The short answer
A $100 direct sale costs $10.50 before payment processing.
Gumroad charges 10% of the sale plus $0.50 when the customer arrives through your profile or direct link. Gumroad's fee documentation states that card processing or PayPal fees are additional. There is no monthly subscription. After paid sales reach $20,000 in a calendar month, Gumroad says later direct sales that month receive a lower 5% percentage rate; the $0.50 charge remains.
Free Gumroad fee calculator
Calculate Gumroad fees and take-home revenue
Compare a direct-link sale with a Gumroad Discover sale. Change the processor assumptions to match your own direct-sale payment route.
Estimated take-home $863.00, or $86.30 per completed sale.
Estimated take-home
$863.00$86.30 per completed sale- $1,000.00
- Gross revenue
- $137.00
- Total fees
- 13.7%
- Effective fee rate
Direct-sale estimates apply 10% until modeled paid sales reach $20,000 in the month, then 5% to later modeled sales. Refunds can change threshold eligibility. Taxes, currency conversion, chargebacks, and account-specific rules are not included.
Selling an online course?
Turn the fee estimate into a platform decision.
Compare $100.00 per course and 10 monthly sales across five platforms. Your price, sales volume, and processing assumptions carry over; you do not need to enter them again.
The comparison uses annual-plan monthly equivalents and assumes no additional Thinkific gateway fee until you enable it. Check plan and payment eligibility; lower modeled fees alone are not a reason to move.
Stay with Gumroad if it already meets your needs. Include migration work, tax handling, payment access, and student experience in any decision.
Price-by-price examples
How much do you keep from a $5, $20, or $100 sale?
These one-sale examples use the standard direct fee before the monthly high-volume discount, plus illustrative card processing of 2.9% + $0.30. Discover includes processing in its 30% fee. Amounts exclude taxes, refunds, affiliates, currency conversion, and payout adjustments.
| Sale price | Direct platform fee | Example processing | Direct take-home | Discover take-home |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $5.00 | $1.00 | $0.45 | $3.56 | $3.50 |
| $10.00 | $1.50 | $0.59 | $7.91 | $7.00 |
| $20.00 | $2.50 | $0.88 | $16.62 | $14.00 |
| $50.00 | $5.50 | $1.75 | $42.75 | $35.00 |
| $100.00 | $10.50 | $3.20 | $86.30 | $70.00 |
At $20, the modeled direct-sale cost is $3.38 and take-home is $16.62. The effective fee is 16.9%, not just the advertised 10%, because the fixed charges and processing still apply. On small purchases, fixed fees consume a larger share of the price. Figures are calculated before display rounding; the actual sales statement may round fee components differently.
A lower direct fee does not mean Discover is a bad deal: a marketplace sale might be a customer you would not otherwise reach. Do not assume those customers will follow you to a direct checkout.
High-volume discount
Gumroad’s direct-sale rate drops after $20,000 in monthly paid sales.
Gumroad's fee help page says new direct sales use 5% plus $0.50 after paid sales in the calendar month reach $20,000. The threshold resets on the first day of each month. Discover sales remain at 30%, and the $0.50 fee does not disappear.
The calculator applies the 10% rate to equal-price sales through the sale that reaches the threshold, then applies 5% to later modeled sales. Real product prices can vary, custom account fees take precedence, and a refund can move an account back below $20,000. Reconcile the sales export instead of treating this as a payout quote.
| Monthly direct sales | Percentage on new sales | Fixed Gumroad fee |
|---|---|---|
| Before reaching $20,000 | 10% | $0.50 per sale |
| Later sales after reaching $20,000 | 5% | $0.50 per sale |
| Discover at any volume | 30% including processing | No separate $0.50 line in the published Discover rate |
Fee formula
How to calculate Gumroad fees on a direct sale
Multiply the sale price by 10%, add $0.50, then add the card or PayPal processing charge that applies to the transaction. For a $100 direct sale, Gumroad's platform fee is $10.50 before processing. Once paid sales have reached the monthly $20,000 threshold, replace 10% with 5% for later eligible direct sales that month.
Direct-sale formula
(Sale price × 10%) + $0.50 + payment processing
This is the standard direct-link formula before the high-volume threshold. Later eligible direct sales use 5% instead of 10%. Discover's 30% all-in fee uses a different calculation.
Two acquisition routes
Direct sales and Discover sales use different fee models
| Sale source | Gumroad fee | Processing | What the calculator models |
|---|---|---|---|
| Profile or direct link | 10% + $0.50 | Additional | Yes |
| Gumroad Discover | 30% | Included | Yes |
The Gumroad fee calculator above models both routes. It adds an editable processing rate to direct-link sales and treats processing as included for Discover sales.
Examples
Direct-sale cost at three price and volume combinations
The processing column uses 2.9% plus $0.30 per sale as an example, not a promise. Replace it with the rate that applies to your payment route in the calculator.
| Price × sales | Gross | Gumroad fee | Example processing | Total modeled cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $20 × 10 | $200 | $25 | $8.80 | $33.80 |
| $100 × 10 | $1,000 | $105 | $32 | $137 |
| $200 × 25 | $5,000 | $512.50 | $152.50 | $665 |
The tradeoff
No subscription reduces risk, not necessarily cost
Gumroad is compelling when
You are validating a first product, sales are uncertain, and avoiding a fixed monthly bill matters more than minimizing the fee on each sale.
Recheck a paid platform when
Direct sales become regular, you need a deeper course experience, or a monthly subscription plus lower transaction fees would cost less than Gumroad's percentage charge.
Gumroad also acts as merchant of record and handles sales-tax collection and remittance. That operational value is not represented by fee math alone.
Frequently asked
Gumroad fee questions
Is processing included in the 10% + $0.50?
No. Gumroad's fee help page says card processing and PayPal fees are additional for direct sales. Discover's 30% fee includes processing.
Why does the calculator show a processor charge?
Because direct-sale processing is separate. The calculator lets you replace the default percentage and flat charge with the rate that applies to your setup.
Does Gumroad handle sales tax?
Gumroad says it has acted as merchant of record since January 1, 2025 and manages sales-tax collection and remittance worldwide.
How does Gumroad's $20,000 high-volume discount work?
After paid sales reach $20,000 in a calendar month, later direct sales that month use 5% plus $0.50 instead of 10% plus $0.50. The threshold resets monthly, Discover stays at 30%, and refunds can change eligibility.
From sales to usable income
Why can the payout differ from the fee calculator?
This calculator estimates fees on sales, not the amount or date of a bank transfer. Reconcile the sale source, processing, refunds, and any affiliate share against the transaction export. Use your account's custom fee when it differs from the published standard.
Gumroad's fee guidance says its own fee on the refunded portion is returned while underlying payment-processing fees are retained; connected payment-account arrangements can differ. Read the refund rules for your actual route before modeling a launch.
To include production, ads, subscription costs, and refunds, use the course profit and break-even calculator. Take-home after transaction fees is not the same as profit after all costs.
Official sources
Check current fees before selling
Direct, Discover, high-volume, processing, and refund details were checked against Gumroad's official pages on September 20, 2026. Examples are our calculations, not observed customer earnings. This page-level check does not change the date of our full cross-platform pricing audit.
Gumroad links are currently direct and non-affiliate.