Easy Digital Downloads is a self-hosted WordPress plugin for selling digital products, starting at $99.50 per year. Gumroad is a hosted platform that takes 10% plus $0.50 per transaction. Both handle digital sales, but they work very differently.
The Recurring Income Handcuffs
You spend a year selling your digital products on a platform. Recurring revenue coming in. You earned those customers through your content, your marketing, your reputation.
Then you decide to leave.
On Gumroad, that recurring revenue stays behind. Your customers keep paying, but Gumroad keeps collecting. You don’t get to take those recurring payments with you. The revenue you worked for belongs to the platform the moment you walk away.
Easy Digital Downloads handles this differently. If you leave EDD, your recurring payments come with you. The platform doesn’t hold your income captive.
This is the biggest difference most people overlook when comparing Easy Digital Download vs Gumroad. Features and pricing get all the attention. But the question that actually matters is: if I leave, do I keep what I built?
With one platform, yes. With the other, no. Every creator eventually outgrows a tool or wants a change. When that day comes, your recurring revenue should follow you.
How to Pick a Cart That Won’t Hold You Hostage
After that, here’s what I’d look for in a shopping cart:
- Protected downloads. If a customer shares your download link, does it still work? You want links that expire or are tied to the buyer.
- Responsive support. When something breaks during a launch, you need a real person, not a chatbot.
- Transparent pricing. No hidden fees, no surprise holds on your payouts.
- Instant payouts. Your money should go directly to your Stripe or PayPal, not sit in a holding period.
That’s the approach behind CartMango (full disclosure: this post is published by CartMango, and I include our limitations alongside the comparison). No recurring payment hostage, protected file delivery, founder-led support with an average response time of 2 hours 16 minutes, and direct payouts. Free until 2027 with zero platform fees.
EDD comes close but requires WordPress and annual fees. Gumroad falls short on recurring payment ownership, support quality, and payout speed. Make sure your platform isn’t keeping potential customers or revenue out of your reach.
Easy Digital Downloads vs Gumroad vs CartMango
| Feature | Easy Digital Downloads | Gumroad | CartMango |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your recurring payments gone if you leave the platform? | ✅ Your recurring payments stay with you | ❌ Recurring payments are lost when you leave | ✅ Your recurring payments stay with you |
| TOTALLY free? (note: Stripe / PayPal fees are standard across all cart platforms) | ❌ Personal: $99.50/yr Extended: $199.50/yr Professional: $299.50/yr All Access: $499.50/yr | ❌ 10% + $0.50 per transaction | ✅ Yes, zero monthly fees, zero commission. Every feature included (free until 2027). |
| Learning management system (LMS) | ❌ No | ❌ No | ❌ Future |
| Funnels (upsells & downsells) AFTER customers paid for the main product | ✅ Professional plan and above ($299.50 – $499.50/yr) | ⚠️ Has upsells but no true conditional downsells (can’t show a different offer only when the customer declines the first upsell) | ✅ Yes |
| Customer support | No live chat, but solid support. Standard on Personal & Extended ($99.50 – $199.50/yr). Premium on Professional & AI Access ($299.50 – $499.50/yr). | ❌ Weak support, AI chatbots. Users report deleted feedback and ignored emails (source). | Founder-led personal support, no chatbots, no live chat. Average response time: 2 hours 16 minutes |
| Buy now, pay later (BNPL) support for your customers (boost your sales) | ✅ | ❌ No real BNPL: Gumroad’s installment plans pay you over time, not upfront. You risk missed payments if customers bail early. | ✅ |
| Order bumps to boost sales | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Subscriptions (support trials & set up fees) | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Coupon codes & discounts | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Optimized & fast checkouts | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Customers need NOT log in before buying (quick checkout experience) | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Direct, instant payout to your Stripe / PayPal (no withholding payments) | ✅ | ❌ 7-day hold, many sellers report even longer delays without clear reasons (source) | ✅ |
| If download links are shared by rogue customers, will they work? | ✅ Links are protected | ✅ Links are protected | ✅ Links are protected |
| Integrations | ✅ Connects with: Stripe, PayPal, Mailchimp, Kit, ActiveCampaign, Dropbox, Amazon S3, Zapier (Extended $199.50/yr), Slack (Professional $299.50/yr) | ⚠️ Only Discord & Circle natively. Everything else needs Zapier. | ⚠️ Limited native options for now, but Make.com gives you access to 3,000+ apps. Works with: Stripe, PayPal, Kit, ActiveCampaign, Beehiiv, BirdSend, more on the way. |
| Affiliate management | ❌ No | ✅ | ❌ Coming soon |
| Best for | WordPress users who sell both digital and physical products like ebooks and software. | Creators who want a fast, no-monthly-fee way to start selling and are willing to give up 10% of revenue without advanced funnels or deep customization. | Solo digital creators who don’t want recurring revenue held hostage, plus instant setup, human support, and zero fees (free until 2027). |
| Free migration | ❌ No free migration | ❌ No free migration | ✅ Free migration included |
Gumroad also offers a creator profile page. These are the links for each platform: Easy Digital Downloads, Gumroad, CartMango.
