The Gumroad only leads to disasters | Blog

Sherpo offers feature parity with Gumroad from the start, with lower commission fees, a white-label platform, custom video player and much more!

TL;DR

If you’re a content creator, you’re likely looking for a platform that helps you grow and scale your business with minimal friction. You might be considering Gumroad, for their simplicity and ease of use. But when it comes to building a long-term, scalable, and branded business, Sherpo stands out as the superior option, not just for courses, but for any digital download!

In this post, we’ll explore why content creators are turning back from the Gumroad to join Sherpo, gaining full control over their brand, access to powerful customization tools, and more flexible monetization options—all at a lower transaction fee than Gumroad.

Let’s dive in.

Sherpo Flex vs. Gumroad Free

Feature	Sherpo Flex	Gumroad
Transaction Fee	5% transaction	10% transaction
Unlimited non-free products	✓	✓
Unlimited downloads	✓	✓
Unlimited customers	✓	✓
Fully white label	✓	✘
Custom branding	✓	✘
Custom video player	✓	✘
Course builder	✓	✘
Remove Sherpo branding	✓	✘
Link custom domain	✓	✓
Affiliate marketing	✓	✓
Pay-as-you-go AI	✓	✘

The Problem with Gumroad: Limited Branding and Control

Gumroad’s appeal lies in its simplicity. It’s fast, easy to set up, and offers creators the ability to sell digital products quickly. However, for content creators looking to build a brand and scale their business, Gumroad’s limitations become apparent.

No White-Label Solution: On Gumroad, you are forced to sell your products within the Gumroad ecosystem. You can’t completely customize the user experience or make the storefront truly yours. You’re selling on their terms, and your brand is secondary to the platform’s identity.
Limited Customization: Gumroad has limited tools when it comes to customizing your storefront. There are no advanced page builders, and while you can list products, you don’t have the power to create personalized courses or complex sales funnels that go beyond basic one-time transactions.
Higher Transaction Fees: Gumroad takes a 10% commission on every sale, plus payment processing fees. That means you’re losing a significant portion of your revenue to the platform itself, which eats into your profits over time.
No Innovation: Did you know that Gumroad pays over $5M in dividends to its shareholders annually? With such significant payouts, it's no wonder they have limited AI features and their platform feels like it’s stuck in the early 2010s.

Sherpo: Full Control, Advanced AI Tools, and Lower Fees

Now, let’s look at what Sherpo offers. Unlike Gumroad, Sherpo is designed for creators who want full control over their brand, advanced content creation tools also powered by AI, and lower transaction fees.

Here’s how Sherpo stacks up:

1. White-Label Solution: Own Your Brand

With Sherpo, you have a white-label solution, meaning you can brand the platform as your own. You get the flexibility to use your custom colors, logos, and domain, allowing you to create a seamless, branded experience for your customers. This is critical for creators who want to build a loyal audience and a strong brand identity.

Your Brand, Your Rules: Sherpo allows you to create a truly custom experience for your audience. Unlike Gumroad, where your products are sold within Gumroad’s ecosystem, Sherpo lets you sell content on your own website, giving you complete control.
Brand Consistency: With the ability to fully customize your store and experience, your branding remains consistent across all touchpoints. You can also create professional landing pages, making it easier to showcase your courses and content in a way that aligns with your brand vision.

2. Powerful Page Builder for Video Courses & More

Sherpo provides a robust page builder that allows you to create dynamic landing pages, complete video courses, and digital products with ease. Whether you’re selling online courses, webinars, e-books, or other digital products, Sherpo’s page builder makes it simple to design a professional, high-converting website.

Create Courses with Ease: Sherpo lets you build sophisticated video courses, complete with AI-powered content such as captions, translation, summaries, and transcriptions. You don’t need a separate tool to host your content—everything you need is within Sherpo’s platform. On Gumroad, you're very limited.
Interactive Features: With Sherpo, you can incorporate quizzes, tests, and customer feedback loops directly into your content, helping you create engaging learning experiences for your audience.

3. Custom Video Player: Elevate the Learning Experience

One of the standout features Sherpo offers is its custom video player, allowing you to control the way your content is delivered. This gives you the freedom to:

Brand the Player: Customize your video player to align with your brand, creating a professional look that enhances the user experience.
Add AI Features: With features like AI-generated captions, chapters, transcripts, and the ability for your customers to adjust playback speed, you can make your video content more engaging and user-friendly.

4. Lower Transaction Fees (5% vs. 10%)

When it comes to transaction fees, Sherpo offers a much lower fee than Gumroad. With a 5% transaction fee on sales on our lowest plan, Sherpo Flex (compared to Gumroad’s 10%), we ensure that you keep more of your hard-earned revenue in your pocket.

Over time, lower transaction fees mean higher profits for you as a creator. This is especially important as your business scales, and you’re making more sales. The savings can be reinvested into marketing, content creation, or growing your business in other ways.

Why Creators Are Better Off with Sherpo

Build a Long-Term Business: Gumroad used to be great for quick sales, but Sherpo Flex is better, and it is also designed for creators who want to build a long-term, sustainable business. With the ability to white-label your content, create branded landing pages, and build full-fledged video courses, Sherpo offers much more than a simple way to sell digital content. It has all the tools you need to grow, and it grows with you, with higher plans offering better commission rates, and even more features.
Advanced AI and Automation: Sherpo’s AI-first platform allows you to automate many aspects of content creation and business management. For example, you can use AI to generate video captions, transcripts, summaries, and even translate content, all of which add tremendous value to your courses and digital products.
Flexible Monetization Options: With Sherpo, you have the flexibility to monetize your content in a variety of ways. From subscriptions to pay-per-download models, Sherpo provides a range of pricing strategies that can adapt to your business goals.

The Verdict: Sherpo is the Smarter Choice for Content Creators

Gumroad is like the Appian Way—a historic Italian road where commerce once thrived.

While Gumroad used to be one of the best tools for creators who wanted a quick start, Sherpo now offers far more power, with a more cost-effective solution.

If you’re serious about building your brand and scaling your business, Sherpo’s white-label solution, customizable video player, advanced page builder, and lower fees make it the superior platform.

In summary, Sherpo is the smarter choice for content creators looking to build a sustainable, professional business that grows over time. So, why settle for limited options when you can elevate your content to the next level with Sherpo?

Switch to Sherpo!

Ready to make the switch and start growing your digital content business? Try Sherpo today and experience the future of content creation and monetization!

If you need help migrating your content and customers from Gumroad, write [email protected].

If you took the Gumroad, change course!