Stan Store vs Linktree 2026: $29 Flat vs 12% of Sales
Marcel CruzStan Store costs $29 a month and takes 0% of your sales. Linktree is free but takes 12% of anything you sell, and 9% on its paid tiers. Above roughly $242 a month in sales, Stan is the cheaper of the two. Below that, Linktree is. Sell on Stan, route on Linktree.
Here is what each one actually costs you per month, subscription plus the platform's cut. Card processing (roughly 2.9% plus $0.30 with Stripe or PayPal) is identical on both sides, so it is left out.
| Monthly sales | Linktree Free | Linktree Starter | Linktree Pro | Linktree Premium | Stan Creator |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $0 | $0 | $8 | $15 | $35 | $29 |
| $100 | $12 | $17 | $24 | $35 | $29 |
| $200 | $24 | $26 | $33 | $35 | $29 |
| $500 | $60 | $53 | $60 | $35 | $29 |
| $1,000 | $120 | $98 | $105 | $35 | $29 |
| $2,000 | $240 | $188 | $195 | $35 | $29 |
At what point does Stan Store get cheaper than Linktree?
It depends which Linktree tier you are on, so here is the whole ladder:
- vs Linktree Free ($0 plus a 12% cut): Stan wins above about $242 a month in sales.
- vs Linktree Starter ($8 plus 9%): Stan wins above about $233 a month.
- vs Linktree Pro ($15 plus 9%): Stan wins above about $156 a month.
- vs Linktree Premium ($35, 0% cut): there is no crossover. Stan Creator is $29, so it is cheaper at every sales volume, including zero.
That last line is the one Stan's own comparison page leaves out, and it is worth knowing before taking the fee argument at face value. Linktree's top tier does not take a cut either. At the top of the ladder the two cost within a few dollars of each other, the fee question disappears, and the decision reverts to what the tools actually do.
So the fee argument is real, but it is an argument against Linktree's free and middle tiers, not against Linktree. If you sell enough to care about a 12% cut, you also sell enough to be choosing between two flat subscriptions.
The bottom of the table matters too. If you are selling nothing yet, Linktree Free costs $0 and Stan bills $29 from the day the trial ends. Full tier breakdown in Linktree pricing 2026, and whether the paid jump is worth it in is Linktree free?.
How much do Stan Store and Linktree cost in 2026?
Stan Store has two plans and no free tier:
| Plan | Monthly | Annual | Key features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Creator | $29 | $300/yr | Storefront, digital products, courses, bookings, memberships, AutoDM, analytics |
| Creator Pro | $99 | $948/yr | Everything in Creator plus email flows, upsells and order bumps, affiliates, discount codes, pixel tracking |
Both plans carry a 0% platform fee, and there is a 14-day trial rather than a free plan. The per-plan math is in Stan Store pricing 2026.
Linktree has four plans and a fee on three of them:
| Plan | Monthly | Seller fee | Key features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 12% | Unlimited links, basic analytics, Linktree branding |
| Starter | $8 | 9% | Scheduling, redirect links, font and colour controls, keeps the logo |
| Pro | $15 | 9% | Removes the Linktree logo, 365-day analytics, UTM, GA and Meta Pixel |
| Premium | $35 | 0% | Lifetime analytics, unlimited Instagram auto-replies, team access |
The 12% on the Free plan is the number most comparisons get wrong, quoting 9% for every tier or skipping fees altogether. It comes from Linktree's own help centre article on transaction and processing fees, not from its pricing page, which prints no percentage on the Free card at all.
Is Stan Store similar to Linktree?
Only in where the link goes. Underneath they are different categories of tool, and that is the real decision.
Stan Store is a storefront: the sale happens on the page, with native checkout, courses, bookings and memberships hosted inside it. Linktree is an aggregator: it collects links and sends followers elsewhere, and any selling routes out to another checkout.
| Stan Store | Linktree | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Creator storefront | Link aggregator |
| Sale happens | On-page, native checkout | Routed out via link blocks |
| Free plan | No, 14-day trial | Yes |
| Entry paid price | $29/mo | $8/mo |
| Platform fee on sales | 0% on both plans | 12% Free, 9% Starter and Pro, 0% Premium |
| Custom domain | No | No |
| Best for | Selling courses, coaching, products | Routing followers to many links |
If you are not sure which model your traffic needs at all, link-in-bio store vs aggregator is the better starting point than either product page. Our link-in-bio checklist covers the setup either way.
