Etsy vs Gumroad: Best-Selling Digital Products & Trends in 2027

If you're planning to sell digital products in 2027, two platforms are likely to appear on your shortlist: Etsy and Gumroad.

Both platforms allow creators to sell digital products, but they work very differently. Etsy is primarily a marketplace where buyers actively search for products, while Gumroad is more focused on helping creators sell directly to their audience through product pages, links, and their own marketing.

So which platform is better for digital products? Etsy or Gumroad?

The answer depends on your product, audience, marketing strategy, pricing, and how you plan to get customers.

In this guide, we'll compare Etsy and Gumroad, look at digital product categories worth watching for 2027, explain the major differences between both platforms, and show you how to choose the right platform for your business.

If you're completely new to this business model, start with our guide: What Is a Digital Product? Types, Examples & How Digital Products Work .

Etsy vs Gumroad: What's the Main Difference?

The biggest difference is how customers discover your products.

Etsy is a marketplace. People visit Etsy specifically to search for products, compare listings, read reviews, and purchase items. This means sellers can potentially benefit from marketplace search traffic.

Gumroad is more creator-focused. You can create a product page and share it through your website, social media, email list, YouTube, Pinterest, or other marketing channels.

Is Etsy Better for Digital Products?

Etsy can be particularly attractive to beginners because customers are already visiting the marketplace to search for products.

Instead of building an audience from zero, a seller can optimize product titles, tags, images, descriptions, and other listing elements around relevant search terms.

This doesn't guarantee sales. Competition can be high, and ranking depends on multiple factors. However, marketplace search gives Etsy an important advantage for sellers who are still building their own audience.

Our detailed research tutorial explains how to identify promising Etsy products before creating them: How to Find Best-Selling Digital Products on Etsy: Trends & Research Tools .

Is Gumroad Better for Digital Products?

Gumroad can be a strong option when you already have an audience or plan to generate your own traffic.

You can share a Gumroad product link through a website, blog article, Pinterest, YouTube, social media, email newsletter, or other marketing channels.

Gumroad currently states that it does not charge a monthly fee. Its current pricing page lists a 10% + $0.50 fee for sales through your profile or direct links and 30% for sales generated through its Discover marketplace.

You can check the current pricing directly on Gumroad's official pricing page .

Platform pricing can change, so always verify the current fee structure before publishing or pricing your products for 2027.

Etsy Fees vs Gumroad Fees

Fees are an important part of the decision, especially if you're selling low-priced digital products.

Etsy

Etsy currently charges a $0.20 USD listing fee per listing. Etsy also currently charges a 6.5% transaction fee on the order amount. Payment processing fees are additional and vary depending on the seller's country.

Etsy may also charge additional fees in situations such as Offsite Ads, depending on the seller and order.

You can verify Etsy's current fee structure here: Etsy Fees & Taxes .

Gumroad

Gumroad currently uses a transaction-based pricing model rather than a monthly subscription. Direct or profile sales currently have a 10% + $0.50 fee, while Discover sales have a 30% fee.

For a low-priced product, the fixed $0.50 component can make a noticeable difference. For higher-priced products, the percentage-based fee becomes more important.

Always calculate your actual net revenue before deciding on a platform.

Which Digital Products Can You Sell in 2027?

There is no guaranteed list of products that will be best sellers in 2027. Instead, it's smarter to look for categories with continuing buyer needs and then validate individual product ideas using search and market research.

Some categories worth watching include:

• Canva templates
• Business templates
• Budget planners
• Digital planners
• Printable planners
• Educational worksheets
• Resume templates
• Social media templates
• Wedding templates
• Digital invitations
• Clipart and graphics
• SVG files
• Checklists and trackers
• Small-business documents
• Notion and productivity templates
• Interactive HTML tools
• Ebooks and guides
• Courses and educational resources

Current Etsy marketplace results already show strong activity around digital-product guides, product idea collections, Canva template bundles, and other downloadable products. However, today's bestseller pages should be treated as research signals rather than guarantees for 2027.

1. Canva Templates

Canva templates remain an interesting category because they can solve specific design problems for businesses, creators, teachers, event planners, and individuals.

Examples include:

• Social media templates
• Instagram post templates
• Business presentations
• Resume templates
• Media kits
• Price lists
• Lead magnet templates
• Business planners

If you want to learn how to create one, see our: How to Create a Canva Template: Step-by-Step Tutorial .

2. Digital Planners and Trackers

Planning products can target very specific audiences instead of competing only in the broad planner category.

