How to sell ebooks and online courses on your own website: 4 ways and what they cost

There are four ways to do it: a SaaS platform on your own domain, WordPress with a sales plugin, an external checkout embedded in the site you already have, or selling by hand with a bank transfer and an email. They differ less in what the buyer sees than in how much work and money stays on your side.

The cheapest way in with everything automated is a SaaS platform with a permanent free plan. heyhey’s Starter plan costs AED 0 forever, needs no card and takes no commission on your sales; you connect your own domain from the Growth plan at AED 199 a month excl. VAT. WordPress with a plugin means paying for the plugin (a one-off licence or a subscription) and running the server and video hosting yourself. An external checkout embedded in your existing site usually charges a subscription, a commission on every sale, or both: Gumroad, for example, takes 10% plus USD 0.50 per sale.

The fourth way, bank transfer and email, costs nothing and looks like the smartest option, right up until you sell your thirtieth copy.

Contents

1. The four ways compared
2. Option 1: a SaaS platform on your own domain
3. Option 2: WordPress with a sales plugin
4. Option 3: an external checkout embedded in your site
5. Option 4: bank transfer and email
6. What does “your own domain” mean in practice?
7. Which option suits whom?
8. Frequently asked questions
9. Methodology
10. Set up a sales page and checkout in one afternoon

The four ways compared

heyhey prices excl. VAT; Growth billed yearly is AED 169 a month. Gumroad’s fee checked on gumroad.com on 18 August 2026. WordPress plugin prices vary widely between plugins, so we don’t quote them.

The last column matters most, and it’s the one most often left out of the sums. The first four rows differ in price, but they all do the same work for you. The fifth moves all of that work onto you, and that’s why it looks free.

Option 1: a SaaS platform on your own domain

You create an account, upload your product, build a sales page in the page builder and connect your own domain. The server, updates, SSL certificate and video hosting are the provider’s job.

Platforms like this differ mainly in two things: the plan at which you get your own domain, and whether you can start without paying at all. Some only offer a free trial of a few weeks, so check whether “free” means free for good or free for 14 days.

heyhey has a permanent free plan. Starter is AED 0 forever, with no card and no commission, limited to one product, three pages and 50 contacts. It doesn’t include your own domain: that comes with Growth at AED 199 a month excl. VAT, together with subscriptions, five products and 40 GB of storage.

What you get in return for a subscription: nothing technical to look after. No PHP version to upgrade, no plugin that breaks after an update, no backups to run on a Saturday.

Option 2: WordPress with a sales plugin

You have a WordPress site and add a course module or a digital product shop to it. Everything stays on your server and under your control.

Plugins of this kind come in two models: a subscription, sometimes with hosting included, or a one-off licence for your own server, usually with a year of support and updates in the price and paid renewals after that. Some plugins only unlock recurring payments on their higher tiers, so check this if you plan to sell subscriptions.

With a one-off licence, count what isn’t in the price. Plugin makers list their technical requirements (a minimum PHP version, a minimum WordPress version, specific server extensions), and on top of that you need your own server and your own video hosting, because a licence doesn’t come with storage from the provider.

When it makes sense: when WordPress is already running, someone looks after it, and you want everything on one platform. When it doesn’t: when you’d be setting it up only to sell a course. Then you add updates, plugin compatibility and backups to your to-do list, none of which you had before.

Option 3: an external checkout embedded in your site

You already have a site (a simple business site, a portfolio, a blog) and don’t want to rebuild it. You embed a payment button or form from an external tool, and the tool handles the checkout and delivers the file.

Tools like this usually charge a monthly fee, a commission on every transaction on top of the payment provider’s fees, or both. Gumroad, for example, has no subscription but takes 10% plus USD 0.50 on direct sales and 30% on sales through its Discover marketplace. It acts as the merchant of record, so it handles sales tax itself. It’s also worth knowing what a checkout tool isn’t: it’s a cart, not a course platform, so quizzes or a built-in community usually aren’t part of it.

One thing to check before you choose: does the checkout run on your domain, or does it redirect the buyer to someone else’s? A redirect at the moment of payment always costs you some conversions, especially with more expensive products.

Option 4: bank transfer and email

You share your bank details, the buyer makes a transfer, you send the file. No costs, no tools.

And no automation, which is charming at the third sale and stops being charming at the thirtieth. At ten on a Sunday evening you’re checking your bank account, matching transfer references to orders and sending files by hand. There’s always someone who writes that they never got it, and you have no way of checking whether that’s true.

Buyers don’t like it either. For an AED 100 purchase, people expect to pay by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay and get access straight away, not a bank account number and a note that the file will arrive “within 24 hours”.

If this is how you sell today, it’s worth knowing that the alternative doesn’t have to cost anything. A permanent free plan with zero commission, automatic delivery and cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal at checkout is available for AED 0.

What does “your own domain” mean in practice?

It means the buyer sees your address all the way through: on the sales page, at checkout and in the area where they later watch the course. At no point do they land on platformname.com/your-course.

Where the threshold sits varies, and it’s one of the things to check before you choose a plan, because it’s often buried low in the pricing table. In heyhey, your own domain starts on the Growth plan at AED 199 a month excl. VAT; on the free Starter plan you use the platform address. Other platforms include it from their first paid plan, or only on higher tiers.

