Choosing where to sell digital products in 2025 depends on your goals. This guide compares Gumroad, Podia, Shopify, and Kajabi—exploring pricing, features, and ideal use cases to help creators and entrepreneurs pick the right platform to grow.
The decision on where to market digital goods in 2025 is a question of trade-offs: ease vs flexibility, low costs vs full-fledged marketing, exposure to the marketplace vs control of your own audience. I have broken down Gumroad, Podia, Shopify, and Kajabi below, including what each of the platforms does best, what they fail to offer, and the type of creators each platform serves.
Gumroad – quickest path to a simple check out.
Gumroad continues to shine in a world where you want the least friction between idea -sale. It is created with creators in mind who would like to place their files, templates, ebooks or mini-courses and earn money without having to create a complete site. Gumroad takes care of hosting, payment, file delivery, and, to a larger extent, tax collection, and remittance, so the creators do not have to fight with VAT or sales tax in most locations. That ease of use is accompanied by a price: Gumroad does not charge expensive monthly subscriptions but transaction f
ees, which are known to destroy margins as volume increases.
Best in: makers putting single product on the market, one person shops and those creators who like pay as you sell.
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Podia – small business in one place tidy.
Podia lies in the middle between the simplicity of Gumroad and the full functionality of Kajabi. One place provides you with a site builder, email marketing, memberships, courses, digital downloads and affiliate support with quick checkout and multi-currency options. Tiered pricing of Podia gives you the opportunity to begin with a small plan and transaction fees, and upgrade to a larger plan to eliminate transaction fees and get access to advanced sales features. It makes it easier to creators that may desire to have everything (site, courses, emails) in one place without joining multiple apps.
Ideal use cases: creators that need an integrated store + course + email stack without needing technical burdens.
Shopify — scale, customization and ecommerce muscle.
First of all, Shopify is an online store, and in the year 2025 it is the giant in terms of absolute power and size. Shopify facilitates digital downloads (native or through the use of apps), subscriptions, and an enormous app ecosystem of upsells, analytics and advanced payments. The ecosystem, which Shopify has dubbed a superpower and complexity at the same time: you can create a high-converting store but you will frequently pay monthly fees, app fees, and processing costs and recent changes in policies have complicated some developer/app economics of those depending on third-party integrations. Should your business have intentions of joining into the physical goods or bundles, affiliate networks, or intensive marketing funnel, Shopify provides the leeway to expand.
Best used by: creators who aspire to become a full ecommerce brand or offerings of digital and physical.
Kajabi — course and membership software.
Kajabi focuses on instructors and creators who sell courses that are more expensive, coaching, and subscriptions. In contrast to the platforms which charge a revenue share, Kajabi uses a subscription-based pricing model, i.e., there is no percentage paid to the platform in terms of sales, and the feature comes with powerful course builders, funnels, email automation, and community capabilities. That is why Kajabi is popular among creators whose audiences are large enough to afford a slightly higher monthly fee of selling powerful marketing and student management tools. The trade-off: increased monthly fees indicate that Kajabi will best fit the case when the revenue is stable and the margins are able to cover the subscription.
Best in: course creators, coaches, and creators of high-value programs or memberships.
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Quick comparison — how to choose
Cost structure: Gumroad = transaction fees (good if you want zero monthly risk); Podia = moderate monthly with an option to remove transaction fees at higher tiers; Kajabi = higher monthly, no revenue share; Shopify = monthly + apps + processing — costs scale with features.
Ease of use: Gumroad < Podia < Kajabi < Shopify (Shopify is powerful but has the steepest setup/maintenance curve).
Marketing & funnels: Kajabi and Shopify give the most built-in marketing horsepower; Podia covers email and affiliates simply; Gumroad expects you to bring your audience.
Best product types: Gumroad excels at single downloads and micro-products; Podia and Kajabi are great for courses and memberships; Shopify is ideal when digital is part of a broader ecommerce strategy.
Practical picks by use case
You’re just starting and want zero monthly overhead: Start with Gumroad. Use its simple links and social checkout to validate ideas quickly.
You want a simple site + courses + email in one place: Podia gives an easy path to consolidate tools without complex integration work.
You sell premium courses/memberships and need serious automation: Kajabi’s education-first tools and funnel templates justify the monthly price for many creators.
You want to build a brand and scale into many product lines: Shopify gives the most flexibility for long-term growth, especially if you plan physical goods or many integrations.
Final thoughts
There’s no single “best” platform in 2025 — only the best fit for your goals. If you value speed and low upfront risk, Gumroad is hard to beat. If you want an integrated creator workspace without a tech team, Podia is sensible and affordable. If you’re building higher-ticket learning products, Kajabi offers the tools to manage and market them. And if you’re building a scalable brand that might sell physical items, subscriptions, and complex funnels, Shopify gives the flexibility to grow — at the cost of more setup and running expenses. Pick the platform that aligns with your current revenue model and where you plan to be in 12–24 months; you can always migrate later, but starting where your customers live and where your marketing runs smoothly will save time and money today.
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