What is the best platform to sell digital products online in 2023?

2. Etsy

Convenience is one of the main draws of selling on a marketplace like Etsy. If you don’t have loads of time to devote to your business, putting it in the hands of Etsy, which will take care of managing many aspects of your shop for you, can certainly be tempting.

It’s important to note, however, that this added convenience comes at a price, as you’ll see with the higher fees associated with selling on the platform.

• Key features

Etsy guides users through every step of the shop set-up process. Note that, generally, storefronts look very similar to other sellers’ storefronts on the platform, which makes it more difficult to get your brand to stand out from the crowd. However, Etsy recently released its Pattern tool, allowing users to create their own ecommerce sites for an extra monthly fee.

Another advantage of selling on this platform is its popularity. Business of Apps notes that Etsy had 96.2 million active users as of Q2 2023. This means that you’d have a large built-in audience from the get-go.

You can also take advantage of a number of marketing tools, such as Etsy Ads and the ability to create coupons and discount offers to attract customers, as well as stats to keep an eye on your shop’s performance. The marketplace’s Sell on Etsy app makes it easier for sellers to manage their operations on the go.

• Pricing

If you’re considering selling your digital creations on the Etsy marketplace, keep in mind that there are several fees to consider.

The platform charges a $0.20 listing fee for every product that you list, regardless of if it sells. For every item that you sell on Etsy, you’ll be charged a transaction fee of 6.5% of the product’s listing price plus the amount that you’ve charged for shipping (though you likely won’t be charging for shipping for digital goods). If you opt to use Etsy’s Pattern tool to create your own website, you’ll be charged an additional $15/month after a 30-day free trial.

3. Podia

Podia is an ecommerce platform that focuses on selling digital products rather than physical products. Users are able to create their own websites to sell intangible items like online courses, consultations, workshops, webinars, memberships, and one-off digital downloads such as audiobooks or ebooks. Subscribers can also benefit from numerous tools designed to facilitate the online selling process.

• Key features

With Podia, users are able to upload as many files and videos as they want. The platform supports up to 11 languages and 22 currencies, making it easier to go international with your business. In addition, it offers a variety of integrations, such as with YouTube Live and Zoom…especially helpful for entrepreneurs whose digital products focus on e-learning or involve video in one way or another.

• Pricing

As far as pricing with Podia goes, e-merchants can test Podia at no charge for 14 days. After the 2-week trial period is finished, users can choose from several subscription plans, paid on either a yearly or monthly basis: Free ($0/month), Mover (starting at $33/month), Shaker (starting at $75/month), and Earthquaker (starting at $166/month). While the free option charges fees of 8% on transactions, the paid plans don’t include any transaction fees.

4. Digital Product Delivery (DPD)

DPD is a digital publishing platform for selling non-physical products like ebooks, software, music, and more. With an emphasis on convenience, the company provides a plethora of tools to help make selling digital products a breeze.

• Key features

Customers of DPD have the option to create multiple stores under a single account. Users also get to enjoy a number of third-party sales and marketing integrations, including Google Analytics, MailChimp, Sendy, GetResponse, Campaign Monitor, and others. Furthermore, when you update one of your digital products, the new version is automatically sent to shoppers who previously purchased the item to ensure an easy transition.

• Pricing

DPD offers a 30-day free trial to see if the solution is right for your unique needs. The company has several flat-rate plans available, none of which include commission fees. Options begin at $10/month for 1 GB of product space and 20 products and go all the way up to $280/month for 174 GB of product space and 3,500 products.

Considering offering subscriptions? If you sell subscriptions, DPD won’t charge you anything for the first five subscribers, but you’ll be charged $0.69/subscriber/month for subsequent subscribers.

5. Payhip

An ecommerce platform exclusively for digital products, Payhip offers a user-friendly solution for sellers looking to earn money from their non-physical creations. The platform is currently used by more than 130,000 sellers all over the world.

• Key features

Whether you’re selling digital downloads, online courses, or memberships, you’ll have access to a range of tools on Payhip to support your growing business.

Platform users can sell their products on their ecommerce site or embed the responsive checkout and shopping cart directly on their blog or social media pages for added flexibility. Payhip makes it possible to offer customers discounts, create mailing lists, and build your network with an affiliate system that encourages your buyers to promote your digital creations.

• Pricing

Payhip provides sellers with three different plans from which to choose, with all plans offering the same features and benefits. The Free Forever option comes with no subscription fees but a 5% fee on any sales. Next, Plus version includes a monthly fee of $29 plus 2% on sales. If you want to avoid paying any commissions on sales to the platform, you can opt for the Pro plan, with this subscription costing $99/month.

