What each one costs
TrialValid Starter is $29 a month for accounts under $10,000 of monthly recurring revenue, starting with a 14-day trial for $1; larger bands follow your revenue: Growth is $95 a month, Scale $295, Pro $595 and Max $995, and Enterprise from $1,995 a month. Gumroad: No monthly fee; 10% plus $0.50 per transaction on direct sales, and 30% on sales that come through its Discover marketplace (read 2026-10-19, see the pricing table below).
| At a glance | Gumroad |
|---|---|
| What it is | A marketplace and storefront for selling digital products, courses, e-books and memberships, with no monthly fee and a per-sale charge, and with Gumroad acting as merchant of record for tax. |
| Who it suits | Independent creators and small digital sellers who want a ready-made checkout and storefront with tax handled for them. |
| Starting price | No monthly fee; 10% plus $0.50 per transaction on direct sales, and 30% on sales that come through its Discover marketplace |
| Free tier | There is no subscription fee at all; the page says Gumroad only earns when a sale happens. |
| Date checked | 2026-10-19 |
Gumroad pricing
| Plan | Price | Billing basis | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct sales (your profile or direct links) | 10% + $0.50 per transaction | Per sale, no monthly charge | vendor page |
| Discover marketplace sales | 30% per transaction | Per sale to new customers who find you through the marketplace | vendor page |
The Gumroad prices above come from gumroad.com, read on 2026-10-19. Gumroad can change them at any time.
What Gumroad is
A marketplace and storefront for selling digital products, courses, e-books and memberships, with no monthly fee and a per-sale charge, and with Gumroad acting as merchant of record for tax.
Feature comparison
| Capability | TrialValid | Gumroad | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Card hold at sign-up before a trial starts | yes | not stated | none |
| Trial subscription created in your own Stripe account | yes | different approach | source |
| Capture before the trial ends with retries | yes | not stated | none |
| Exact agreement text stored with time, IP and terms version | yes | not stated | none |
| Statement descriptor rules | yes | not stated | none |
| Automatic recovery emails after a failed charge | no | not stated | none |
| Merchant of record that handles sales tax collection and remittance | different approach | yes | source |
| Membership sales | different approach | yes | source |
Where TrialValid and Gumroad overlap
Both can be part of how someone gets paid for a recurring product, but they sit in different places. With Gumroad the checkout, the tax handling and the payout all run through its marketplace, and the fee comes out of each sale. TrialValid hosts no store. It wraps a trial around a subscription that already lives in your Stripe account, holding the card first and capturing at the end of the trial. A creator selling through Gumroad has no reason to add it, while a software seller using Stripe directly might.
When to pick which
Pick Gumroad when
- You are selling courses, e-books or memberships as a creator and would rather not pay a monthly fee for the storefront.
- You want someone else to collect and remit sales tax worldwide as merchant of record.
- A percentage cut per sale suits you better than a flat subscription for tooling.
Pick TrialValid when
- Your product is software with a subscription already running through Stripe, and you want visitors to start on a trial with a card held up front.
- You want each signup to carry its own record of the agreement wording and the moment it was accepted.
- You would rather capture at the end of a trial, retrying if it fails, than hand 10% plus $0.50 of every direct sale to a marketplace.
- You care about knowing which first touch produced each trial signup.
Sourced facts
| Fact | Read on | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Direct sales through a creator profile or direct links cost 10% plus $0.50 per transaction. | 2026-10-19 | vendor page |
| Sales to new customers who find a creator through the Discover marketplace cost 30% per transaction. | 2026-10-19 | vendor page |
| The page says there are no monthly charges and that fees come out of each sale. | 2026-10-19 | vendor page |
| Since January 1, 2025 Gumroad describes itself as merchant of record and says it handles sales tax collection and remittance worldwide. | 2026-10-19 | vendor page |
| Tax collection settings in a creator dashboard are automatically disabled because Gumroad handles collection. | 2026-10-19 | vendor page |
| Creators who already file their own sales tax returns can download a reseller certificate to report Gumroad sales as sales for resale. | 2026-10-19 | vendor page |
| Products named on the page include digital products, e-books, courses, tutorials and memberships. | 2026-10-19 | vendor page |
| Memberships are listed as supported, including podcast, course and SaaS subscription memberships. | 2026-10-19 | vendor page |
| Physical goods are excluded, along with items such as illegal goods, securities, credit repair, gambling and adult content. | 2026-10-19 | vendor page |
| Payouts reach creators by direct deposit or PayPal, depending on the country. | 2026-10-19 | vendor page |
Questions
Can a Gumroad product start with a card-backed trial?
The pricing page covers per-sale fees, tax handling and what may be sold. It does not mention trials.
What is the Gumroad fee on a direct sale?
The page lists 10% plus $0.50 per transaction, and 30% when a new customer arrives through Discover.
Does Gumroad charge a subscription?
No. The page says there are no monthly charges and that fees come out of each sale.
Who deals with sales tax at Gumroad?
Gumroad describes itself as merchant of record since January 1, 2025 and says it collects and remits tax worldwide.
Would a Gumroad seller need TrialValid?
Gumroad runs its own checkout, so TrialValid, which works inside your own Stripe account, fits sellers who bill through Stripe instead.
What we could not verify
- Whether memberships on Gumroad can begin with a trial period: the page describes none.
- The card network or partner charges on top of the listed percentage: the page does not break them out.
- The list of countries where tax is collected: the page says it depends on location.
- How fast payouts arrive: the page says it varies by country and gives no schedule.