SitesPlaced vs Beacons — which is better in 2026?
Beacons: A free link-in-bio page with a store attached — but the free tier takes 9% of everything you sell. Here is a plain, row-by-row comparison with SitesPlaced — price, free plan, commission, payments, shipping and the integrations that matter to an Instagram or WhatsApp seller — and how to switch in one paste.
By Manan Agrawal, Founder · Updated August 28, 2026
Short answer: SitesPlaced is the better value for most sellers. Beacons is a creator toolkit with a shop bolted on, and it is good at the toolkit part. The shop part is expensive: 9% on the free tier is the steepest cut here. If selling is a real part of your income, that number stops making sense quickly — we take 0% and cost $14.99 when you want a domain. As soon as selling is a real part of your income, SitesPlaced is the better value by a wide margin: 0% commission where their free tier takes 9%, and $14.99 flat when you want your own domain.
At a glance
| SitesPlaced | Beacons | |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest way to publish a store | $0 — free plan, unlimited products | Free — with a 9% cut of each sale |
| Cheapest paid plan | $14.99/month — no cut of your sales | $0/month with 9% per sale, or about $10/month Creator |
| Cut of each sale | 0% | 9% on the free plan; lower on paid tiers |
| Category | Website + store builder for creators | Link-in-bio store |
Prices and limits are as listed on their own pricing pages in late August 2026. Creator platforms change plans often — confirm before you buy.
SitesPlaced vs Beacons: feature by feature
The table lists what each platform includes and on which plan. SitesPlaced facts mirror the pricing page; Beacons facts are taken from the comparisons already published on this site, with “not listed” where we could not find a clear answer.
| Feature | SitesPlaced | Beacons |
|---|---|---|
| Cut of each sale | 0% — we never take a cut of a sale | 9% on the free plan; lower on paid tiers |
| Annual sales limit | None. Sell as much as you like on any plan | None |
| Sell downloads | Yes — files, with per-buyer download limits and expiring links | Yes |
| How files are protected | Private storage, no public URL; emailed link that expires and can be revoked | Hosted files with download links |
| Sell physical products | Yes — variants, stock, categories, discounts | Basic |
| Stripe | Your own Stripe account — cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay | Your own Stripe account |
| PayPal | Your own PayPal account | Limited |
| Shipping labels | Shippo — USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL, Royal Mail from ~5¢ a label | No |
| Real website + blog | Yes — a full multi-page site with a blog, not just a checkout page | A link-in-bio page plus a media kit |
| Custom domain | $14.99/month plan (one-click DNS) | Paid plans |
| AI writes your store | $14.99/month plan — writes and designs the store from a description | Some AI writing tools |
| Themes | 17 store themes, all free and fully editable | Link-page templates |
Prices and limits are as listed on their own pricing pages in late August 2026. Creator platforms change plans often — confirm before you buy.
What Beacons does well — and where it stops
Beacons is a real product and these are the things it genuinely does. None of them, on their own, outweighs paying commission on every sale or losing a free plan that publishes a real store:
- ✓Free to start with a genuinely wide toolkit — link page, media kit, invoicing, email.
- ✓Good for creators whose income is brand deals as much as product sales.
- ✓Low friction: you can be live in minutes.
Which one should you choose?
For almost every seller reading this, the answer is SitesPlaced: a free plan that publishes a real store, 0% commission on every sale on every plan, and 21 integrations included rather than sold as add-ons. The right-hand column is the short list of exceptions, and it is short on purpose.
Choose SitesPlaced if you…
- • That 9% is the most expensive cut in this comparison — at $500 a month it costs $45, three times our entire plan.
- • You want a real store with product pages, categories and a blog.
- • You sell physical products and need stock, variants and shipping labels.
The only cases for Beacons
- • Your income is mostly brand partnerships and you want their media-kit and pitch tooling.
- • You sell so little that 9% of very little is genuinely cheaper than any monthly fee.
How to move from Beacons to SitesPlaced
Moving is mostly a paste. The importer is free, there is no product cap on the free plan, and nothing goes live until you hit publish — so you can build the new store alongside the old one and switch your Instagram bio link when it looks right.
Import your catalogue
Paste your Instagram handle, your current store's website URL or a PDF catalogue at /import. Products, prices, images and categories are rebuilt as a SitesPlaced store. Variants come across from Shopify, dm2buy and Shopexer stores; add them in the Products tab for other sources.
Pick one of 17 store themes
Every theme is free, and every heading, hero image, footer column and menu is editable. You can also edit the store by chatting with ChatGPT or Claude through the SitesPlaced MCP server.
Connect payments and shipping
Connect your own Razorpay account (UPI, cards, net banking, wallets), switch on cash on delivery and WhatsApp checkout, and connect Shiprocket or Shipmozo. All free, 0% commission.
Publish free, upgrade when you want a domain
Your store goes live on a sitesplaced.com URL with a small badge. The Starter plan (₹199/month) adds your custom domain, branding removal, AI copy, analytics and Meta Pixel + Conversions API; the Growth plan — ₹499/month early-bird (₹999 after the first 50 stores) — adds WhatsApp Business API alerts, the sales boosters and 1-click checkout on top.
What the paid plans add
Everything needed to sell is free. The Starter plan (₹199/month) is for the things that make the store look and track like a brand — the first five below; the Growth plan — ₹499/month early-bird (₹999 after the first 50 stores) — adds the sixth, plus the sales boosters, product reviews and 1-click checkout:
- ✓Your own custom domain with one-click DNS for most Indian registrars
- ✓SitesPlaced branding removed
- ✓AI copy for product descriptions and sections
- ✓Store analytics and custom head code (GA4, Clarity, any tag)
- ✓Meta Pixel + Conversions API — server-side Purchase events from the order record, deduplicated, your own credentials
- ✓WhatsApp Business API order alerts — owner alert + customer confirmation from your own number via Meta Cloud API, your own credentials
Razorpay, Shiprocket, Shipmozo and Meta are integrated; their own fees apply where they charge them. Full detail on the pricing page.