6. Teachable

With over 100,000 instructors currently on Teachable, the site is one of the most popular platforms for e-learning, catering to entrepreneurs looking to sell online courses and coaching services.

• Key features

Teachable offers various built-in tools specifically aimed to complement e-learning digital products, like quizzes, badges, comments, and completion certifications. In addition, sellers can avail of numerous integrations, such as MailChimp, Google Analytics, Segment, Zapier, and others, to make running their businesses even easier.

What’s more, this solution permits you to offer your customers different payment plans, including free trials, installments, and subscription payments. Another bonus: the platform accepts payment in more than 130 currencies.

• Pricing

If you’re on the fence about using Teachable, you can take the platform for a test run via the Free plan. With this option, you can launch one online course and enjoy some of the site’s tools with zero subscription fees. However, Teachable will charge $1 plus a 10% transaction fee for every sale.

The platform also has three paid subscription plans available, all of which allow for the creation of unlimited courses and can be billed monthly or annually. These subscriptions’ rates with annual billing amount to $29/month (plus a 5% fee on sales transactions) for Basic, $99/month (no transaction fees) for Pro, and $249/month (no transaction fees) for Business. As the subscription cost increases, the number of features made available to the user does as well.

7. Gumroad

The Gumroad ecommerce platform is especially targeted toward new online creators. You have the option to set up your online store on the platform itself or embed it on a site that you’ve already launched.

• Key features

This solution makes it possible to provide various payment alternatives, including recurring payments, (monthly, quarterly, biannually, annually, etc.) for memberships, for example, as well as payments in different currencies. If you sell a digital product that requires a license key, e.g., software, Gumroad can generate your license keys for you for added convenience.

What’s more, you’ll be able to offer multiple versions of a product, which can, for instance, help your ebook appeal to a greater number of consumers. Gumroad customers also have access to analytics to aid them in making decisions about their product offerings and business, say, for example, if they find that their online store isn’t selling as well as they’d hoped.

• Pricing

With Gumroad, there’s no monthly subscription fee to use the platform. In addition, the greater your earnings, the smaller percentage you pay in commission fees. Gumroad’s fees range from 9% ($0 in sales) to 2.9% ($1,000,000+ in sales). There’s also a charge of $0.30/transaction, regardless of the sale amount.

8. Squarespace

Website builder Squarespace offers an extensive range of templates so that users easily design ecommerce sites for selling all kinds of digital products. According to Backlinko, Squarespace had 3.79 subscribers around the world as of Q1 2021, representing an approximately 27% increase from its subscriber count in 2019.

• Key features

This platform aims to make it easy for users to build a professional website, regardless if they have any coding expertise, with a wide range of designs that work on desktop and mobile devices alike. Whether you want to sell digital downloads, services, or physical goods, Squarespace provides access to helpful tools like built-in tax compliance, discount codes, and marketing support for email campaigns, segment creation, and more.

• Pricing

Squarespace has four different pricing plans available, which can be billed monthly or annually. These options start at $14/month for the Personal plan, $23/month for the Business plan, $27/month for the Basic Commerce plan, and $49/month for the Advanced Commerce plan. The only subscription that includes transaction fees is the Business option, which amounts to 3% of your sales.

9. Kajabi

Used by more than 50,000 people globally, Kajabi aids entrepreneurs in creating and selling online courses, coaching services, podcasts, and memberships. The site also offers the possibility to create an online storefront and benefit from a variety of tools to help your business grow.

• Key features

Kajabi allows for easy integration with trusted payment solutions PayPal and Stripe on your ecommerce site, ensuring that you get paid quickly and securely. In addition, the platform’s email marketing software makes it possible to create engaging email campaigns to attract and retain your customers. What’s more, your customers can download the Kajabi app to be able to check out their digital download purchases from wherever.

• Pricing

With Kajabi, you can avail of a 14-day free trial and then choose from several pricing choices, billed monthly or annually. These begin at $119/month for Basic, $159/month for Growth, and $319/month for Pro. Kajabi doesn’t charge users any commission fees for any of its plans.

10. Thinkific

Another platform geared toward e-learning digital products, Thinkific is a popular option for e-merchants who want to share their knowledge with the world and simultaneously earn a profit while doing so.

• Key features

No coding skills are required to create your online course on Thinkific. All it takes is a bit of drag-and-drop action! The platform permits different kinds of course content, including text, quizzes, Google Docs, video, and downloads.

In addition, you can design your own website on the platform and take advantage of a large number of branding and customization options.

• Pricing

E-merchants are invited to test out Thinkific at no charge with the platform’s Free plan. This subscription grants access to a limited number of Thinkific’s features and allows you to create a limited number of courses.