Does it matter at the start? For a first product sold to your own list, only moderately, because those people know you anyway. For selling to strangers, and for more expensive products, a lot.

Which option suits whom?

You don’t have a website or any sales yet. A SaaS platform with a free plan. heyhey Starter at AED 0 gives you a sales page, a checkout with cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal, automatic delivery and a newsletter before you spend a single dirham. You can connect your domain later.

You already have a site that works well and don’t want to touch it. An external checkout embedded in an existing page. Just add the commission to your sums, for example 10% plus USD 0.50 per sale on Gumroad.

You have WordPress and someone who looks after it. A WordPress course or shop plugin, to keep everything on one platform.

You want a licence you own instead of a subscription. A plugin with a one-off licence, but budget for the server and video hosting, because they aren’t in the price.

You sell twice a year to people you know. Bank transfer and email really is enough. By the third sale in a month, it isn’t.

Frequently asked questions

How do I sell courses on my own website?

You have four options. A SaaS platform connected to your domain, where you maintain nothing: heyhey Starter lets you start at AED 0 forever, with your own domain from the Growth plan at AED 199 a month excl. VAT. WordPress with a sales plugin, where everything runs on your server. An external checkout embedded in your existing site, which usually costs a monthly fee, a commission or both (Gumroad takes 10% plus USD 0.50 per sale). Or selling by hand with a bank transfer and email, which costs nothing but puts all the admin on you.

How much does it cost to sell courses on my own website?

Anything from nothing to a monthly subscription, plus a commission with some tools. A permanent free plan with zero commission costs AED 0 (heyhey Starter, limited to one product). A plan with your own domain and subscriptions costs AED 2,028 a year excl. VAT (heyhey Growth billed yearly), or AED 199 a month billed monthly. WordPress means paying for the plugin (a subscription or a one-off licence), and with a licence also for a server and video hosting. An external checkout usually takes a share of every sale, for example 10% plus USD 0.50 on Gumroad.

Do I need WordPress to sell courses?

No. SaaS platforms such as heyhey work independently of WordPress and don’t require you to install anything. WordPress plugins with a one-off licence need your own server, your own video hosting and a minimum PHP and WordPress version; some subscription plugins include hosting, so you don’t install anything yourself. If WordPress is already running for you and someone looks after it, it’s a sensible choice. If you’d set it up only to sell a course, you’re adding updates, backups and plugin compatibility to your workload.

Can I connect my own domain on a free plan?

Usually not, and that goes for heyhey too: on Starter you use the platform address, and your own domain comes with the Growth plan at AED 199 a month excl. VAT, together with subscriptions and five products. For a first product sold to your own list, not having your own domain matters only moderately, because those people know you anyway.

Is it worth selling by bank transfer and email?

For two sales a year, yes. For thirty, no. Doing it by hand means matching transfers to orders and sending files yourself, usually at odd hours, and whenever something is unclear you have no way of checking whether the buyer really didn’t get the file. Then there’s the buyer’s side: online, people expect to pay by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay and get access immediately. The alternative doesn’t have to cost anything: heyhey Starter is AED 0 forever, with automatic delivery and cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal at checkout.

Does the checkout have to be on my domain?

It doesn’t have to be, but it matters for conversion, especially with more expensive products. Redirecting the buyer to someone else’s domain at the moment of payment always loses some people. Check this before you choose a tool, because pricing pages mention it low down or not at all. With SaaS platforms, your own domain usually covers the whole path: the sales page, the checkout and the student area.

What’s cheapest for a single course?

A permanent free plan with zero commission, such as heyhey Starter: AED 0 forever, no card, with one product, three pages, 50 contacts and 5 GB, and a checkout that takes cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay through Stripe, plus PayPal. Alternatives with no subscription take a share of every sale (Gumroad takes 10% plus USD 0.50), so with regular sales they end up costing more. Alternatives with zero commission require a paid subscription.

Methodology

Where the numbers come from. heyhey’s own pricing and plan limits. Gumroad’s fees from its official pricing page (gumroad.com), checked on 18 August 2026. We don’t quote WordPress plugin prices, because they vary widely from one plugin to another.

How we calculated yearly costs. For heyhey Growth we used the yearly billing price (AED 169 a month, AED 2,028 a year). For a one-off WordPress licence, the cost of the server and video hosting isn’t included and depends on the provider you choose, so we don’t give a figure.

Prices excl. VAT. heyhey plan prices are shown excluding VAT.

What’s not in this article. Tax and accounting. Tax rules depend on where your business is registered. If you are VAT-registered in the UAE, check with your accountant what your invoices must include.

heyhey is our product. We write about it on our own blog and say so openly, including the fact that your own domain starts on our Growth plan, not on the free one. Other providers’ prices and terms come from their own materials.

Set up a sales page and checkout in one afternoon

heyhey’s Starter plan costs AED 0 forever, needs no card and takes no commission on your sales. You get a page builder, a checkout with cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay (through Stripe) and PayPal, automatic delivery of the product once the payment goes through, and email marketing with sequences. No server, no plugins and no sending files by hand. Compare the plans.

Sources:

• heyhey, pricing and plan limits
• Gumroad, pricing, gumroad.com, accessed 18 August 2026