Kelviq vs Gumroad Fees, 3.5% Against 12.9%
Gumroad's 10% + 50¢ plus processing makes a $25 sale cost $4.03. Kelviq charges $1.28. When Gumroad's Discover reach is worth 12.9%, and when it isn't.
This is not a comparison between near-peers. Kelviq is a merchant-of-record billing platform priced like one, at 3.5% + 40¢ standard plus 1.5% on international cards and 0.5% on recurring charges. Gumroad is a creator storefront priced like a marketplace. Direct sales cost 10% + 50¢ plus payment processing at 2.9% + 30¢, an effective 12.9% + 80¢, rising to a flat 30% on sales attributed to its Discover marketplace and 40% on mobile app sales. On a $25 product, that is $4.03 in fees on Gumroad against $1.28 on Kelviq.
Both are merchants of record (Gumroad since January 2025), so both handle global sales tax and VAT as the legal seller, and neither charges a monthly fee. The real question isn’t which is cheaper, because the math answers that in one line. It’s whether Gumroad’s built-in audience and zero-setup storefront are worth a 9-to-10-point premium for your particular product. For a creator with no site and no list, sometimes yes. For a SaaS or AI product with its own traffic, the premium buys distribution that never gets used.
Kelviq breakdown
- Base fee (2.9% + 40¢) $3.30
Gumroad breakdown
- Base fee (10% + 50¢) $10.50
- Payment processing (2.9% + 30¢) $3.20
| Platform | Fee | Effective rate | You keep |
|---|---|---|---|
 KelviqMoR First $5K lifetime volume | $3.30 | 3.30% | $96.70 |
 GumroadMoR Direct sale (your audience) | $13.70 | 13.70% | $86.30 |
The ranking counts per-transaction cost only. Monthly plan fees, payout fees, and dispute fees are listed separately on each platform page. Rates are verified against official pricing pages, and the sources list the dates.
Every Kelviq vs Gumroad fee side by side
| Kelviq | Gumroad | |
|---|---|---|
| Base transaction fee | First $5K lifetime volume 2.9% + 40¢ After $5K lifetime volume 3.5% + 40¢ | Direct sale (your audience) 10% + 50¢ + processing Gumroad Discover marketplace 30% iOS/Android app sale 40% |
| International cards | +1.5% | No surcharge |
| Currency conversion | No surcharge | No surcharge |
| Subscription billing | +0.5% | Included |
| PayPal | Not offered | Supported (processing fee applies) |
| Monthly fee | None | None |
| Payout fees | Standard payouts included (T+7, or T+3 on enterprise) | Weekly payouts to bank or PayPal |
| Dispute / chargeback fee | Not published | Not published |
| Sales tax / VAT handling | MoR Kelviq handles global sales tax and VAT as the legal seller | MoR Gumroad has handled all sales tax worldwide as merchant of record since Jan 2025 |
| Source | Official pricing, last verified 2026-07-10 | Official pricing, last verified 2026-07-10 (Direct-sale processing fees are charged on top of the 10% + 50¢. Confirm in-app) |
| Platform | $10 sale | $50 sale | $500 sale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kelviq | $0.69 | $1.85 | $14.90 |
| Gumroad | $2.09 | $7.25 | $65.30 |
A $25 sale, line by line
Sell a $25 digital product directly on Gumroad and the receipt shows a $2.50 platform fee (10%), 50¢ fixed, and $1.03 in payment processing (2.9% + 30¢), for $4.03 total, a 16.1% effective rate, leaving $20.97. The same sale on Kelviq costs 88¢ in percentage fee plus 40¢ fixed, or $1.28 in all, a 5.1% rate, leaving $23.72. The difference is $2.75 per sale. At 1,000 sales a month, that comes to $2,750 a month or $33,000 a year. At $100, the spread is $13.70 against $3.90.
Discover moves the fee to 30%
Sales attributed to Gumroad’s Discover marketplace carry a flat 30% ($7.50 on that $25 product), and mobile app sales carry 40%. Those numbers are indefensible as processing fees and reasonable as acquisition costs, since a Discover sale is, by definition, a customer Gumroad found for you. The accounting question is what share of your revenue is genuinely incremental. Sellers whose buyers arrive from their own audience but check out through Gumroad pay marketplace rates for traffic they generated themselves.
Subscriptions compound the gap
A $25/month membership on Kelviq bills at 4% + 40¢, or $1.40 per renewal (5.6%). Gumroad charges its standard 12.9% + 80¢ on recurring payments, which comes to $4.03 per renewal, every month. Over a year, one member costs $16.80 in fees on Kelviq and $48.36 on Gumroad. An international card raises Kelviq to 5.5% + 40¢ ($1.78), still under half Gumroad’s take. A $49 international subscription runs $7.12 on Gumroad against $3.10 on Kelviq.
What each platform actually is
Gumroad is a storefront. It offers hosted product pages, checkout, file delivery, an email tool, and the Discover marketplace, goes live within minutes of signing up, and pays out weekly. It became a merchant of record in January 2025, taking on sales tax and VAT as the legal seller. Kelviq is billing infrastructure for software, bundling checkout, subscriptions, usage-based metering, and entitlement management inside the MoR fee, with T+7 payouts (T+3 enterprise). Neither charges a monthly fee. New Kelviq accounts pay 2.9% + 40¢ until $5,000 in lifetime sales.
The decision is about distribution, not rates
The rate comparison is settled, since 3.5% + 40¢ is a fraction of 12.9% + 80¢ in every scenario, domestic or international, one-time or recurring. What Gumroad sells for the difference is the removal of all setup work and the possibility of Discover demand. A creator testing an ebook this weekend gets real value from that. A SaaS or AI product with its own site, its own funnel, and consumption-based pricing gets none of it, and pays roughly ten extra points of revenue for the privilege. Match the platform to where your customers come from, and the fee schedule follows.