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Payhip vs Spike

Payhip is the storefront cousin: products, discounts, a page that looks like a small shop, often picked for VAT. Spike is not that shop. It is the door you send when the buyer is already in the inbox and the pack should not be a SKU.

Maja Ekström

Uppsala3 min read

Payhip vs Spike is easy to misread as two shops. Payhip is a shop. Teams pick it when they liked Gumroad and wanted a different till, or when European checkout and VAT were the complaint. Spike starts from a library: upload a folder, treat the unpaid view, put a price on the share. There is no product form required for that hand-off.

If you swap Payhip for Gumroad and still send a Drive after they pay, you changed the logo, not the model. The extra Spike gives you is the model: preview, pay, unlock on one URL, files still yours.

Payhip is a till in a small shop. Spike is a latch on a folder. Use the shop for the aisle. Use the latch for the person who already walked in.

What Payhip is for

  • A public product page and a simple catalogue.
  • Discounts, upsells, and shop-shaped merchandising.
  • Sellers who want VAT and EU checkout handled as a shop problem.
  • A Gumroad-shaped job with a different brand.

What Payhip will not be

A passworded gallery that is not a SKU. A treated preview that is more than a cover. A client who should never see your other products. Password-protect a file share and censor files and sell are folder jobs. Payhip can sell the pack. It is a weak room for a named couple.

What you getPayhipSpike
StorefrontYesOptional, not the starting point
VAT as a shop featureA reason people pick itNot the product
Client packA product among productsA private folder URL
Protected previewCover imageBlur, watermark, samples
Plan fee on SpikeTheir platform fee5% / 1% / 0% plus Stripe

Spike takes 5% on Free, 1% on Pro, 0% on Business, from the payout. Stripe's card fee still applies. Free shares last three days. A Payhip product page is meant to stay up. Do not replace a standing shop with a weekend transfer costume. Pro and Business Spike links stay until you turn them off, which is the right door for a client who will re-download in March.

If the complaint was the shop's logo, pick another shop. If the complaint was that a client is not a SKU, pick a folder.

The field note is still Gumroad alternatives. Selz vs Spike is another storefront-shaped cousin. Stan Store vs Spike if the aisle is a creator bio rather than a product grid.

Payhip's strength is a shop that can look like a small European till. Spike's strength is a pack that never had to become a SKU. If you sell the same template to strangers every week, stay in the shop. If you sell a different folder to a different person every week, the catalogue is a junk drawer. Put the job in a folder, treat the unpaid view, and send one URL. You can still keep Payhip for the template that needs the aisle. The VAT extra stays with the shop. The latch stays with the pack.

Questions

Good to know

Yes for a file-shaped sale to someone you already know. No for a public catalogue, coupons as a merchandising system, and VAT admin on a shop. Keep Payhip when the leftover complaint was Gumroad's brand. Use Spike when the leftover job was a client door.

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Related articles

Try the workflow in the article.

Upload a folder, protect the preview, share or sell from one link.

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