Patreon, Payhip and Gumroad fees against your own shop: what a creator keeps
What Patreon, Payhip, Gumroad, Ko-fi and Podia charge today, who handles the VAT on each, what a creator keeps at £500 and £2,000 a month against a shop of their own, and which route suits which creator. Checked 9 November 2026.
This guide is for a UK creator selling downloads, templates, courses or memberships through Patreon, Payhip, Gumroad, Ko-fi or Podia who wants two things settled: what each platform takes, and whether a shop of their own would keep more. By the end you will know each fee, who handles the VAT, and what you keep. We build Orbit Commerce, a UK ecommerce platform, so weigh the Orbit parts with that in mind. Every fee and tax rule was read at its source on 9 November 2026.
In short
- Patreon takes 10% on pages published after 4 August 2025, plus 3.4% + 35p processing. Payhip takes 5%, 2% or 0% on plans at $0, $29 and $99 a month, Gumroad 10% + 50¢ a sale, Ko-fi 5% (0% on Gold at $12) and Podia 5% or 0% from $42 a month. Card processing is on top of every one.
- Gumroad and Payhip handle the VAT on digital sales as seller of record, Patreon collects VAT where the law makes it, and Ko-fi, Podia and your own shop leave the VAT to you.
- At £2,000 a month in £10 sales you keep about £1,662 on Patreon, £1,622 on Gumroad, £1,830 on a 5% plan with no monthly fee and £1,885 on Orbit Solo.
- Your own shop sells downloads with expiry dates, versions and licence keys, memberships as a recurring charge delivered by email or download, gift cards and merch, on one customer list that is yours.
What do Patreon, Payhip, Gumroad, Ko-fi and Podia charge today?
Two deductions apply: the platform’s share and the card processing. Patreon and Gumroad process the payment themselves and publish their rates; Payhip, Ko-fi and Podia leave the card to Stripe or PayPal, so you pay whatever they charge. The table is what each company’s page said on 9 November 2026.
| Platform | Platform fee | Card processing | Monthly plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patreon | 10% on pages published after 4 August 2025; older pages keep their plan, such as Pro at 8% | 3.4% + 35p on a sterling payment, 2.5% currency conversion, 50p per payout to a UK bank | None |
| Payhip | 5% on Free Forever, 2% on Plus, none on Pro | Stripe or PayPal at their standard rates | $0, $29 or $99 |
| Gumroad | 10% + $0.50 per direct sale (5% + $0.50 above $20,000 of paid sales in a month); 30% through its Discover marketplace | 2.9% + $0.30 on top; Discover’s 30% includes it | None |
| Ko-fi | 5% on memberships, shop sales, commissions and monthly tips; 0% on Gold | Your own Stripe or PayPal account at its standard rate | None, or Gold at $12 |
| Podia | 5% on Mover; none on Shaker or Earthquaker | Stripe or PayPal; Podia quotes 2.9% + 30¢, varying by location | $42, $84 or $150 billed yearly ($49, $99 or $179 monthly); no free plan |
| Orbit Solo | The plan only; the card rate has Stripe’s fee and Orbit’s share inside it | 2% + 25p on UK personal Visa and Mastercard, nothing added per order | £25 (£19 a month billed yearly), ex VAT |
Patreon’s standard fee page (updated 9 November 2026) says the 10% applies to pages published after 4 August 2025 and that a legacy creator who unpublishes moves to 10% on republishing. Its creator fees overview carries the processing and payout rates, and the 10% covers the hosted page, memberships, one-off sales and video hosting. Gumroad’s fees page says the 10% + $0.50 “does not include” card processing at 2.9% + $0.30 or PayPal fees. Where a platform runs on your own Stripe account, Stripe’s UK pricing is 1.5% + 20p on a standard UK card. Dollar fees use the European Central Bank’s reference rates of 6 November 2026, about $1.34 to £1.
Who handles the VAT: you or the platform?
General information, not advice: the answer turns on what you sell and where your buyers live, so confirm it with an accountant.
UK buyers
No UK VAT is charged until you register, which is compulsory once taxable turnover passes £90,000 in 12 months or you expect it to in the next 30 days; zero-rated sales count (gov.uk, checked 9 November 2026). HMRC’s digital services guidance (last updated 28 March 2022) treats e-books, PDFs, images, music, software and pre-recorded video courses as digital services liable to UK VAT; a course with a live tutor is not one. E-books, e-magazines and e-journals have been zero-rated since 1 May 2020, while audiobooks, software and an e-publication “predominantly for completing” are standard-rated at 20% (VAT Notice 701/10, section 9, checked 9 November 2026). A planner is for completing and a template is not a publication, so 20% applies to both; see our guide to selling e-books, planners and templates.
