Envato Market vs Lemon Squeezy (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Lemon Squeezy grades higher than Envato Market: 2.8 against 1.6 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Lemon Squeezy grades higher on the free plan, features and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Envato Market
Marketplace for website themes, templates, code and creative files
Paid
Lemon Squeezy
Merchant of record checkout for software, subscriptions and downloads
Free plan · from $10/mo
Which one is for you
Pick Envato Market if
- Fits if you want a ready-made theme or template for a single site
- Works for developers who resell work and need to know exactly which license applies
Look elsewhere if
- Watch out: a Regular License allows one end product, and a product users pay for needs the Extended License
- Skip it if you want many downloads for a flat fee, as that is Envato Elements, a separate product
- Watch out: standard licenses do not allow reuse inside stock items or templates you sell on
- Not for you if you are selling and need fee figures first, as author fees and payout terms could not be read
Pick Lemon Squeezy if
- Fits if you sell software licenses or subscriptions to buyers worldwide
- Works for makers who want sales tax and VAT filed for them, with no monthly bill
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a platform with a clear road ahead, as Stripe plans to move users to Managed Payments
- Pricey if most buyers are abroad or pay by PayPal, as each adds 1.5%, and subscriptions add 0.5%
- Watch out: recovered carts add 5%, affiliate referrals 3%, and payouts to non-US banks 1% each
- Not for you if your products cost under $10, as Lemon Squeezy asks you to contact sales
- Tight if your email list grows: free to 500, then $10 a month at 1,000, $24 at 3,000 and $60 at 10,000
How we grade them
| 1.6GPAEnvato MarketWeak | 2.8GPALemon SqueezyGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CPer-item prices with no price on record that we could compare. Whether a theme is a bargain depends on the license, since a product end users pay for needs the dearer Extended License. | CNo monthly fee. Each order costs 5% + 50¢, which covers card fees and sales tax, so $1,000 of sales costs $50 plus 50¢ an order. Buyers abroad add 1.5%, PayPal 1.5% and subscriptions 0.5%. That's above this category's dearer quarter, short of its dearest tenth. |
| Free plan and trial | FNothing on record is free: buying a theme or template costs money, and there is no trial. The unlimited-download subscription is a separate product, Envato Elements. | ASelling is free to start with every ecommerce feature, and you only pay as orders come in. Email marketing is free up to 500 subscribers too, then $10 a month at 1,000. |
| Features | CA wide catalogue, Regular and Extended licenses, author rankings and collections, and a Market API. It is a store, so the job stops at the sale, and author fees and payout terms could not be read. | BMerchant of record, subscriptions with usage billing, license keys, signed download links, a store on your own domain, affiliates, upsells, cart recovery and email marketing. It covers the whole job. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. Browsing and buying is plain, but picking the right license and fitting a theme to your own site is on you. | CNo App Store rating on record. It's a web dashboard where you set up products, checkouts and a store before your first sale, with nothing in the listing to say it's quicker than that. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb only. Items are made for WordPress, Shopify, WooCommerce, Elementor, Webflow and Figma, which is compatibility rather than a connection, and there is a Market API. | BWeb, with Zapier, ConvertKit, Mailchimp, WordPress and Laravel, checkout overlays for any site and a public API. No phone or desktop app is listed. |
| Best for | one-off buys of website themes and templates | selling software and subscriptions worldwide |
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: Envato Market and Lemon Squeezy. How we grade
Where they differ
- Envato Market also covers templates.
- Lemon Squeezy also covers email campaigns, affiliate tracking and merchant of record.
In commonWebOnline storeDigital downloads
At a glance
| Envato Market | Lemon Squeezy | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free plan |
| Starts at | Not published | $10 per month for email marketing to 1,000 subscribers |
| Free plan | None | Selling is free to start with every ecommerce feature included; Lemon Squeezy keeps 5% + 50¢ of each order. Email marketing is free up to 500 subscribers. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Envato Pty Ltd | Link, LLC (formerly Lemon Squeezy LLC) |
| Price read from | Not confirmed | lemonsqueezy.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Envato Market
- Author fees, commission rates and payout terms could not be read: Envato's author help pages block automated reading, so none are listed here.
- A Regular License allows one end product, and a product that end users pay for needs the more expensive Extended License.
- Standard licenses do not allow an item to be reused inside stock items or templates sold on to others.
- The unlimited-download subscription is a separate product, Envato Elements, and is not part of this marketplace's pricing.
Lemon Squeezy
- Stripe's 2026 update admits slower support and fewer updates while the team builds Stripe Managed Payments, and plans a migration path for users.
- Each order costs 5% + 50¢, plus 1.5% for buyers outside the US, 1.5% for PayPal and 0.5% for subscription payments.
- Recovered abandoned carts add 5% and affiliate referrals add 3% to the fee; payouts to non-US banks cost 1% each.
- Products priced under $10 and high-volume sellers are asked to contact sales for custom pricing.
Key features
Envato Market
- Wide item catalog
- Browse themes and templates for WordPress, HTML, Shopify, Webflow, Figma and more, plus code, video, audio, graphics, photos and 3D files.
- Per-item pricing
- Each item has its own price, shown in US dollars and excluding tax and handling fees. Individual authors set the prices.
- Regular and Extended licenses
- A Regular License covers one end product that is free to its users; an Extended License is needed when end users must pay to use the product.
- Author rankings and collections
- Buyers can follow authors, see top authors and top new files, and save items to public collections.
- Market API
- Envato publishes a Market API for working with the marketplace programmatically.
- Affiliate program
- The site links to an affiliate program for people who recommend items to others.
Lemon Squeezy
- Merchant of record
- Lemon Squeezy is the seller on each order: it calculates, collects, files and pays sales tax and VAT, and takes on the tax liability.
- Subscriptions and usage billing
- Weekly, monthly or yearly plans with upgrades, downgrades, free trials, PayPal subscriptions, usage-based billing and a customer portal.
- License keys and secure files
- License keys are issued after each sale and can be deactivated or reissued; download links are signed and throttled.
- Checkout anywhere
- Hosted checkout links, an overlay checkout for any website, or a store on a custom domain, taking cards, PayPal and payments in many currencies.
- Email marketing
- Broadcasts, signup forms, segments that update from purchase behavior and email reports, free up to 500 subscribers.
- Affiliates and recovery
- A built-in affiliate program, discount codes, bundles and upsells, plus abandoned cart emails and failed payment recovery.
Plans
Envato Market
Pricing could not be confirmed. See themeforest.net.
Lemon Squeezy
Ecommerce$0
No monthly charge. The seller pays 5% + 50¢ of each order, covering card fees and tax, plus 1.5% abroad, 1.5% on PayPal and 0.5% on subscriptions.
Email marketing$10
per month for up to 1,000 subscribers, billed monthly
Free up to 500 subscribers. The price rises with the list: $24 a month at 3,000 subscribers and $60 a month at 10,000.
Ways to pay less
Envato Market
No public discounts listed.
Lemon Squeezy
- Annual discount
Two months free on yearly email marketing
Lemon Squeezy prices yearly email marketing at ten times the monthly rate: $100 a year instead of $10 a month at 1,000 subscribers.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Envato Market or Lemon Squeezy?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Envato Market has no price we could confirm, and Lemon Squeezy starts at $10 per month for email marketing to 1,000 subscribers.
Which has a free plan, Envato Market or Lemon Squeezy?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Lemon Squeezy has a free plan. Envato Market does not.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.