11 Best Digital Products to Sell Online in 2026

Producing digital products lets entrepreneurs sell and distribute books, videos, online courses, music, templates, and other digital items online. It eliminates the work and expense of physical inventory management and shipping, which is especially helpful to first-time founders learning to run a business.

Selling digital products can generate passive income: create them once and sell them repeatedly to different customers. This makes them ideal for creatives, bloggers, graphic designers, educators, and freelancers looking for ways to make money online.

This guide covers how to create, market, and sell digital products online, including examples of popular digital product formats.

Digital products: quick answers

Here are brief answers to common questions about digital products:

What are digital products?

Digital products are items that exist in a digital format, such as ebooks, online courses, music, digital art, software, NFTs, AI-generated content, and virtual items sold inside video games or metaverse platforms.

How do digital products work?

Customers receive digital products by download, email, or gated access rather than through physical shipping.

What are the advantages of digital products?

Digital products:

• Eliminate shipping and the need for inventory
• Deliver profit margins up to 90% after fees
• Can be delivered automatically
• May be sold as free products, paid subscriptions, or licensed content.
• Produce a lower carbon footprint than shipping physical goods

Can you sell digital products on Shopify?

Yes, and selling digital products on Shopify doesn’t require extra fees beyond the regular subscription and payment processing costs, because digital delivery is built into the platform.

What are digital products?

Digital products, also known as virtual products and digital goods, are items that exist in a digital format. These include ebooks, music, videos, digital art, software, online courses, NFTs (non-fungible tokens), AI-generated content, and virtual goods sold inside video games, like Roblox, or metaverse platforms.

Unlike physical products, they’re typically delivered to customers via download, email, or gated access to an online platform, and offer businesses a way to provide value without holding physical inventory.

Digital products have evolved to include interactive experiences, subscription-based content, and blockchain-verified digital assets like NFTs (a $318.3 million market in 2026). These innovations create opportunities for entrepreneurs and creators to monetize expertise in ways not possible just a few years ago.

Why sell digital products? Seven key advantages

In 2026, digital products generated more than $157 billion. There are advantages to selling digital products over physical items:

• Low overhead costs. With digital goods, you don’t need to hold inventory, pay for shipping, or worry about supply chain disruptions.
• High profit margins. Digital products typically achieve profit margins of 90% after fees, because they have few recurring costs and you retain more sales revenue. Always calculate your profit margins before listing a product for sale. You’ll need to account for ongoing costs like software tools, marketing costs, and production expenses.
• Potential to automate. Deliver orders instantly using a gated social media platform or apps like Shopify’s Digital Downloads app. The app supports files up to 5 gigabytes in size and allows you to upload multiple files per product variant—perfect for bundling course materials, bonus resources, or high-quality video content.
• Flexible products. There are many options for incorporating digital products into your business: offer free products to build your email list, paid subscriptions for access to exclusive content, or licenses to use your digital products.
• Explore new technology. Digital products can help you monetize new technologies like the blockchain and AI.
• E-learning is increasingly popular. Online educators use digital products to expand their businesses, with the e-learning industry expected to be worth $848 billion by 2030.
• Environmentally friendly. Digital products tend to have a lower carbon footprint than physical goods.

Digital products also come with challenges for sellers. For many digital goods, consumers have access to free alternatives. Competing with free products requires careful thinking about your niche and well-written product descriptions. Use content to demonstrate your product’s unique value proposition or UVP.

Digital products can also be more susceptible to piracy than physical items. You may need to use tools and features to secure your intellectual property. Cover this when reviewing steps to start a business.

Where to sell digital products

Sell your digital products on multiple channels to increase your reach and expose more people to your brand. Start an online store to list your digital products, promote your brand, and publish content that appeals to your audience. Promote your digital products on social media by setting up social storefronts, so users can check out while they scroll.

Create profiles on digital product marketplaces within your niche to access an established audience. Keep in mind that platforms like Etsy charge commission fees, while others like Udemy offer revenue share. Below, find a breakdown of the platform and commission fees for popular digital marketplaces and storefronts.

11 best digital products to sell online (with examples)

Get ideas for digital products to create and sell online:

1. Online courses
2. Ebooks
3. Printable digital products
4. Digital templates and tools
5. Licensed digital content
6. Premium content libraries
7. Product photography
8. Music, art, and entertainment
9. Digital services
10. Digital memberships
11. AI-enhanced digital products

1. Online courses

Selling online courses is a way to present in-depth content in a monetized digital format. For Supakit, that was an online course on harness training, which supports one of the brand’s key products.

“What’s been really lovely to see is that people are buying both [the harness and the course] at the same time, which is ideal, and definitely sets the odds in their favor for the absolute perfect journey with the harness,” says Cofounder Leili Farzaneh.

