Comparison
LicensorPro vs Gumroad
Let us start where most comparison pages will not: if all you need is to sell a file and email a download link, use Gumroad. You will be selling this afternoon, you will not touch a server, and nothing on this page is worth reading. This page is about the point where that stops being enough.
10%, or 30% if they found you through Gumroad
Gumroad's pricing is refreshingly blunt: 10% + $0.50 per transaction through your own profile or a direct link, and 30% when a new customer discovers you through the Gumroad Discover marketplace. No monthly charge.
That 30% is not a penalty, it is a customer acquisition fee, and if Discover genuinely brings you buyers you would not otherwise have had, it can be the cheapest marketing you will ever buy. The problem is that it is charged on that customer's purchases whether or not you needed the introduction.
| Annual revenue | Gumroad direct (10% + 50¢) | LicensorPro Studio |
|---|---|---|
| $5,000 | ~$500+ | $399 |
| $20,000 | ~$2,000+ | $399 |
| $50,000 | ~$5,000+ | $399 |
Gumroad has licence keys. Your code does the enforcing.
An earlier version of this page said Gumroad had no software licensing. That was wrong. You can add a licence key block to any product, and Gumroad's API lets your software verify a key, disable or enable it, and rotate it. The verify response tells you how many times the key has been used and whether the sale was refunded, disputed or charged back, and for memberships whether the subscription ended. Multi-seat keys are supported too (checked 17 September 2026).
What Gumroad itself says is the important part: "License key enforcement is completely up to the creator… Gumroad performs no additional license key verification." A key also stays enabled after a refund or a lapsed membership until you disable it. So the building blocks are there, and the licensing system is something you write on top of them:
- Activation limits are a
usescounter you increment and check yourself. There is no list of which sites a key is active on, so a customer cannot move a licence from one site to another without you building that. - Expiry is not a property of the key. For a one-off purchase you would track it yourself; for a membership you read the end timestamps and disable the key.
- Updates are not part of it. Nothing reaches a customer's
wp-adminupdate screen; buyers download new zips from Gumroad.
For an ebook or a Figma template none of that matters. For a WordPress plugin sold on Gumroad, the gap is the update channel and the per-site activation list, and that is the code you would be writing.
Feature by feature
Gumroad rows come from its pricing page and its "License keys" help article, read in a browser because the article loads with JavaScript. Our rows are checked against the LicensorPro 2.5.1 release.
✓ included✓ Pro+ only from that tier up~ partly (catch noted)✗ not availablenot tested hands-on paid screen we did not buy
Selling5 rows
| Feature | Gumroad | LicensorPro |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | 10% + 50¢ direct; 30% via Discover | $199 to $799 a year, flat, plus your gateway |
| Merchant of record for tax | Yes, since 1 January 2025 | No; can use Polar, Paddle, Lemon Squeezy or FastSpring as its gateway |
| Marketplace that finds you buyers | Discover | ✗ No |
| Hosted product pages and file delivery | ✓ Yes | Product, pricing and bundle pages on your server |
| Subscriptions, coupons and a customer portal | not tested hands-on | ✓ Yes |
Licence keys7 rows
| Feature | Gumroad | LicensorPro |
|---|---|---|
| Licence keys issued on purchase | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Who enforces the keyGumroad: "License key enforcement is completely up to the creator." | Your code, via a verify API | The server and SDK |
| Activation limits | A uses counter you increment and check | Per-site activations with a limit |
| See and move the sites a key is active on | ✗ No | ✓ Yes |
| Multi-seat keys | ✓ Yes | Site limit per plan |
| Key disabled after a refund or ended membership | Stays enabled until you disable it | ✓ Yes |
| Signed licence responses checked by the SDK | not tested hands-on | ✓ Yes |
Updates3 rows
| Feature | Gumroad | LicensorPro |
|---|---|---|
| Updates in the WordPress update screen | ✗ No | ✓ Yes |
| Release channels and staged rollouts | ✗ No | Rollouts Solo; beta, RC, dev on Studio |
| Per-customer build watermarking | not tested hands-on | ✓ Yes |
Sources (3)
- Gumroad: https://gumroad.com/pricing
- LicensorPro: https://jnkplugins.com/licensorpro/pricing.php
- Gumroad: https://gumroad.com/help/article/76-license-keys
What only one of them does
Only in Gumroad
- Discover, a marketplace with buyers already browsing.
- Merchant of record, hosted checkout and file delivery, with nothing to run: selling in about fifteen minutes.
- Multi-seat licence keys and a verify API for simple software.
Only in LicensorPro
- Per-site activations the customer can see and move, enforced by the server rather than code you write.
- WordPress updates, release channels, staged rollouts and signed licence responses.
- A flat price instead of 10% + 50¢, with your customer data in your own database.
What LicensorPro looks like
A screen from LicensorPro 2.5.1 on our own machine with demo data. The API address is shown as licenses.northwind.studio instead of our local address.
How we compared. Gumroad's fees and licence-key behaviour come from gumroad.com/pricing and its License keys help article, read on 17 September 2026. We haven't sold on Gumroad for this page. LicensorPro rows were checked against the 2.5.1 release and our pricing page. Rows marked not tested are ones Gumroad's pages don't settle.
Which one should you actually pick
Stay on Gumroad if…
- You sell files rather than software: templates, ebooks, courses, presets.
- There is no update to ship after the sale.
- You are testing whether anyone wants the thing at all. Do not build licensing infrastructure for a product with no customers.
- Discover is bringing you buyers. 30% of something beats 100% of nothing.
Move to LicensorPro if…
- You sell a plugin or app that needs updates after purchase.
- You want expiry, per-site activations and refund revocation handled for you, not written against Gumroad's API.
- The percentage has started to be real money — at $20,000 a year, 10% is five years of LicensorPro Studio.
- You want to own the customer relationship rather than rent it.
Found something wrong on this page? Gumroad has changed its fee structure several times, and we would rather be corrected than be inaccurate. Tell us and we will fix it — [email protected].