EU buyers
Sell a download to a private customer in the EU and VAT is due where they live. The European Commission’s One Stop Shop page (checked 9 November 2026) says the €10,000 threshold applies only to a business established in one EU member state, so a UK seller owes the VAT from the first sale. It adds that a non-EU business registers under the non-Union scheme in one member state and files one quarterly return. Get a VAT agent before the first EU order.
When the platform is the seller
HMRC’s guidance also says that where a platform sets the terms, authorises the payment or handles the delivery, it accounts for the VAT instead of you. That is the merchant-of-record arrangement, and three of the five offer it. Gumroad’s pricing page says it has handled “all your tax obligations” as merchant of record since 1 January 2025. Payhip’s EU and UK VAT page says it acts as your reseller for EU and UK digital sales and pays the VAT each quarter.
Patreon’s VAT page (updated 27 October 2026) says it “generally calculates and collects VAT from members and fans” where it is obliged to, files and remits it, and that “your earnings are in no way affected by the VAT we collect”. Ko-fi’s tax page (updated 13 October 2026) says “Ko-fi is not the merchant of record on any transaction”: the tax it adds at checkout is yours to report and pay. Podia’s tax article (25 August 2026) says it charges the tax you are registered for at checkout but “doesn’t file or remit your sales taxes for you”.
On a shop of your own you are the seller of record and the VAT is yours. Orbit applies the rules you set: auto tax setup loads starting rates for the UK, all 27 EU countries, US states, Canadian provinces and Australia. Once your VAT number is in Settings > Tax, every paid order gets a VAT invoice by email the moment payment is captured. The registration and the return are yours or your accountant’s. See the payouts and VAT page and our guide to payouts, fees and tax.
What does a creator keep at £500 and £2,000 a month?
Assumptions, so you can argue with them: every sale is £10, so the columns are 50 and 200 payments; UK personal cards in sterling; no refunds, no conversion, one payout a month; VAT left out, since a registered seller hands it over on any route; Stripe’s UK rate where the platform uses your own Stripe account; dollar fees at the ECB rate above, rounded to the pound. Each cell is the month’s fees, with what you keep in brackets.
| Set-up | £500 a month | £2,000 a month |
|---|---|---|
| Patreon, standard 10% plan | £85 (£415) | £338.50 (£1,661.50) |
| Gumroad direct, 10% + 50¢ + 2.9% + 30¢ | about £94.50 (£405.50) | about £377.50 (£1,622.50) |
| Payhip Plus, $29 (about £22) + 2% + Stripe | £49.50 (£450.50) | £132 (£1,868) |
| Payhip Pro, $99 (about £74) + Stripe | £91.50 (£408.50) | £144 (£1,856) |
| Podia Shaker, $84 billed yearly (about £63) + Stripe | £80.50 (£419.50) | £133 (£1,867) |
| Orbit Solo, £25 + 2% + 25p | £47.50 (£452.50) | £115 (£1,885) |
At £2,000 a month the two percentage platforms cost the most: Patreon takes about £338 and Gumroad about £377 against £115 on Orbit Solo, and the gap grows with every sale because their fee is a share of each one. Among the fixed plans Orbit Solo keeps the most at that level too, £1,885 against £1,868 on Payhip Plus, £1,867 on Podia Shaker and £1,856 on Payhip Pro. Against a 5% plan with no monthly fee, such as Payhip Free Forever or Ko-fi at Stripe’s UK rate, which keeps £1,830, it pulls ahead by 40p on every £10 sale once the month passes about £625. A European card costs 3% + 25p on Solo and a card from outside Europe 3.65% + 25p. Our guide to payment gateway costs compares the processors, and memberships without the platform cut runs the sum for 300 supporters at £5.
What can a shop of your own do for a creator?
On Orbit a creator’s range is four of the six product types, made on one New Product screen.
- Downloads. A Digital product holds the files. Set how many days a download stays live, mark a file as a free sample, keep a version number on each file and hand out licence keys you generate or import. The buyer is emailed the links and any key when the order is paid and finds them in their account. A set of files is one product with several files; the bundle type is for physical goods.
- Memberships. A Subscription product with plans from weekly to yearly, or every two weeks, is a recurring charge: each renewal charges the saved card and creates an order, and the member pauses, resumes, cancels or changes quantity from their account, each with its own email. Files attached to the tier are delivered on the first payment, and the tier’s price applies from the first charge.
