Easy Digital Downloads vs Payhip
We give Easy Digital Downloads a 2.2 GPA and Payhip a 2.6, out of 4.0. Payhip grades higher on the free plan and ease of use. They get the same grade on value for money, features and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Easy Digital Downloads
WordPress plugin for selling digital downloads from your own site
Payhip
Store for downloads, courses and memberships, with a free plan
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAEasy Digital DownloadsFair | 2.6GPAPayhipGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CThe free Lite plugin adds a 3% fee to Stripe sales: $30 on $1,000, plus the cost of hosting WordPress, which isn't on record. Extended at $399 a year drops the fee. Software that's free only if you host it yourself counts as a C here. | CPlus at $29 a month plus its 2% fee ($20 on $1,000) comes to $49, a dollar under the free plan's 5% ($50). Pro at $99 drops the fee but costs more at this size. No yearly price is on record, and PayPal or Stripe fees come on top (not counted). |
| Free plan and trial | BLite is free on WordPress.org with unlimited products and transactions, so you can run a real store on it. Not an A: it needs a WordPress site on a paid host, and subscriptions and discount codes need a pass. | AFree Forever has every feature, unlimited products and unlimited revenue, with no cap you'd reach. Payhip takes 5% of each sale instead, and the value grade counts that. |
| Features | CStore, cart and checkout, then subscriptions, content restriction, license keys, a multi-vendor marketplace and cart recovery on paid passes. A broad kit, but it needs a WordPress site to be useful, and much of it sits on Professional at $599 a year. | CDownloads, courses, coaching, memberships, physical products and bundles, plus coupons, affiliates and PDF stamping. The gap the listing names is email: there are no built-in campaigns, so buyers sync to ConvertKit or another service. |
| Ease of use | DNo rating on record. You host it yourself: a WordPress site you run, or a WordPress.com business plan, plus yearly licence renewals to keep support and updates. | CNo App Store rating on record. Every plan has every feature, so there's nothing to unlock, but you still set up the store, your products and a PayPal or Stripe account. |
| Platforms and integrations | BRuns in the browser inside WordPress, with Stripe, PayPal, Square, Authorize.net, Zapier, Mailchimp and Elementor, and an API on Professional. No phone or desktop app is listed. | BWeb, with Stripe, PayPal, Zapier, Zoom, Calendly and ConvertKit, plus buy buttons for WordPress, Squarespace, Wix and Shopify sites. No phone or desktop app is listed. |
| Best for | selling files from your own WordPress site | a free store for downloads, courses and coaching |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Easy Digital Downloads and Payhip. How we grade
Price against what you get
Easy Digital Downloads starts at $16.58 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Payhip starts at $29 a month and scores 2.3.
Payhip scores higher, and starts $12.42 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other tools for selling digital products on the chart, 7 score higher than Easy Digital Downloads for less, and 6 score higher than Payhip for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Easy Digital Downloads starts at $199 per year at renewal, after a first year for $99.50. Payhip starts at $29 per month.
- Payhip also covers online courses and affiliate tracking.
At a glance
| Easy Digital Downloads | Payhip | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $199 per year at renewal, after a first year for $99.50 | $29 per month |
| Free plan | The Lite plugin is free on WordPress.org with unlimited products and transactions and Stripe and PayPal checkout; Stripe sales carry an extra 3% fee in the free version. | Free Forever plan with all features, unlimited products and unlimited revenue; Payhip takes 5% of each sale on top of PayPal or Stripe fees. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Sandhills Development, LLC | Payhip |
| Price read from | easydigitaldownloads.com | payhip.com |
| Checked | Oct 18, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Easy Digital Downloads
- WordPress site owners who want to sell files from their own site
- Plugin and theme makers who need license keys and updates
- Sellers who want no platform fee once on a paid pass
Payhip
- New sellers who want a free store and pay only when they sell
- Creators selling downloads, courses and coaching from one store
- Sellers who want EU, UK and US sales tax taken care of
Worth knowing
Easy Digital Downloads
- It needs a WordPress site you run yourself, or a WordPress.com business plan, which allows third-party plugins.