Once created, you only need to make updates when your content becomes outdated or loses relevance.

When ideating your course, begin by visualizing learner outcomes and consider what you want your learner to know or be able to do when they have completed your content.

Online courses can include quizzes, knowledge checks, and other interactive activities to break up passive learning content and boost engagement. Create a slide deck, record a video walkthrough, or develop a multisession course featuring the voices of subject-matter experts.

For more, learn how to create an online course.

2. Ebooks

If you are the subject matter expert for an online course, you could also package your expertise as an ebook. The global ebook market reached $18.85 billion in 2026 and continues to grow as readers increasingly prefer digital formats for convenience and instant access.

According to results from a Pew Research Center survey, 31% of adults read an ebook in 2025, up from 17% in 2011.

How to Cake It, for example, sells digital cookbooks alongside its courses for easy scrolling and bookmarking for bakers. Founder Yolanda Gampp built her cake decorating empire by combining free YouTube content with premium digital products, demonstrating how creators can use multiple formats to serve their audience.

Ebooks are a familiar digital format across audiences and can be accessed via an e-reader, computer, or mobile device. You can write an ebook on anything—but before you commit to a topic, research the availability of free content on your subject.

If there are already blog posts or YouTube tutorials your readers can access for free, you’ll need to differentiate your content with a unique selling proposition (USP).

Your ebook’s USP and competitive advantage could be your reputation as an expert or successful person within your niche.

Alternatively, your book could promise to go deeper into your topic than or provide data missing from existing free content. Or, position your book as the essential resource for readers hoping to progress within your discipline.

If you’re ready to get started, build, run, and grow your ebook business with free training and intuitive tools.

3. Printable digital products

This category of digital products includes a range of print-at-home items, like personalized wall art, greeting cards, models for 3D printers, and craft activities. Customers can download and print your designs for personal use or as part of their own craft.

For a younger audience, printable coloring pages and worksheets are a popular mix of fun and learning. For example, digital download brand Caravan sells coloring posters as downloadable files or shipped prints. There are several ways to make printables to sell.

One option of producing physical products for consumers they can’t print at home is to use a print-on-demand service like Printful to create and sell physical prints of your custom products. This eliminates inventory errors, management and shipping, as well as discounting excess and unpopular products.

4. Digital templates and tools

Digital products also come in the form of tools, equipping professionals to do tasks more quickly or competently. You can sell digital solutions to common pain points within a role or common online tasks, such as video editing.

Tools can be standalone apps or items that combine with other digital software. For example, RetroSupply Co sells brushes, textures, and templates for designers to use in popular programs such as Procreate and Photoshop. (Notice how it also has online courses and ebooks.)

Other digital tools and templates to sell online include:

• Digital marketing strategy templates for entrepreneurs
• Résumé templates for job-seekers
• Mobile apps for businesses
• Prompt templates for AI models
• Website themes for popular platforms
• Graphic design templates for social media graphics, brochures, flyers, posters, etc.
• Adobe Photoshop filters and plug-ins for media editors
• Icons, fonts, or UX Kits for web designers
• Notion and Canva templates
• Social media kits
• Budget or project spreadsheets
• Sewing or crochet patterns for hobbyists

5. Licensed digital content

There’s a global market for licensable digital assets, like stock photos, video footage, music, and sound effects, uploaded by creatives for other creatives to use in their work.

Licensing your content for use by individuals and businesses is a way to earn passive income from your creations. Invest your labor in creating some top-quality video transitions or background music, then receive revenue from their use, for as long as they remain popular.

Sell licenses from your own store, similar to how EditStock sells licenses for students. Or, sell through online digital asset marketplaces, such as these stock photo sites.

When brainstorming asset ideas, work backward from the needs of your target audience. Start by thinking about what kind of content is in demand—and where existing creators are not fulfilling market needs.

Be sure to protect your digital products with watermarks and other security measures, especially if you’re selling photos online.

6. Premium content libraries

If you’ve had success selling an online course or ebook, or from licensing content, one way to evolve your offering is to bundle your creations. You can provide full access to your entire catalog of digital products for a monthly or yearly subscription—or a one-time fee.

Snowboard Addiction, for example, is a monetized destination for all things snowboarding. Customers can shop for physical snowboarding gear as well as download tutorials and sign up for live online courses.

One advantage of a subscription business is that it generates a motivated, active community. Your subscribers are your best prospects for any new content you create, and may be a great resource to consult when considering your next move.

Because your library’s only accessible to paying subscribers, you could also consider hosting exclusive content, such as livestreams and community forums.

