Earns.io

SIDE BY SIDE

Put two or three platforms side by side

Pick the ones you are actually choosing between. The same questions get asked of each, the answers come off the company's own pages, and every figure carries the day we read it.

Places that pay youThings you build on

Eight questions about what it costs and who owns the result, asked of each one.

2 PLATFORMS · 8 QUESTIONS · 5 ANSWERED BY ALL

Lemon Squeezy
Shopify

What it costs you

What it really costs to startAll in, not the first-year promotional price.
Lemon SqueezyCost to startFree to open a store: $0/month, no card and no contract required. The only entry cost is the 5% + 50c fee taken per transaction.source · checked 2026-09-07
ShopifyPricingBasic at 19 US$/mo when paid yearly or $25 USD/mo paid monthly, after a free start; a custom domain bought through Shopify renews automatically each year on topsource · checked 2026-09-12
What it costs to keep alivePer year, once the introductory pricing is over.
Lemon SqueezyOngoing platform feeNo monthly fee. Running cost is the 5% + 50c platform fee per sale, plus +1.5% international, +1.5% PayPal and +0.5% subscription surcharges.source · checked 2026-09-07
ShopifyPricingBasic 19 US$/mo with 2% on 3rd-party payment providers, Grow 49 US$/mo with 1%, Advanced 299 US$/mo with 0.6%, Plus from 2,300 US$/mo with 0.2%; POS Pro is an extra 89 US$/mo per locationsource · checked 2026-09-12

The gate before the first cent

The gate before it pays anythingThe traffic, sales or balance you must reach before a single cent moves.
Lemon SqueezyPayout threshold$50 minimum payout threshold. Below it the balance stays Pending and rolls into the next payout cycle.source · checked 2026-09-07
ShopifyWe have not checked this one yet
How long before the first paymentThe gap you have to fund out of your own pocket.
Lemon SqueezyPayout lagNet sales are held 13 days, released on the 14th and 28th of the month, then 1-5 days more to land in the bank.source · checked 2026-09-07
ShopifyWe have not checked this one yet

Is it yours or theirs

Who owns what you buildYours, or a room you are allowed to sit in until the rules change?
Lemon SqueezyStore domainThe store sits on a Lemon Squeezy sub-domain by default; any custom URL must be bought, owned and maintained by the seller.source · checked 2026-09-07
Shopify8.1 Your MaterialsShopify does not take ownership of the Materials you provide, but you grant it a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to host, use, distribute, modify and publicly perform them, and you waive your moral rights in themsource · checked 2026-09-12
Can you take it with youThe domain, the list, the content. What actually leaves with you.
Lemon SqueezyExport windowThe export window closes with the account: after termination there is no access to the service or the data stored in it.source · checked 2026-09-07
ShopifyTerms of ServiceYou can remove your Shopify Store at any time by deleting your Account; that does not end the licenses to your Materials that Shopify needed during the term, and a domain bought through Shopify keeps auto-renewing while the Account is activesource · checked 2026-09-12
Can it be soldIs there a resale market, and what does it pay?
Lemon SqueezyAccount transferThe account is not freely sellable: assignment needs Lemon Squeezy's prior written consent and its review and approval of the buyer.source · checked 2026-09-07
ShopifyWe have not checked this one yet
What takes it all awayThe single rule, ban or dependency that ends it overnight.
Lemon SqueezyCounterparty entitySingle-vendor dependency: store, checkout, customer list and payouts all sit with one entity, now trading as Link, LLC, formerly Lemon Squeezy LLC.source · checked 2026-09-07
ShopifyAccount TermsShopify may reject your application for an Account, or cancel an existing Account, for any reason, at its sole discretion; fees unpaid for 60 days after a suspension also let it terminate the Account, and you must be 18 or the age of majority to open onesource · checked 2026-09-12

There is no winner at the bottom of this table

Nothing here gets added up. A score would have to decide that these questions weigh the same for everyone, and they do not. A lower cash-out bar is better if you need the money this month and worse if it arrives as a gift card you cannot spend on rent. One payout method is fine right up until it is the one that does not work where you live.

The rows worth your attention are usually the ones where the columns disagree about whether to answer at all. A platform that publishes its fee and a platform that does not are not two platforms with different fees. One of them has told you, and you can hold them to it.

Rows marked as not checked are about us, not about them. They mean nobody here has gone looking yet, and they stay visible for that reason. Found a figure that has moved? Tell us, and it gets a new source and a new date rather than a quiet edit.

ALL PLATFORMS