Stan is a $35M ARR creator commerce platform. Linkette is an EU-sovereign design-first link-in-bio. They are not the same product — here is how to choose.
We want to start by saying the quiet part loudly: in v1, Linkette is not trying to be Stan.store. Stan is in the creator commerce lane — selling digital products, courses, bookings, subscriptions from a link-in-bio storefront. Linkette is a design-first, EU-sovereign link page with monetization features arriving in v2.1 via Mollie. We get asked to compare the two because European creators reading reviews see Stan recommended constantly. This article exists to help that creator decide whether they are looking at the right tool for the job.
At a glance
| Dimension | Stan.store | Linkette |
|---|---|---|
| Data residency | United States (AWS) | France (Supabase Paris, eu-west-3) |
| AI provider | Built-in AutoDM uses LLMs (provider undisclosed) | Mistral La Plateforme (Paris) |
| EU AI Act posture | No public GPAI mapping | Mistral GPAI compliance inherited |
| Design wedge | Storefront-first, mobile-optimized commerce | Warm editorial, Fraunces serif, cream-and-terracotta |
| Pricing | Creator $29/mo, Creator Pro $99/mo (no free plan, 14-day trial) | €5/mo Pro (single tier, v1) |
| Payment processor | Stripe + PayPal | Mollie planned for v2.1 (€/SEPA/iDEAL/Bancontact) |
| Transaction fees | 0% platform fee + Stripe (2.9% + $0.30) | TBD in v2.1; planned small platform fee to cover Mollie |
| Mobile app | Web-first, mobile-optimized | PWA in v1; native in v3 |
| Open source | No | Tokens + primitives packages open (MIT) |
| Recent funding | $5M Forerunner (2021); Steven Bartlett joined as co-owner 2025 | Bootstrapped |
What Stan.store actually is
Stan was founded in 2020 by John Hu and Vitalii Dodonov. They raised $5M from Forerunner Ventures in 2021 at a $25M valuation, and per Sacra estimates, hit ~$35M ARR in 2025. In May 2025, Steven Bartlett joined as an investor and co-owner. The product is unambiguously a creator-commerce platform — digital products, courses, calendar bookings, subscriptions, community, AutoDM, funnels (Pro), upsells (Pro), email marketing (Pro), payment plans (Pro).
Pricing per stan.store: no free plan, 14-day trial, Creator at $29/mo (monthly) or $25/mo (annual), Creator Pro at $99/mo (monthly) or $79/mo (annual). No platform transaction fees beyond Stripe/PayPal processing.
Why this comparison gets asked
Two reasons. First, both products live "in the link in bio." If you open a creator's Instagram bio, the URL goes to either a link list or a Stan store. Second, the creator-economy press has aggressively recommended Stan, so European creators end up evaluating it before realizing the EU-specific friction.
Where Stan.store is decisively better
We need to be honest here — for most of these dimensions, Stan beats Linkette today.
1. Commerce depth. Sell digital downloads, full courses with video hosting, scheduled bookings via calendar sync, recurring subscriptions, gated communities. This is shipped product. Linkette has tips and paywalls on the v2.1 roadmap and full product hosting after that.
2. Conversion-optimized storefronts. Stan's templates are explicitly designed for "fan opens link → buys thing" in under 60 seconds. Cart, upsells, order bumps, payment plans. Linkette pages are designed for browsing and discovery.
3. AutoDM. When a fan comments a keyword on your Instagram post, Stan can DM them the link automatically. This is a Stan-specific superpower for creators with engagement-heavy social feeds.
4. Mobile-first product design. Stan was built phone-first. Linkette v1 desktop editor leads; the public page is mobile-perfect but the editing surface is desktop-best.
5. Funnels and upsells (Pro). Sequential offer flows, discount codes, affiliate tracking. None of this exists in Linkette v1 and most of it is not on the v2 roadmap.
6. US-creator-economy gravity. Stan is the default for the influencer-coaching, fitness-program-selling, course-launching segment of US creators. The advice columns, the case studies, the trainings all assume Stan.
Where Linkette wins — when those are the dimensions you care about
1. EU data residency. Database in Paris (Supabase eu-west-3). CDN through BunnyCDN (Slovenia). Email via Brevo (France). Analytics via Plausible (Estonia, cookie-free). Hosting on Scaleway (France). Stan stores customer data — including your fans' purchase records — on US infrastructure under US legal jurisdiction.
2. EU payment rails on the roadmap. When Linkette v2.1 ships, monetization will run through Mollie (Amsterdam). That means native SEPA, iDEAL (Netherlands), Bancontact (Belgium), Cartes Bancaires (France) — the payment methods European audiences actually use. Stan runs on Stripe and PayPal; both work in Europe but neither is built around local methods.
3. Mistral AI, not undisclosed LLMs. Stan's AutoDM uses an LLM; the provider is not publicly named. Linkette's AI runs on Mistral La Plateforme with a per-creator usage ledger you can inspect.
4. Cookie-free public pages. A Linkette page sets zero tracking cookies. A Stan store loads analytics and ad-tracking scripts by default.
5. Editorial design. Linkette is built around typography. Stan's storefronts are utility-first commerce UI. Different goals, different aesthetics.
6. VAT/MOSS handling planned natively. When Mollie monetization ships, we plan to handle EU VAT/MOSS reporting in-platform for European creators. Stan does not handle EU digital-goods VAT automatically — that becomes the creator's problem.
A specific case where Stan is the right answer
You are a full-time fitness creator with a US audience, selling a $97 workout program and a $297 8-week coaching package. You run Instagram with 50k+ engagement-heavy followers. You want order bumps and upsells. You want AutoDM. You do not particularly care that the customer data lives in the US.
Pick Stan. Use Linkette as the upstream page (your "discover me" link) and Stan as the checkout surface. They compose.
A specific case where Linkette is the right answer (today)
You are a Berlin-based illustrator with a Substack and an Instagram. You sell occasional print runs through Big Cartel. You want a beautiful page that links to your shop, your newsletter, and a few selected pieces. You care that the audience-side experience is fast, cookie-free, and feels designed. You will not be selling courses or running funnels.
Pick Linkette. Use Big Cartel (or Mollie-direct, or Shopify) for the actual commerce. Use Linkette as the considered front door.
A note on what is coming
Linkette v2.1 ships tips and paywalls on Mollie. That is genuinely useful for European creators who want a single small monetization surface. But we are not chasing course hosting or funnel building — those are deep, opinionated products and Stan (or Kajabi, or Podia) does them better than we ever will. We are choosing not to compete in that lane.
The recommendation
If your business is selling courses, coaching, digital products, or running funnels from your link-in-bio — pick Stan.store. The product is built for that job and does it well, US infrastructure tradeoff included.
If your business is creative or editorial work — illustration, photography, writing, music, food — and your bio link is more of a portfolio entrance than a checkout page, and you would prefer your audience's data to live in Europe — pick Linkette. When you do need to take a payment, link out to it (or wait for our v2.1 Mollie integration).
The two products genuinely do not need to be at war. The right answer for many European creators is Linkette as the front door and a Mollie-direct checkout (or a Stan store, if commerce volume justifies it) as the back room.
Linkette is in private beta for EU creators, with Mollie monetization arriving in v2.1. Join the waitlist →