Payhip vs SendOwl (2026): Fees, Features, and Which Keeps More
Quick verdict: Payhip wins for most sellers — it starts at $0/month with a 5% cut, while SendOwl starts at a monthly subscription (~$39/month) before you've sold anything. SendOwl only makes sense at real volume, where a flat subscription beats any percentage — and even there, Payhip's $99 0%-cut plan competes. The detailed head-to-head below.
The pricing models are opposites
| Payhip | SendOwl | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee | $0 (Free) / $29 (Plus) / $99 (Pro) | from ~$39/month |
| Platform cut | 5% / 2% / 0% | 0% |
| Payment processing | Stripe/PayPal rates (~2.9% + $0.30) | Your own Stripe/PayPal, same rates |
| Free to start? | ✅ sell before you pay anything | ❌ subscription starts on day one |
Both leave card processing to Stripe/PayPal at standard rates, so the real comparison is 5% (buy-down-able) vs a fixed monthly bill.
The crossover math: SendOwl's ~$39/month equals Payhip Free's 5% cut at $780/month in sales. Below that, SendOwl's subscription is a bigger share of revenue than Payhip's percentage — at $200/month it's nearly 20% of your income by itself. Above ~$780/month, SendOwl pulls ahead of Payhip Free — but that's exactly where Payhip's $29 Plus (2%) and $99 Pro (0%) plans exist. Run your own numbers across platforms with the fee calculator.
Beyond fees
- Tax handling: Payhip calculates and remits UK/EU VAT for you — a genuinely large chunk of paperwork if you sell into Europe. SendOwl leaves tax entirely to you (it integrates with your checkout, but you're the merchant). Neither is a full merchant of record — if you want taxes handled globally, that's Gumroad or Lemon Squeezy territory.
- Storefront: Payhip gives you a hosted store + embeds. SendOwl is deliberately storefront-less — it's a delivery-and-checkout layer you bolt onto an existing site, which is precisely what some sellers want.
- Both do: license keys, drip content, upsells, discount codes, PDF stamping, affiliates.
Which one, by seller
- Starting out or under ~$800/month: Payhip — no fixed cost, VAT handled, storefront included. It's not close.
- Established site, high order volume, want checkout you control: SendOwl — the flat fee stops scaling with revenue; compare it against Payhip Pro ($99, 0%) at your numbers first.
- Coming from SendOwl's price increases: see SendOwl alternatives for the full escape-route comparison.