Stan Store vs Linktree (2026): Storefront or Link Hub?

Stan Store and Linktree solve different problems. Stan Store is a paid creator storefront ($29/mo floor, 0% platform fee) built to sell courses, coaching, and digital products. Linktree is a link aggregator (free to $35/mo, 9 to 12% commerce fees) built to point followers everywhere. Pick Stan to sell, Linktree to route, or an owned page if you want both without the lock-in.

Stan Store vs Linktree: what's the actual difference?

They are not the same category of tool, and most comparisons miss it. Stan Store is a storefront: the sale happens on the page, with checkout, courses, and bookings hosted natively. Linktree is an aggregator: it collects your links and sends followers elsewhere, and any selling happens through blocks that route out to other checkouts.

That difference decides almost everything else. A storefront charges a subscription and keeps the transaction in-house at 0% platform fee. An aggregator can stay free but takes a commerce cut when it does handle a sale. If you match the tool to the job instead of asking "which link-in-bio is better," the choice gets simple.

	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% (both plans)	12% Free, 9% paid
Custom domain	No	No
Best for	Selling courses, coaching, products	Routing followers to many links

How much do Stan Store and Linktree cost in 2026?

Stan Store, two plans:

Plan	Monthly	Annual	Key features
Creator	$29	$25/mo ($300/yr)	Storefront, digital products, courses, bookings, AutoDM, basic lead capture
Creator Pro	$99	$79/mo ($948/yr)	Everything in Creator plus email marketing, funnels, upsells, affiliates, pixel tracking

No free plan, 14-day trial on both.

Linktree, four plans:

Plan	Monthly	Seller fee	Key features
Free	$0	12%	Unlimited links, basic analytics, Linktree branding
Starter	$8	9%	Scheduling, redirect links, font and color 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 IG auto-replies, team access

The headline gap: Stan has no free plan, Linktree does. If you have not sold anything yet, Stan bills you $29/mo from day one (after the trial), while Linktree lets you sit on Free at $0 indefinitely.

What fees do they take on sales?

This is where the storefront model pays off. Stan Store charges a 0% platform fee on both plans. You pay Stripe or PayPal processing (roughly 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction) and nothing else to Stan.

Linktree charges 12% on Free and 9% on paid plans, on top of Stripe processing, and only drops to 0% on Premium at $35/mo.

For a seller, the break-even is straightforward. Stan's flat $29/mo with no cut beats Linktree Free's 12% commission once your monthly sales pass roughly 240 dollars. Beyond that, every dollar you route through Linktree Free's commerce loses 12 cents, while Stan keeps taking zero. If you are selling seriously, the "free" tool is the expensive one.

The honest caveat: Linktree is not primarily a checkout. Its commerce is lighter than Stan's native storefront, so the comparison is less "which is cheaper to sell through" and more "do you need on-page checkout at all."

Can you use a custom domain?

Neither offers a real custom domain. Stan supports forwarding only, so visitors still land on stan.store/yourname after the redirect (Stan help center article 151). Linktree offers no custom domain on any plan; its own help center says so plainly and points to redirect links as the workaround.

This is the shared weakness most comparisons skip. If your bio URL matters for brand or trust, both tools leave you on a subdomain, no matter how much you pay. It is also the clearest reason some creators leave both for an owned page.

Which is better for selling digital products or courses?

Stan Store, without much argument. It was built for exactly this: courses, coaching, digital downloads, and bookings all sell on-page, and the 0% platform fee means a real product line keeps its margin. Creator Pro adds funnels, upsells, and affiliates for creators running a genuine sales operation. Linktree can point people to a course hosted elsewhere, but it is not the place the transaction lives.

For a deeper storefront-side comparison, see Beacons vs Stan Store, and for the concept itself, link-in-bio store vs aggregator breaks down when you actually need a checkout.

Which is better for a simple link-in-bio?

Linktree, or an owned page. If all you need is a tidy list of links under your TikTok or Instagram bio, Stan's $29/mo storefront is overkill and its selling machinery gets in your way. Linktree Free does the routing job at $0, and the paid tiers add branding removal and analytics if you want them. The catch is the fee if you ever sell, the Linktree logo until you reach Pro, and the missing custom domain at every price.

Why did people stop using Linktree?

The common reasons cluster around price and control. Linktree raised prices in late November 2025 (Pro went from $9 to $15, Premium from $24 to $35), the seller fees bite on any commerce, the branding stays until you pay, and there is no custom domain on any plan. For creators who wanted an owned, professional page rather than a rented one, those add up. The full pricing history is in Linktree pricing 2026.

When neither Stan nor Linktree is the right call

There is a third case both tools handle badly: you want an owned, design-first bio page, a real custom domain, and 0% fees, but you do not need a $29/mo storefront to sell one product a month. Stan gives you the fees and selling but not the domain. Linktree gives you the free tier but not the domain, and takes a commerce cut. Neither lets you own the page.

That is the gap a dedicated link-in-bio tool fills. Linkero (our tool) is a design-first bio page with a custom domain and hide-branding on its lowest paid tier, 0% platform fees on all plans, and Stripe and booking blocks when you do want to sell. Pricing is on /pricing. For the direct Stan-vs-Linkero angle see Stan Store vs Linkero, and for the Linktree side see Linktree vs Linkero.

FAQ

Why did people stop using Linktree?

Price hikes in late 2025 (Pro $9 to $15, Premium $24 to $35), the 9 to 12% seller fees on commerce, persistent branding until the Pro tier, and no custom domain on any plan. Creators who wanted an owned, professional page rather than a rented subdomain are the ones most likely to switch.

Is a Stan Store worth it?

If you are actively selling digital products, courses, or coaching, yes. The 0% platform fee pays back the $29/mo subscription once you are doing a few hundred dollars a month in sales, and the storefront, bookings, and AutoDM are built in. If you are not selling yet, the $29 floor with no free plan is hard to justify.

Is Linktree or Stan Store free?

Linktree has a genuine free plan at $0/mo (with a 12% seller fee on any sales). Stan Store has no free plan, only a 14-day trial before it bills $29/mo.

What's better, Linktree or Shopify?

Different weight classes. Shopify is full e-commerce for a real store with inventory and shipping. Linktree is a link hub with light commerce bolted on. If you are choosing between a link-in-bio and a full store, you are closer to the Stan-vs-Linktree question than the Shopify one; pick a storefront tool like Stan when the product line is the point, and a link hub when routing followers is.

Bottom line

Stan Store to sell, Linktree to route. If courses, coaching, or a product line is the point, Stan Creator ($29/mo) earns its subscription back through 0% fees and a real on-page checkout. If you just want a clean set of links under your bio, Linktree Free does it at $0, with a fee only when you sell. And if you want an owned page with your own domain and no commerce cut but no need for a full storefront, neither one is the answer.