At-a-Glance Comparison
| Stan Store Creator | Stan Store Pro | Linktree Free | Linktree Pro | Linktree Premium |
|---|
| Monthly price | $29 | $99 | $0 | $15 | $35 |
| Platform/sales fee | 0% | 0% | 12% | 9% | 0% |
| Unlimited links | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Digital products | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Courses | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| AutoDM (Instagram) | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Email marketing | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| Funnels / upsells | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| Affiliate program | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| Branding removal | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Booking widget | Yes (calls) | Yes (calls) | Basic | Basic | Basic |
| Built-in video calls | No | No | No | No | No |
| Session recording | No | No | No | No | No |
Neither platform handles live video. That's the gap most creators feel once they try to sell coaching, consulting, or workshops on top of digital products.
Stan Store: What You Get
Stan Store is built for creators whose business model is selling digital products, courses, and bookings. It's mobile-first, social-traffic-focused, and tightly integrated with Instagram.
Creator plan ($29/month)
- Mobile-optimized storefront
- Unlimited digital products, ebooks, templates
- Online courses
- Calendar bookings (no video included)
- Subscription products
- Community features
- AutoDM (auto-replies on Instagram comments with a product link)
- Basic analytics
- Custom branding (colors, fonts)
- 0% platform fee
Creator Pro ($99/month)
Everything in Creator, plus:
- Sales funnels and order bumps
- Email marketing automation
- Discount codes and limited-quantity offers
- Affiliate program management
- Payment plans (Afterpay, Klarna)
- Pixel tracking (Meta, Google, TikTok, Pinterest)
- Advanced analytics with attribution
Stan Store has no free plan, just a 14-day trial. Annual billing brings Creator down to $25/month and Pro to $79/month.
For a deeper look at the platform itself, see our Stan Store pricing and features review.
Linktree: What You Get
Linktree's center of gravity is link aggregation. Selling is a feature they added later. The free plan is genuinely usable for sharing links, which is why 50 million creators use it. Commerce is the place where it gets expensive fast.
Free ($0/month)
- Unlimited links
- Basic themes
- QR codes
- Embedded video
- Social icons
- Basic analytics (views and clicks)
- 12% sales fee on digital products
Starter ($8/month)
- Adds custom themes and link animations
- Still keeps Linktree branding on your page
- 12% sales fee
Pro ($15/month)
- Removes Linktree branding
- Advanced analytics (CTR, location, device, referrers)
- Instagram comment and DM automation
- Mailchimp, Klaviyo, Zapier integrations
- Link scheduling
- Branded short URLs with UTM tracking
- Facebook and TikTok pixel
- 9% sales fee
Premium ($35/month)
- Everything in Pro
- 0% sales fee on digital products
- Higher email collection limits
- Priority support
Linktree's annual billing reduces these to roughly $5 (Starter), $10 (Pro), and $24 (Premium).
For the full plan-by-plan breakdown, see our Linktree free vs Pro features comparison.
The Real Math: Which One Costs Less?
The answer depends on how much you sell.
| Monthly sales | Stan Store Creator | Linktree Free | Linktree Pro | Linktree Premium |
|---|
| $0 | $29 | $0 | $15 | $35 |
| $250 | $29 | $30 (12% fee) | $37.50 ($15 + $22.50 fee) | $35 |
| $500 | $29 | $60 | $60 ($15 + $45 fee) | $35 |
| $1,000 | $29 | $120 | $105 ($15 + $90 fee) | $35 |
| $2,000 | $29 | $240 | $195 ($15 + $180 fee) |
The crossovers:
- Below ~$240/month in sales, Linktree Free costs less than Stan Store ($29 fixed)
- Above ~$240/month in sales, Stan Store Creator beats Linktree Free
- Linktree Premium ($35/month, 0% fee) beats Stan Store Creator only on margins below $290/month in sales (rare for active sellers)
- Stan Store Creator beats Linktree Premium at any volume above ~$580/month in sales (because Stan Store gets you Stan-specific tools that Linktree doesn't)
Both exclude Stripe processing fees (2.9% + $0.30 per transaction), which apply to every sale on both platforms.
Where Each One Wins
Stan Store wins for:
- Creators selling digital products as primary income. Stan Store is purpose-built for this. The course builder, AutoDM, and 0% fee structure make it cheaper at scale.
- Instagram-first creators. AutoDM is built into both Stan plans. It turns post comments into product DMs without you doing anything.
