Linktree vs Beacons in 2026: Both Take 9% of Your Sales

Two companies competing hard for the same customers arrived at exactly the same number. Linktree's plan comparison lists a 9 percent seller fee. Beacons' pricing page lists a 9 percent seller fee.

Neither mentions it on a homepage, and both remove it only on a plan two tiers above the one most people buy.

That coincidence is the most useful fact about this category, because it means the comparison is not really about the fee. It is about what each one charges to make the fee stop.

Beacons stops it at $25 a month billed annually. Linktree stops it at 27.50 euro a month billed annually. Everything else in this article is detail around those two numbers.

A link in bio tool is a hosted page that holds the links a social profile cannot, and in 2026 both of these are really storefronts with a link list attached, which is why they have transaction fees at all.

Full disclosure: Framekit is our own website builder, so we compete with both at the edges. We have kept this comparison between Linktree and Beacons and put our own position in one short marked section near the end. Every figure below comes from each company's own published pricing page, read in August 2026 and linked where used.

How We Compared Linktree and Beacons

We built the same page on both. It belongs to a content creator with about 18,000 followers: a profile image, eight links, an email capture, a media kit for brand deals, and one product for sale, a $39 preset pack, selling about forty a month for $1,560.

Both accounts were created fresh in August 2026 with no promotional code, on a European connection.

Linktree served us euros and Beacons is priced in dollars, so each is printed in its own currency and we say so wherever they are compared rather than pretending a conversion is precise.

Measured means we built the page and used the control. Verified means we read it on the vendor's own pricing page in August 2026 and are reporting it with a link. Community sentiment means creators report it consistently and we did not reproduce it.

Judgements about how the pages look are labelled as ours.

We quote no third-party star ratings anywhere in this comparison, because the large review aggregators blocked automated access during this round of research. Every number links to the page it came from.

In one lineone creator's page with eight links and a $39 product selling forty a month, built on both platforms with fresh August 2026 accounts, priced in each vendor's own currency.

The Plans, Side by Side

These are the two ladders as published, read from Linktree's pricing page and Beacons' pricing page in August 2026, each in the currency its own page served us rather than converted into the other.

Look at the fee column. On both platforms, three of the four tiers charge 9 percent. Only the top one does not.

What Our Creator Pays

This is the same creator priced on every tier of both platforms, at $1,560 a month in sales, before card processing, which both companies charge separately at broadly similar rates. It is the table that makes the middle tiers look as strange as they are.

The most expensive plan on either platform, for this creator, is the middle one. Beacons Creator at $8.33 costs more than Creator Plus at $25 once the fee is counted, and Linktree Pro at 10.50 euro costs more than Premium at 27.50.

Both companies have priced a tier that is strictly worse than the one above it for anyone selling.

The Crossovers

In one lineeach platform has a single number above which its zero-fee tier is cheaper, and both numbers are low enough that most people selling anything have already passed them.

Beacons: $278 a month in sales. Creator Plus costs $25 a month billed annually and removes a 9 percent fee, so the upgrade pays for itself when 9 percent of your sales exceeds $25. That is $278. Seven sales of a $39 product.

Linktree: about 256 euro a month in sales. Premium at 27.50 euro removes the same 9 percent from a Starter plan at 4.50 euro, a difference of 23 euro, so 23 divided by 0.09 is about 256 euro. Also about seven sales.

Which means both free plans are traps at any real volume. Beacons Free at $1,560 a month costs $140.40 in fees against a $25 plan that would cost nothing per sale.

That is $115.40 a month, or $1,384.80 a year, paid by a creator who believes they are on a free plan.

Here is the test, and it takes a minute. Open your platform's plan comparison and search the page for the word "seller". If a percentage appears next to your current plan, multiply last month's sales through the page by it.

Compare that to the annual price of the cheapest plan showing 0 percent. For most creators who sell, the upgrade paid for itself several months ago and the fee never appeared on an invoice because it is deducted before the payout.

Where Beacons Wins

In one lineBeacons costs less to reach zero percent, includes far more at that tier, and has the more capable free plan, which makes it the better product for a creator who sells anything.

The zero-fee tier is cheaper and does more. Creator Plus at $25 a month billed annually at $300 a year removes seller fees and adds courses with video hosting, unlimited memberships, unlimited email sends, buy-now-pay-later options at checkout, and 100 percent of affiliate link commissions.

Linktree Premium at 27.50 euro removes the fee and adds an affiliate shop, dynamic links and smart routing, data export, social scheduling, and unlimited Instagram auto-replies.

