# ClickBank vs Digistore24 · CheckoutScale > Source: https://checkoutscale.com/compare/clickbank-vs-digistore24 ## ClickBank vs Digistore24 Head-to-head [All head-to-heads →](/compare) Pick ClickBank if you sell to a US-first audience and want the deepest pool of affiliates behind a direct-response offer; pick Digistore24 if you sell into Europe or globally, or want more built-in conversion tooling with VAT handled for you. By [Marcus Reyes](/authors/marcus-reyes), Editor. Updated 27 September 2026. **Disclosure:**We may earn a commission when you buy through links on this page. It never affects our rankings. Quick answer **Digistore24** is our top pick for most people. Digistore24 is the pick if you sell a direct-response digital or supplement offer to a European or global audience and want a reseller that handles payments, VAT, refunds and an affiliate network for you. It is real, it has paid reliably since 2012, and it takes nothing until you sell. The catch is what it is. Digistore24 is a reseller and merchant of record with real conversion tooling, not a checkout you own: it is the single processor on every sale, the buyer is contractually its customer rather than yours, and its 7.9% plus 1 euro cut, chargeback tiers and buyer-side disputes are real costs. For running affiliates with the compliance handled, it is one of Europe's strongest options. For a checkout you control and route across your own merchant accounts, it is the wrong tool. * **ClickBank.** Best for direct-response digital and supplement offers that want a built-in affiliate army. Has a free tier. * **Digistore24.** Best for European and global direct-response offers that want a reseller plus a built-in affiliate network. Has a free tier. ### Side by side | | ClickBank | Digistore24 | | --------------------- | ------------------ | ------------------ | | From | 7.5% + $1 per sale | 7.9% + €1 per sale | | Same-URL split test | No | No | | Multi-MID routing | No | No | | Order bumps & upsells | Yes | Yes | | Free trial | Free to join | Free to join | ClickBank and Digistore24 are the same kind of thing wearing two flags. Both are affiliate marketplaces bolted to a merchant or reseller of record: you list an offer, they process the payment, calculate and remit tax, run the affiliate program and pay everyone out, and they take a cut of each sale instead of a monthly fee. Neither is a funnel builder and neither is a checkout you own. So the decision between them is rarely about a single feature. It is about where your buyers are, how much conversion tooling you want built in, and what the cut costs you at your volume. #### What they have in common Start with the parts that do not separate them, because there are a lot. Both are free to join for sellers and affiliates, and both take nothing until you make a sale. Both are the legal seller of record, which means they, not you, are the merchant on the buyer's statement, and they handle sales tax, VAT, invoicing, refunds and chargebacks. Both have paid reliably for well over a decade: ClickBank since 1998, with more than $7.3 billion in commissions paid across its history; Digistore24 since 2012, with more than 3 billion euros in sales processed and 5.5 million products sold last year. Both run a real affiliate network in the health and make-money niches where direct-response offers live. And both leave the same two gaps: each is the single processor on every order, so you cannot route volume across your own merchant accounts, and the buyer is contractually their customer, not yours. #### Where ClickBank wins ClickBank's advantage is reach and recruitment in the United States. Its marketplace connects sellers with more than 100,000 active affiliates, heavily concentrated in the US health, supplement and make-money-online niches, and that is a customer-acquisition channel you cannot buy off the shelf. If your offer is priced in dollars, your buyers are North American, and your growth plan depends on getting hundreds of affiliates to pick up your offer, ClickBank has the deeper pool and the longer track record. It pays twice a week, and its name carries recognition with US affiliates that Digistore24 has not built on that side of the Atlantic. The trade-off is what ClickBank does not do. It has an order form with bumps and one-click upsells, but no page builder and no split testing of any kind. You build and tune the sales page somewhere else. And the costs stack: 7.5% plus $1 on every sale, $5 taken from each payout, a one-time $49.95 fee when your first product is approved, and dormant-account fees that quietly erode a balance if you stop selling for 90 days or more. The 60-day buyer refund window it runs as merchant of record is generous to buyers and claws commissions back out of your account, which bites hardest in refund-heavy niches. #### Where Digistore24 wins Digistore24 is the stronger choice for selling into Europe, and for sellers who want more built in than a bare marketplace. As the reseller of record it lets you sell across the EU and internationally without registering a business in each country, and it calculates and remits VAT for you, which is the single biggest reason European direct-response sellers reach for it rather than an American network. Its affiliate side is real too: more than 3,000 vetted active affiliates across 44 niches and over 8,500 listed offers, with the pool curated rather than open, so the association tends to be cleaner. What sets it apart from ClickBank is the conversion tooling. Digistore24 ships a customizable cart builder with conversion widgets, one-click and multi-upsells that put several offers on a single upsell page, and its own split-testing tool, the Conversion Cockpit, which tests products, prices, sales pages, order forms and upsells. That is closer to a checkout platform than an affiliate directory, and for a seller who wants to raise average order