The 7 Best Whop Alternatives
1. Talkspresso (Best for Live Sessions + Digital Products)
Talkspresso is the alternative for creators who want to sell live experiences alongside digital products. Your own branded booking page. Built-in HD video. Automatic recording and AI summaries. Scheduling and payments integrated.
Where Whop is a marketplace for digital products, Talkspresso is your own platform for live sessions and products. No competing sellers. No shared marketplace. Just your brand, your expertise, and your clients.
Pricing: Free. 10% platform fee on paid transactions.
What you get:
- Your own branded booking and product page
- Built-in HD video for 1:1 and group sessions (up to 500)
- Automatic session recording with AI summaries
- Scheduling with Google Calendar sync
- Payment collection at booking
- Digital product sales
- Client management with session history
- Workshop and webinar hosting
What you don't get: Marketplace discovery, community forums, membership tiers, email marketing.
Best for: Creators who deliver value through live interaction (coaching, consulting, workshops) and want to sell digital products alongside sessions on their own branded platform.
2. Gumroad (Best for Simple Digital Products)
Gumroad is the original creator product platform. Upload a file, set a price, share a link. Your own product pages, your own links, your own brand (somewhat).
Gumroad has a small discover feature, but it is not a marketplace the way Whop is. Your primary traffic comes from your audience, not from Gumroad's algorithm. For a broader comparison, see our Gumroad alternatives guide.
Pricing: Free. 10% flat fee on all sales.
Best for: Creators who sell digital downloads (ebooks, templates, software) and want the simplest possible product pages.
3. Stan Store (Best for Social Media Creators)
Stan Store is a mobile-optimized storefront for your social media bio. Digital products, bookings, courses, and memberships, all from a single link that converts well from Instagram and TikTok traffic.
Pricing: Creator at $29/month. Creator Pro at $99/month. 0% transaction fees.
Best for: Social media creators who drive traffic from bio links and want a clean, branded storefront.
4. Teachable (Best for Course Creators)
Teachable is the standard for selling pre-recorded courses. If your primary product is a structured video course, Teachable's course builder, checkout experience, and student management are purpose-built for that.
Unlike Whop, every student lands on your branded course page, not a marketplace. For more details, see our Teachable alternatives guide.
Pricing: Free plan (10% + $1 fee). Basic at $39/month. Pro at $119/month.
Best for: Course creators who want a proven, professional course delivery platform.
5. Podia (Best Simple All-in-One)
Podia combines courses, digital downloads, coaching, and memberships in one clean interface. It is the simplest all-in-one for creators who want everything in one place without marketplace competition.
Pricing: Free (8% fee). Mover at $39/month (0% fee). Shaker at $89/month.
Best for: Creators who want courses, digital products, and basic coaching on one simple platform.
6. Skool (Best for Paid Communities)
Skool is a community platform with courses built in. If your Whop product is a paid community or group program, Skool offers a better community experience with gamification, course modules, and discussion forums.
Unlike Whop, your community on Skool is fully branded and independent. Members interact in your space, not a marketplace.
Pricing: $99/month flat. No transaction fees.
Best for: Creators who run paid communities, cohort programs, or masterminds.
7. Kajabi (Best Premium All-in-One)
Kajabi is the premium option: website, courses, email marketing, community, funnels, and scheduling. Everything in one platform. No marketplace. Full brand control.
The tradeoff is cost. Kajabi starts at $149/month. For details, see our Kajabi alternatives guide.
Pricing: Basic at $149/month. Growth at $199/month. Pro at $399/month.
Best for: Established creators earning $5,000+/month who want a single platform for everything.
Comparison Table: Whop vs. All 7 Alternatives
| Platform | Monthly Cost | Transaction Fee | Marketplace | Your Own Brand | Live Video | Digital Products | Community | Courses |
|---|
| Whop | $0 | 3% | Yes | Limited | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Talkspresso | $0 |
The marketplace vs. owned platform decision is the core of this comparison. Here are the tradeoffs:
Marketplace (Whop) Advantages:
- Discovery. New creators with no audience can get found through marketplace search.
- Trust transfer. Buyers trust the marketplace, which reduces purchase anxiety for unknown creators.
- Low barrier. No branding decisions, no website setup. Just list your product.