Sell digital product subscriptions with Shopify by using a subscription billing app.

7. Product photography

The stock photography market reached $5.44 billion in 2026 and is projected to grow to $7.58 billion by 2031, driven by demand from businesses, content creators, and marketers.

Sell product photos via your website, with an agency, through a marketplace, or all three (unless you sign an exclusivity agreement). When selling your services, consider offering different packages based on the number of photos, types of products, or specific styles and setups.

The best product photographers can identify the features of an item that shoppers are most interested in and use their photos to emphasize those aspects. Other tips for taking high-quality product photos include investing in a good tripod and learning how to construct the right lighting environment.

8. Music, art, and entertainment

Digital product ideas don’t have to be purely functional. If you’re a musician, artist, or content creator, chances are you’ve explored these or similar ways to monetize your talents online:

• Crowdfunding platforms such as Patreon allow fans to support creators in return for exclusive content.
• For artists, online galleries like Saatchi Art are a good place to find buyers for your work.
• To build your following, upload or stream content on social media in return for a share of ad revenue, sponsorship deals, and audience tips.

Beyond artistic and entertaining content, there’s a whole world of merchandise and branded digital products. If people enjoy a particular podcast or album, for example, they might be interested in branded merchandise that reference the art.

Use print-on-demand companies to create your own merch and sell it on a Shopify store.There’s no need to pay for manufacturing until you make a sale.

Often, this form of digital product selling works best when targeting niche markets. For example, Materia Store sells digital sheet music for popular video game soundtracks.

9. Digital services

Services pair well with digital products. A designer can offer a logo-creation service alongside downloadable templates. A personal trainer might offer live personal training sessions to their workout plan subscribers. Likewise, you can position services—digital or in real life—as add-ons to your online products.

For example, you might sell consultations along with a personalized report or Excel spreadsheet. Or, you could offer a free downloadable product to generate leads for your email marketing list.

If there are tasks you commonly complete as part of your service business, consider separating and productizing them to create additional revenue streams.

10. Digital memberships

Digital memberships are tickets to an exclusive community centered around your brand or content. Joining your digital club could bestow members with access to premium content, the opportunity to purchase limited-edition merchandise, or tickets to events.

Other digital members clubs grant access to networking benefits. Nomads.com, for example, is a global network for digital nomads, offering memberships that connect users with other nomads, as well as providing city data and trip planning features.

As token-gated projects have shown, digital communities don’t need to center on a tangible item or service. Membership to an open-ended collective can be valuable in itself. Digital projects such as the Bored Ape Yacht Club use blockchain technology to provide proof of membership and grant access to perks without a central product.

When crafting your digital membership experience, focus on creating a sense of exclusivity. The goal is to provide continuous value for members—and to make prospective clients feel like they’re missing out.

11. AI-enhanced digital products

The creator economy is growing: more than 1.5 million Americans identify as full-time digital creators, a number that’s 7.5 times what it was in 2020. AI technology has created new opportunities for digital creators in 2026. These products typically combine AI with human expertise to solve specific problems.

Product ideas to explore include:

• Custom AI prompt collections. Curated prompts to help users get better results from AI tools like ChatGPT or Midjourney.
• AI workflow templates. Pre-configured automation sequences to help businesses streamline repetitive tasks.
• Voice and character packs. Custom AI voices or characters for creators making videos, podcasts, or interactive content.

AI digital products combine technology with your unique expertise in a particular field. Focus on creating products to solve specific industry problems rather than general-purpose tools.

For US copyright considerations with AI-assisted products, only the human-made parts can be protected, not anything the AI generated from a prompt. Copyright doesn’t cover real voices or likenesses, which are instead covered by state privacy and right-of-publicity laws.

How to create and sell digital products

To sell digital products online, you’ll first determine the digital product you’d like to sell and how you plan on creating or sourcing it. Then, you’ll verify if there’s demand and the feasibility of the product, set up an online store, and market your products.

1. Find or create a digital product

To find a digital product to sell, you can create your own digital products or become an affiliate marketing partner for an existing creator. Popular digital products include:

• Entertainment content
• Music
• Fonts
• Design assets
• Photoshop presets
• Templates
• Software and plug-ins
• E-learning courses
• And other online services

Product brainstorming

When generating ideas for your digital products, don’t be too critical; the key to brainstorming is to avoid overthinking. If you’re looking for ideas for downloadable products to sell online, here are some questions to ask yourself:

• Can you teach customers how to use your products? For example, if you sell knitting products, you could offer appointments to teach advanced knitting techniques.
• Are there things you can help your customers with related to your overall industry? If you sell surfboards, you could create a workout program to help your customers stay in shape at home.
• What are the values you’ve built your business on, and what topics are related to them? For example, if you sell sustainable apparel, you could create a course teaching your customers how to live a more sustainable life.
• In what ways could you bring your community of customers together? If you sell kitchen supplies, you could run a virtual guided wine-tasting event.
• What are you good at? If you’re great at product photography, you could teach other people how to get better at product photography, too.

