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11 top creator economy payments & checkout companies to follow

How creators actually get paid: checkout, subscriptions, tipping, banking and funding built for audience income rather than payroll.

Navid MoazzezCurated by Navid Moazzez·Updated Oct 3, 2026·4 min read·

This is a list of the top creator economy payments & checkout companies.

In fact, it has 11 of them, with Navid's picks first.

So if you want to know who builds the payments & checkout tools creators run on, you'll love this list.

How creators actually get paid: checkout, subscriptions, tipping, banking and funding built for audience income rather than payroll.

Here's what's inside:

Each one comes with who founded it, when, and how it makes money.

What are the best payments & checkout companies?

Here's the list at a glance.

Founded by
Brian Moran, Scott Moran
Founded
2014
Founded by
Founded
2018
Founded by
Ankur Nagpal, Jess Catorc
Founded
2021
Founded by
Founded
2011
Founded by
Founded
Founded by
Founded
Founded by
Founded
Founded by
Founded
Founded by
Founded
Founded by
Founded
2013
Founded by
Founded
2006

Top 11 payments & checkout companies

1. SamCart by Brian Moran, Scott Moran

SamCart is an e-commerce platform designed specifically for creators, coaches, and digital entrepreneurs. It provides checkout pages, order bumps, upsells, subscription management, and affiliate programs — everything you need to sell digital products and courses online.

Founded: 2014

Headquarters: Austin, Texas

Pricing: Paid

Trend: Declining, #55,929

Visit SamCart · More about SamCart

2. Buy Me a Coffee

Buy Me a Coffee is a platform that enables creators to accept support payments, launch memberships, and sell digital products. The service prioritizes creator ownership with instant payouts and simple tools designed for artists, writers, and content creators.

Founded: 2018

Trend: Growing, #4,147

Visit Buy Me a Coffee · More about Buy Me a Coffee

3. Carry by Ankur Nagpal, Jess Catorc

Carry is a financial technology platform that helps self-employed individuals and high-income professionals access tax-advantaged retirement accounts like Solo 401(k)s and IRAs. The platform combines investment tools with automation to simplify complex tax strategies and help users build wealth through tax-efficient investing.

Founded: 2021

Visit Carry · More about Carry

4. Gumroad

Gumroad is a simple ecommerce platform for selling digital products like ebooks, courses, music, and software. Founded by Sahil Lavingia in 2011, Gumroad has helped creators earn over $1 billion in total sales with its no-frills approach to online selling.

Founded: 2011

Trend: Steady, #2,815

Visit Gumroad · More about Gumroad

5. Karat Financial

Karat Financial is a fintech company providing banking and payment services designed specifically for creators, entrepreneurs, and freelancers. Backed by over $100 million in funding from Y Combinator and notable creators, Karat offers FDIC-insured accounts, business Visa cards, automated bookkeeping, and creator-focused tax planning tools.

Visit Karat Financial · More about Karat Financial

6. Lemon Squeezy

Lemon Squeezy is a merchant of record platform that handles payments, taxes, subscriptions, and global compliance for software and digital product creators. The platform simplifies selling internationally by managing VAT, sales tax, and billing in one place.

Trend: Growing, #21,173

Visit Lemon Squeezy · More about Lemon Squeezy

7. OnlyFans

OnlyFans is a subscription-based content platform where creators earn money directly from their fans. The platform has paid out over $15 billion to creators and hosts millions of content creators across fitness, music, cooking, and adult entertainment.

Trend: Steady, #849

Visit OnlyFans · More about OnlyFans

8. OpenSea

OpenSea is the world's largest NFT marketplace for buying, selling, and discovering digital collectibles including art, photography, music, and virtual worlds. The platform supports multiple blockchains and has facilitated billions of dollars in NFT trading volume.

Trend: Steady, #4,291

Visit OpenSea · More about OpenSea

9. Passionfroot

Passionfroot is a sponsorship management platform that helps creators streamline brand partnerships. The platform offers a storefront for sponsorship deals, automated invoicing, and tools for managing brand collaborations at scale.

Visit Passionfroot · More about Passionfroot

10. Patreon

Patreon is a membership platform where creators earn recurring revenue directly from their fans. Founded in 2013 by Jack Conte and Sam Yam, Patreon has paid out over $3.5 billion to creators across music, podcasting, writing, gaming, and more.

Founded: 2013

Trend: Steady, #543

Visit Patreon · More about Patreon

11. Shopify

Shopify is the leading ecommerce platform powering millions of businesses in over 175 countries. Founded in 2006 by Tobias Lutke, Shopify enables anyone to set up an online store and sell products. The company has facilitated over $800 billion in total sales and is one of the most valuable tech companies in the world.

Founded: 2006

Trend: Steady, #174

Visit Shopify · More about Shopify

Final thoughts on creator economy payments & checkout companies

Pick 2 or 3 from this list, compare what they do and what they cost, and keep the one that fits how you work.

Navid Moazzez

AI business strategist & AI OS builder

Navid Moazzez helps creators and founders master AI and build their own AI Operating System (AI OS) to automate their business and life.

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