CartMango Is Not for Everyone. And That’s Fine.
CartMango was built for solo creators selling digital goods, coaches offering online courses, and consultants who want to sell without giving up revenue or worrying about recurring payment lock-in. It’s simple to use:
- Zero monthly fees and zero commission (free until 2027)
- Full upsell and downsell funnels
- Order bumps
- Protected download links
- Direct payouts to your Stripe or PayPal
- Founder-led personal support (average response time: 2 hours 16 minutes)
- Free migration from your current platform
Here’s what it doesn’t have yet:
- No LMS right now (it’s on the roadmap)
- Native connections are still growing, though Make.com gives you access to 3,000+ apps
- Affiliate management is coming soon but isn’t available yet
If you need a full WordPress setup with hundreds of plugins, EDD is probably the better fit. If you need built-in affiliate management today, Gumroad has it. CartMango is not an all-in-one platform, and it doesn’t try to be. If you want to start selling your products with zero platform fees and full ownership of your customer revenue, that’s exactly what it was built for.
Easy Digital Downloads: The WordPress Plugin for Digital Sellers
Easy Digital Downloads is a popular ecommerce plugin for WordPress. If you already run a WordPress website, EDD plugs directly into your existing site. No separate storefront or third-party hosted checkout needed.
What Easy Digital Downloads offers
Easy Digital Downloads also gives you features like BNPL support and protected download links with expiration:
- Recurring payments that stay with you if you leave
- Order bumps, subscriptions with trials and setup fees
- You can create discount codes and coupons
- Fast, optimized checkout (no login required), accepting credit cards
- Direct, instant payouts to Stripe and PayPal
- Connects with Mailchimp, Kit, ActiveCampaign, Dropbox, Amazon S3, Zapier, and Slack
Self-hosted on WordPress means SEO advantages from the start. You control your domain, page structure, and metadata.
Easy Digital Downloads pricing structure
- Personal: $99.50/yr
- Extended: $199.50/yr (adds Zapier access)
- Professional: $299.50/yr (adds upsell/downsell funnels, premium support, Slack)
- All Access: $499.50/yr (everything)
Funnels and premium support require the Professional plan at $299.50/yr. The Personal plan at $99.50/yr covers the basics.
The limitations
- Requires WordPress. You’ll need hosting, a domain, and comfort managing a self-hosted setup.
- No affiliate management.
- No free migration.
- Advanced features (funnels, premium support) require $299.50+ per year.
- No live chat support on any plan.
Best for
WordPress users who sell digital products like ebooks and software and want the option to sell physical products. If you want deep customization through the plugin library, Easy Digital Downloads is a strong fit.
This is the link for Easy Digital Downloads.
Gumroad: Quick Setup, But at What Cost?
Gumroad provides a hosted digital storefront where you can start selling products in minutes. No WordPress, no hosting needed. You create a product page, set a price, and share the link.
What Gumroad offers
- Order bumps and upsells (no true conditional downsells)
- Subscriptions with trials and setup fees
- Coupons and discounts
- Fast checkout with no login required, multiple payment methods accepted
- Protected download links
- Built-in affiliate management for running affiliate programs
- Basic analytics on your sales dashboard
- Connects with Discord and Circle natively (everything else requires Zapier)
Gumroad pricing structure
Gumroad charges 10% of every sale plus $0.50 per transaction. No monthly fee, but the math gets painful fast.
