Digital product stores
Paddle alternatives 15 tools ranked by verified data
Data checked Oct 14, 2026 against the vendors' own pages. How we verify
We found 15 tools comparable to Paddle among digital product store tools, and scored each with the same scorecard; 12 have enough verified data to be ranked.
MailerLite ranks first with 97/100, ahead of Fourthwall (93) and Easy Digital Downloads (91).
Paddle itself scores 35/100 on the same scorecard, so 12 alternatives score higher.
8 alternatives have a free plan.
Paddle alternatives ranked
| # | Tool | Score | Coverage | From, billed monthly | From, billed yearly | Free plan | Integrations | Public API | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  MailerLite | 97/100 | 75%5 of 7 criteria | $12/mo | $10.80/mo | Yes, 250 subscribers | 100 | Yes | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 2 |  Fourthwall | 93/100 | 65%4 of 7 criteria | $15/mo | Not offered | Yes, 5 storage gb | – | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 3 |  Easy Digital Downloads | 91/100 | 85%6 of 7 criteria | Not offered | $8.29/mo | Yes | 100 | Yes | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 4 |  Sailo | 80/100 | 70%5 of 7 criteria | Not offered | $19/mo | Yes, 10 products | – | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 5 |  Heights Platform | 76/100 | 90%6 of 7 criteria | $29/mo | $19/mo | No | – | Yes | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 6 |  LifterLMS | 75/100 | 75%5 of 7 criteria | Not offered | $16.58/mo | Yes, unlimited members | – | Yes | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 7 |  Followrs | 70/100 | 80%5 of 7 criteria | $29/mo | Not offered | Yes, unlimited products | – | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 8 |  SendOwl | 68/100 | 85%6 of 7 criteria | $39/mo | $32.50/mo | No | – | Yes | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 9 |  LearnWorlds | 67/100 | 75%5 of 7 criteria | $29/mo | $24/mo | No | 50 | Yes | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 10 |  Shopify | 63/100 | 75%5 of 7 criteria | $25/mo | $19/mo | No | 21,000 | Yes | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 11 |  SamCart | 60/100 | 85%6 of 7 criteria | $79/mo | Not offered | No | – | Yes | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 12 |  Teachable | 53/100 | 100%7 of 7 criteria | $39/mo | $29/mo | No | – | Yes | Oct 14, 2026 |
| – | Lemon Squeezy | Not ranked | 50%4 of 7 criteria | Free | Free | Yes, 500 subscribers | – | Yes | Oct 14, 2026 |
| – |  Marketsy.ai | Not ranked | 50%4 of 7 criteria | Not offered | Not offered | No | – | Yes | Oct 14, 2026 |
| – |  Payco | Not ranked | 25%2 of 7 criteria | – | – | Yes | – | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
Each value links the vendor page it was read from (hover for the check date). Coverage is the share of the scorecard's weight with verified data, and "N of M criteria" how many criteria the score is based on; a tool is ranked at 60% or more.
– = not published by the vendor, or not verified yet.
For reference, Paddle scores 35/100 with 50% coverage. Paddle review
Why each one ranks where it does
- 1. MailerLite 97/100
Email marketing platform with a drag-and-drop editor, automations, landing pages, signup forms, websites and digital product sales.
- Entry price (100/100): $12/month billed monthly on Comfort; $10.80/month billed annually on Comfort (scored on the monthly price)
- Free plan or trial (100/100): Free plan (Free)
From $12 per month billed monthly ($10.80 billed yearly) on the Comfort plan.
Homepage captured Oct 14, 2026 - 2. Fourthwall 93/100
Platform for creators to design branded shops selling print-on-demand merchandise, digital products and memberships, with fulfillment handled.
- Free plan or trial (100/100): Free plan (Free)
- Verified features (100/100): 3 of 4 tracked features verified: analytics, team access, ai assistant
From $15 per month billed monthly on the Pro plan.
- 3. Easy Digital Downloads 91/100
WordPress plugin for selling digital products with checkout, subscriptions, discount codes, software licensing and reporting.
- Entry price (100/100): $8.29/month billed annually on Personal; no monthly-billed price published (scored against annual-billed prices)
- Free plan or trial (100/100): Free plan (Lite)
From $8.29 per month billed yearly on the Personal plan.
- 4. Sailo 80/100
Shop builder reached through one link-in-bio URL, taking orders for products, bookings and downloads via chat apps, bank transfer or card.
- Free plan or trial (100/100): Free plan (Free)
- Pricing transparency (100/100): 3 of 3 plans have a public price
From $19 per month billed yearly on the Pro plan.
- 5. Heights Platform 76/100
Platform for creating and selling online courses, challenges, memberships and digital products, with community channels and built-in AI tools.
- Verified features (100/100): 3 of 4 tracked features verified: analytics, team access, ai assistant
- Fee on sales (100/100): 0% fee on sales on Challenge ($29/month)
From $29 per month billed monthly ($19 billed yearly) on the Challenge plan.
