Stan Store
Strongest for: Digital product sales with basic booking
Pricing: $29/month (Creator) or $99/month (Creator Pro, 0% platform fee). 5% transaction fee on Creator plan.
Stan Store is built around selling digital products. The storefront is clean, checkout converts well, and it supports courses, downloads, memberships, and upsells. Booking is available through a Calendly integration, and there's a basic email feature for automating follow-ups.
The gaps: no built-in video for calls (you still need Zoom), limited email compared to dedicated newsletter tools, and $29/month minimum before you've earned a dollar. For a deeper look at pricing and what alternatives exist, check our Stan Store pricing breakdown.
Beacons
Strongest for: Personal brand pages with integrated commerce
Pricing: Free (9% fee) or $30/month Creator Pro (0% fee).
Beacons combines a polished profile page with a storefront, email marketing, media kit, and Calendly-based booking. It's the widest feature spread on a free tier. The email tool is decent for basic sequences and broadcasts.
The gaps: booking still routes through Calendly, video still requires Zoom, and the email features don't compete with Kit or Beehiiv for serious newsletter growth. At higher volumes, the 9% free-tier fee adds up fast.
Kit (formerly ConvertKit)
Strongest for: Newsletter growth and email-driven product sales
Pricing: Free up to 10,000 subscribers. Creator plan at $29/month. Creator Pro at $59/month.
Kit is the gold standard for creator newsletters. Subscriber tagging, automation sequences, landing pages, and deliverability are all best-in-class. It also has a built-in commerce feature for selling digital products and paid newsletter subscriptions.
The gaps: no native booking or scheduling (you'd add Calendly or Talkspresso), no video calls, and the product sales feature is basic compared to Stan Store or Gumroad. Kit is an email-first platform that added commerce, not a commerce platform that added email.
Kajabi
Strongest for: Course creators who want everything under one roof
Pricing: Starts at $149/month.
Kajabi includes course hosting, community, email marketing, a website builder, and checkout. It's genuinely all-in-one if you can stomach the price. The email and automation tools are solid, and the course builder is one of the best.
The gaps: $149/month is brutal for creators just getting started. No built-in video calls for 1:1 sessions. Booking is limited. And the platform is heavy, built for established course businesses, not solo creators selling their first few products.
Talkspresso
Strongest for: Live sessions, coaching, and video-based services with digital product sales
Pricing: Free to start. 10% platform fee on transactions. No monthly subscription.
Talkspresso is built around a different idea: your link in bio isn't a page of buttons, it's the destination where clients book, pay, join the video call, and buy your products. Built-in HD video (1:1 and groups up to 500), native scheduling with Google Calendar sync, automatic session recording, AI session summaries, intake forms, client management, and a digital product storefront. You can even turn a session recording into a sellable product with one click.
The gaps: no built-in newsletter or email marketing. Talkspresso handles the session and product side, not the email side. You'd pair it with Kit, Beehiiv, or another newsletter tool for list growth.
Feature Comparison Table
| Feature | Stan Store | Beacons | Kit | Kajabi | Talkspresso |
|---|
| Digital product sales | Strong | Good | Basic | Strong | Good |
| Courses | Yes | No | No | Strong | Via recordings |
| 1:1 booking | Via Calendly |
The Hidden Cost of "All-in-One"
Every platform that claims to be all-in-one has holes. Here's what you'll actually spend to fill them:
Stan Store for everything: $29/month + Zoom Pro ($13.33/month) + an email tool like Kit ($29/month for paid features) = $71.33/month before transaction fees.
Beacons for everything: $30/month (Pro) + Zoom Pro ($13.33/month) + Kit for serious email ($29/month) = $72.33/month before transaction fees.
Kit for everything: $29/month + Calendly ($10/month) + Zoom Pro ($13.33/month) = $52.33/month before transaction fees, with basic product sales.
Talkspresso + Kit: $0/month (Talkspresso) + $29/month (Kit Creator) = $29/month before transaction fees. Video, scheduling, products, and recording all included.
The "two-tool" approach often costs less than a single "all-in-one" that still needs Zoom and Calendly bolted on.
How to Choose Based on Your Revenue Mix
Your primary revenue source should dictate your platform:
Mostly digital products (templates, courses, downloads): Start with Stan Store or Gumroad. Add Kit for email. Add Talkspresso when you're ready to offer live calls alongside your products. For ideas on combining products with sessions, read our guide on bundling digital products with coaching.
Mostly live sessions (coaching, consulting, workshops): Start with Talkspresso. Your booking page doubles as a product storefront, and you can sell session recordings as digital products. Add Kit or Beehiiv for newsletter growth.
Mostly newsletter (paid subscriptions, sponsorships): Start with Kit or Beehiiv. Add Talkspresso for paid subscriber-only calls and live sessions. Add a product storefront only when you have products to sell.
Equal mix of all three: Talkspresso for sessions and products, Kit for email. Two tools, full coverage, under $30/month total.
After comparing every option, the pattern is clear. No single platform handles products, bookings, and newsletters at a professional level. The platforms that try to do everything end up doing each thing at 60%.
The creators who run smoothest use two purpose-built tools:
- A session and product platform (where clients book, pay, attend, and buy): Talkspresso
- A newsletter platform (where you grow your list and nurture your audience): Kit or Beehiiv
Connect them with Zapier so new Talkspresso clients automatically join your email list. Your link in bio goes to your Talkspresso profile. Your newsletter drives traffic there. Products and sessions live in one place. Email lives in another. Total monthly cost: $0-29 depending on your Kit plan.
This beats paying $70+ for a Frankenstein stack of Stan Store plus Zoom plus Calendly plus a separate email tool, where every client interaction bounces across four different platforms.
Start With What Matters Most
You don't need to solve everything on day one. Pick the tool that matches your biggest revenue opportunity right now.
If that's live sessions, create a free Talkspresso profile and start booking paid calls this week. No monthly fee. No Zoom subscription. No setup headaches. Add your digital products, turn session recordings into sellable content, and connect a newsletter tool when you're ready.
One link. One platform for the work that pays. A second platform for the emails that grow your audience. That's the setup that actually works.
For a full breakdown, see our 9 best platforms for paid video calls or read how creators sell paid video calls to their followers.
For a full breakdown, see our 9 best platforms for paid video calls or read how creators sell paid video calls to their followers.
