Payhip takes 5% per sale.
VeloCMS takes nothing.
Payhip genuinely excels at plug-and-play digital product selling: EU VAT MOSS compliance built-in, affiliate program native, license keys for software, multi-currency checkout. The gap opens when you also need a CMS blog for organic discovery, a newsletter for owned audience, and a commerce layer that doesn't take 5% of every sale on the free tier. VeloCMS covers all layers flat — 0% platform fee at Business plan.
Payhip vs VeloCMS — platform snapshot
| Dimension | Payhip | VeloCMS |
|---|---|---|
| Primary focus | Digital products storefront. Instant setup: upload a file, set a price, share a link. Free tier charges 5% on every sale permanently; Plus $29/mo drops fee to 2%; Pro $99/mo reaches 0%. Built-in EU VAT MOSS compliance (automatic tax calculation and remittance for EU digital goods — removes the 27-country tax-registration problem for creators selling into the EU). Affiliate program native from free tier (set commission percentages, track referrals, pay affiliates). License-key generation for software and plugin sellers. Multi-currency checkout (30+ currencies). 30+ language storefronts. Memberships and online courses are available but relatively lightweight compared to purpose-built LMS platforms. Everything on payhip.com/yourname on free tier; custom domain on paid plans. | CMS-first content and commerce platform. TipTap block-based blog editor with per-post SEO, JSON-LD schema, and AI drafting via Gemini. BYOK Stripe digital product checkout at 0% platform fee (your Stripe account, revenue goes directly to you). BYOK Resend newsletter (your sender identity, owned subscriber list). Native member system with free and paid tiers, magic-link reader auth, and member-only post gating. 30+ themes. Custom domain on all plans including free. No EU VAT MOSS automation, no built-in affiliate program, no license-key generation — these are the real capability gaps Payhip fills at lower operational overhead for purely digital-products selling. |
| Pricing | Free (0% subscription fee, 5% transaction fee on every sale forever). Plus $29/mo (2% transaction fee — reduces per-sale bleed but doesn't eliminate it). Pro $99/mo (0% transaction fee — effectively a $99 flat rate per month for volume sellers). Annual plans available. Custom domain on Plus and Pro plans only (free tier = payhip.com/yourname). The 5% fee on the free tier compounds: at $2,500/mo revenue, that's $125/mo bled to Payhip; at $5,000/mo, that's $250/mo. The Pro $99 flat rate becomes the better deal at roughly $2,000+/mo in sales. | Free tier (single blog, VeloCMS subdomain, basic editor, limited themes — custom domain requires Pro). Pro $9/mo annual (full block editor, BYOK newsletter, AI drafting, 30+ themes, custom domain). Business $29/mo annual (all Pro plus member tiers, digital products via BYOK Stripe at 0% platform fee, advanced analytics). Agency $69/mo annual (unlimited tenant blogs on custom domains). Newsletter via BYOK Resend (3K/mo free). Digital products and member subscriptions via BYOK Stripe — standard 2.9%+$0.30 Stripe rate, 0% VeloCMS cut. No transaction fee layered on top of Stripe. |
| CMS + blog | No CMS. No blog engine. Payhip is a storefront with product pages, not a content platform. There is no post archive, no tag system, no per-post SEO fields, no structured data for article schema, and no way to build a topical authority cluster. Content marketing — the primary way creators build audience before they have something to sell — requires a separate platform. Organic search drives long-term product discovery for most digital-product creators; Payhip doesn't help with that layer at all. Some creators use a separate WordPress or Ghost blog and link to their Payhip store, but that creates a split domain (blog on one URL, store on another) that dilutes SEO authority. | TipTap block-based CMS editor with headings, callouts, code blocks, images (AVIF/WebP via next/image), embeds, per-post reading time, Open Graph editor, and per-post JSON-LD schema. AI drafting via Gemini 2.0 Flash. Theme-controlled blog listing with pagination, tag filtering, featured posts, and author bios. All posts semantic HTML with structured data for LLM and search crawler indexing. LCP-optimized ISR. Blog and product pages share the same domain — unified SEO authority, no subdomain split, no cross-domain dilution. |
| EU VAT compliance | Automatic EU VAT MOSS compliance built into every Payhip account from day one. Payhip automatically calculates the correct VAT rate for digital goods based on the buyer's country, collects it at checkout, and remits it to the appropriate EU tax authority on the seller's behalf. This solves a genuinely painful compliance problem: EU digital goods VAT requires registration in each EU member state separately (or via the One Stop Shop scheme), collection of buyer evidence (IP address + payment method country), and quarterly remittance. Payhip handles all of this automatically. For creators selling into the EU — particularly from the US or UK where VAT registration is not automatic — this is a significant operational advantage that removes a real compliance barrier. | No automatic EU VAT MOSS compliance. BYOK Stripe checkout includes Stripe Tax as an optional add-on ($0.50 per transaction with Stripe Tax API, or free with Stripe Tax flat-rate on eligible plans) which handles EU VAT calculation and collection. However, VAT remittance to EU tax authorities still requires the seller to complete OSS registration and file quarterly returns (or use a tax service like Quaderno or TaxJar at additional cost). For creators with meaningful EU sales volume, this compliance overhead is a real operational difference from Payhip's fully automated approach. |
