Gumroad is a checkout and marketplace: no monthly fee, 10% + $0.50 per sale, and the buyer downloads the file. HelpRange protects the PDF itself: each buyer reads a personal, watermarked copy and you can take access back. Many sellers keep Gumroad for the checkout and deliver through HelpRange.
Your readers pay for the PDF, not for a file to forward.
Protect and sell in one: every buyer reads a personal copy with their e-mail watermarked on each page and downloads blocked. Access ends after the days you set, when you revoke it, or on a refund or cancellation from Kajabi, Whop or Gumroad. From $39 a month per team.
HelpRange Pro is $39 a month per team with unlimited buyers. Gumroad takes 10% + $0.50 of every sale through your profile or direct links, and 30% of sales that come through its Discover marketplace.
Buyers read in the protected viewer on phone, tablet or computer; download, print and copy are off, so there is no PDF to pass around.
The buyer's e-mail – or your own buyer ID – on every page of the copy they read. Gumroad can stamp the buyer's e-mail on the PDF, but the buyer keeps the file.
Revoke a buyer with one click. Gumroad’s ping sends only sales, so a refund is revoked by hand – or automatically if you subscribe to Gumroad’s refund event.
Keep Gumroad for checkout, payouts and taxes. Its ping sends every sale to HelpRange, and the buyer gets a protected copy by e-mail within seconds.
Page-by-page reading analytics per buyer, and an alert when one link is opened from many places.
| Features | Gumroad | HelpRange |
|---|---|---|
| Price | No monthly fee; 10% + $0.50 per sale through your profile or direct links, 30% per sale through the Discover marketplace | Pro $39 per team per month ($31 yearly), unlimited buyers; your own HelpRange Store adds a 2% fee on Pro and 0% on Max and Unlimited, plus Stripe’s fee |
| What the buyer gets | A download of the file | A personal link to read in the protected viewer – no file |
| Buyer watermark | Optional PDF stamping with the buyer’s e-mail; Gumroad says it is not DRM | Yes – the buyer's e-mail or your buyer ID on every page |
| After a refund | A file already downloaded stays with the buyer | Access ends – with one click, or automatically through Gumroad’s refund event |
| Taxes | Gumroad handles sales tax and VAT for you (since 1 January 2025) | With your own HelpRange Store, taxes stay with you; with Gumroad as checkout, Gumroad handles them |
| Finding buyers | Discover marketplace (30% fee on those sales) | No marketplace – you bring the buyers |
| Offline reading | Yes – the buyer has the file | No – reading needs an internet connection |
Store → “Add product”: choose the PDF – a folder, one file or a new upload – and under “Where buyers come from” tick Gumroad.
Gumroad → Settings → Advanced: paste the product’s Gumroad webhook address into “Ping endpoint” and enter the product’s permalink in “Only for this product”. Ping sends only sales – for refunds, developers can subscribe the revoke address (…?action=revoke) to Gumroad’s “refund” and “subscription_ended” resources.
Buyers get their protected copy by e-mail; refunds take it back.
Buyer access is part of Pro ($39 per team per month, unlimited buyers), Max, Unlimited and the 3-day trial – no per-buyer or per-view fees. Plans & pricing
It depends on your sales. Gumroad has no monthly fee and takes 10% + $0.50 per direct sale (gumroad.com/pricing, 14 November 2026): $125 on 50 sales of a $20 PDF. HelpRange Pro is $39 a month per team; selling through your own HelpRange Store adds 2% on Pro (0% on Max) and Stripe’s fee. At a few sales a month Gumroad costs less; at a few hundred dollars a month and more, a flat price usually wins.
Yes – it is the most common setup. Gumroad keeps the checkout, payouts and taxes; its ping sends each sale to HelpRange, which e-mails the buyer a personal, watermarked copy. Revoke refunds with one click, or subscribe the revoke address to Gumroad’s refund event.
Gumroad can stamp the buyer’s e-mail on a PDF before it is downloaded, and its help centre says this is not DRM: the buyer keeps the file and can pass it on with the stamp. HelpRange never hands out the file.
When you want marketplace buyers and tax handling in one place, when buyers must keep the file for offline reading, when you sell software, audio or other non-document files, or when you sell only a few copies a month.
Yes – in the browser on any device, or in the HelpRange viewer app for iPhone, iPad and Android.
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