Linktree vs Beacons vs Stan Store: which one fits you?

Linktree is best if you mainly need a polished list of links. Beacons is best if you want the most features for free, including a store and media kit. Stan Store is best if your page exists to sell courses, coaching or digital products and you'll sell enough to cover a $29 monthly plan.

That's the short answer. The longer answer depends on how much you sell, because the three tools charge in very different ways. Linktree and Beacons take a percentage of sales on their cheaper plans; Stan takes none but has no free plan. This guide compares them on features, then works through what each one actually costs at three different sales levels, which is where the right choice usually becomes obvious.

We make Glee, which competes with all three, so we've kept to verifiable facts and included Glee at the end only so you can see where it sits. Prices were checked in October 2026; confirm them on each tool's pricing page before you decide.

Key takeaways

Linktree costs $0 to $35 a month and takes 9% to 12% of digital product sales on its free, Starter and Pro plans. Beacons is free to start but takes 9% of sales until you pay $30 a month. Stan Store costs $29 or $99 a month with no free plan and no Stan fee on sales. If you sell little or nothing, Linktree or Beacons free is cheapest; once you sell a few hundred dollars a month, the percentage fees usually cost more than a flat plan.

The three tools in one paragraph each

Linktree invented the category and remains the best known, with more than 50 million users by 2024. It's clean, dependable and integrates with a huge range of services. Selling and other advanced features are available, but its heart is still a beautifully simple page of links.

Beacons is the all-in-one. Its page builder sits alongside an online store, a media kit for pitching brands, email tools and AI features, and a lot of it is free. It's especially popular with creators who earn from brand partnerships as well as their own products.

Stan Store is a shop that happens to live in your bio. Visitors can buy a guide, book a paid call or join a course with a checkout right on the page, without being sent elsewhere. It's deliberately focused on selling and it's very good at it.

Pricing and fees

Here are the published plans, as reported by 2026 pricing reviews of Linktree and Beacons, and by Stan's own pricing guide.

Payment processing, typically around 2.9% plus 30 cents per sale through Stripe, applies on all three and isn't included above.

Two things stand out. First, Stan's lack of a free plan is the biggest barrier for someone just starting. Second, the percentage fees on Linktree and Beacons are small when sales are small and expensive when sales grow.

What each one costs at three sales levels

Prices are easier to judge with real numbers. Here's the monthly cost of each tool's cheapest suitable option at three levels of digital product sales, before payment processing.

Selling nothing yet. Linktree free costs $0. Beacons free costs $0. Stan costs $29 at minimum. If you're not selling, Stan is hard to justify.

Selling $300 a month. Linktree free costs $36 in fees (12%), or Starter costs $8 plus $27 in fees, so $35. Beacons free costs $27 in fees (9%). Stan Creator costs $29. They're now roughly level.

Selling $1,500 a month. Linktree Premium costs $35 with no fee; Linktree Pro would cost $15 plus $135 in fees. Beacons on its $30 plan costs $30 with no fee; on the free plan it would cost $135 in fees. Stan Creator costs $29. At this level, the flat-priced plans all win comfortably, and staying on a fee-based plan by habit is an expensive mistake.

The lesson isn't that one tool is cheapest. It's that the right plan changes as your sales grow, and it's worth re-checking every few months.

Selling: which checkout is better?

Stan is the strongest seller of the three. Checkout happens on the page, it handles digital downloads, courses, coaching calls and memberships, and Creator Pro adds tools like upsells, discount codes, payment plans and email flows. For a creator whose income comes from their own products, that focus is valuable.

Beacons sells well too, with a store that handles digital products and more, though the experience is part of a much broader toolset.

Linktree supports selling and has expanded its commerce features, but selling isn't its centre of gravity in the way it is for Stan.

Bookings, email and audience

All three let you collect contact details in some form, and all three have moved towards email and audience tools. Beacons and Stan both include email features aimed at creators selling products. Stan supports booking paid calls directly. Linktree handles bookings and many other functions through integrations with other services.

If you'll mostly sell your time rather than products, look carefully at how each tool handles scheduling, reminders and payment for sessions. Our guide to taking bookings from your Instagram bio covers what a good booking setup needs.

Ease of use and design

Linktree is the easiest to set up and has a large set of polished themes. Beacons offers a lot of customisation, which can feel like a lot at first. Stan is simple by design: fewer choices, aimed squarely at getting a store live quickly.

None of the three will make or break your results on design alone. What matters is that the page is clear, quick and matches your content, which you can achieve on any of them. Our guide to what should go on a link in bio page applies whichever tool you choose.

Who should choose which

Choose Linktree if you want a reliable, attractive list of links, you value a mature product with lots of integrations, and you sell little enough that fees don't matter, or enough to justify Premium.

Choose Beacons if you want the most features without paying, especially a media kit for brand deals, and you're happy to upgrade to the $30 plan once the 9% fee starts to bite.

Choose Stan Store if selling is the point of your page, you sell courses, coaching or downloads, and your monthly sales comfortably cover $29.

Where Glee fits

Glee takes a different approach from all three. Instead of building your page yourself, you tell Glow, Glee's built-in AI, what you do and what you need, and it builds the page, sets up bookings, writes your emails and makes your short links and QR codes, showing you each change before anything goes live. It includes a contact list and email sent from your own address, and it's a one-time payment from $39 rather than a subscription.

Glee doesn't have its own checkout. If selling products on the page is your priority, Stan or Beacons is the better fit. If you mainly need bookings, an email list and a page that's always up to date, without monthly fees, Glee is built for that. For a wider view of the options, see the best Linktree alternatives.

Frequently asked questions

Is Beacons better than Linktree?

Beacons offers more on its free plan, including a store and media kit. Linktree is simpler, more established and has more integrations. Beacons suits creators who want breadth for free; Linktree suits those who want simplicity and polish.

Is Stan Store worth $29 a month?

If you're selling regularly, usually yes, because there's no platform fee and the checkout is smooth. If you're not selling yet, a free plan elsewhere makes more sense until you are.

Which has the lowest fees: Linktree, Beacons or Stan?

Stan takes no platform fee on any plan. Linktree takes 0% only on Premium, and Beacons takes 0% from its $30 plan. On free plans, Linktree takes around 12% and Beacons 9% of digital product sales.

Can I switch between Linktree, Beacons and Stan later?

Yes. Your posts point to your profile, not your page, so switching only means updating one link on each profile. Glee can also import a Linktree, Beacons, Stan or Bento page automatically.

Do I need a link in bio tool with a store?

Only if you sell products directly. If you sell services, bookings and an email list may matter more. If you sell through Etsy, Shopify or Gumroad already, you can simply link to them.