| Affiliate program | Built-in affiliate program on all tiers including free. Set commission rates per product or globally, generate affiliate links, track referrals, view conversion analytics, and pay affiliates via PayPal directly from the Payhip admin. No third-party affiliate network required. Affiliates sign up with a single form and receive their tracking links immediately. For creators who rely on affiliate marketing — joint ventures, creator network cross-promotions, book blogger affiliate codes — Payhip's native affiliate infrastructure removes the need for Gumroad Affiliates, Rewardful, or Tapfiliate subscriptions. | No native affiliate program. Affiliate tracking requires a third-party tool: Rewardful ($49/mo), Tapfiliate ($89/mo), FirstPromoter ($49/mo), or a lightweight option like Referral Rock. All integrate via tracking scripts that can be embedded in VeloCMS pages, but the workflow — creating affiliate links, tracking conversions, managing payouts — lives outside VeloCMS. For creators whose growth strategy depends heavily on affiliate partnerships, this is a real setup overhead that Payhip eliminates natively. |
| License-key generation | Built-in license-key generation for software, plugins, and digital tools. Set a key limit per purchase, generate unique keys automatically on sale, allow buyers to re-download and access their keys from their Payhip account. Supports perpetual and time-limited keys. For indie developers selling WordPress plugins, Figma assets, Notion templates, or downloadable software, license-key management is an infrastructure problem that Payhip solves out of the box without additional tools like Lemon Squeezy's license API or Gumroad's license keys feature. | No native license-key generation. Software and plugin sellers on VeloCMS would need to integrate a license management service (Keygen.sh, Cryptlex, LicenseSpring, or a custom implementation via Stripe webhooks triggering a key-generation function). Digital product delivery for non-software files (PDFs, ebooks, audio, video) works natively via Cloudflare R2 protected file links. For software creators where license-key generation is a core workflow, Payhip's built-in key management is a genuine advantage over the additional integration work required in VeloCMS. |
| Multi-currency + languages | Multi-currency checkout (30+ currencies including USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD, JPY, INR, BRL, and others). Buyers see prices in their local currency automatically. Storefront localization in 30+ languages — the Payhip checkout and product pages display in the buyer's browser language. For creators targeting global audiences without the operational overhead of currency conversion and localized checkout, this is infrastructure that would otherwise require Stripe Currency conversion + custom checkout UI in a self-hosted setup. | Currency and language depend on the BYOK Stripe checkout configuration. Stripe natively supports 135+ currencies in Checkout, and the currency displayed can be set per-session. Storefront language localization requires additional work — VeloCMS currently ships as an English-language platform; translated checkout UX requires custom Stripe Checkout configuration. For creators already serving global audiences with currency and language expectations, Payhip's zero-config multi-currency and multilingual support removes setup friction. |
| Owned data | Customer purchase data is accessible via CSV export from the Payhip admin. Subscriber and customer email lists are exportable. Product files live in Payhip's hosting — not in seller-controlled storage. Affiliate data and commission history are accessible but not portable to another platform. If a seller leaves Payhip, their storefront URL (payhip.com/yourname) becomes inactive, though their customer list and purchase records can be exported. The storefront infrastructure — product pages, checkout flow, VAT handling, affiliate program — belongs to Payhip. | Posts in PocketBase (self-hostable SQLite). Product files in Cloudflare R2 (seller's own storage bucket option, or VeloCMS-managed R2). Subscribers in seller's own Resend account. Paying members and customers in seller's own Stripe account. BYOK architecture — every data relationship is the business owner's from day one. No storefront-lock: the blog, products, and member base are fully portable. Self-host option for full infrastructure control over database and file storage. |
Where Payhip leaves gaps
Payhip is genuinely easy for instant product selling. These are the structural gaps that surface when a digital creator needs more than a storefront — when content marketing, audience ownership, and compound discovery through organic search matter as much as the checkout flow.