Similar to other platforms, Thinkific’s paid subscription options can be paid on a monthly or a yearly basis. They allow for an unlimited number of courses and are priced as follows for yearly billing: $39/month for the Basic plan, $79/month for the Pro plan, and $399/month for the Premier plan. Thinkific doesn’t charge users transaction fees, regardless of the plan chosen.

11. MemberPress

Different from other ecommerce solutions mentioned in this article, MemberPress is a WordPress plugin that sellers can add to their own websites to be able to sell memberships. Ideal for users looking to offer subscriptions to their online-course content or other types of digital downloads, this plugin is especially beneficial if you have an existing WordPress that you’d like to monetize.

• Key features

Besides making it possible to offer memberships on your website, MemberPress aims to ensure that managing those memberships is simple. For example, you can choose what kind of content your customers have access to, such as pages, feeds, blog posts, categories, files, etc. This tool also features in-depth integration options with Stripe, PayPal, MailChimp, and more, and it provides access to helpful analytics to aid you in determining your best-performing content.

• Pricing

When signing up with MemberPress, you’ll find that you can choose from three different plans: Basic at $179/year for use on one site, Plus at $299/year for up to two sites, and Pro at $399/year for up to five sites.

12. SendOwl

SendOwl is an add-on solution designed to assist people with existing websites or social media pages with selling online. Created for sellers of all backgrounds and experience levels and businesses of all sizes, this platform allows for the selling of digital products, subscriptions, memberships, and tangible goods.

• Key features

Supporting multiple languages and currencies and allowing for flexible payment choices, SendOwl’s responsive checkout helps to make the purchasing process as seamless as possible. It also provides users with several tools to boost sales, like cart abandonment emails, one-click upsells, discounts and promo codes, and more. The platform’s advanced reporting and analytics make it easier to keep track of how well your online store is progressing.

• Pricing

SendOwl offers e-merchants a 30-day free trial. After the month-long test period is up, there are several subscriptions from which to choose: Standard at $15/month, Premium at $24/month, and Business at $39/month. The platform also has a very basic option available for $9/month, though its accompanying features are quite limited.

13. Easy Digital Downloads

Another plugin available for use with WordPress sites, Easy Digital Downloads is simple to set up and use. It’s currently the online-selling solution in place for 50,000 website owners across the globe.

• Key features

Easy Digital Downloads functions as a CRM in a WordPress dashboard and allows users to add buttons like “Buy now” and “Add to cart” directly to their WordPress websites in just a few clicks. The plugin permits e-merchants to avail of various flexible payment solutions for their businesses, including Stripe, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal. It also offers customizable discount codes, detailed customer management, and analytics that can be viewed directly in the dashboard.

• Pricing

Although Easy Digital Downloads doesn’t supply a free trial in the same way as some of the other solutions in this article do, the company does offer a 14-day money-back guarantee. This means that if you create your account on the platform and find that you aren’t satisfied with it, the solution will refund your money if you reach out within 14 days of signing up.

As far as pricing plans go, you’ll have four different choices with Easy Digital Downloads: Personal Pass ($99.50/year), Extended Pass ($199.50/year), Professional Pass ($299.50/year), and All Access Pass ($499.50/year).

What kind of digital products can you sell?

There's a wide range of digital products that people can create and sell online. These products leverage digital technology and can be delivered electronically, making them convenient and accessible to a global audience.

The key advantage of digital products is that they can be created once and sold multiple times without the need for physical inventory or shipping, making them a popular choice for entrepreneurs looking to generate passive income or turn their expertise into revenue.

If you're feeling lost as to where to start with your future business involving intangible goods, here are some of the top digital products to sell to inspire you! 

Ebooks

This type of digital product involves written content packaged as downloadable ebooks on various topics, from fiction and self-help to educational guides and tutorials. Ebooks are an excellent digital product to sell due to their low production costs, ease of distribution, and global reach.

They cater to diverse interests and provide valuable information to a wide audience. Customers can access them instantly, making ebooks a convenient and profitable option for creators and buyers alike.

Online courses

If you enjoy teaching, selling online courses may be a great fit for you! This kind of content includes structured lessons, videos, and resources covering subjects like skill development, arts, business, and more.

Online classes offer a lucrative opportunity to share expertise, educate, and generate income. They accommodate diverse learning needs, can be accessed globally, and provide a flexible and scalable business model. As demand for online learning grows, courses allow creators to impact lives while earning from their knowledge.

Stock photos and videos

Selling stock photos and videos can be a smart move due to the increasing demand for visual content across online platforms. Businesses, marketers, and creators rely on high-quality visuals for websites, social media, presentations, and more.

By offering a diverse range of imagery, photographers and videographers can earn passive income, leveraging their work to meet the ever-growing need for compelling visuals in today's digital landscape.