Razorpay, Shiprocket, Shipmozo, WhatsApp API, Meta CAPI: all built in.
Razorpay, cash on delivery, WhatsApp checkout, Shiprocket and Shipmozo are on the free plan. From ₹199/month (Starter): Meta Pixel + Conversions API, your own domain, branding removal, AI and analytics. The ₹499/month Growth plan adds WhatsApp Business API alerts and the 1-click checkouts, bring your own credentials. No app store, no per-integration fees.
Payments
- Free
UPI, cards, net banking and wallets at checkout. SitesPlaced takes 0% commission; Razorpay's standard gateway fee applies.
razorpay.com - Free
StripeNew
Card, Apple Pay and Google Pay from customers worldwide. Connect your own Stripe account with a restricted key — payments land in your Stripe balance and SitesPlaced takes 0% commission.
stripe.com - Free
PayPalNew
Customers pay with their PayPal balance or a card. Connect your own PayPal app — the money lands in your PayPal balance and SitesPlaced takes 0% commission.
paypal.com - Free
PhonePeNew
UPI, cards, net banking and wallets at checkout on your own PhonePe Business account. Money settles straight to you and SitesPlaced takes 0% commission; PhonePe's standard gateway fee applies.
phonepe.com - Free
CashfreeNew
UPI, cards, net banking, wallets and pay-later at checkout on your own Cashfree account. Money settles straight to you and SitesPlaced takes 0% commission; Cashfree's standard gateway fee applies.
cashfree.com - Free
COD at checkout with an optional COD charge you set.
- Free
- ₹499
Sell with ShiprocketNew
1-click checkout by Shiprocket — saved addresses, UPI/cards/COD and RTO scoring, without your own payment gateway. Shiprocket collects and settles to you; SitesPlaced takes 0%, Shiprocket charges 2% per order.
shiprocket.in - ₹499
Razorpay Magic CheckoutNew
1-click checkout on your own Razorpay account — saved addresses, UPI/cards/COD in one step, with COD intelligence and RTO protection. Money settles straight to your Razorpay. Can run alongside Shiprocket checkout.
razorpay.com
Shipping
- Free
Push orders to Shiprocket, get AWB numbers back, and show live tracking on your Track Order page.
shiprocket.in - Free
ShippoNew
USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL and Royal Mail labels for US, UK and international orders — around 5¢ a label with no monthly fee, billed to your own Shippo account.
goshippo.com - Free
ShipmozoNew
Courier selection, pickup scheduling and tracking status synced back to each order.
shipmozo.com - Free
Rehbar PostNew
Compare courier rates, book the shipment, print the label and track it back — on your own Rehbar Post account.
rehbarpost.com
Fulfilment
- Free
Qikink
Print-on-demand for India — t-shirts, hoodies and mugs printed and shipped domestically from your own Qikink account.
qikink.com - Free
PrintifyNew
Print-on-demand t-shirts, hoodies, mugs and posters. Link a product to your own Printify catalogue and paid orders are sent for printing automatically — Printify bills your account, we take nothing.
printify.com
Messaging
- ₹499
Every new order sends you an alert and the customer a confirmation, from your own WhatsApp Business number via Meta's Cloud API. Bring your own credentials.
business.whatsapp.com
Marketing
- ₹199+
Meta Pixel + Conversions APINew
Your own Pixel on the storefront plus server-side Purchase events from the order record, deduplicated, so Instagram and Facebook ads report real sales. Bring your own credentials.
facebook.com - ₹499
Import the product reviews you already collected in Judge.me on Shopify or WooCommerce onto your product pages, matched by product name. Bring your own API token; SitesPlaced also collects and moderates its own product reviews on every plan.
judge.me - ₹199+
Custom head code
Paste Google Analytics, Clarity or any tag into your live site.
Growth
- ₹199+
yourbrand.com with one-click DNS setup for most Indian registrars.
- Free
Create and edit your store by chatting with your AI assistant.
modelcontextprotocol.io - Free
Bring a catalogue in from Instagram, your existing website, a PDF, dm2buy or Shopexer.
Frequently asked questions
Which is better — Beacons or SitesPlaced?
SitesPlaced, for most sellers. SitesPlaced publishes a real store on a free plan, takes 0% commission on every sale on every plan, and includes 21 integrations — five payment gateways, four shipping and courier services, print-on-demand, WhatsApp and Meta — rather than selling them as add-ons or taking a cut of your revenue. Beacons is worth choosing only if you are not really selling yet and only want a link-in-bio page — and outside that case SitesPlaced costs less to run and leaves more of each sale with you.
How much does the 9% actually cost me?
At $500 a month in sales it is $45 — three times our entire monthly plan, which takes nothing from your sales at all.
Does SitesPlaced do media kits?
No. If brand deals are most of your income, Beacons has tooling we do not.
Can I keep my link-in-bio page?
Yes. Plenty of creators keep a link page and point the shop button at their SitesPlaced store.
Leave Beacons behind in one paste
Build and publish a real store for free — unlimited products, 0% commission, Razorpay, COD, WhatsApp checkout, Shiprocket and invoices included. Pay from ₹199/month (Starter) when you want your own domain, AI copy and Meta CAPI, or ₹499/month (Growth) for WhatsApp API alerts and the sales boosters.
Import my store free →Prefer to talk first? Message us on WhatsApp. Android merchant app on Google Play.