Pillar vs Stan Store Pricing and Fees Compared

Stan Store is the cheaper and simpler of the two for most creators selling digital products: $29 a month, 0% platform fee, courses, bookings and a checkout in one place. Pillar costs $39 a month on its Creator plan with a 5% seller fee when you pay monthly (0% and $29 a month if you pay yearly), and it is stronger on media kits, brand deal reporting and client invoices. Neither gives you your own domain on its entry plan: Stan offers none at any tier, and Pillar keeps it for Entrepreneur at $129 a month.

So the real choice is about what you sell. If it is courses, templates and coaching calls, Stan. If brand deals are a big part of your income and you want the media kit to update itself, Pillar. If the page has to live on your own name without paying $129, neither, and we cover that option at the end.

Pillar vs Stan Store pricing side by side

Both sell to the same creator: someone with an audience on Instagram or TikTok who wants a storefront behind the bio link. Here is what each plan costs and what it holds back, from each company's own pricing pages and help center.

Card processing (typically 2.9% + 30 cents in the US) applies on both platforms and is not included above. Stan also lists a payout fee of 0.25% + $0.25. Stan offers a 14-day free trial; Pillar lists a 3-day trial on annual Entrepreneur.

Many review sites still quote Pillar at $16 and $29, or $29 and $79. Those numbers are out of date. Pillar's pricing page now shows $39 and $129 on monthly billing. For the full plan breakdown see our Pillar pricing and Stan Store pricing per month pages.

Monthly platform cost at $2,000 of digital product sales, before card processing, which is the same on all three.

Where the fees actually differ

On yearly billing the two entry plans cost the same, $29 a month, and both take 0%. The gap opens on monthly billing. Pillar Creator adds 5% of every sale, so at $2,000 a month in sales you pay $39 plus $100, against $29 flat on Stan. At $500 a month the gap is smaller ($64 against $29) but still more than double. If you want to try Pillar without a year's commitment, that 5% is the price of flexibility.

At the top end, Stan Creator Pro at $99 and Pillar Entrepreneur at $129 ($99 on yearly) both take 0%. What you get for the money is where they split: Stan puts email broadcasts, email flows, funnels, order bumps and payment plans into Creator Pro, while Pillar's Entrepreneur adds the custom domain, buy now pay later, event ticketing, a funnel and landing page builder and brand deal reports.

Which is better for selling courses and digital products

For a creator whose income is a course, a template pack or a coaching offer, Stan is the better buy. Its Creator plan covers digital downloads, courses, calendar bookings and email list capture at 0%, and its checkout is built for a follower arriving from a phone. Upgrading to Creator Pro later makes sense when you want to email that list from inside Stan instead of paying for a separate email tool.

Pillar's Creator plan also includes a course builder, unlimited digital products and bookings, so it can do the same job. It simply costs more per sale on monthly billing. If your course is really a long PDF, you can also turn the PDF guide into a slide deck for a live workshop and sell the replay as a second product on either platform.

Which is better for brand deals and UGC creators

Pillar. Its Creator plan refreshes your media kit weekly (daily on Entrepreneur), it can send customer invoices, and Entrepreneur adds influencer and UGC post reports you can hand to a brand. For a creator who earns more from sponsorships than from products, that saves real admin time every month. Stan has no equivalent media kit feature on its pricing page. If you pitch brands with a portfolio link, our best link in bio for UGC creators comparison goes deeper on that use.

The custom domain problem both share

Stan's help center says plainly that you cannot create or embed a custom domain; the workaround is a registrar redirect that still lands on stan.store. Pillar includes a custom domain only from Entrepreneur, $129 a month or $99 on yearly billing. So a creator who wants yourname.com in the bio either lives without it on Stan or pays Pillar's upper tier.

That matters more than it sounds. The address in your bio is the one thing that follows you across platforms, gets printed on packaging and slides, and survives a switch of tools. On a platform domain, every move breaks old links. Our Stan Store custom domain post shows what the redirect workaround does and does not fix.

A third option if you want your own domain and 0% for less

ExclusiveLink Pro runs your bio page on your own domain with a 0% platform fee, paid links that deliver a file or unlock a page after checkout, email-gated links, link scheduling, A/B tested button labels and clicks broken down by source, device and country. It is a bio page and paid-link tool, not a full course platform: there is no lesson player, no media kit generator and no built-in email broadcasts. If you need those, Stan or Pillar is the right answer and we would say so.

Where it fits is the creator who sells a handful of guides, templates or paid sessions, already has an email tool, and wants the page on their own name without paying $129 for it. The full comparison with Stan is on our Stan Store alternative page, and the Pillar one on the Pillar alternative page. If selling digital files is the main job, start with the link in bio to sell digital products setup.

Pick in one line

• Pick Stan Store if you sell courses, coaching or templates and want the cheapest 0% plan without committing to a year.
• Pick Pillar if brand deals drive your income and a live media kit and invoices save you hours, and pay yearly to avoid the 5% fee.
• Pick Pillar Entrepreneur if you need both a full creator suite and your own domain and $99 to $129 a month is fine.
• Pick ExclusiveLink Pro if you need your own domain, 0% fees and paid links, and already run email elsewhere.

Frequently asked questions

Is Pillar better than Stan Store?

Pillar is better for creators who earn mainly from brand deals, because of its self-updating media kit, invoices and brand deal reports. Stan Store is better for creators who sell courses, templates and coaching, because its $29 plan takes 0% on monthly billing while Pillar's $39 plan takes 5% unless you pay yearly.

How much does Pillar cost per month?

Pillar Creator is $39 a month on monthly billing or $29 a month billed yearly. Entrepreneur is $129 a month or $99 a month yearly. Professional is $399 a month on annual billing. There is no free plan. Creator carries a 5% seller fee on monthly billing; the other tiers are 0%.

Does Pillar take a percentage of sales?

Only on the Creator plan billed monthly, where Pillar lists a 5% seller fee. Creator billed yearly, Entrepreneur and Professional list 0%. Card processing fees apply on every plan and go to the payment processor, not Pillar.

Can you use a custom domain with Stan Store or Pillar?

Not with Stan Store; its help center says you cannot create or embed a custom domain, only redirect one to your stan.store page. Pillar includes a custom domain on Entrepreneur ($129 a month, $99 yearly) and Professional, not on Creator.

Is Stan Store worth $29 a month?

Yes, if you sell something. At 0% platform fee, $29 is less than a 9% fee on Linktree or Beacons once your sales pass about $320 a month. If you only share links and sell nothing, a free link page is the better deal.

Pillar plans and fees are from pillar.io/pricing. Stan Store plans are from Stan's help center and blog, since stan.store/pricing no longer loads; custom domain policy from Stan help article 151. Card processing rates vary by processor.