move to Creator Plus once sales clear about $333 a month.
- Brand deals and affiliate income are part of your business (Creator Plus keeps 100% of affiliate commissions with no Beacons fee).
- You want email with no monthly send limit for $30 rather than $99, and Beam to set up your store and emails.
Get email with no monthly send limit for $30 a month, not $99.
Our data: what Beacons creators earn in a month
- About one in eight creators who made a sale on Beacons earned more than $1,000 that month.
Source: Beacons sales data (PostHog), Sep 28 to Oct 27, 2026: creators with a paid sale; earnings after Beacons fees, in USD.