- 6. LifterLMS 75/100
WordPress LMS plugin with paid add-on bundles for building and selling online courses and memberships, with quizzes, certificates and e-commerce add-ons.
- Free plan or trial (100/100): Free plan (Core Plugin)
- Pricing transparency (100/100): 4 of 4 plans have a public price
From $16.58 per month billed yearly on the Earth Bundle plan.
- 7. Followrs 70/100
Storefront and link-in-bio page builder for creators to sell digital products, collect email addresses and accept payments through Stripe.
- Free plan or trial (100/100): Free plan (Free)
- Fee on sales (100/100): 0% fee on sales
From $29 per month billed monthly on the Early Pro plan.
- 8. SendOwl 68/100
Digital commerce platform for selling downloads, subscriptions, courses and license keys, with delivery, checkout and affiliate tools.
- Verified features (100/100): 2 of 4 tracked features verified: analytics, team access
- Pricing transparency (100/100): 4 of 4 plans have a public price
From $39 per month billed monthly ($32.50 billed yearly) on the Launch plan.
- 9. LearnWorlds 67/100
Learning management platform for building, branding and selling online courses and training programs, with AI tools, assessments and a website builder.
- Verified features (100/100): 4 of 4 tracked features verified: analytics, team access, templates, ai assistant
- API, integrations and export (93/100): public API, 50 integrations
From $29 per month billed monthly ($24 billed yearly) on the Starter plan.
- 10. Shopify 63/100
Commerce platform for building online stores and selling online, in person and through social channels, with built-in checkout, themes and an AI assistant.
- Verified features (100/100): 4 of 4 tracked features verified: analytics, team access, templates, ai assistant
- Pricing transparency (100/100): 4 of 4 plans have a public price
From $25 per month billed monthly ($19 billed yearly) on the Basic plan.
How we picked
Every one of these digital product store tools is scored by the same 7 criteria (scorecard v1). Each criterion gives 0 to 100 from the vendor's published data; the total is the weighted average. A criterion without verified data is left out and the other weights are re-normalised. A tool with under 60% of the weight covered is listed as not ranked, and so is a tool with no verified price and fewer than 2 verified features (“needs a verified price”); each score shows how many criteria it is based on. The core criteria are the same in every category; the category criteria are specific to digital product store tools. Nobody gets custom weights, including our own products.
| Criterion | Weight | Type | What we measure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry price | 25% | Core | Price per month of the cheapest paid plan, against the prices of other digital product store tools on the same billing basis (monthly-billed prices against monthly, annual-billed against annual).Log scale. Billed monthly: $12.09/month or less = 100, $48.37 or more = 0. Only billed annually: $8.85/month or less = 100, $35.39 or more = 0. Only free plans = 100. Usage-priced and one-time plans are not scored. |
| Free plan or trial | 15% | Core | Whether you can use the tool before paying: a free plan, or failing that a free trial, as shown on the vendor's pricing page.Free plan = 100. No free plan but a free trial = 60. The pricing page lists plans but shows neither = 0. No plans read = not scored. |
| Pricing transparency | 10% | Core | How much of the pricing is public: the share of plans with a published price ("contact sales" counts against), and whether there are at least 3 published tiers.80 x (plans with a public price / plans listed) + 20 x (public plans, up to 3) / 3. No plans read = not scored. |
| Verified features | 15% | Core | How many of the 4 features we track for this category the vendor's own pages verifiably show (analytics, team access, templates, ai assistant). This counts verified features only: a tool that documents less scores lower here, and only here.Linear: verified features / 2 (half the tracked list) x 100, capped at 100. No tracked feature verified = not scored. |
| API, integrations and export | 10% | Core | Whether a public API exists, how many integrations the vendor states, and whether the vendor documents a way to export your data.Average of the parts with data: public API yes = 100, no = 0; integrations on a log scale (100 or more = 100); a documented data export = 100. None verified = not scored. |
| Fee on sales | 15% | Category | The percentage of each sale the platform keeps, as the vendor states it (the cheapest paid plan that states a fee).Linear, lower is better: 0% = 100, 10% or more = 0. No stated fee = not scored. |
| Products per plan | 10% | Category | Products for sale included on the cheapest paid plan that states a limit.Log scale: 100 or more (or unlimited) = 100. No stated limit = not scored. |
Sources are vendor pricing pages, docs and changelogs, each with the date we checked it. We did not test these tools hands-on unless a listing says so. Full formulas: methodology.
Questions, answered from the data
What is the best alternative to Paddle?
MailerLite, with 97/100 on our scorecard; Fourthwall is second with 93/100.
Is there a free alternative to Paddle?
Yes: MailerLite, Fourthwall and Easy Digital Downloads have a free plan; MailerLite ranks highest of them.
What is the cheapest Paddle alternative?
By entry price, Easy Digital Downloads: $8.29 per month billed yearly on the Personal plan.