Marketplace (Whop) Disadvantages:
- Competition. Your product sits next to competitors. Price pressure is constant.
- Brand dilution. Customers remember Whop, not you.
- Algorithm dependence. Whop controls visibility. One algorithm change can tank your sales.
- Customer ownership. The relationship is with Whop. You cannot easily take your customers elsewhere.
- Commoditization. Marketplaces push everything toward commodity pricing. Hard to charge premium prices.
Owned Platform Advantages:
- Brand control. Your page, your design, your URL (or close to it).
- No competition. Clients see only your offerings. No sidebar of alternatives.
- Customer ownership. You own the relationship, the email, the booking history.
- Premium pricing. Without competitors on the same page, you can charge what you are worth.
- Platform independence. If your platform changes policies, you can switch. Your audience follows you, not the marketplace.
Owned Platform Disadvantages:
- No free discovery. You need to bring your own traffic. No algorithm will find you customers.
- Brand building required. You need to establish trust on your own.
- Setup effort. Slightly more work to configure than listing on a marketplace.
The Verdict:
If you have no audience and need discovery: Whop's marketplace helps. Use it as a starting point.
If you have any audience at all (even 1,000 followers): an owned platform earns more per customer, builds your brand, and gives you independence.
Most successful creators start on a marketplace and migrate to their own platform once they have an audience. The mistake is staying on the marketplace too long.
Here is what the numbers look like:
On Whop (marketplace):
- Digital product, $29
- Marketplace competition forces price pressure
- 100 sales/month = $2,900
- After 3% fee: $2,813
- You competed with 20 similar products for those sales
On your own platform (Talkspresso):
- Digital product, $29 (50 sales/month = $1,450)
- 1:1 coaching session, $150 (10 sessions/month = $1,500)
- Group workshop, $49/seat (25 seats/month = $1,225)
- Total: $4,175/month
- After 10% fee: $3,757
- No competition on your page
The owned platform earns 33% more despite half the product sales because live sessions command premium prices. And because there is no marketplace competition, pricing pressure is eliminated.
How to Transition from Whop
If you are currently selling on Whop and want to move to your own platform:
Step 1: Build your direct audience. Start collecting email addresses and social media followers from your Whop customers. An email list is your most valuable asset.
Step 2: Set up your owned platform. Create your branded page on Talkspresso (for sessions + products), Stan Store (for products from social), or Teachable (for courses).
Step 3: Launch on your platform first. New products go on your owned platform first. Whop gets them later (or not at all).
Step 4: Migrate gradually. Direct your audience to your new platform. Offer an incentive (discount, bonus content) for booking or buying directly.
Step 5: Reduce Whop dependence. As direct sales grow, you can choose to keep Whop as a secondary channel or leave entirely.
The transition is gradual, not abrupt. You do not need to leave Whop overnight. You need to build the alternative so that when you are ready, the move is seamless.
How to Choose the Right Alternative
If you sell digital products and want simplicity:
Choose Gumroad (10% fee, simplest setup) or Stan Store ($29/month, 0% fees, great for social traffic).
If you sell courses:
Choose Teachable ($39-$199/month, best course builder and checkout).
If you run a paid community:
Choose Skool ($99/month, gamified community + courses).
If you want to sell live sessions and products:
Choose Talkspresso (free, built-in HD video, scheduling, recording, AI summaries + digital product sales).
If you want everything in one premium tool:
Choose Kajabi ($149-$399/month, website + courses + email + community + funnels).
If you need marketplace discovery (no audience yet):
Stay on Whop for now. But start building your direct audience immediately so you can transition to an owned platform when ready.
Bottom Line
Whop is a marketplace. Marketplaces work for discovery but create competition, dilute your brand, and keep the customer relationship at arm's length.
If you have an audience (even a small one), you earn more on an owned platform. No competing sellers. Premium pricing. Direct customer relationships.
For live sessions plus digital products on your own branded page: start free on Talkspresso. For digital products only: Gumroad or Stan Store. For courses: Teachable. For community: Skool.
Own your platform. Own your brand. Own your customer relationships.
For a deeper dive, compare the 9 best platforms for paid video calls, read how creators sell paid video calls to their followers, or check our Gumroad alternatives guide and Kajabi alternatives guide for adjacent comparisons.
Start free on Talkspresso
