Linktree Payment Lock Alternatives for Pay to Unlock Links

If you want what Linktree's Payment Lock promised, a price on a single link that opens once the visitor pays, the closest match today is a tool built around paid links. ExclusiveLink does exactly that for $19 a month (2% platform fee) or $49 on Pro (0% fee, your own domain). Stan Store, Beacons and Patreon charge for access too, but through a storefront or a membership rather than a locked link. All five are compared below.

The reason people search for an alternative is simple: Linktree's paywall feature is hard to find now, and what replaced it carries a 9% to 12% fee on every tier below the $35 Premium plan. For anyone earning a few hundred dollars a month from their bio, that fee is the biggest line on the bill.

What Linktree Payment Lock was, and where Linktree payments stand now

Linktree put Payment Lock into beta in November 2022. As Tubefilter reported at launch, anyone who clicked a locked link was "prompted to pay a price, which can be set anywhere between $1 and $150", and the feature was open to Starter, Pro and Premium accounts. Linktree pitched it for albums, videos, recipes and workout plans.

When we searched Linktree's help center for "payment lock" in September 2026, the results listed a Subscribe Lock, Code Lock, Age Lock, NFT Lock and a Profile Lock in beta, but no Payment Lock article. Selling on Linktree today runs through Digital Products, Courses and Commerce Links. Linktree's own fee article (updated October 21, 2025) sets the transaction fee on digital products and courses at 12% on Free, 9% on Starter, 9% on Pro and 0% on Premium, with card processing of 2.9% plus 30 cents charged on every plan.

Two other Linktree limits matter if you charge for access. There is no custom domain at any price (Linktree's help center says it does not offer one and provides no domain forwarding tools), and the only way to 0% is the $35 Premium plan. Our Linktree pricing breakdown has every tier.

Linktree Payment Lock alternatives compared

Monthly billing shown; yearly billing is cheaper on the tools that offer it. Card processing (typically 2.9% plus 30 cents in the US) applies on top everywhere, ours included.

The five alternatives, and who each one suits

1. ExclusiveLink, the closest thing to a Payment Lock

ExclusiveLink is built around the same idea Payment Lock had: the product is the link. You paste a destination (a booking calendar, an unlisted video, a Notion template, a Discord invite), set a price, and the link opens once the card payment clears. Free links, email-gated links and paid links sit on one page. Creator is $19 a month with a 2% platform fee on paid links. Pro is $49 with 0%, revenue per link broken down by source, scheduled links, A/B tests and your own domain. The full setup is on our link in bio payment page guide.

Pick it if you sell access to things that already live at a URL and you want to know which link, and which platform, made the money.

2. Stan Store, for a full product shelf at 0%

Stan is a storefront: digital downloads, courses, coaching calls and memberships, each as its own product card with a checkout. Creator is $29 a month and Creator Pro $99, both at 0% platform fee, with a small payout fee. There is no custom domain at any tier, and there is no free plan (a 14-day trial instead).

Pick it if you sell several products and the lowest flat cost matters more than your own domain.

3. Beacons, for a cheap all-in-one with a domain

Beacons bundles a link page, a store, a media kit and email tools. The $10 Creator plan charges 9% on sales; Creator Plus at $30 drops that to 0%, and a custom domain is available on paid subscriptions. At $30 with 0% it is the lowest-cost option here that also puts you on your own domain.

Pick it if you want a media kit and store in one app and can live with an everything-app layout.

4. Patreon, for recurring access

If what you sell is ongoing (a monthly bonus feed, weekly videos, a community), a membership fits better than a one-time unlock. Patreon has no subscription fee, but pages created after August 4, 2025 pay a 10% platform fee plus processing. That is the price of Patreon's built-in audience and member tools.

Pick it if your buyers pay every month rather than once.

5. Linktree Premium, if you want to stay

Staying is a fair answer. At $35 a month, Premium takes 0% on digital products and keeps your existing linktr.ee address and followers' muscle memory. You give up a custom domain and a per-link paywall, but you avoid a migration.

Pick it if your audience knows your Linktree URL and you sell enough that 9% hurts but not enough to justify a move.

Linktree payments versus a paid link, in dollars

Take a creator selling 40 unlocks a month at $15, which is $600. On Linktree Starter or Pro the 9% fee is $54, plus $8 or $15 for the plan: $62 to $69 a month before card processing. On ExclusiveLink Creator the 2% fee is $12 plus $19: $31. On Pro it is a flat $49 with 0%. Past roughly $1,500 a month in sales, Pro costs less than Creator, and at any volume it costs far less than a 9% tier.

Payments from a bio link are usually fans and one-off buyers. Brand deals are different: they are invoiced, and big brands often pay on 30 to 60 day terms. If late invoices are the bigger leak in your creator business, accounts receivable software that chases unpaid invoices is the fix for that side, and the bio page stays for fans.

How to move a paid link off Linktree

1. Export or copy your Linktree links. On ExclusiveLink you can import them when you claim your page, so nothing you already share goes dead.
2. Recreate each paid item as a paid link: paste the destination URL, set the same price, name the outcome in the label.
3. Replace the bio link on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. On Pro, point your own domain at the page first so the new address is the last one you ever share.
4. Leave a single link on your old Linktree pointing to the new page for a few months, so old posts and screenshots still find you.

The domain step is the one worth doing once and never again. Our Linktree custom domain guide walks through the DNS record, and the Linktree alternative page covers the rest of the switch.

Frequently asked questions

Does Linktree still have Payment Lock?

Linktree launched Payment Lock in beta in November 2022, letting you charge $1 to $150 to open a link. Its help center, searched in September 2026, documents Subscribe, Code, Age and NFT locks and a Profile Lock, but no Payment Lock article. Selling now runs through Digital Products, Courses and Commerce Links.

Can you put a paywall on a Linktree link?

Not as a documented per-link paywall today. You can sell a digital product or course on Linktree, with a 12% fee on Free, 9% on Starter and Pro and 0% on Premium. If you want a price on the link itself, a paid link tool such as ExclusiveLink does that directly.

Does Linktree take a percentage of sales?

Yes, below Premium. Linktree's fee article lists 12% on Free, 9% on Starter, 9% on Pro and 0% on Premium for digital products and courses, plus card processing of 2.9% and 30 cents per purchase on every plan.

What is the best link in bio with a paywall?

For a per-link paywall, ExclusiveLink: any link can carry a price, with a 0% platform fee on the $49 Pro plan and your own domain. For a shelf of products at the lowest flat cost, Stan Store at $29. For recurring memberships, Patreon.

Linktree fees are from Linktree's help center article on transaction and processing fees; Payment Lock launch details from Tubefilter's November 16, 2022 report. Other prices and fees are from each vendor's published pricing and help pages. Prices change, so confirm before you buy.