Those are different bundles, and the Beacons one is the one a seller uses.

The free plan is more capable. Beacons Free includes unlimited digital products, a media kit that updates itself from your social accounts, affiliate links, real-time analytics, 30 daily AI credits, and 50 email sends a month.

Linktree Free is a link list that can also sell. If you are going to spend a while on a free tier, more of the product is available on Beacons.

The custom domain arrives earlier. Beacons includes a free custom domain from Creator at $8.33 a month billed annually. Linktree does not offer a custom domain on any tier, including Premium.

For anyone who wants their own address, that is a permanent difference rather than a pricing one.

The standout detailon Beacons, the custom domain and the zero seller fee are two separate upgrades, at $8.33 and $25. The one most people want first is not the one that saves them money, and a creator who upgrades to Creator for the domain is still paying 9 percent.

Where Linktree Wins

In one lineLinktree is the cleaner, calmer product for a page that is only a list of links, and the instant recognition of a Linktree address is worth something to a social audience that Beacons cannot buy at any price.

Recognition. A Linktree address is understood instantly by an audience that has seen thousands of them. For a creator whose visitors arrive from a social bio and expect a familiar shape, that reduces friction in a way no feature list captures.

Restraint. This is our judgement rather than a measurement: Linktree's default output is quieter and more typographically neutral, and Beacons leans harder into a creator aesthetic that not every brand wants.

If your work is design-led, Linktree takes less effort to make calm.

The free plan is genuinely free for the core job. Unlimited basic links at 0 euro, with no pressure, and it publishes a real working page. If you never sell, you never pay Linktree anything and the 9 percent never applies to you.

Premium's routing tools have no Beacons equivalent. Dynamic links and smart routing, plus unlimited Instagram auto-replies, are genuinely useful to a creator running campaigns across regions or platforms, and Beacons does not offer the same thing.

The gotcha that applies to both, and to Linktree slightly worse: Pro at 10.50 euro a month is the tier most people buy, for themes and analytics, and it does nothing about the seller fee. It is the most expensive middle tier in this category.

What Neither of Them Gives You

In one lineboth platforms rent you a page on their domain, and Linktree does not offer a custom domain at any price, which means everything you build accrues to the platform rather than to you.

A link page collects references over time. It goes in bios, in press kits, on flyers, in email signatures. After three years that address is how people find you.

On Linktree, that address is Linktree's, at every tier including Premium at 27.50 euro a month. Leave, and every reference breaks, with no redirect available because you never controlled the address.

On Beacons, you can have your own domain from the Creator plan at $8.33 a month billed annually, which is the single most valuable thing in this comparison that is not a fee.

If you leave Beacons with your own domain, the address survives and you point it somewhere else.

Neither exports a working copy of the page. What differs is whether the address survives the move, and only one of them lets it.

The second thing to check on both, before you have hundreds of them: whether your email subscribers export as a CSV. Beacons and Linktree both collect subscribers, and confirming the export path early costs nothing while confirming it late can cost you the list.

Where Framekit Fits

We build a website builder and therefore compete with both of these at the edges, so rather than salt that interest through the comparison above, here is our position stated once, in full, including the part that argues against us.

Framekit is an AI website builder for photographers, filmmakers, designers, and creators, with a portfolio, client galleries, and a store on one domain.

Free at $0 with a 5 percent fee on product sales, Starter at $9 a month with a custom domain, Pro at $19 with 3 percent, and Business at $39 with no fee.

Where we loseat our creator's $1,560 a month, Beacons Creator Plus costs $25 a month billed annually and our Business plan costs $31 on the same annual basis.

For a link page with a checkout, Beacons is cheaper than us and we would rather print that than argue around it. We are also not live in four minutes the way either of these is.

Where we differour free plan charges 5 percent where both of these charge 9, and the page is a real site rather than a rented handle, so the traffic builds your own search position.

That matters if people find you by searching your name and matters not at all if they only ever arrive from a bio link.

How to Choose

In one linework down these questions in order and stop at the first one that describes you, because on both of these platforms the seller-fee question settles the decision before any feature comparison gets a chance to.

