At what point does $19 beat 5%?

$380 a month in sales. Below that the percentage is cheaper and there is no argument to make — which is what the free tier here is for, since it covers you to $500 a month at 0% with no subscription at all. Above $380 the gap only widens: at $2,000 a month, 5% is $1,200 a year against $228.

What about their $29 Plus plan at 2%?

It loses to $19 and 0% at every volume above zero — $29 plus 2% of anything is more than $19 plus nothing. It exists as a step towards the $99 tier rather than as a destination, which is worth noticing about the shape of the pricing: all three tiers are the same product, and the only thing the money buys is a smaller share going somewhere else.

Is 5% really the whole cost?

No, and neither is $19. Card processing is charged on top in both cases, at roughly 2.9% + 30¢. The difference is that here it is billed to your own Stripe account at Stripe's rate rather than marked up on the way through someone else's.

I sell a course as well as books.

Then run both. Payhip for the course, a shop here for the books, and no exclusivity in either direction. Splitting them costs you a second subscription and buys you a checkout that was actually built for the thing you are selling.

Compared August 2026

Inkwharf vs Payhip

Payhip is a storefront for digital products.

Payhip sells anything digital and charges a percentage until you pay enough to stop it — 5% free, 2% at $29 a month, 0% at $99. Inkwharf sells ebooks only, takes nothing at any tier, and knows what an EPUB is. Below roughly $380 a month in sales their free plan is genuinely the cheaper deal, and we say so.

What 5% costs a year

5% free, 2% on Plus at $29/mo, 0% on Pro at $99/mo, against a subscription that does not move. Payment processing is left out of both columns — it is charged on your own Stripe account here and folded into the headline rate elsewhere, so including it would compare two different things.

You sell	Payhip keeps	Inkwharf keeps	You keep instead
$500/mo	$300	$0	$300
$2,000/mo	$1,200	$228	$972
$5,000/mo	$3,000	$228	$2,772

Read it the other way too: below $380 a month in sales, 5% is the cheaper deal — which is what the free tier here is for, since it runs to $500 a month at 0% and costs nothing at all. Figures last checked August 2026. Run your own at the take-rate calculator.

Payhip’s own tiers

Printed because a headline rate is not the whole bill, and because what a competitor charges for is the clearest statement of what it thinks it is selling.

Free: every feature, and a 5% cut of each sale; $0
Plus: same features, cut reduced to 2%; $29.00/mo
Pro: same features, no Payhip cut; $99.00/mo

Line by line

	Inkwharf	Payhip
Cut of each sale	Nothing, on every plan including free	5% free, 2% at $29/mo, 0% at $99/mo
Cost of reaching 0%	$0 — it is the floor	$99 a month, or $1,188 a year
Below ~$380/mo in sales	Free tier covers you to $500/mo at 0%	5% of a small number is a small number
Who holds the money	Your own Stripe account. We never hold a cent	Payhip collects and pays out
Sells non-book products	Ebooks only	Courses, memberships, physical goods
Understands EPUB	Spec-checked uploads, real chapter samples	A file with a price on it
In-browser reader	In-browser reader and send-to-Kindle on every book	Download only
Send-to-Kindle	One tap, from the download page	The reader works it out themselves
Bitcoin	Straight to your own wallet	Not offered
Affiliates and coupons	Not built	Built in
Own domain	Yes, on a paid plan	Yes

A dot marks the side a row genuinely favours. Rows without one are a draw, and the ones marked against us are why the rest is worth reading.

Where Payhip is the better choice

5% of nothing is nothing

Under about $380 a month in sales, their percentage costs less than $19 — the arithmetic is on this page rather than left for you to discover. Our free tier answers most of it by covering you to $500 a month at 0% with no subscription, but if your catalogue is broader than books, that window is real.

It sells more than books

Courses, memberships, software licences, coaching, physical goods. If your catalogue is mixed, one Payhip account beats a book shop plus something else.

Coupons, bundles and affiliates are built in

Their marketing tooling is broader than ours. If an affiliate programme is central to how you sell, they have one and we do not.

Where this is the better choice

0% at every tier, including the free one

Payhip's own pricing makes the argument for us. Their three tiers are the same product at 5%, 2% and 0%, and the price of the last one is $99 a month — authors visibly pay three figures for the thing that is the floor here. Every Payhip tier costs the same to run; what you are buying is permission to keep your own money.

$99 a month to reach 0% is $1,188 a year

Which only makes sense above about $2,000 a month in sales, and even then it is five times the $228 that buys 0% here. The middle tier is worse arithmetic still: $29 a month and 2% costs more than $19 and nothing at every volume above zero.

It knows the file is a book

Uploads are validated against the EPUB spec, samples are cut out of real chapters, the cover is read from inside the file, and the buyer gets an in-browser reader and send-to-Kindle. To a generic digital-product store an EPUB is a zip with a price on it.

You are the merchant of record

Cards are charged on your own Stripe account and the funds land in your balance. That puts the tax obligation on you, which is the honest half of the trade — Stripe Tax is one switch in shop settings, and it collects at checkout.

Bitcoin, if you want it

Off by default and optional per shop. Turned on, each order gets a fresh address derived from an extended public key only you hold, and nothing on this site can spend it.

Questions

At what point does $19 beat 5%?: $380 a month in sales. Below that the percentage is cheaper and there is no argument to make — which is what the free tier here is for, since it covers you to $500 a month at 0% with no subscription at all. Above $380 the gap only widens: at $2,000 a month, 5% is $1,200 a year against $228.
What about their $29 Plus plan at 2%?: It loses to $19 and 0% at every volume above zero — $29 plus 2% of anything is more than $19 plus nothing. It exists as a step towards the $99 tier rather than as a destination, which is worth noticing about the shape of the pricing: all three tiers are the same product, and the only thing the money buys is a smaller share going somewhere else.
Is 5% really the whole cost?: No, and neither is $19. Card processing is charged on top in both cases, at roughly 2.9% + 30¢. The difference is that here it is billed to your own Stripe account at Stripe's rate rather than marked up on the way through someone else's.
I sell a course as well as books.: Then run both. Payhip for the course, a shop here for the books, and no exclusivity in either direction. Splitting them costs you a second subscription and buys you a checkout that was actually built for the thing you are selling.

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