The Best Platforms for Selling Digital Products Online
Selling digital products online is one of the most profitable and scalable ways to make money, allowing creators to share their expertise without the hassle of physical inventory or shipping. Whether you’re selling e-books, online courses, music, templates, or software, the key to success lies in choosing the right platform. A great platform can help you reach your target audience, streamline the selling process, and maximize your revenue.
In this guide, we’ll explore the best platforms for selling digital products online and help you find the one that best suits your needs. Plus, we’ll mention some useful tools and resources that can enhance your success, many of which come with affiliate programs to boost your income even further.
1. Gumroad
Gumroad is a popular and user-friendly platform for selling digital products. It caters to creators of all kinds—from writers to musicians and software developers. Gumroad allows you to sell a wide variety of digital products, including e-books, memberships, and even software licenses.
- Why Gumroad?
- It’s simple to set up and use.
- You can sell both physical and digital products.
- It offers analytics tools to track your sales.
- It supports a variety of payment options, including PayPal and credit cards.
Gumroad also has an option for “Pay What You Want” pricing, which lets your customers choose how much they’re willing to pay, making it a flexible choice for creators experimenting with pricing strategies.
2. Shopify (with Digital Downloads App)
Shopify is one of the most well-known e-commerce platforms, originally built for selling physical goods. However, with the Digital Downloads App, Shopify becomes a powerful tool for selling digital products as well. This app allows you to upload digital files for instant download after a customer makes a purchase.
- Why Shopify?
- It’s highly customizable with thousands of templates and integrations.
- You can sell a mix of physical and digital products.
- You own your own store and customer data.
- It offers excellent customer support and comprehensive analytics.
Shopify’s robust app ecosystem allows you to enhance your store with features like automated marketing, SEO tools, and advanced reporting, making it a great option for scaling your digital product business.
3. Teachable
For anyone interested in selling online courses, Teachable is the go-to platform. It’s designed specifically for course creators and offers an easy-to-use interface for building and marketing your courses. Teachable supports various formats, including video, audio, PDFs, and quizzes, allowing you to create engaging and interactive content.
- Why Teachable?
- It offers built-in marketing tools like sales pages, email campaigns, and affiliate programs.
- You can create unlimited courses and enroll unlimited students.
- It’s simple to use, even for those with no tech experience.
- It provides detailed analytics and sales tracking.
Teachable also offers integrations with popular payment processors like Stripe and PayPal, ensuring you can easily manage your earnings and offer flexible payment options to your students.
4. Etsy
While Etsy is known for its handmade crafts and vintage items, it’s also a popular platform for selling digital products like printables, digital planners, art, and templates. Etsy has a massive audience of buyers, which means you can leverage their marketplace to reach potential customers without having to drive all the traffic yourself.
- Why Etsy?
- It has a built-in audience of millions of potential buyers.
- You can sell unique, customizable digital products.
- It’s affordable, with low listing fees and transaction costs.
- It’s easy to set up, and you can start selling quickly.
One of the biggest benefits of selling digital products on Etsy is that you don’t have to worry about creating a standalone website, as the marketplace handles much of the technical setup for you.
5. SendOwl
SendOwl is a versatile platform that allows you to sell digital products like e-books, videos, music, and software. With features like “pay what you want” pricing, discount codes, and upsells, SendOwl provides you with a range of tools to maximize your revenue.
- Why SendOwl?
- It’s specifically designed for selling digital products.
- You can sell on social media, email, or your website.
- It provides automatic delivery of digital files.
- It offers an affiliate system, allowing you to create your own affiliate program.
SendOwl also integrates with email marketing tools like MailChimp, making it easy to build your email list and promote new products to your customers.
6. Podia
If you’re looking to sell multiple types of digital products, including courses, memberships, downloads, and webinars, Podia is a great all-in-one platform. Podia allows you to sell digital downloads, courses, memberships, and even host webinars—giving you several revenue streams in one place.
- Why Podia?
- It’s simple to use, with no transaction fees on paid plans.
- It allows you to sell digital downloads, courses, memberships, and webinars.
- You can build a membership site and community.
- It has built-in email marketing tools.
Podia also features product upsells and a built-in affiliate program, which can help you scale your earnings through partnerships and recommendations.
7. Payhip
Payhip is a simple yet powerful platform for selling digital products. Whether you’re offering e-books, courses, or software, Payhip allows you to create a storefront and handle payments, marketing, and delivery all from one place. It even offers a “pay what you want” option, allowing customers to choose their price, which can be useful for creatives experimenting with pricing strategies.
- Why Payhip?
- It has no upfront fees (Payhip only takes a percentage of each sale).
- It offers EU VAT handling, simplifying tax issues.
- It’s easy to embed on your own website.
- You can create memberships and offer subscription services.
Payhip’s simplicity and affordability make it a popular choice for creators just starting out with digital products.
8. Thinkific
Thinkific is another platform aimed at online course creators. It provides a comprehensive suite of tools for creating, marketing, and selling courses. With Thinkific, you can build your courses using a drag-and-drop interface and include quizzes, multimedia lessons, and certificates of completion.
- Why Thinkific?
- It’s user-friendly and customizable, even without coding knowledge.
- It offers detailed reporting and insights.
- You can create and sell unlimited courses.
- It integrates with many marketing tools like MailChimp and ConvertKit.
Thinkific’s flexibility, especially when it comes to designing and structuring courses, makes it a favorite among educators and experts.
9. WooCommerce (with WooCommerce Digital Downloads Plugin)
WooCommerce is an open-source e-commerce platform built for WordPress, making it an excellent choice if you already have a WordPress site. By using the WooCommerce Digital Downloads Plugin, you can easily sell digital products such as e-books, music, or software.
- Why WooCommerce?
- It’s fully customizable, giving you complete control over your store’s look and functionality.
- You can integrate it with a wide variety of WordPress plugins for marketing, SEO, and analytics.
- It’s free to use, with additional paid extensions for more features.
- You own your data and customer relationships.
For WordPress users, WooCommerce provides a seamless experience for selling digital products while leveraging the power of WordPress’s extensive plugin ecosystem.
10. Sellfy
Sellfy is designed for creators looking for a simple and fast way to sell digital products, physical products, and subscriptions. It’s a great option for digital creators who don’t want to deal with complicated setups and want to get started quickly.
- Why Sellfy?
- You can sell a mix of physical and digital products.
- It offers built-in marketing tools, like upselling and discount codes.
- It has an intuitive interface that’s easy to use.
- It provides customizable storefronts and instant payouts.
Sellfy also provides integration with popular social media platforms, making it easy to promote your products across various channels.
Choosing the right platform for selling your digital products can significantly impact your success. The best platform depends on your specific needs—whether you want to sell courses, e-books, music, or templates. No matter which platform you choose, always focus on providing value to your audience and delivering high-quality products.
