Beacons vs Stan Store: the short answer
Under about $322 a month, even Beacons Free beats Stan on price.
Pick Stan if you sell courses and coaching, since its plans include the course builder and booking tools, plus subscriptions and community1. Pick Beacons if you want a free start and brand deal tools, plus a custom domain on a cheap plan2. Your sales mix settles the rest.
How the prices compare, checked November 2026
| Plan | Monthly | Annual | Platform fee | Key limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beacons Free | $0 | $0 | 9% | 50 email sends a month, 1 course with no video hosting2 |
| Beacons Creator | $10 | $100 ($8.33/mo) | 9% | Free custom domain and 500 email sends2 |
| Beacons Creator Plus | $30 | $300 ($25/mo) | 0% | Unlimited courses and email sends2 |
| Beacons Creator Max | $100 | $1,000 ($83.30/mo) | 0% | Google Workspace, white-glove onboarding2 |
| Stan Creator | $29 | $300 | 0% | Course builder, booking, community, AutoDM1 |
| Stan Creator Pro | $99 | $948 | 0% | Funnels, upsells, affiliate management, email flows1 |
| Stan Creator Max | $299 | not listed | 0% | Custom domain, limited release3 |
Beacons advertises its annual billing as two months free2. Stan offers a 14-day trial but no free tier, so billing starts when the trial ends14.
One correction: some comparisons still list Beacons' top plan at $90 a month or use retired plan names like Creator Pro, Store Pro or Business Pro5. The official page shows Creator Max at $100 a month or $1,000 billed annually2. For a deeper look at each tier, see Beacons pricing 2026: plans, the 9% fee and what you keep.
What you actually pay at your sales level
Monthly cost of Beacons Creator at different sales levels, combining the $10 subscription with the 9% seller fee, based on Beacons' published pricing. Sources: 1, 2, 6.
| Monthly sales | Beacons Free | Beacons Creator | Beacons Creator Plus | Stan Creator |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $0 | $0 | $10 | $30 | $29 |
| $150 | $13.50 | $23.50 | $30 | $29 |
| $1,000 | $90 | $100 | $30 | $29 |
The break-even points, using subscription plus the 9% fee only:
- Beacons Creator vs Stan Creator: $19 ÷ 0.09 = $211.11 a month in sales. Below that, Beacons Creator is cheaper.
- Beacons Free vs Stan Creator works out at $29 ÷ 0.09 = $322.22.
- Moving from Creator to Creator Plus pays off once you pass $20 ÷ 0.09 = $222.22 in monthly sales.
- Free to Creator Plus: $30 ÷ 0.09 = $333.33.
On annual billing, Creator Plus and Stan Creator are both $300 a year with 0% platform fee216. That makes the cost identical. Features break the tie.
Processing still applies on top of all of this. Stan's 0% platform fee is Stan's cut only. US Stripe charges 2.9% + $0.30 per card sale, and payouts cost 0.25% + $0.25 with a $1 minimum. Afterpay runs 6.0% + $0.30 and Klarna 5.99% + $0.30, while PayPal costs 3.49% plus a fixed fee6.
On one $50 sale by US card, that is $1.45 + $0.30 = $1.75, so you receive $48.25 before the payout fee, and if you refund the order, Stripe keeps its fee. Beacons' pricing page doesn't list processing fees, so check what your payment setup shows at checkout rather than assuming it matches Stan's.
Selling your own products: courses, coaching and upsells
Stan Creator includes the storefront, calendar and booking tools, analytics, an unlimited course builder, recurring subscriptions, lead magnets, community and AutoDM. Creator Pro goes further. It adds discount codes, upsells and order bumps, payment plans, funnels, affiliate management, email broadcasts and flows, and pixel tracking1.
On Beacons, the Free and Creator plans limit you to 1 course with no video hosting. Creator Plus removes that cap entirely, with unlimited courses and memberships plus video hosting, and it adds Buy Now Pay Later through Klarna or Affirm2.
Beacons' pricing page lists order bumps and Google calendar integration, so claims of no upsells or booking are wrong. What has no listed Beacons equivalent is Stan Creator Pro's funnels and Affiliate Management. Beacons does list email automation sequences. The cap is 5 or 20 automations a month, depending on the plan2.
You get 50 sends a month on Free and 500 on Creator, with unlimited sends from Creator Plus2. On Stan, email marketing (broadcasts and flows) sits in the $99 Creator Pro plan1. Both platforms include Instagram auto-DM on their entry offerings21.
