Beacons vs Stan Store (2026): The $211/Month Fee Line
Marcel CruzBeacons is cheaper than Stan Store until you sell roughly $211 a month. Beacons Creator costs $10/mo plus a 9% seller fee; Stan Creator costs $29/mo and takes 0%. Below that line Beacons wins on price, above it Stan does, and only Beacons gives you a custom domain at any price.
Here is the whole decision in one table. Subscription plus platform fee only, because Stripe or PayPal processing (roughly 2.9% plus $0.30) is identical on both sides and cancels out.
| Your monthly sales | Beacons Creator ($10 + 9%) | Stan Creator ($29 + 0%) | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| $0 | $10 | $29 | Beacons |
| $100 | $19 | $29 | Beacons |
| $200 | $28 | $29 | Beacons |
| $211 | $29 | $29 | Crossover |
| $300 | $37 | $29 | Stan Store |
| $1,000 | $100 | $29 | Stan Store |
| $2,000 | $190 | $29 | Stan Store |
How much is Stan Store vs Beacons?
Stan Store has two plans and no free tier. Beacons has four plans, two of which still take 9% of every sale.
Stan Store:
| Plan | Monthly | Annual | Platform fee | Key features |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creator | $29 | $300/yr ($25/mo) | 0% | Storefront, digital products, courses, bookings, subscriptions, community, AutoDM, analytics |
| Creator Pro | $99 | $948/yr ($79/mo) | 0% | Adds dynamic pricing, upsells, funnels, affiliate management, email marketing, pixel tracking |
No free plan, only a 14-day trial. The 0% applies on both plans, so nobody selling through Stan pays Stan a cut of the sale.
Beacons:
| Plan | Monthly | Annual | Platform fee | Key features |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 9% | Link in bio, media kit, unlimited digital products, 30 daily AI credits, 50 email sends/mo |
| Creator | $10 | $100/yr ($8.33/mo) | 9% | Free custom domain, branding removal, 300 daily AI credits, 500 email sends/mo, advanced SEO |
| Creator Plus | $30 | $300/yr ($25/mo) | 0% | Unlimited AI credits, unlimited courses and memberships, unlimited email sends |
| Creator Max | $90 | $900/yr ($75/mo) | 0% | Google Workspace, white-glove onboarding, priority support, NFC card |
Two notes that most comparisons get wrong. Beacons' Free tier includes 50 email sends a month, not 250, and the current plan names are Free, Creator, Creator Plus and Creator Max. Anything calling a Beacons tier "Creator Pro", "Store Pro" or "Business Pro" is quoting a deprecated lineup. The full tier-by-tier breakdown lives in our Beacons pricing guide and the Stan Store pricing guide.
Why the $211 line closes faster than it looks
The crossover is real, but the window where it matters is narrow, and this is the part no other comparison prices.
Beacons has its own internal breakeven. Moving from Creator ($10/mo, 9%) to Creator Plus ($30/mo, 0%) pays for itself at roughly $222/mo in sales, because the $20 price gap divided by the 9% fee lands there. So a seller who is paying attention does not stay on Beacons Creator past about $222/mo. They upgrade.
Which means the practical high-volume matchup is not $10-plus-9% against $29. It is Beacons Creator Plus at $30/mo against Stan Creator at $29/mo, a one-dollar gap, both at 0%. The band where Stan Store is genuinely the cheaper platform is only about $11 a month wide, between $211 and $222 in sales.
Above roughly $222/mo, price stops being the deciding factor entirely and features take over. Below $211/mo, Beacons is cheaper and it is not close: at $100/mo in sales you pay $19 on Beacons against $29 on Stan, and on Beacons Free you would pay $9.
Which is better, Beacons or Stan Store?
Match yourself to a row.
| You are | Better fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Not selling yet, or under ~$200/mo | Beacons Free or Creator | Lower floor, and Stan has no free plan to test on |
| Selling $211 to $222/mo | Stan Creator | The one band where Stan is the outright cheaper platform |
| Above ~$222/mo, want your own domain | Beacons Creator Plus | Same money as Stan, and Stan has no custom domain at all |
| Running courses, funnels, upsells or affiliates | Stan Creator Pro | Beacons has none of that at any tier |
| Coaching or services with bookings | Stan Creator | Bookings, AutoDM and lead capture built in |
| Mostly want a link page, selling is occasional | Neither, see below | Both are commerce products with a bio page bolted on |
What are Stan Store's transaction fees?
Zero. Stan charges 0% platform fee on Creator and Creator Pro alike; you pay your payment processor and nothing else to Stan. Any review claiming Stan takes 5%, 8% or 10% is running on invented numbers.