value without wiring up a separate tool, it is a real edge. The costs are comparable to ClickBank and structured differently: 7.9% plus 1 euro per transaction on the Ireland entity, rising to 9.9% plus 1 euro if your chargebacks pass 1% of sales, with refund, chargeback and payout fees on top. Reviewers are consistent about the downside: the dashboard is dated and has a steep learning curve, and configuring upsells and switching between the vendor and affiliate views takes time to learn. #### Pricing, side by side Neither charges a monthly fee, so the comparison is entirely about the per-sale cut and the fees around it. ClickBank keeps 7.5% plus $1 per sale, $5 per payout and a one-time $49.95 approval fee. Digistore24's Ireland entity keeps 7.9% plus 1 euro per transaction, climbing to 9.9% plus 1 euro if chargebacks pass 1% of sales, with refund fees of 0.75 to 1 euro, chargeback fees of 40 to 50 euros, and payout fees that run from 2.50 euros for a SEPA transfer to 40 euros for an international bank transfer. On paper ClickBank's base rate is slightly lower, but the honest answer is that at any real volume both take a meaningful bite, and the schedule that matters is the one for your currency, your refund rate and your payout method. Price the offer with all of it built in before you compare stickers. One structural note: Digistore24 only offers subscriptions and installment payments on its US reseller, so if recurring billing is central to your offer, confirm the entity you will be on supports it. #### If you want to own the checkout: a third name to weigh Both of these platforms make the same trade you may not want to make. Because each is the reseller and the single processor, you cannot split-test whole checkouts under one campaign link, you cannot route payments across your own merchant accounts, and the customer belongs to the platform rather than to you. For a seller who buys media at volume and wants to own that relationship, those absences are the whole decision, and they are what ElasticFunnels is built around. ElasticFunnels is a funnel platform for teams that live on paid traffic. It builds the pages, with an AI builder that generates one from a prompt or clones one from a URL, and it rotates split-test variants server-side under a single link, so Meta, Google and TikTok keep their optimisation and a new test never sends the ad back through review. Its checkout runs order bumps, one-click upsells and subscriptions, and it can route payments across several processors, with the click, the order, the rebill and the refund landing on one timeline alongside a CRM and attribution. Every feature is on every plan, and the plans differ by traffic: $97, $197 and $497 a month, with a 14-day trial and no card required. EF-hosted checkouts carry a 0.5% fee on processed revenue, and sales you run on outside networks are not charged, so it can sit alongside a marketplace rather than replace it outright. The honest catch is age. ElasticFunnels is newer than either ClickBank or Digistore24, and there is very little independent third-party review coverage to check its claims against, so until you push real volume through it you are largely taking the vendor's word for it. That is what you would expect of a platform this recent, and the no-card trial exists so you can prove the split testing and the checkout on your own traffic before you move any spend. It also does not hand you an affiliate network the way these two do, so if recruiting affiliates is the point, keep the marketplace. For the full picture, read our [ElasticFunnels review](/reviews/elasticfunnels). #### The short version If your market is the United States and your growth depends on a big pool of affiliates picking up a direct-response offer, ClickBank has the reach and the history. If you sell into Europe or globally, want VAT handled for you, or want the cart builder, multi-upsells and split testing built in, Digistore24 is the more complete platform, and it is our pick between the two. If the real constraint is that you want to own the checkout, split-test it and route your own payments, that is the signal to look past both before you commit. ### ClickBank: strengths and trade-offs ##### What works * It is proven and it pays. ClickBank has run since 1998 and says it has paid more than $7.3 billion in commissions on time across its whole history, with twice-weekly payouts. For a network that holds your money before it reaches you, that track record is the thing that matters most. * Real access to affiliates. Its marketplace connects sellers with more than 100,000 active affiliates, concentrated in the health, supplement and make-money niches where direct-response offers live. That is a customer-acquisition channel you cannot buy off the shelf. * The merchant and tax work is handled. As the retailer of record, ClickBank processes every order, calculates and remits sales tax and VAT, pays your affiliates and splits commissions in real time, so you are not standing up your own billing, tax and affiliate-payout stack. * Nothing to pay until you sell. Signing up is free, affiliates join free, and there is no monthly subscription. Sellers pay a one-time $49.95 fee only when their first product is approved, then ClickBank earns only when you do. ##### What to watch * It is not a funnel builder. ClickBank has an order form with bumps and upsells, but no page builder, no same-URL split testing and no routing across your own merchant accounts. You build and tune the sales page elsewhere, and ClickBank is the single processor, so a media buyer who wants to test whole checkouts and spread volume across merchant accounts will not get that here. * The cut adds up. ClickBank keeps 7.5% + $1 on every sale, takes $5 from each payout, and charges the one-time $49.95 approval fee. Because it runs a buyer-friendly 60-day refund window as merchant of record, refunds and