Is a Stan Store worth it?
If you are actively selling digital products, courses or coaching, yes. Above roughly $242 a month in sales the 0% fee pays the subscription back against Linktree Free, and everything the sale needs is built in rather than bolted on. Stan ships 11 link-in-bio templates, so the storefront is a template choice rather than a build.
If you are not selling yet, no. A $29 floor with no free plan is a subscription for a feature you are not using. The honest test is whether you have a product to sell this month, not whether you plan to.
Can you use a custom domain with either?
No, and this is the shared weakness most comparisons skip. Neither tool lets your bio URL be your own domain at any price.
Linktree's help centre is blunt about it: "We don't offer the option to use a custom domain to replace the linktr.ee URL. We also don't provide developer tools for setting up domain forwarding." Stan's is equally direct: "As of now, you cannot create or embed a custom domain into your Stan Store. Your Stan Store URL will be stan.store/yourusername." Forwarding is the only workaround on the Stan side, there is no embed either, and custom domains sit on Stan's published feature-request list with no date attached.
So at $35 a month on Linktree Premium or $99 on Stan Creator Pro, you are still on somebody else's subdomain. Which tools do allow it, and what they charge for it, is in link in bio custom domain.
Why did people stop using Linktree?
Three reasons, and the fees are only one of them.
The prices went up. Linktree raised them in late November 2025: Starter from $5 to $8, Pro from $9 to $15, Premium from $24 to $35. Those are increases of 46% to 67% in a single move, and they have held since.
The cut is larger than people assume. 12% on the Free plan, not the 9% that gets quoted around, and it applies on top of Stripe's own processing.
The ceiling has no price. There is no custom domain on any tier, so paying more never buys you the one thing a professional page is usually judged on.
What is better than Stan Store?
Depends what Stan is doing for you that you want done better.
- For a cheaper storefront with a fee instead of a subscription: Beacons, which starts lower but takes 9% until you reach its own 0% tier. The crossover is priced out in Beacons vs Stan Store.
- For routing rather than selling: Linktree, or any of the genuinely free options compared in best free link in bio tools.
- For an owned page with your own domain and no storefront overhead: a dedicated bio-link tool. Linkero is ours, so weigh it accordingly. It is a design-first bio page with a custom domain and branding removal on the entry paid tier and no platform sales fees, but it has no native checkout, so a Stripe payment link or booking link goes in as an embed block. If you are running a real product catalogue, Stan is the better tool and we would say so. Pricing is on /pricing, and the head-to-heads are Stan Store vs Linkero and Linktree vs Linkero.
FAQ
Is Linktree or Stan Store free?
Linktree has a genuine free plan at $0 a month, with a 12% cut on anything you sell through it. Stan Store has no free plan at all, only a 14-day trial before it bills $29 a month.
Is Stan Store better than Linktree?
For selling, yes: on-page checkout, courses and bookings, and no platform cut. For a plain list of links, no: it is a storefront subscription you would not be using. The volume where the money argument flips is about $242 a month in sales against Linktree Free.
What is better, Linktree or Shopify?
Different weight classes. Shopify is full e-commerce with inventory, shipping and a catalogue. Linktree is a link hub with light commerce attached. If you are weighing a link-in-bio against a real store, you are closer to the Stan question than the Shopify one: pick a storefront when the product line is the point, and a link hub when routing followers is.
Does Stan Store or Linktree take a cut of my sales?
Stan takes 0% on both plans. Linktree takes 12% on Free, 9% on Starter and Pro, and 0% on Premium. Stripe or PayPal processing of roughly 2.9% plus $0.30 applies on both, whatever plan you are on.
Bottom line
Stan Store to sell, Linktree to route. Past about $242 a month in sales, Stan Creator's flat $29 with no cut is the cheaper of the two and the storefront is the point of paying. Under that, Linktree Free does the job for nothing. And if what you actually want is an owned page on your own domain, note that neither of them offers one at any price, which is the reason a fair number of people comparing these two end up choosing neither.