Beacons charges 9% on sales on both Free and Creator, on top of Stripe processing. The 0% tier starts at Creator Plus ($30/mo). This is the single structural difference that drives every number above: Stan's price is a flat subscription, Beacons' price scales with how well you sell.
Feature parity at the same price point
Comparing the two tiers that actually cost the same, Beacons Creator Plus ($30) and Stan Creator ($29), both at 0%.
| Feature | Stan Store | Beacons |
|---|---|---|
| Native storefront | Yes | Yes |
| Course hosting | Yes | Yes (Creator Plus and up) |
| Booking and calendar | Yes | Yes (Creator and up) |
| Email marketing | Yes (Creator Pro) | Yes (Creator and up) |
| Funnels and upsells | Yes (Creator Pro) | No |
| Affiliate program | Yes (Creator Pro) | No |
| Custom domain | No, on any plan | Yes (Creator and up, first year free) |
| AI content tools | No | Yes |
| Free plan | No | Yes |
Two consequential gaps. Stan Store has no custom domain on any plan, per its own help centre; every Stan visitor lands on stan.store/yourname permanently, and URL forwarding still shows that address after the redirect. And Beacons has no funnels, upsells or affiliate program at any tier, which is exactly what Stan Creator Pro at $99/mo exists to sell.
One more thing worth weighing before you commit: Beacons has been carrying a creator trust problem since March 2026, which we worked through in our Beacons legitimacy review. It is not a dealbreaker, but read it before you move a product catalogue over.
Is Beacons good for selling digital products?
Yes, with a ceiling. Below about $211/mo in sales, Beacons Creator is the cheapest credible way to sell digital products with a real page attached. Between $211 and $222 you are marginally better off on Stan. Above that, move to Creator Plus and Beacons is fee-free and price-competitive with Stan.
The ceiling is mechanics, not money. Beacons never gives you funnels, order bumps, upsells or an affiliate program. If your product plan involves a launch sequence rather than a single checkout button, Stan Creator Pro is the tool built for it and Beacons will not grow into it.
What's better than Stan Store?
Three honest answers, depending on the complaint.
- The $29 floor is the problem. Beacons Free costs nothing until you sell, and Beacons Creator is $10. See Beacons vs Linktree if you are also weighing the bigger bio-page players.
- The missing custom domain is the problem. Beacons Creator includes one at $10/mo. Stan does not offer one at $99/mo. If branding is the priority, this decides it on its own.
- You are not really running a store. Both platforms are commerce products with a bio-link surface attached. If you sell one thing a month, a bio-link tool plus a payment link inside a block does the same job with far less to configure. Our link-in-bio checklist tool walks the setup in a few minutes.
Where Linkero fits, and it is ours so weigh it accordingly: Linkero is a bio-link tool, not a storefront. There is no native checkout, so a Stripe payment link or a booking link goes in as an embed block. Pro includes a custom domain, and there are no platform sales fees because there is no sales layer to charge for. Pricing is on /pricing. If you are actually running a product catalogue, Stan Store is the better tool and we would say so. For the direct head-to-head, see Stan Store vs Linkero, and for the Linktree-side comparison, Stan Store vs Linktree.
FAQ
How much is Stan Store vs Beacons?
Stan Store is $29/mo (Creator) or $99/mo (Creator Pro), both with 0% platform fee and no free plan. Beacons is $0, $10, $30 or $90 a month, with a 9% seller fee on the $0 and $10 tiers and 0% above them. At $200/mo in sales Beacons Creator costs $28 all in against Stan's $29.
Which is better, Beacons or Stan Store?
Beacons below roughly $211/mo in sales, or if you need a custom domain at any price. Stan Store if you sell courses, coaching or a product line, and especially if you need funnels, upsells or affiliates, which Beacons does not offer on any plan.
What are the disadvantages of Beacons?
Four, in the order they bite. The 9% seller fee on the $0 and $10 tiers scales with your success, so a $2,000/mo seller on Creator loses $180 to it. There are no funnels, upsells or affiliate tools at any tier. The Free plan is thinner than it looks, at 30 daily AI credits and 50 email sends a month. And creators have been questioning the platform's direction since March 2026, covered in our legitimacy review.
Can you use a custom domain with Beacons or Stan Store?
Beacons yes, from the $10 Creator plan up, with the first year free. Stan Store no, on any plan. Stan's help centre confirms only URL forwarding is supported, and visitors still see stan.store/yourname in the address bar.
Is Stan Store worth $29 a month?
If you clear roughly $211/mo in sales, yes on price alone, and the storefront, bookings and subscriptions come with it. If you are not selling yet, the $29 floor buys you nothing a free Beacons page would not, and you should start there.