- First-year prices are introductory: passes renew at full price, from $199 a year for Personal.
- The free version and the Personal pass do not include no-platform-fees; EDD's blog puts the free version's Stripe fee at 3%.
- Licenses renew yearly; cancelling ends support and updates, and you lose your locked-in price.
Payhip
- The free plan takes 5% of each sale and Plus takes 2%, on top of PayPal or Stripe fees; only Pro at $99 a month removes Payhip's fee.
- Payhip has no built-in email campaigns: a newsletter block collects followers for export, and buyers sync to a separate email service.
- Payments go through the seller's own PayPal, Stripe or regional gateway account, such as Square, Razorpay or Paystack.
- Sellers with a physical presence in a US state may still have to file a zero-dollar sales tax return there, Payhip's help center says.
Key features
Easy Digital Downloads
- Store on your own WordPress site
- Unlimited products, a cart and checkout inside WordPress, with full ownership of your store data and Elementor checkout templates.
- Payments
- Stripe, PayPal and Square in the free plugin, Apple Pay listed on every paid pass, and Authorize.net and 2Checkout from Extended up.
- Subscriptions and memberships
- Recurring payments with free trials and setup fees on paid passes, plus content restriction for members from Extended up.
- Software licensing
- Issue license keys and deliver updates for plugins, themes and other software, on Professional and All Access.
- Marketplace and commissions
- Run a multi-vendor marketplace and pay commissions to sellers, on Professional and All Access.
- Marketing tools
- Discount codes, abandoned cart recovery, cross-sells and upsells, AI product recommendations and syncing with Mailchimp, ConvertKit and others.
Payhip
- Many product types
- Digital downloads with variants, online courses, coaching with Calendly or Zoom scheduling, memberships, physical products and bundles.
- Sales tax handled
- Payhip collects and remits EU and UK VAT on digital sales and, from July 1, 2026, US sales tax as a marketplace facilitator, at no extra charge.
- Marketing tools
- Coupons, running sales, cross-selling, upgrade discounts, a referral system, customer reviews and an affiliate program.
- Store or embedded buttons
- A hosted store on a custom domain, or buy buttons added to WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, Weebly or Shopify sites.
- File protection
- Download limits, set to 5 by default, and PDF stamping that prints the buyer's email and purchase date on every page.
- Mailing list sync
- Buyers are added to lists in ConvertKit, ActiveCampaign, AWeber, Drip, Flodesk, Klaviyo and other email services after a purchase.
Plans
Easy Digital Downloads
Lite$0
Free plugin from WordPress.org that you run on your own WordPress site. EDD adds a 3% fee to each Stripe transaction in the free version.
Personal$199
per year at renewal, after a first year for $99.50
1 site, subscriptions and free trials, discount codes, EU VAT, AI recommendations and cart recovery. Platform fees are not waived on this pass.
Extended$399
per year at renewal, after a first year for $199.50
1 site, no platform fees, Authorize.net and 2Checkout, multi-currency, content restriction, bundles, reviews and Zapier.
Professional$599
per year at renewal, after a first year for $299.50
2 sites, adds software licensing and API, a multi-vendor marketplace with commissions, shipping, post-purchase funnels and premium support.
All Access$999
per year at renewal, after a first year for $499.50
3 sites, every extension, including loyalty rewards, fraud prevention, advanced reports and bulk discount codes.
Payhip
Free Forever$0
All features, unlimited products and revenue. Payhip takes a 5% transaction fee on each sale; PayPal and Stripe charge their own fees too.
Plus$29
per month
The same features as Free Forever, with Payhip's transaction fee cut from 5% to 2% of each sale.
Pro$99
per month
The same features with no transaction fee from Payhip; only PayPal or Stripe processing fees apply.
Ways to pay less
Easy Digital Downloads
- Other savings
Half price in the first year
EDD's pricing page shows introductory first-year prices of half the regular rate, from $99.50 for Personal; renewals are at full price.
Payhip
No public discounts listed.