The free tier's 5% fee is permanent — it doesn't scale down as your revenue grows.
Payhip Free isn't free at volume. Every dollar of revenue carries a 5% toll to Payhip, forever. Sell $2,500/mo in ebooks: $125/mo to Payhip, on top of Stripe's standard 2.9%+$0.30 per transaction. Sell $5,000/mo: $250/mo. The fee doesn't decrease as volume grows — it grows proportionally. Payhip Plus at $29/mo brings the transaction fee down to 2%, and Pro at $99/mo reaches 0%. But that means paying $99/mo for a storefront with no CMS, no blog, no newsletter, and no content marketing infrastructure. An author selling 100 books/mo at $25 = $2,500 revenue; the Payhip free tier extracts $125/mo from that permanently. VeloCMS Business at $29/mo takes nothing on top of Stripe's standard rate.
No CMS means content marketing lives somewhere else — splitting domain authority between blog and store.
Most successful digital product creators don't acquire customers through the product page alone. They build an audience through content: blog posts that rank in Google, newsletter issues that warm cold readers into buyers, tutorial articles that establish authority in the topic. Payhip doesn't help with any of that. Creators who care about long-term organic growth end up running a separate blog — typically WordPress or Ghost — alongside their Payhip store. That split almost always means a subdomain (blog.yourname.com / store.yourname.com) or separate domains entirely. Domain authority doesn't flow cleanly between them; the audience-building investment on the blog doesn't compound directly into the store's discoverability. VeloCMS puts blog, newsletter, and digital products on the same domain under the same admin.
Payhip storefront on Pro $99/mo still doesn't include a newsletter, a blog, or a member content layer.
Even after paying $99/mo to eliminate the transaction fee, a Payhip Pro account is still a storefront without CMS, without newsletter, and without a member content layer. The creator who wants to build an audience through writing — weekly essays, behind-the-scenes posts, tutorial series — and then monetize that audience through both product sales and a reader membership still needs to add a blog platform, a newsletter tool, and a member paywall separately. That's typically: Ghost or WordPress ($9-25/mo), ConvertKit or Beehiiv ($29-79/mo at business list sizes), and Memberful or Patreon (5-10% on top). A $99 Pro storefront plus a $49 blog plus a $49 newsletter = $197/mo for infrastructure that VeloCMS Business covers at $29/mo. The affiliate program and EU VAT handling are genuinely valuable; whether they're worth the pricing structure depends on how central those specific capabilities are.
Three creator archetypes outgrowing Payhip as a standalone tool
Ebook authors, online course teachers, and membership community builders who start on Payhip for the instant setup and then discover they need content marketing infrastructure, owned newsletter, and a commerce layer that doesn't compound fees as they grow — that's where VeloCMS's unified model changes the calculation.