chargebacks claw commissions back out of your account, which bites hardest in refund-heavy niches. * Dormant-account fees catch you if you stop selling. An account with a balance but no sales for 90 days is charged $1 per pay period, rising to $5 after 180 days and $50 after 365, and ClickBank does not send a notification. With a default $100 payout threshold on top, a small balance can quietly erode, so lower your threshold and clear your balance if you go quiet. * Marketplace quality is uneven. The loose product-approval process that makes ClickBank easy to list on also means strong offers sit beside hyped, low-quality ones, especially in weight-loss and make-money niches. Sellers and affiliates both have to vet what they list beside or promote, and the association is a reputational cost some brands would rather avoid. ### Digistore24: strengths and trade-offs ##### What works * It is real and it pays. Digistore24 has run as a reseller since 2012, has processed more than 3 billion euros in sales, and sold over 5.5 million products last year. Reviewers keep returning to the same point: one Capterra user says they "got paid out always in time," and it pays multiple times a week for high volume. As reseller of record it guarantees the payout, which is what matters most for a platform that holds your money before it reaches you. * A genuine affiliate network is attached. Vendors get access to more than 3,000 vetted active affiliates across 44 niches, and the marketplace lists 8,500-plus offers. Digistore24 vets what it approves, so the pool is a real customer-acquisition channel rather than a link directory. * The reseller work is done for you. As the legal seller, Digistore24 calculates and remits VAT and sales tax, sends invoices, manages refunds and chargebacks, and pays your affiliates automatically. It lets you sell internationally without registering a business in each country, and its end-customer reputation is tuned to keep cancellations and chargebacks low. * Real conversion tooling, not just a marketplace. Unlike a bare affiliate network, Digistore24 gives you a customizable cart builder with conversion widgets, one-click and multi-upsells on a single upsell page, and its own split-testing tool for products, prices, pages, order forms and upsells. Signing up is free, affiliates pay nothing, and vendors pay only when they sell. ##### What to watch * It is the reseller, so it owns the processor and the customer. Digistore24 is the legal seller and the single processor on every order, so you cannot route your own volume across several merchant accounts the way a high-volume or high-risk media buyer does to spread risk. The buyer is contractually Digistore24's customer, not yours, and you must keep Digistore24 in customer communications, so a seller who wants to own the checkout and the buyer relationship will not get that here. * The cut adds up, and disputes cost you. The Ireland reseller keeps 7.9% + 1 euro per sale, rising to 9.9% + 1 euro if your chargebacks pass 1% of sales, on top of refund, chargeback and payout fees and the affiliate commission. There is no monthly fee, but high-volume sellers feel the take, so price your offer with all of it built in. * The dashboard is dated and takes time to learn. Reviewers consistently describe a "steep learning curve," an interface that feels less polished than course platforms like Kajabi or Podia, and confusion configuring upsells and switching between the vendor and affiliate views. Budget time to set it up before you scale on it. * Buyer complaints attach to the platform, and the rules vary by region. Because Digistore24 is the seller of record, end-customer complaints about billing and unauthorized recurring charges land on its name on public complaint boards, and its systems resolve them rather than yours. Fees, currency and even features differ by reseller entity, and subscriptions and installments are only available on the US reseller, so confirm the schedule for your region. Our pick ### Digistore24 Digistore24 is the pick if you sell a direct-response digital or supplement offer to a European or global audience and want a reseller that handles payments, VAT, refunds and an affiliate network for you. It is real, it has paid reliably since 2012, and it takes nothing until you sell. The catch is what it is. Digistore24 is a reseller and merchant of record with real conversion tooling, not a checkout you own: it is the single processor on every sale, the buyer is contractually its customer rather than yours, and its 7.9% plus 1 euro cut, chargeback tiers and buyer-side disputes are real costs. For running affiliates with the compliance handled, it is one of Europe's strongest options. For a checkout you control and route across your own merchant accounts, it is the wrong tool. 3.8 ### Frequently asked questions Is ClickBank or Digistore24 better for paid traffic? Pick ClickBank if you sell to a US-first audience and want the deepest pool of affiliates behind a direct-response offer; pick Digistore24 if you sell into Europe or globally, or want more built-in conversion tooling with VAT handled for you. Which is cheaper, ClickBank or Digistore24? Compare the "From" row in the table above. The cheaper sticker is not always cheaper at volume, once processing fees, add-ons and annual upgrades are counted. ### Related reading * [ClickBank review](/reviews/clickbank) * [Digistore24 review](/reviews/digistore24) * [The full ranking](/best) --- We rank the platforms that build the pages and host the checkout for teams running paid traffic: order bumps, one-click upsells, split-testing whole checkouts, different checkouts per traffic source, and payment routing for high-risk verticals. CheckoutScale [Top ↑](#main) We may earn a commission when you buy through links on this page. It never affects our rankings. © 2026 CheckoutScale. Independent and reader-supported.