1. Do you sell nothing through the page, ever? Linktree Free. It is cleaner, more recognised, and costs nothing.
2. Do you sell more than about $278 a month? Beacons Creator Plus at $25 a month billed annually. It is the cheapest zero-fee tier in this comparison and includes courses and memberships.
3. Do you sell more than that and prefer Linktree's product? Linktree Premium at 27.50 euro. Do not stop at Starter or Pro, both of which still charge 9 percent.
4. Do you want your own domain? Beacons, from Creator at $8.33 a month. Linktree does not offer one at any tier.
5. Do you run campaigns needing dynamic links or Instagram auto-replies? Linktree Premium. Beacons has no equivalent.
6. Do you sell courses or memberships? Beacons Creator Plus, which includes both at the same $25.
7. Do people find you by searching your name rather than tapping a bio link? Neither. Build the page on a domain you own.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do Linktree and Beacons both charge 9 percent?

Yes. Linktree's plan comparison lists a 9 percent seller fee, with 0 percent seller fees only on Premium at 27.50 euro a month billed annually.

Beacons lists a 9 percent seller fee on its Free and Creator plans, with 0 percent starting on Creator Plus at $25 a month billed annually. Two competing companies arrived at the same rate.

Which is cheaper, Linktree or Beacons?

Beacons, for anyone who sells. Its zero-fee tier is $25 a month billed annually against Linktree Premium at 27.50 euro, and Beacons includes courses, memberships, and unlimited email sends at that price.

For a page with nothing for sale, both free plans cost nothing and Linktree's is the cleaner one.

When should I upgrade to Beacons Creator Plus?

At $278 a month in sales, because 9 percent of $278 is $25, the annual-billing price of the plan. That is about seven sales of a $39 product. Anyone selling more than that on the free or Creator plan is paying more in fees than the upgrade would cost.

When should I upgrade to Linktree Premium?

At about 256 euro a month in sales. Premium at 27.50 euro removes the 9 percent charged on Starter at 4.50 euro, a difference of 23 euro, so 23 divided by 0.09 is roughly 256 euro. Below that, stay on a cheaper tier; above it, Premium costs less overall.

Can I use a custom domain with Linktree?

No. Linktree publishes to a Linktree address on every tier, including Premium. Beacons includes a free custom domain from its Creator plan at $8.33 a month billed annually, which is the clearest structural difference between the two products.

Which has the better free plan?

Beacons, on capability: unlimited digital products, a self-updating media kit, affiliate links, real-time analytics, 30 daily AI credits, and 50 email sends a month. Linktree Free is simpler and cleaner.

Both charge 9 percent when you sell, so neither free plan is genuinely free for a creator with a product.

Is Linktree Pro worth buying?

Not if you sell. Pro at 10.50 euro a month adds enhanced themes, advanced analytics, and mailing list integrations, and does nothing about the 9 percent seller fee.

For a creator with sales it is the worst-value tier in this comparison: you pay more and still hand over the same percentage.

Can I move from Linktree to Beacons?

Yes, and it is manual: recreate the links, rebuild the page, and export your email subscribers as a CSV first. The part you cannot move is the Linktree address itself, so every bio, flyer, and press kit pointing at it needs updating.

If you move to Beacons and use its custom domain, you will not have that problem again.

Which is better for brand deals?

Beacons, because its media kit updates itself from your connected social accounts and lives on the same page a brand is already looking at.

Linktree Premium's data export is useful for the same conversation, since brands ask for numbers you can put in a document rather than a screenshot.

Do these platforms handle sales tax?

Neither acts as merchant of record, so VAT and sales tax obligations on digital sales remain yours.

If cross-border tax is a real exposure for you, a merchant-of-record platform is a better home for the selling half of your setup than either of these, and the link page can simply point at it.

Final Verdict

If your page sells anything, buy Beacons Creator Plus at $25 a month billed annually. It is cheaper than Linktree's equivalent tier, includes courses and memberships that Linktree does not, and it can run on your own domain, which Linktree cannot at any price.

If your page is only a list of links, use Linktree Free. It is cleaner, more familiar to your audience, and the 9 percent never applies to you.

What almost nobody should buy is the middle of either ladder.

Beacons Creator at $8.33 and Linktree Pro at 10.50 euro both cost money and both still take 9 percent, which makes them more expensive than the tier above for any creator with sales.

If you are on one of those today, run the arithmetic tonight.

Where Framekit does not compete. At the selling volume in this comparison, Beacons Creator Plus costs $25 a month billed annually and our Business plan costs $31 on the same basis, so on price for a link-page-with-a-checkout, Beacons still wins.

Neither are we live in four minutes. Our argument is that a page on your own domain compounds and a rented handle does not, and if your audience only ever arrives from a bio link, that argument is worth less to you than $14 a month.

Related readingthe best link in bio tools, Carrd vs Linktree, and the best Stan Store alternatives.