The ebook author who needs a blog to drive discovery — not just a product page
Most ebook sales don't come from someone typing your product URL directly. They come from a reader who found your blog post on Google, subscribed to your newsletter, read your weekly writing for three months, and then bought when you launched a new title. Payhip handles the product page and checkout. VeloCMS handles the whole arc: TipTap CMS blog for the content that builds authority, BYOK Resend newsletter for the subscriber relationship that warms readers into buyers, BYOK Stripe checkout for the product sale at 0% platform fee. If you sell primarily through your own existing audience and care about 0% transaction fees from the first dollar, VeloCMS Business at $29/mo covers the full stack. If you're starting with zero audience and want to get a product on sale this afternoon with EU VAT handled automatically, Payhip free is legitimately faster. See how VeloCMS works for writers.
The online course teacher building a content + course + community ecosystem
Online courses sold as one-time digital downloads work on Payhip. But most successful course creators sustain their business through a combination of free content (building audience and trust), a newsletter (warming leads and announcing new courses), a paid course (the primary offer), and a recurring community or membership (the recurring revenue layer). Payhip handles the course checkout; the surrounding infrastructure — the blog, the newsletter, the member community, the drip content — lives in other platforms. VeloCMS covers blog, BYOK newsletter, BYOK Stripe courses (via protected downloadable content or gated post series), and a native member tier for recurring access. Payhip still wins on EU VAT MOSS if European students are a large part of the student base. For creators building in markets where VAT automation is critical day one, Payhip removes real friction. See how VeloCMS works for creators.
The membership community starting out — balancing 0% fees with content marketing needs
A membership community run through Payhip works for recurring subscription products (member tiers available on all plans). The transaction fee applies: 5% on Payhip free, 2% on Plus $29/mo, 0% on Pro $99/mo. Plus the Stripe standard 2.9%+$0.30 per charge. A community with 200 members at $9/mo = $1,800/mo gross; at Payhip Pro $99/mo that's $1,701 net (minus Stripe processing). VeloCMS Business $29/mo + BYOK Stripe at 0% platform fee = $1,771 net from the same $1,800 (minus Stripe processing). The $70/mo difference at that revenue level isn't dramatic. Where VeloCMS pulls ahead is the content layer: a CMS blog for audience building, a native newsletter for member communication, and a unified platform rather than a storefront. Payhip Pro wins if EU VAT, affiliate program, or license keys are essential from day one. See how VeloCMS works for indie makers.
Feature parity grid — what each platform covers
Honest grid. Payhip leads on EU VAT MOSS compliance, affiliate program, license-key generation, multi-currency, and zero-configuration instant setup. VeloCMS leads on CMS+blog+SEO, newsletter ownership, custom domain entry pricing, flat monthly fee with 0% platform cut, and self-host option.
| Feature | Payhip | VeloCMS |
|---|---|---|
| EU VAT MOSS automatic compliance (zero-config) | ✓ | — |
| Built-in affiliate program (all tiers including free) | ✓ | — |
| License-key generation for software + plugins | ✓ | — |
| Multi-currency checkout (30+ currencies, zero-config) | ✓ | ~ |
| Storefront localization (30+ languages, zero-config) | ✓ | — |
| Instant setup — upload file, set price, sell in minutes | ✓ | ~ |
| CMS + blog with post archive and per-post SEO tooling | — | ✓ |
| Per-post JSON-LD schema markup | — | ✓ |
| AI writing assist in editor | — | ✓ |
| Native newsletter (BYOK Resend, owned subscriber list) | — | ✓ |
| Custom domain on free tier | — | ✓ |
| 0% platform fee from Business plan (BYOK Stripe) | ~ | ✓ |
| 30+ themes including niche-specific blog designs | — | ✓ |
| Member paywall + paid subscription tiers | ~ | ✓ |
| Self-host option (full data + infrastructure ownership) | — | ✓ |
✓ native ~ partial/limited — not available
Pricing breakdown — the real all-in cost
Payhip Free's 5% transaction fee compounds with every sale. Payhip Pro at $99/mo eliminates the fee but still requires separate platforms for blog and newsletter. VeloCMS Business at $29/mo covers CMS, newsletter, and 0% platform fee on commerce.