For example:

• Student planners
• Budget planners
• Fitness planners
• Meal planners
• Wedding planners
• Business planners
• Content planners
• Habit trackers
• Savings trackers
• Debt payoff trackers

The opportunity often comes from choosing a specific audience and solving a specific problem rather than creating another generic planner.

3. Printable Resources

Printable products can be useful for customers who want something they can download and print at home.

Potential categories include:

• Worksheets
• Checklists
• Calendars
• Activity sheets
• Educational resources
• Party games
• Home organization printables
• Budget sheets

The key is to research the specific audience rather than targeting "printable" as a huge generic keyword.

4. Business Templates

Small businesses and freelancers regularly need documents that save time.

Examples include:

• Invoice templates
• Proposal templates
• Price lists
• Client onboarding documents
• Business planners
• Social media planners
• Expense trackers
• Content calendars

Business templates can work particularly well when they are designed for a clearly defined profession or business type.

5. Digital Tools and Interactive Products

Another interesting category is interactive digital products.

Instead of selling only a static PDF, creators can develop browser-based HTML tools, calculators, trackers, dashboards, and productivity utilities.

These products can provide functionality that a normal printable cannot.

For example, a budgeting tool could include automatic calculations, dashboards, reports, CSV export, and browser-based data storage.

This type of product can also be sold through creator-focused platforms such as Gumroad.

6. Educational Digital Products

Educational products can target parents, teachers, students, homeschool families, and adult learners.

Examples include:

• Tracing worksheets
• Activity books
• Flashcards
• Lesson resources
• Study planners
• Revision templates
• Educational printables

7. Digital Product Bundles

Bundles can increase perceived value by combining multiple related resources into one product.

For example, instead of selling one social media template, a creator could develop a complete content bundle containing posts, stories, covers, content planners, and instructions.

However, bigger is not automatically better. A bundle should solve a coherent problem rather than simply containing hundreds of unrelated files.

Which Platform Is Better for Beginners?

If you're starting without an existing audience, Etsy can be attractive because it is already a marketplace where buyers search for products.

If you already have an audience through a website, Pinterest, YouTube, social media, email, or another channel, Gumroad can be useful because you can send customers directly to your product page.

Should You Choose Etsy or Gumroad?

You don't necessarily have to choose only one.

A multi-platform strategy can make sense when the product and business model allow it.

For example, you could use Etsy to reach marketplace shoppers while using Gumroad for customers coming from your website, Pinterest, YouTube, email marketing, or social media.

The important thing is to understand each platform's rules, fees, customer expectations, and traffic sources before duplicating products across marketplaces.

How to Find Products Worth Selling

Don't start by asking: "What digital product should I make?"

Start with: "What problem are people actively trying to solve?"

Then research keywords, competition, customer intent, trends, pricing, and existing products.

Our detailed Etsy research tutorial walks through this process: How to Find Best-Selling Digital Products on Etsy .

You can also explore our article: Best-Selling Digital Products on Etsy: Trends & Research Tools .

Etsy + Gumroad + Your Own Website

A strong long-term strategy can involve more than a single marketplace.

Your website can act as the central hub for your content, tutorials, freebies, products, and organic search traffic.

You can explore all available digital resources through the DigiDown home page .

Free resources can also help attract visitors: Browse Freebies .

For practical guides about creating and selling digital products, visit our Tutorials section.

And when you're ready to explore paid digital resources, visit the DigiDown Shop .

Digital Product Trends to Watch for 2027

Because 2027 is still ahead, no one can reliably guarantee which individual products will become best sellers. Instead, watch for broader patterns.

• Products that save customers time
• Templates that solve specific business problems
• Personalized and niche-specific resources
• Interactive digital tools
• Beginner-friendly templates
• Educational resources
• Productivity systems
• Budgeting and organization tools
• Creator and social media resources
• Useful digital bundles

The strongest opportunity is usually not simply following a trend. It is combining a growing need with a specific audience and a product that is genuinely useful.

Final Verdict: Etsy or Gumroad?

Etsy is generally more attractive when you want access to an established marketplace and customers who are already searching for products.

Gumroad is particularly useful when you want to sell directly to an audience and control how you bring visitors to your product pages.

For many digital-product creators, the best answer may eventually be both.

Use marketplace search where it makes sense, build your own website and audience over time, publish useful educational content, offer selected freebies, and direct interested visitors toward relevant paid products.

Most importantly, don't build your 2027 strategy around a random list of "guaranteed best sellers." Research the market, validate the idea, create something useful, and continuously improve your products based on actual customer behavior.

For more digital product ideas, continue exploring 10 Best Digital Products to Sell and our other digital product guides .