Digital art 

Digital art is a particularly popular commodity, as it combines creativity with accessibility. Possible items in this category of goods include illustrations, graphics, templates, and designs for personal or commercial use.

Digital art eliminates physical production costs and shipping, allowing artists to reach a global audience instantly. Due to the various platforms available, artists can monetize their unique creations, making it a rewarding avenue for both exposure and revenue generation.

Music and audio products

Music and audio products make for a valuable digital offering due to their universal appeal and convenience. Musicians, producers, and sound designers can share their royalty-free music tracks, sound effects, audio loops, and even online music lessons, appealing to a wide audience.

With easy digital delivery, creators can monetize their talents while providing music and sound enthusiasts with a range of auditory experiences to enjoy.

Software and apps

Another category of intangible goods to consider selling on the web is software and apps. This can include things like tools, applications, plugins, and software scripts that solve specific problems or enhance productivity.

More and more consumers are willing to invest in digital solutions that streamline tasks, support their various business goals, or provide unique experiences, making the selling of software and apps a profitable venture for many entrepreneurs.

Fonts and typography

Fonts and typography hold immense value as digital goods due to their role in design and branding. Possible options to create in this category include custom fonts, icon sets, and typography designs for graphic designers and creative professionals.

Designers, businesses, and creatives often seek unique fonts to enhance visual identities. Selling digital fonts allows you to showcase your creativity, reach a global market instantly, and offer a valuable resource for those looking to elevate their visual projects.

Website templates and themes

Website templates and themes are other great digital products to sell, as they simplify web development for individuals and businesses who may not be as comfortable with technology or web design.

By offering visually appealing and functional designs, you can save buyers loads of time and effort. Well-crafted templates and themes offer an efficient solution for creating a polished online presence, making them a popular choice in the digital marketplace.

Podcasts

Podcasts are enjoying growing popularity as an engaging and portable form of content. If you're particularly passionate about a specific subject and love to talk, launching your own podcast involving that topic may be perfect for your future digital product business.

As the podcast creator, you'll be able to share expertise, stories, and entertainment, targeting niche audiences. With subscription models, exclusive content, and ad revenue, podcasts offer a monetizable platform for sharing meaningful content while generating income.

Membership sites

Membership sites provide exclusive access to premium content, resources, or a community in exchange for a recurring fee. For example, you might launch a coaching business, sharing monthly workouts for subscribers to access.

With this kind of subscription offering, you can establish a loyal customer base that values continuous access to valuable insights, courses, or services. Members benefit from ongoing learning and engagement, and you get to enjoy consistent income and a place to foster deeper connections. 

Language learning resources

With an increasing number of companies looking to go international, it's no surprise that there's quite a bit of demand for learning new languages around the world. This means that items like language courses, vocabulary guides pronunciation tutorials, and language learning apps offer lots of profitability potential. 

Catering to diverse learners, you can offer structured courses, vocabulary guides, and interactive tools. With easy online access and convenience, language enthusiasts can acquire new skills while you as the creator can tap into a broad and eager market.

Digital patterns and sewing templates

Digital patterns and sewing templates are great intangible goods to start selling due to their convenience for crafters and enthusiasts. As the designer, you can offer a range of designs to consider the needs of various projects.

Customers can indulge their creativity and easily acquire patterns for various projects, and you're able to discover a market of makers looking for customizable, reusable designs that empower buyers to express their individuality and crafting skills.

Health and fitness resources

Workout plans, meal guides, meditation tracks, and fitness-related apps are all wonderful products that can help accommodate consumers' widespread interest in wellness.

By opting to sell health and fitness resources, you'll be able to address diverse fitness goals and offer a variety of great items that will best suit the needs of your target audience. With easy online access, your customers can improve their health routines, and you can turn your passion for wellness into profits.

Personal development resources

Personal development resources are valuable digital products thanks to the increasing demand for self-improvement. Consider offering goods such as guided journals, self-improvement guides, motivational speeches, and mindfulness resources to help people with diverse aspirations. 

Due to the nature of digital downloads, individuals seeking growth can buy your products and invest in their personal development journey at their own pace. By sharing your expertise and creating a positive impact, your personal development resources can be a rewarding and sought-after offering for consumers.

Start creating and selling your digital items today!

The ability to sell digital products creates a whole new opportunity for today’s ecommerce entrepreneurs. When it comes time to choose your platform for selling your intangible creations, be sure to consider your options carefully. Remember that many of the platforms on this list offer free trials, allowing you to test the waters before committing to a subscription.

As a reminder, with WiziShop, you’ll have 15 days to give the AI-powered ecommerce solution a try and discover all the powerful features that can help you to sell digital products and succeed in online sales.

Check WiziShop out today and see for yourself why it's the best ecommerce solution around!