Payhip — plus the stack you'll need
- Payhip FreeNo subscription fee, 5% transaction fee on every sale, payhip.com/yourname URL only$0 + 5%
- Payhip PlusReduces transaction fee to 2%, custom domain unlocked$29/mo + 2%
- Payhip ProZero transaction fee to Payhip, custom domain, all features$99/mo + 0%
- CMS blog / brand siteGhost, WordPress, or Webflow — required, not included in any Payhip tier$9-25/mo
- Email newsletterConvertKit or Beehiiv at business list sizes — required$29-79/mo
- Third-party affiliate trackingPayhip has this built-in on all tiers — one area Payhip genuinely wins$0-89/mo
- EU VAT compliance servicePayhip handles this automatically — significant advantage for EU sellers$0-39/mo
Payhip Pro + Ghost blog + ConvertKit newsletter = $137-203/mo (0% Payhip fee but still separate platforms for blog and newsletter). Payhip Free + CMS + newsletter = $38-104/mo plus 5% of every sale compounding. EU VAT and affiliate program are included in Payhip at all tiers — genuine advantages.
VeloCMS — all layers included
- VeloCMS Freesingle blog, VeloCMS subdomain, basic editor, limited themes$0
- VeloCMS Proannual — full editor, BYOK newsletter, AI assist, 30+ themes, custom domain$9/mo
- VeloCMS Businessannual — all Pro + member tiers, digital products, advanced analytics$29/mo
- VeloCMS Agencyannual — unlimited tenant blogs on custom domains$69/mo
- Newsletter (BYOK Resend)your own Resend account — 3K emails/mo free, owned listfrom $0
- Digital products + members (BYOK Stripe)your own Stripe — standard 2.9%+$0.30, 0% VeloCMS cut0% platform fee
VeloCMS Business at $29/mo covers CMS blog, BYOK newsletter (3K/mo free on Resend), and BYOK Stripe digital products and member paywall at 0% platform fee. No automatic EU VAT compliance, no built-in affiliate program, no license-key generation — those are real gaps for creators who need them day one.
Worked example — author selling 100 ebooks/mo at $25
Payhip Free tier
- Revenue: 100 × $25 = $2,500/mo
- Payhip 5% fee: $125/mo
- Stripe processing (~2.9%+$0.30 × 100): ~$102
- Blog (Ghost Pro): $25/mo
- Newsletter (ConvertKit, 1K subs): $29/mo
Total platform cost: ~$281/mo
EU VAT and affiliate built-in. 5% fee grows with revenue.
VeloCMS Business
- Revenue: 100 × $25 = $2,500/mo
- VeloCMS Business: $29/mo (0% platform fee)
- Stripe processing (~2.9%+$0.30 × 100): ~$102
- Resend newsletter (3K/mo free): $0
- CMS blog: included in VeloCMS
Total platform cost: ~$131/mo
No EU VAT automation, no native affiliate program.
The $150/mo delta at this volume is real. Payhip Free's 5% fee grows proportionally as revenue scales — at $5,000/mo in sales, the gap widens to $250/mo in Payhip fees alone. If EU VAT compliance or the affiliate program are critical, factor those savings against the fee difference. If content marketing and owned audience are the primary growth levers, the unified platform economics favor VeloCMS.
Migration from Payhip — 5-step path
Migrating from Payhip to VeloCMS is primarily about moving product files, porting the customer list, and setting up affiliate tracking in a third-party tool. EU VAT compliance requires a manual step that Payhip automated.
- 1
Export Payhip product CSV and customer list
From the Payhip admin, export your products as a CSV (title, description, price, file metadata) and your customer list (email, purchase history). These become the source of truth for product recreation in VeloCMS and subscriber migration into your Resend account. Note which products use license keys — those will need a third-party license management service in VeloCMS (Keygen.sh, Cryptlex) since VeloCMS doesn't generate keys natively.