At $1,000/mo (20 orders at $50), Gumroad takes $110. At $10,000/mo, $1,100. At $50,000/mo, $5,500 every month.
No way to reduce that percentage. It’s a flat rate that scales with you, but not in your favor.
The limitations
- Recurring payments are lost if you leave. This is the biggest red flag.
- 10% + $0.50 per transaction adds up fast.
- Customer support relies on AI chatbots. Users report deleted feedback and ignored emails.
- Payouts are held for 7 days minimum, and some sellers face longer holds.
- No true buy now, pay later option.
- The refund process is handled by Gumroad, and sellers have limited control.
- Limited native connections beyond Discord and Circle.
- No free migration.
Best for
Creators who want the fastest setup with no monthly fee and are comfortable giving Gumroad 10% of every sale. If you just want to list a digital product fast, it works. But once you scale, those transaction fees become a real problem.
This is the link for Gumroad.
Pricing Simulation: What You Actually Pay
All three platforms use Stripe or PayPal for payment processing (2.9% + $0.30 per transaction). The table below assumes a $50 average order value so you can see in real-time how costs shift.
| Monthly Revenue | EDD Cost (per month) | Gumroad Cost (per month) | CartMango Cost (per month) | CartMango Savings vs EDD (per year) | CartMango Savings vs Gumroad (per year) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $1,000 (20 orders) | $8.29 platform + $35 processing = $43.29 | $110 platform + $35 processing = $145 | $0 platform + $35 processing = $35 | $99.50/yr | $1,320/yr |
| $5,000 (100 orders) | $8.29 platform + $175 processing = $183.29 | $550 platform + $175 processing = $725 | $0 platform + $175 processing = $175 | $99.50/yr | $6,600/yr |
| $10,000 (200 orders) | $8.29 platform + $350 processing = $358.29 | $1,100 platform + $350 processing = $1,450 | $0 platform + $350 processing = $350 | $99.50/yr | $13,200/yr |
| $50,000 (1,000 orders) | $8.29 platform + $1,750 processing = $1,758.29 | $5,500 platform + $1,750 processing = $7,250 | $0 platform + $1,750 processing = $1,750 | $99.50/yr | $66,000/yr |
EDD’s annual fee stays fixed at $99.50/yr regardless of revenue. That makes it cost-effective compared to Gumroad at every level. CartMango has zero platform fees, saving you $99.50/yr over EDD.
The real story is Gumroad. At $5,000/mo, you’re giving Gumroad $6,600/yr in platform fees. At $50,000/mo, that’s $66,000/yr lost while you’re growing your business. CartMango charges nothing.
Easy Digital Download vs Gumroad vs CartMango: Which One Fits Your Business?
These are the links for each platform: Easy Digital Downloads, Gumroad, CartMango.
Choose Easy Digital Downloads if:
- You already have a WordPress website and want full control over your online store
- You sell both digital and physical products
- You want a self-hosted solution with deep customization and a wide plugin library
- You’re comfortable paying $99.50/yr for the basics (or more for funnels and premium support)
Choose Gumroad if:
- You want the fastest possible way to get started with zero technical setup
- You don’t rely on recurring payments from customers
- You’re okay giving up 10% of every sale plus $0.50 per transaction
- You need built-in affiliate management right now
Choose CartMango if:
- You’re a solo digital creator, coach, or consultant
- You want zero platform fees and zero commission
- Keeping your recurring payments if you leave is a priority
- You want personal, human support instead of chatbots
- You want free migration from your current platform
The Easy Digital Download vs Gumroad debate comes down to WordPress vs simplicity. Both let you sell your digital products. But recurring payment ownership, fee structure, and support quality matter just as much. Good SEO and visibility in search engine results count too, and self-hosting with EDD gives you more control there.
If you want to sell digital products online with zero upfront cost, CartMango lets you do that with no risk. You keep everything you earn, and your customers come with you if you leave.
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