- Marketing-heavy sellers. If you need funnels, upsells, email automation, and affiliates, Creator Pro ($99/month) packages them in one tool.
- Course sellers. Stan has a built-in course player. Linktree doesn't.
Linktree wins for:
- Creators who mostly share links. Free is genuinely free for non-commerce use. No platform does this better.
- Multi-platform link hubs. If your bio link is the entry point to a podcast, YouTube channel, blog, and merch, Linktree's link-first design makes more sense than Stan's storefront-first design.
- Casual sellers earning under ~$250/month. Below this threshold, Linktree Free's 12% fee costs less than Stan's $29/month.
- Audiences across multiple social platforms. Linktree's integrations and pixel support are broader than Stan's Instagram focus.
Where Both Fall Short: Live Video
This is the gap that comes up over and over for creators who try to scale beyond digital products.
Neither Stan Store nor Linktree has built-in video calls. Neither has full paid scheduling. Neither records sessions. Neither runs workshops.
If you sell:
- 1:1 coaching calls
- Consulting sessions
- Group masterminds
- Live workshops or masterclasses
- AMAs or office hours
...then Stan Store or Linktree alone isn't enough. You'll need to add Zoom ($13/month), Calendly ($10/month), and a recording or AI notes tool on top. That's another $25-50/month and another set of logins.
This is where Talkspresso fits in. It's a creator platform built specifically around live video monetization: HD video calls, scheduling with timezone handling, payments, automatic recording, AI session summaries, and digital product sales. Free to start. 10% platform fee only when you earn.
For a deeper comparison of how live-video creator tools stack up, see our best platforms for paid video calls guide.
Who Should Pick What
Pick Stan Store if:
- Your main income is digital products, courses, or memberships
- You consistently earn $300+/month in product sales
- You want Instagram AutoDM and an Instagram-tight workflow
- You need funnels, email marketing, and affiliates (Creator Pro)
- You don't sell live video sessions
Pick Linktree if:
- You mostly share links, not products
- Your bio link spans multiple platforms (podcast, YouTube, blog, social)
- You earn under $250/month in product sales (Free) or want zero fees at scale (Premium)
- You want Instagram automation without a full commerce platform (Pro)
- You don't need built-in courses or memberships
Pick something else if:
- You sell live coaching calls, consulting, or workshops
- You want video calls + scheduling + payments in one tool without stacking Zoom and Calendly
- You want to pay only when you earn (no monthly subscription)
- Your business model centers on selling your time, not just digital downloads
In that last scenario, Talkspresso is the better fit. It includes video, scheduling, payments, recording, and digital products in one platform with no monthly fee. You can keep Linktree as your link hub and add your Talkspresso booking link as one of the entries.
Common Pitfalls Creators Hit
A few patterns we see repeatedly when creators end up frustrated with either tool.
Paying for Stan Store before earning. $29/month is real money when you're not yet selling consistently. New creators with no validated offer often burn $200-$300 on Stan subscriptions before learning whether anyone wants to buy. A pay-as-you-earn alternative removes that risk.
Treating Linktree Free as a real storefront. The 12% fee is the most expensive option on the table. At $1,000/month in sales, you're paying $120/month in fees instead of upgrading to Linktree Pro ($15) or Premium ($35) and saving real money. (Yes, Linktree is still free in 2026, but the math gets ugly the moment you start selling.)
Bolting Zoom and Calendly onto either tool. Once you're paying for three subscriptions to take a call, you're spending more than the all-in-one alternatives. The convenience of one workflow usually wins on second thought.
Picking based on brand recognition, not fit. Linktree's name is bigger, but Stan Store's mechanics fit some creator businesses much better. The right tool isn't the one your favorite influencer mentioned. It's the one that matches your revenue model.
The Bottom Line
Stan Store and Linktree are both good at what they're built for. Neither is wrong. They're just optimized for different creator businesses.
If you live and die by digital product sales from social, Stan Store at $29/month with 0% platform fees pays for itself fast. If your bio link is mostly a navigation hub and selling is occasional, Linktree Free is the obvious starting point and Pro ($15/month) is a fair upgrade.
If you sell live sessions, both come up short. That's not Linktree or Stan Store's fault. It's just outside what they were designed for. For that, you want a platform that started with video and built outward from there.
For more context, see our Stan Store alternatives guide, our Linktree complete guide, and our breakdown of creator platforms that pay you the most.
Try Talkspresso free — no monthly fee, video and scheduling built in.
