Comparisons
Best Link in Bio for Artists Selling Prints
· by ExclusiveLink
The best link in bio for an artist depends on what pays the bills. If your income is print sales on Etsy or INPRNT, a free page with direct listing links is enough. If you want a portfolio site for galleries and art directors, Carrd's $19 a year Pro Standard plan with your own domain is hard to beat. If you sell tutorials, brushes or process videos to your own followers, open commission slots in batches and want an email list for print drops, you need a page with paid links, email-locked links and scheduling, which is where ExclusiveLink fits.
Below are six setups US illustrators, painters and print artists actually use, priced from each vendor's own pricing page, with the cut each one takes when you sell something through it.
Build it while you read
Type a handle, pick what you sell, and lock a link to see the gate in place.
What your fans see
The best link in bio for artists, by how you sell
"Cut on your sales" is the platform's own fee on things sold through its checkout. Card processing comes on top everywhere. Commission work you invoice yourself is not touched by any of these.
| Tool | Price | Cut on your sales | Own domain | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linktree | $0, $8, $15 or $35 a month | 12% Free, 9% Starter and Pro, 0% Premium | Not offered | A plain list pointing at your print shop |
| Carrd Pro Standard | $19 a year | Payment buttons through your own account | Yes | A one-page portfolio you design yourself |
| Ko-fi | Free, or Gold at $12 a month | 5% on shop sales and commissions, 0% on Gold | No | Tips and a commission queue in one place |
| Beacons | $0, $10, $30 or $100 a month | 9% on Free and Creator, 0% from $30 | On paid plans | A cheap store plus a media kit for brand deals |
| Stan Store | $29 or $99 a month | 0% | Not offered | A course or class as the main product |
| ExclusiveLink | Creator or Pro, see pricing | 2% on Creator, 0% on Pro | On Pro | Paid and email-locked links, timed commission slots, clicks by post |
Linktree's fees are from its help center and it states that it does not offer custom domains. Carrd prices are from carrd.com/pro; Pro Lite at $9 a year has no custom domain or payment widgets. Ko-fi Gold is listed at $12 a month. Beacons and Stan prices are from their pricing pages.
Mara Ellis, illustration
- Print shop links straight to the listing from today's post, not the shop front.
- Commissions opens on a schedule and closes itself when the window ends.
- The process video is an unlisted upload behind a $9 paid link.
- The print drop trades early access for an email.
Illustration. The artist is fictional.
Four kinds of artist, four different right answers
The print seller
Most of your money comes from prints on Etsy, INPRNT or your own store, and your posts show one piece at a time. What matters is that a follower lands on that piece, not on a shop front with 200 items. Any bio page with direct listing links does this. If you sell on Etsy, read our Etsy link in bio setup first, because Etsy's Share & Save program credits back 4% of orders that come through links you share, and a bio page full of listing links is the easiest way to collect that.
The commission artist
Commissions arrive in waves. You open five slots, they fill in two hours, and then you spend a week answering "are commissions open?" The fix is a commission button that goes live at a set time and expires when you close the window, which is what scheduled links on Pro do. Ko-fi's commission queue is a fair alternative if you also want tips in the same place and do not mind the 5% on the free plan. If you want steady client work beyond fans, you can also find client illustration projects on a freelance project board and keep the bio page for the fan side.
The teaching artist
Brushes, tutorials, process videos and step by step PDFs are digital products, and followers who watch you paint are the people who buy them. Linktree takes 9% to 12% of those sales below its $35 Premium plan. On ExclusiveLink each one is a paid link: the file or unlisted video stays where it is, the price sits on the button, and the link opens after payment. The link in bio to sell digital products page covers pricing and delivery. If your main product is a full course, Stan Store at $29 is built around that and is the cheaper choice.
The portfolio artist
If the goal is a gallery, an agent or an art director, a designed one-page portfolio matters more than buttons. Carrd at $19 a year with your own domain is the honest pick here, and nothing on this list beats it on price. Photographers face the same choice, covered on the link in bio for photographers page.
Is Linktree good for artists?
Linktree is fine for an artist who only needs to point at a print shop, a Patreon and a portfolio. It gets expensive once you sell through it, because its seller fee is 12% on Free and 9% on Starter and Pro, falling to 0% only on the $35 Premium plan. It also has no custom domain on any plan, so the address you print on a convention banner stays a linktr.ee one.
The email list is the part artists regret skipping
A print drop that sells out in a day is almost always one announced to an email list, not one posted once and lost in the feed. An email-locked link such as "get the next drop a day early" turns the followers who care into subscribers, tagged with the drop they asked about, exported as a CSV to whatever email tool you use. The link in bio with email capture page shows the setup. It costs nothing per signup, since no money changes hands.
Conventions and the case for your own domain
At an artist alley table the bio link becomes a QR code on a stand, a sticker on the back of every print and a line on your business card. A short address like art.yourname.com reads as yours, survives a switch of tools later and does not advertise anyone else. That is a Pro feature with us, a Pro Standard feature on Carrd and a paid-plan feature on Beacons. The custom domain link in bio page compares which tools offer it.
Where ExclusiveLink fits and where it does not
We are a fit when you sell digital work to your own followers, open commissions in windows, run print drops and want to know which post brought the buyer. We are not the cheapest way to host a portfolio (Carrd is), we do not run a print-on-demand shop or ship physical prints (keep Etsy or INPRNT for that), and we do not do monthly memberships (keep Patreon). Most working artists end up with a page that links to all three of those and sells the rest itself.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best link in bio for artists?
For artists who sell to their followers, the best link in bio is one with paid links, email capture and scheduled links, such as ExclusiveLink. For a portfolio site, Carrd at $19 a year with a custom domain is the best value. For artists who only point at a print shop, a free Linktree or Beacons page is enough.
How do artists sell prints from Instagram?
Most list prints on Etsy, INPRNT or their own store and send followers there through the link in their bio, ideally straight to the listing shown in the post. Instagram Shopping can tag products too, but it needs a catalog and an approved shop. A bio page with one button per featured print is the simplest route that works for every account.
Should artists use Carrd or Linktree?
Carrd if you want a designed portfolio page on your own domain for $19 a year. Linktree if you want a list of links set up in five minutes and do not sell through it. If you sell tutorials, brushes or process videos to followers, neither is ideal: Carrd needs your own payment setup and Linktree takes 9% to 12% below Premium.
Do artists need a custom domain for their link in bio?
Not to start. It starts to matter once the link goes on printed things, such as convention banners, print backs, packaging and business cards, because a domain you own outlives any tool and reads as a brand. Carrd, Beacons and ExclusiveLink Pro offer it; Linktree and Stan Store do not.
How do I sell art commissions from my link in bio?
Put a commission button on your bio page that opens your intake form or queue, and only show it while slots are open. With scheduled links the button appears at the time you announce and expires when the window closes, so nobody fills out a form for slots that are gone. Take deposits through your invoicing or commission tool.
Linktree fees are from its help center. Carrd plans are from carrd.com/pro. Ko-fi's 5% fee on shop sales and commissions on free accounts, removed on Gold, is from Ko-fi's Gold terms. Beacons and Stan prices are from their pricing pages. Platforms change their terms, so check the current page before you rely on a number.