- Gift cards. A Gift Card product sells set amounts as variants; the buyer adds the recipient’s email and a message, the card is emailed when the payment succeeds, and the balance carries over.
- Merch and prints. Physical products with variants and stock, and a Royal Mail or courier label bought from the order.
Around them: a blog on your own domain, customer records with marketing consent you can export as a CSV or sync to Mailchimp or Omnisend through their plugins, emails in your branding from your own address, and hosting on AWS in London.
A subscription is the recurring charge; the member’s work goes out by email, as a download sold or attached to the tier, or through a private link. For a paid newsletter, the tier takes the payment and the issue goes to the list you export as a CSV or sync to Mailchimp or Omnisend.
Which route suits which creator?
- A membership built on a feed or community (a podcaster, a comic artist, a paid newsletter): the tier is a subscription product and the monthly piece goes out by email, as a download sold in the shop or through a private link, with packs, prints and gift cards sold from the same shop.
- Downloads: a fixed plan keeps more than a percentage as sales grow, and at £2,000 a month in £10 sales Orbit Solo keeps £1,885 against £1,830 on a 5% plan; run the sum on your own sale size and weigh who handles the VAT.
- Many EU or US buyers: Gumroad and Payhip act as merchant of record and their percentage covers the foreign filings; on a shop of your own a VAT agent files the non-Union One Stop Shop return each quarter.
- A course with video lessons: on a shop the lessons are the files on one digital product, with a download window, a version number per file and a free sample lesson; Podia and Payhip include a course player.
- Software, plugins, fonts and presets: a shop with licence keys and version numbers; our guide to selling software from your own website works it through.
- A mixed creator selling packs, prints, commissions, a monthly tier and gift cards: one shop, one checkout, one customer list, with the tier delivered by email.
Where Orbit fits
Everything above runs on the Solo plan at £25 a month, or £19 a month billed yearly, ex VAT. That covers unlimited products, 100GB of storage for the files, the blog, discount codes, gift cards, the page builder, and hosting on AWS in London with SSL. Orbit Payments charges one published card rate per plan with nothing added on top: 2% + 25p for UK personal Visa and Mastercard on Solo, 1.7% + 25p on Team (£85) and 1.5% + 25p on Pro (£249) and Enterprise.
Payouts land on the schedule you set in Payments > Payouts, and each opens into the charges, refunds and fees behind it. Read products for downloads and licence keys, subscriptions for memberships, gift cards and payouts and VAT; the 14-day free trial needs no card. The theme store lists free and premium themes by industry; pick one for a creator’s shop and change its colours, fonts and logo in the dashboard.
Read next: the new UK rules for selling subscriptions and recurring affiliate income from an ecommerce platform.
Questions people ask about creator platform fees
How much does Patreon take from a UK creator?
On a page published after 4 August 2025, 10% of earnings plus processing of 3.4% + 35p on each sterling payment and 50p per payout to a UK bank (Patreon’s fee pages, checked 9 November 2026). Older pages keep their plan, such as Pro at 8%, unless they are unpublished and republished.
Is Payhip free to use?
Payhip’s Free Forever plan has no monthly fee and takes 5% of each sale, with Stripe or PayPal charging their standard rates on top; Plus is $29 a month with a 2% fee and Pro $99 with none (payhip.com, checked 9 November 2026). Payhip also collects and remits digital EU and UK VAT for you.
Does Gumroad charge a monthly fee?
No. Gumroad charges 10% + $0.50 per sale through your own links, with card processing of 2.9% + $0.30 on top, and 30% including processing through its Discover marketplace; above $20,000 of paid sales in a month, new direct sales are 5% + $0.50 (gumroad.com, checked 9 November 2026).
Who pays the VAT when I sell downloads from my own website?
You do, once you are VAT registered, which is compulsory above £90,000 of taxable turnover in any rolling 12 months (gov.uk, checked 9 November 2026). UK buyers pay the product’s rate, 0% on an e-book and 20% on a template or software; an EU consumer’s download is taxed in their country from the first sale through the non-Union One Stop Shop. Orbit applies the rates you set and emails VAT invoices; the registration and the return are yours or your accountant’s.
Can I run a membership on my own website instead of Patreon?
Yes, as a recurring payment. On Orbit a tier is a subscription product: each renewal charges the saved card and creates an order, and members pause, resume or cancel from their account. You pay your plan and one published card rate with nothing added on top. The work goes out by email, as a download or through a private link, and a welcome download attaches to the tier itself.
Run the figures for real: put one pack, one tier and one gift card on the 14-day free trial, no card required, and compare a test order’s payout with your last platform statement.