- 2
Upload product files to Cloudflare R2 storage
Import your digital product files (PDFs, ebooks, templates, audio, video, software downloads) to Cloudflare R2 or a storage provider of your choice. VeloCMS connects to R2 for protected file delivery. Set up access rules to ensure downloads require a verified purchase (via Stripe payment webhook triggering a time-limited download link). This replaces Payhip's hosted file storage with your own storage bucket.
- 3
Recreate products in VeloCMS with BYOK Stripe checkout
Set up your Stripe account in VeloCMS admin (Business plan). Create each product with the matching price and Stripe product ID. Configure BYOK Stripe checkout for one-time product purchases and recurring member subscriptions. If you had Payhip membership tiers, recreate them as VeloCMS member plans with the corresponding Stripe subscription price IDs. Import your Payhip customer email list into Resend for newsletter continuation.
- 4
Set up affiliate tracking via third-party tool and EU VAT workflow
This step replaces two things Payhip handled natively. For affiliate tracking: sign up for Rewardful ($49/mo), Tapfiliate ($89/mo), or a lighter alternative; embed the tracking script in VeloCMS; generate new affiliate links and notify your affiliate partners. For EU VAT: complete OSS (One Stop Shop) registration if you have EU buyers, enable Stripe Tax in your Stripe account for automatic VAT calculation and collection, and set up quarterly VAT filing (or a service like Quaderno). This is the most operationally significant step of the migration.
- 5
DNS update, blog migration, and custom domain setup
Point your custom domain DNS to VeloCMS. If you had a separate blog (WordPress, Ghost) alongside Payhip, migrate your posts into the VeloCMS CMS editor — the block-based editor supports import from HTML or markdown. The VeloCMS blog and product pages now share the same domain, unifying your organic SEO authority. Update any affiliate partner links and redirect old Payhip product URLs to your VeloCMS equivalents. Run both Payhip and VeloCMS in parallel for 2-4 weeks to validate conversion parity before canceling Payhip.
Honest trade-offs
Payhip's EU VAT MOSS handling, built-in affiliate program with commission management, license-key generation for software sellers, multi-currency checkout covering 30+ currencies, 30+ storefront language localizations, and zero-configuration instant setup are genuinely better today for plug-and-play digital product selling. If the goal is to upload an ebook, set a price, and have a compliant checkout handling EU VAT for European buyers within an hour of making the decision, Payhip free does that faster than VeloCMS. The affiliate program alone — commission rates, tracking links, referral analytics, PayPal payouts to affiliates, all without a third-party tool — is infrastructure that saves $49-89/mo compared to building it from Rewardful or Tapfiliate.
The calculus shifts when the creator also needs a content engine for long-term organic search authority, a newsletter for owned subscriber relationships, and a commerce layer that doesn't take 5% of every sale on the free tier as volume grows. Payhip Pro at $99/mo reaches 0% transaction fee, but it still doesn't include a CMS blog, a newsletter platform, or a member content layer — those remain separate platform costs on top of the $99. For a creator whose primary growth channel is content marketing through their own blog and newsletter, VeloCMS Business at $29/mo covers that full stack at lower total cost while keeping 100% of revenue (minus Stripe standard processing). If you want to sell one product today with zero configuration and full EU and affiliate infrastructure, Payhip is genuinely the faster choice. If you're building a business with content, audience, and recurring sales as the foundation — VeloCMS gives you that platform without splitting across four systems.
Which archetype fits your situation?
The Payhip vs VeloCMS decision maps onto three creator profiles. Where you land determines whether plug-and-play compliance and affiliate infrastructure or full-stack content and commerce ownership matters more right now.
Ebook Author
Selling one or two products, content-led audience
Starting with a single ebook, primarily sold through your own blog and newsletter. EU VAT handling and affiliate program are useful but not critical from day one. Long-term, organic search through a CMS blog and an owned newsletter subscriber list are how most buyers find you. VeloCMS Business covers the full content-to-commerce arc. If you have significant EU buyers and want VAT handled automatically from the first sale, consider starting on Payhip free and migrating to VeloCMS once your newsletter and blog are the primary growth channels.
