Proof
Side by side with Beacons
Every number here was read on Beacons' own pricing page and help center in September 2026, and the page says where each one came from. When they change one, this page changes.
Checked and dated
Beacons is the closest competitor to us on the one thing we care most about: the money goes straight into the seller's own Stripe or PayPal account, at the moment of the sale. Their help center is explicit about it. So the argument between us is not custody. It is the 9%, and what it costs to make it stop.
Beacons' own numbers
9%
Their cut on the free plan and the $10 plan
$30
The monthly plan where their cut becomes 0%
2.9% + $0.30
Stripe's own fee, charged on top of theirs
$0
Their free plan really is free to start
The part that decides
Cut of each sale
- Beacons
- 9% on the free and $10 plans. 0% from the $30 plan up
- Nimbus Labs
- 0%, on every plan
Monthly price
- Beacons
- $0, $10, $30 and $100
- Nimbus Labs
- $29 and $99, free for the first 14 days
Whose payment account
- Beacons
- Your own Stripe or PayPal
- Nimbus Labs
- Your own Stripe
Ways to be paid
- Beacons
- Stripe or PayPal
- Nimbus Labs
- Stripe, with the ways to pay you switch on in it. No PayPal: Stripe does not support it for the direct charges every sale here is made with, so we are behind them here
When the money reaches you
- Beacons
- At the moment of sale, into your own account
- Nimbus Labs
- At the moment of sale, into your own account
Card fee
- Beacons
- Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30, on top of their 9%
- Nimbus Labs
- Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30, and nothing else
What you are buying
- Beacons
- A whole suite: link in bio, websites, media kit, email, an affiliate network, AI tools
- Nimbus Labs
- One store, built to sell: files, courses, memberships, calls, and a community for your buyers
A free plan
- Beacons
- Yes, and you can sell on it
- Nimbus Labs
- None
Order bumps and upsells
- Beacons
- Order bumps on every plan, the free one included
- Nimbus Labs
- Yes — a box the buyer checks at checkout, and one click after paying on the same card
Memberships and courses
- Beacons
- Memberships from the $30 plan. Courses on every plan, but only one, with no video hosting, below the $30 plan
- Nimbus Labs
- Yes, both, on the $29 plan
Sources: Beacons' pricing page and their help center articles 'Beacons Products Transaction Fees' and 'When will I receive my payout from Product/Store Sales?', read on September 18, 2026. Plan prices, the fee quoted below and the rows on order bumps, memberships and courses re-checked on their pricing page and help center on September 28, 2026.
The 9% fee applies to users on the free plan or the $10/month Creator plan.
The same $27 file, on both
- 1On their free or $10 plan9% of $27 is $2.43, and Stripe takes about $1.08 on top. You keep $23.49.
- 2On their $30 planTheir cut is 0%, Stripe still takes about $1.08, so you keep $25.92 — and you pay $30 that month.
- 3On NimbusOur cut is 0%, Stripe takes about $1.08, so you keep $25.92 — and you pay $29 that month.
- 4The honest break-evenThe 9% costs $2.43 a sale, so their free plan and our $29 cost you the same at about 12 sales of $27 a month. At a hundred sales, their 9% is $243 that month and ours is $29. Against their $30 plan there is no money in it at all: one dollar.
Where Beacons is ahead of us, and it is not close
For $30 they give you 0% and, with it, websites, a media kit that updates itself, email marketing, an affiliate network of 12,000 brands and a pile of AI tools. We give you a store page with courses, memberships, calls, a community, an affiliate program of your own and the checkout tools, and on our $99 Pro plan email to your list, but none of the other extras. A dollar a month is not a reason to choose us, and we are not going to pretend it is.
So when should you not use us?
If you are selling a handful of files a month, take their free plan: 9% of almost nothing is cheaper than any monthly price, ours included. And if you want the whole suite in one login, buy their $30 plan. Come to us when what you want is a fast, focused store page that pays into your own account, and you would rather not run a suite to get it.
Want this on your own store?
Take your address, connect your own Stripe account and put your first product up. $29 a month and 0% of your sales, free for the first 14 days.