Ascendant Systems

Practical product demonstrations

Understand the fee.
Then choose the plan.

Selling a digital download? These three short, original examples show how Payhip's platform fees change with your sales. Follow the numbers in your browser; no installation or coding is needed.

Pricing checked October 10, 2026 · All amounts in USD

The model

Compare platform fees on the same basis.

Monthly platform cost = monthly plan price + the plan's transaction rate multiplied by monthly gross sales. This simple model leaves out payment processing, taxes, refunds, currency conversion and any other costs that apply to your business.

Check your provider's current terms before making a decision. The examples compare fees, not whether a platform fits your products or customers.

Published Payhip platform prices (USD)
PlanMonthly priceTransaction fee
Free$05%
Plus$292%
Pro$990%

Payment processor fees are additional on every plan. Source: Payhip's official pricing, reviewed October 10, 2026.

Watch or read

Three decisions, with the arithmetic shown.

Each video has English captions, a complete transcript and an in-video affiliate disclosure. Playback stays on this site.

English captions and synthetic narration. Use the player controls to watch or open full screen.

Worked example 01

A $39 sale: what is left before other costs?

On Free, the platform fee is $39.00 x 5% = $1.95. The remaining $37.05 still has to cover payment processing and any other applicable costs.

Affiliate disclosure: Ascendant Systems may earn a commission if you sign up for Payhip through our link.

Read the complete transcript

Spoken introduction: Affiliate disclosure. Ascendant Systems may earn a commission if you sign up for Payhip through our link. This original illustration uses synthetic narration.

A $39 sale: follow the platform fee

Here is a simple way to understand a digital product sale. Suppose your product costs thirty-nine dollars. Payhip's published free plan charges a five percent platform fee. Thirty-nine dollars times five percent is one dollar and ninety-five cents.

Revenue is not your take-home amount

That leaves thirty-seven dollars and five cents before payment processing and any other applicable costs. This is a pricing demonstration, not an actual sale or a payout claim. Use the current official pricing page and your payment provider's rates when estimating your own proceeds.

Illustration recorded October 5, 2026. Pricing rechecked October 10, 2026. Hypothetical sales, not observed performance.

English captions and synthetic narration. Use the player controls to watch or open full screen.

Worked example 02

When does Plus cost less than Free?

The $29 monthly charge offsets a 3 percentage point fee reduction at about $966.67 in monthly gross sales. At $500, Free costs $25 and Plus costs $39 in platform fees.

Affiliate disclosure: Ascendant Systems may earn a commission if you sign up for Payhip through our link.

Read the complete transcript

Spoken introduction: Affiliate disclosure. Ascendant Systems may earn a commission if you sign up for Payhip through our link. This original illustration uses synthetic narration.

Free or Plus: use the arithmetic

When should a seller consider Payhip's Plus plan? Compare the published platform fees. The free plan has no monthly charge and a five percent transaction fee. Plus costs twenty-nine dollars a month and charges two percent.

The illustrative break-even is $966.67

Divide twenty-nine dollars by the three percentage point fee difference. The result is about nine hundred and sixty-seven dollars in monthly sales. Below that level the free plan costs less under these assumptions. At five hundred dollars in sales, the free plan costs twenty-five dollars and Plus costs thirty-nine. Payment processing and other costs are excluded from both sides. Check current pricing before changing plans.

Illustration recorded October 5, 2026. Pricing rechecked October 10, 2026. Hypothetical sales, not observed performance.

English captions and synthetic narration. Use the player controls to watch or open full screen.

Worked example 03

At $4,000 a month, compare all three plans

At this hypothetical volume, Free costs $200, Plus costs $109 and Pro costs $99 in monthly platform fees. Plus and Pro meet at $3,500; above that, Pro has lower platform fees under this model.

Affiliate disclosure: Ascendant Systems may earn a commission if you sign up for Payhip through our link.

Read the complete transcript

Spoken introduction: Affiliate disclosure. Ascendant Systems may earn a commission if you sign up for Payhip through our link. This original illustration uses synthetic narration.

A $4,000 monthly-sales scenario

Here is an illustrative four-thousand-dollar monthly-sales scenario using Payhip's published platform pricing. The free plan costs two hundred dollars. Plus costs twenty-nine dollars plus eighty dollars in transaction fees, for a total of one hundred and nine dollars. Pro costs ninety-nine dollars.

Choose from observed sales

In this scenario Pro is ten dollars cheaper than Plus. The Plus-to-Pro break-even is thirty-five hundred dollars in monthly sales, because seventy dollars of extra subscription cost offsets a two percent fee reduction. These are hypothetical sales, not a forecast. Compare against your actual results, include your other costs, and check the provider's current terms before making a change.

Illustration recorded October 5, 2026. Pricing rechecked October 10, 2026. Hypothetical sales, not observed performance.

Your next step

Use your own sales and costs.

Write down your observed monthly sales, calculate the platform fee for each plan, and add your payment provider's charges. Review delivery features and the current terms before signing up or changing plans. A break-even illustration does not predict future sales.

Sources and method

We calculated the examples from Payhip's published pricing and checked the Payhip Partner Program terms on October 10, 2026. All scenarios are illustrative. The original October 5 script and examples are unchanged. Narration was updated to the Michael synthetic voice on October 10, with an affiliate disclosure introduction; the same prices were confirmed on October 10.

No account, upload or third-party player is needed to watch these examples. For a correction or an accessibility issue, contact hello@ascendantsystems.net. Back to all insights.