VeloCMS if content-led. Payhip if EU VAT is critical day one.
Online Course Teacher
Course catalog + community + content marketing
Teaching through a combination of free content (building authority), a newsletter (warming leads), and paid courses (the primary offer). EU buyers may need VAT-compliant receipts. Affiliate partnerships through other educators amplify course launches. Payhip handles both natively; VeloCMS requires third-party integrations for those layers. For creators where the course is the product and the blog is the marketing engine, VeloCMS's unified platform covers more of the stack at lower total cost. For creators relying heavily on affiliate network distribution with EU student bases, Payhip removes real friction that VeloCMS adds back.
VeloCMS for content+course. Payhip if affiliates + EU VAT dominate.
Membership Community
Recurring subscriptions, content access, audience ownership
Building a recurring membership community where subscribers pay monthly for access to content, resources, or community. Payhip handles recurring subscriptions with the same transaction fee structure (5%/2%/0% by tier). VeloCMS Business BYOK Stripe handles recurring subscriptions at 0% platform fee. At 200 members at $9/mo, the VeloCMS advantage is roughly $54/mo in platform fees vs Payhip Free, growing with membership revenue. The Payhip wins (affiliate program, EU VAT, multi-currency) matter more for community builders selling in international markets with European members who expect VAT receipts. See how VeloCMS compares to Podia and Gumroad for other membership options.
VeloCMS for owned-audience community. Payhip if EU + multi-currency matter.
Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions
Can I migrate my Payhip products to VeloCMS?
Yes, and it's relatively straightforward. Export your Payhip product list from the admin (CSV format includes title, description, price, and file metadata). Upload your product files to Cloudflare R2 storage (or a storage provider of your choice connected via VeloCMS). Recreate each product as a digital product in VeloCMS with the same pricing and file link. Export your Payhip customer list (CSV with email and purchase history) and import into your Resend account for newsletter. Your existing Payhip affiliate links won't transfer — you'll need to set up affiliate tracking in a third-party tool (Rewardful, Tapfiliate) or communicate new links to your affiliate partners. The 14-day Payhip migration support window covers the product setup and customer list migration.
Does VeloCMS handle EU VAT like Payhip does?
Not automatically in the same way. Payhip's EU VAT MOSS handling — automatic VAT calculation per EU country, collection at checkout, and remittance to tax authorities on the seller's behalf — is a genuine operational advantage that VeloCMS doesn't replicate natively. VeloCMS uses BYOK Stripe for checkout; Stripe Tax (available as an add-on) handles VAT calculation and collection, but VAT remittance to EU member states still requires the seller to complete OSS registration and file quarterly returns independently, or use a tax service like Quaderno, TaxJar, or Taxually at additional cost. For creators with meaningful EU digital goods sales where automated VAT handling is a must-have from day one, Payhip eliminates that compliance friction more completely.
Does VeloCMS have a built-in affiliate program like Payhip?
Not natively. Payhip's affiliate program — commission rates, tracking links, referral analytics, affiliate payouts via PayPal — works out of the box on every Payhip plan including free. VeloCMS doesn't include a native affiliate system. Affiliate tracking for VeloCMS-hosted products requires a third-party tool: Rewardful ($49/mo), Tapfiliate ($89/mo), FirstPromoter ($49/mo), or a lightweight alternative. All integrate via tracking scripts on the VeloCMS checkout flow. If your growth model depends heavily on affiliate partnerships and commission payouts, Payhip's built-in infrastructure removes real setup overhead that VeloCMS currently doesn't eliminate.
Can VeloCMS generate license keys for software and plugins?
Not natively. Payhip's license-key generation — unique keys per purchase, key limit enforcement, buyer key access from their account — is built into the Payhip product dashboard without additional tools. VeloCMS handles digital file delivery (protected download links via Cloudflare R2) but doesn't generate license keys. Software sellers on VeloCMS need to integrate a license management service: Keygen.sh ($49/mo), Cryptlex, LicenseSpring, or a custom webhook-triggered key-generation function using the Stripe post-purchase webhook. For indie developers where license-key management is a core workflow, this is a genuine integration overhead.
