Store costs
What a direct book store costs on Payhip
Payhip sells digital files and physical goods from a simple store. It has three plans: a free one with a 5% fee, Plus with a 2% fee and Pro with no fee. The busier your store, the more a higher plan makes sense.
Three stores, three bills
The bill changes with how many books you have, which formats you sell and how much you sell. For each store we picked the cheapest Payhip plan for those sales.
| Store | Payhip plan | Payhip, a year | Lanternbee, a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting out | Payhip Free | US$300 | US$0 on Free |
| A growing backlist | Payhip Plus | US$828 | US$468 on Author |
| A busy store | Payhip Pro | US$1,188 | US$468 on Author |
Both sides always count the same jobs. For a store starting out we compare Lanternbee Free, so we count only the store and sending ebooks to buyers. For the other two we compare Lanternbee Author, so we also count bundles and reader reviews, and printing for the busy store. When a platform can't do one of these jobs itself, we add one app that does. When it can, we add nothing. When we found no way at all, we say so. Lanternbee takes no fee on sales. These are what each platform charges. Card payment fees (for example Stripe's) are not included, because you pay them wherever you sell.
Starting out
3 titles, selling ebooks. About US$500 in sales a month from 50 orders.
| What you pay for | Price | Each month |
|---|---|---|
| Payhip FreeThe store itself | US$0 a month | US$0 |
| Payhip feeOn US$500 in sales | 5% of sales | US$25 |
| Total each month | US$25 | |
| Total for a year | US$300 |
| The same store on Lanternbee | Each month | A year |
|---|---|---|
| Lanternbee FreeNo monthly cost and no fee on your sales. Covers every job above | US$0 | US$0 |
| Lanternbee AuthorUS$39 a month. Adds bundles, reader reviews and release-day emails | US$39 | US$468 |
We compare Lanternbee Free here. Free has no bundles or reader reviews, so we don't count them on either side.
These are what each platform charges. Card payment fees (for example Stripe's) are not included, because you pay them wherever you sell.
A growing backlist
8 titles, selling ebooks and audiobooks. About US$2,000 in sales a month from 160 orders.
| What you pay for | Price | Each month |
|---|---|---|
| Payhip PlusThe store itself | US$29 a month | US$29 |
| Payhip feeOn US$2,000 in sales | 2% of sales | US$40 |
| Total each month | US$69 | |
| Total for a year | US$828 |
| The same store on Lanternbee | Each month | A year |
|---|---|---|
| Lanternbee FreeFree covers up to 3 books | Not available | Not available |
| Lanternbee AuthorUS$39 a month, no fee on your sales. Covers every job above | US$39 | US$468 |
We compare Lanternbee Author here. Author has bundles and reader reviews, so we count them on both sides.
These are what each platform charges. Card payment fees (for example Stripe's) are not included, because you pay them wherever you sell.
A busy store
20 titles, selling ebooks, audiobooks and print books. About US$10,000 in sales a month from 500 orders.
| What you pay for | Price | Each month |
|---|---|---|
| Payhip ProThe store itself | US$99 a month | US$99 |
| BookvaultPrinting and shipping paperbacks | No monthly price listed | US$0 |
| Total each month | US$99 | |
| Total for a year | US$1,188 |
| The same store on Lanternbee | Each month | A year |
|---|---|---|
| Lanternbee FreeFree covers up to 3 books | Not available | Not available |
| Lanternbee AuthorUS$39 a month, no fee on your sales. Covers every job above | US$39 | US$468 |
We compare Lanternbee Author here. Author has bundles and reader reviews, so we count them on both sides.
Printed books on Lanternbee: you set them up for BookVault or Lulu, but sending each order to the printer isn't built yet. Until it is, you place each print order with the printer yourself.
These are what each platform charges. Card payment fees (for example Stripe's) are not included, because you pay them wherever you sell.
Try your own numbers
- Payhip
- Lanternbee Free
- Lanternbee Author
Same prices and apps as the tables above. With up to 3 books we compare Lanternbee Free, so bundles and reader reviews are not counted for Payhip. With more, we compare Author and count them. These are what each platform charges. Card payment fees (for example Stripe's) are not included, because you pay them wherever you sell.
What we counted
- US prices on monthly billing.
- Any fee Payhip itself takes on each sale.
- Bundles and reader reviews are built into Payhip on every plan, so we add nothing for them.
- Payhip says it calculates, collects and sends sales taxes for the US, Canada, the UK and the EU for you. That is work you would otherwise do yourself.
- Payhip has no printing of its own. It connects to Bookvault, which prints and ships each book. You pay Bookvault for each order; we found no monthly price for the connection.
What we left out
- Printing and shipping costs, which you pay the printer whichever store you use.
- Your domain name, a paid theme and any design work.
- An email tool for your newsletter. Lanternbee doesn't send newsletters, so you keep one wherever you sell.
- Sales tax and VAT themselves. Tax tools may cost extra, including Stripe Tax on your own Stripe account where you are registered to collect tax.
- Card payment fees, such as Stripe's, on every sale. You pay them wherever you sell, so they don't change which store costs less.
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