Brand deals, media kits and affiliate links
Beacons is the stronger tool if brand deals pay your bills. Its media kit updates audience and engagement data daily from your linked social accounts, and the platform includes rate cards and invoices for brand deals. You also get a pricing calculator for brand deal base rates and an AI outreach generator that writes pitch emails using your media kit2.
Beam, an AI chat assistant, lets you chat about content and audience, or about analytics and brand deal strategy. Beacons Creator includes 300 daily AI credits, and Creator Plus has unlimited daily AI credits2. If you want to build one yourself first, grab this free media kit template for TikTok creators.
Links to Beacons' 12k brand partners carry a 9% transaction fee on Free and Creator, and 0% on the two higher plans. At $200 of affiliate commissions each month, that fee costs you $18 on the lower plans, while Creator Plus keeps 100% of affiliate link commissions2.
Stan's plan pages list no media kit or invoicing tools1.
Neither store answers or negotiates brand emails for you. Rateful fills that gap for TikTok Shop creators whose income is mostly brand deals. Each creator gets a deals address, handle@rateful.ai, and the AI manager Sam answers to the rate card you set and never goes below your minimum. Every deal needs your OK.
On your own deals, the brand pays through Rateful and your deposit is released before you film, while Rateful holds only the rest until the posts are live. When a deal comes from a brand's creator list, Rateful holds the full payment until the posts are live. Rateful takes 0% of deals.
Creators pay nothing until Rateful closes their first deal. It works alongside a Stan or Beacons store rather than replacing either one; see Rateful vs Stan Store: prices, fees and who fits and Rateful vs Beacons: fees, brand deals and who fits.
Custom domain and design options
Beacons includes a free custom domain from the Creator plan up2.
Stan's domain situation changed during 2026, and older pages get it wrong in both directions. In March 2026, Stan's help center said custom domains could not be connected and suggested domain forwarding instead7. A help page dated Nov 3, 2026 introduces a new Creator Max plan at $299 a month that lets creators create or embed a custom domain, as a limited release that has not reached all creators3.
Your stan.store link keeps working after the domain goes live3.
On design, Beacons' website builder scales by plan: 1 website with 1 page on the lowest plan, and more on higher plans2. Stan says it offers 11 ready-to-use store templates4.
Beacons lists response times by plan, from under 48 hours on Free to under 24 hours on the next plan up2. Stan says its support averages a 46-minute response time4. Fast help matters when a launch breaks.
Which one should you pick?
| Your situation | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Not selling yet | Beacons Free or Creator | Free forever start2 |
| Earning from affiliate links and brand deals | Beacons Creator Plus | 0% fees, custom domain, keeps 100% of affiliate commissions, $300/yr2 |
| Courses, coaching, funnels, affiliates for your products | Stan Creator or Creator Pro | Deeper sales toolkit, 0% on all plans16 |
| Earn mainly from TikTok Shop brand deals | Either store, plus a deal tool | Neither store answers or negotiates brand emails for you |
Some creators run both: Beacons as the media kit and link hub, Stan for the course checkout. That costs more, so it only makes sense once revenue covers both subscriptions.
Test before you commit. Stan offers a 14-day free trial4, and Beacons Free is free forever with no trial needed2. If Linktree is also on your shortlist, read Stan Store vs Linktree: fees, plans and who fits.
Questions people ask
Is Stan Store better than Beacons?
Stan Store suits course and coaching sales, since even its Creator plan includes the course builder, booking tools, community and subscriptions1. Beacons is better for brand deals4 and starting free2. Your sales mix decides it.
Which is cheaper, Beacons or Stan Store?
Beacons is cheaper below about $211 of sales per month on the Creator plan, or below $322 on the Free plan. Creator Plus and Stan Creator cost the same $300 a year with no platform fee216.
Does Beacons take a percentage of sales?
Only on Free and Creator. From Creator Plus at $30 a month, the platform fee drops to 0%, and you keep all affiliate link commissions2. Card processing fees from your payment provider apply separately, and the pricing page doesn't list those.
Does Stan Store have a free plan or free trial?
There is no free plan, but Stan does offer a 14-day trial148. Creator costs $29 monthly or $300 a year, and Creator Pro costs $99 monthly or $948 a year1.
Can you use a custom domain on Stan Store?
Creator and Creator Pro stay on stan.store/username with no custom domain option. The only plan that changes this is Creator Max at $299 a month, not yet released to all creators3.
Can I use Beacons and Stan Store at the same time?
Yes, some creators do exactly that. A common split is Beacons as the media kit and link hub, with Stan handling the course checkout. Running both means paying two subscriptions, so it only makes sense once your revenue covers them. Start with one store. Add the second only when a specific gap shows up.