What's the real cost comparison between Payhip and VeloCMS for a digital creator?
Depends on volume and which Payhip tier makes sense. Worked example: ebook author selling 100 books/mo at $25 = $2,500/mo revenue. Payhip Free: $125/mo transaction fee to Payhip (5%) + Stripe processing = roughly $197/mo in platform costs. Payhip Plus $29/mo: $50/mo in transaction fees (2%) + Stripe processing = roughly $121/mo in platform costs. Payhip Pro $99/mo: $0 transaction fee to Payhip + Stripe processing = roughly $99/mo + Stripe. VeloCMS Business $29/mo: $0 transaction fee to VeloCMS + Stripe processing = $29/mo + Stripe. At $2,500/mo in sales, Payhip Pro and VeloCMS Business are surprisingly close on raw cost ($99 vs $29) but VeloCMS includes the CMS blog and newsletter that Payhip Pro doesn't. The Payhip free tier's 5% compounding fee is the main comparison driver — it's 4.3x the VeloCMS Business flat rate on that revenue.
Can I run a blog and a digital store on the same domain in VeloCMS?
Yes — that's the core architectural difference. Blog posts, product pages, newsletter opt-in, and member paywall all live on the same domain in VeloCMS under a single admin. Blog content and product pages share the same domain authority. A blog post ranking for 'best ebook writing tools' can link naturally to a product page on the same domain without a subdomain split. In Payhip's model, the creator's blog typically lives on a separate platform (blog.yourname.com or a separate domain) while the Payhip store lives on payhip.com/yourname on free, or a custom domain on paid plans. The domain split means organic authority built through blogging doesn't compound directly into the product store's discoverability.
Does Payhip support custom domains on the free tier?
No. On Payhip's free tier, your storefront lives at payhip.com/yourname permanently. Custom domain support requires the Plus plan ($29/mo) or Pro plan ($99/mo). VeloCMS offers custom domains on Pro ($9/mo annual) and above. The free tier on VeloCMS uses a velocms.org subdomain. For creators who care about custom domain branding from the start, VeloCMS Pro at $9/mo is significantly more accessible than Payhip Plus at $29/mo — though Payhip Plus also reduces the transaction fee to 2%, which changes the comparison for high-volume sellers.
What does VeloCMS offer that Payhip doesn't, and what does Payhip offer that VeloCMS doesn't?
VeloCMS leads on: CMS blog with organic SEO infrastructure, per-post JSON-LD schema, AI writing assist in editor, native newsletter with owned subscriber list, custom domain at lower plan price, 30+ niche themes, flat pricing from Business plan ($29/mo), self-hosting option. Payhip leads on: EU VAT MOSS automatic compliance (biggest practical gap), built-in affiliate program (native, works on free tier), license-key generation for software sellers, multi-currency storefront (30+ currencies, zero config), 30+ storefront language localizations, instant zero-configuration product setup for purely selling-focused workflows. Both are the right tool for different stages and priorities — plug-and-play global selling with tax and affiliate infrastructure built in (Payhip) vs. content-led audience building with owned commerce and newsletter (VeloCMS).
Founder note
“Payhip's EU VAT handling is genuinely thoughtful infrastructure — solving the 27-country tax-registration problem automatically is something most creators don't appreciate until they face their first EU VAT audit. But a 5% per-sale toll that grows with every successful month is the wrong shape for a creator building a business. Flat monthly feels expensive at the start; per-sale feels cheap. The math inverts fast.”
VeloCMS was built for creators who want a blog that compounds, a newsletter that owns the relationship, and a commerce layer that charges flat — not a tax on every sale you make.
Try VeloCMS free for 14 days
No transaction fee on top of Stripe. CMS blog, BYOK newsletter, member paywall, and digital products — all from one admin. If you're migrating from Payhip, we offer 14-day hands-on migration support during your trial.