What is Payhip? How it sells and delivers pattern files

What is Payhip? A hosted store for digital downloads

Payhip is a hosted store for digital downloads: a seller sells straight to their own fans and followers, with no website of their own needed. Payhip names sewing patterns among the products sellers can sell on it, and its Free Forever plan starts at $0 a month, as read on 6 October 2026.

How Payhip works from upload to download page

1. Connect PayPal or Stripe on the Payment Details tab of your account settings; Payhip says one must be connected before you can sell.
2. Add a digital product and upload the files: one product can hold several, each up to 5GB.
3. Add a title and a price.
4. The buyer pays by PayPal or card and lands on a download page; the receipt email carries the link, and Payhip says anyone opening it must verify an email address first.
5. The sale is paid into your PayPal or Stripe account at once.

Payhip's pattern pages say it supports all file formats, while its help center lists EXE, ISO, DMG, VBS and SCR files as unsupported, so PDFs and ZIP files are fine and a program file must be zipped.

What pattern designers use Payhip for

• Variants are options of one product, such as sizes or print formats, each with its own assigned files.
• A preview file gives buyers a sample before they pay.
• Pay What You Want is a price with a plus sign, such as 5+, that sets a minimum.
• Bundles sell several products as one package; the embed button does not work for them, and the thank-you page must show a Log In button.
• A direct checkout link skips the product page and opens checkout.
• Custom orders use checkout questions, with delivery by hand because the files are personalized.

Delivery after the sale: updates and old buyers' files

A knitwear designer who finds an error in a pattern can replace the file in the product. Payhip's help center says past buyers then reach the updated version through the original download link in their receipt email, with no second purchase.

Deleting a variant keeps past buyers' access to its files, but deleting the file itself removes it from their download pages for good, so keep a copy first. A product set to Invisible, which only the seller can see, stops past buyers from downloading it.

What Payhip costs and who it fits

Free Forever is $0 a month plus a 5% Payhip transaction fee, Plus is $29 plus 2%, and Pro is $99 with no Payhip fee, all by the month. PayPal or Stripe charge their own rates on every plan. Each part described here is on the Free Forever plan too, which Payhip opens with no credit card. See Payhip fees.

Payhip fits a designer who wants a store of their own. Ravelry fits a knit or crochet designer whose buyers keep purchases in a Ravelry library. Etsy fits a designer who wants a marketplace listing, at $0.20 a listing plus a 6.5% transaction fee. See the Payhip review and the best place to sell sewing patterns online.