2. Validate your product idea

It’s best to validate product ideas before committing too much time to them. Here are a few ways to perform market validation as you figure out how to sell digital products:

• Keyword research. Use a keyword research tool to see how many people are searching for your topics. This will give you an idea of the opportunity size of each one.
• Google Trends. Search your topics on Google Trends. Look for topics that are growing in interest. This means the opportunity size is expanding.
• Facebook groups. There are Facebook groups dedicated to every niche and audience imaginable, making them a great place to learn what your potential customers care about.
• Industry forums. Forums dedicated to hobbies and communities in your industry can help you learn more about what people want and need in your broader industry.
• Product reviews. Read both the reviews for your products and competitors’ products to get ideas. These could come from the reviews on product pages as well as standalone reviews on blogs and other websites.
• Start small and iterate. Sometimes, the easiest way to validate an idea is to experiment with a smaller version of the idea with room for growth. The goal is to get a minimum viable product out into the world as soon as possible, so you can put your idea to the test and improve it from there.

3. Create an online store

Open an online store to sell your digital products. Design your store with AI to quickly create a custom theme tailored to your digital product business, or pick from a catalog of website templates. Populate with brand assets like your logo, copy, and images, and you’re ready to start selling.

Shopify is the easiest and most reputable way to create an ecommerce store for online digital products. Generate a store theme using AI, choose from more than 100 templates with built-in features to get set up quickly, or use mock.shop sample stores to build and test an online storefront before your real store exists.

There are also free Shopify apps for managing your store and selling more digital products online. Apps make the delivery of digital products easier than ever. Browse the App Store to find apps that plug into your store and do everything, like hosting course content and delivering PDF purchases.

4. Market your digital products

With a digital product and an online store sorted, it’s time to find your customers. If you’re selling fonts or design templates, build an audience of designers and creators on the social platforms they use most. Also consider influencer marketing, social ads, or lead magnets.

If you’re ready to turn your digital product idea into a business, learn more about how to start a business and how to create a business plan to set yourself up for success.

How to sell digital products on Shopify

Shopify makes it easy to sell digital products alongside physical goods or as a standalone digital storefront.

Selling digital products on Shopify involves these steps:

1. Build a Shopify store to list digital products and represent the brand.
2. Add a digital downloads app, such as Shopify’s Digital Downloads app, to handle delivery.
3. Upload digital files—up to 5 gigabytes per file, with multiple files allowed per product variant.
4. Set pricing, whether as one-time purchases, subscriptions, or bundles.
5. Uncheck “This is a physical product” in the product settings so shipping isn’t triggered.
6. Use Shopify’s secure checkout along with watermarking or license-key apps to protect files from piracy.
7. Set up taxes. Sales tax on digital products varies by state. Once you know where you need to collect, add those states under Settings > Taxes and duties > United States, and assign each product a category so Shopify Tax applies the right rate.
8. Test the process from beginning to end to ensure it works as anticipated.

Important things to know:

• No additional fees. There are no extra charges for selling digital products on your Shopify store beyond your regular subscription and payment processing fees.
• Instant delivery. Use Shopify’s free Digital Downloads app (or another app from the Shopify App Store) to automatically deliver digital products to customers immediately after purchase.
• Flexible fulfillment. Deliver products via downloadable files, email access, or gated content on membership platforms.
• Multiple product types. Sell individual digital products, subscriptions, bundles, or offer digital goods as bonuses with physical purchases.
• Built-in security. Protect your digital products with Shopify’s secure checkout and use apps to add watermarks, limit downloads, or create license keys.
• Subscription options. Use Shopify Subscriptions to offer repeatable downloads, like weekly meal plans.

The following apps can help you expand your digital product capabilities on Shopify:

10 apps for selling digital products on Shopify

These apps can help you sell and deliver digital products on Shopify:

1. Shopify Digital Products. Shopify Digital Products is a free, highly-reviewed digital downloads app that integrates with Shopify stores.
2. EDP ‑ Easy Digital Products. EDP is an app for selling downloadable files and license keys from your online store.
3. Filemonk. Filemonk is designed to make it as easy as possible for Shopify store owners to brand and sell digital products.
4. SendOwl. For more complex digital product businesses, SendOwl comes with a variety of automation features. Pricing starts at $39 per month.
5. Courses Plus. This built-for-Shopify app lets you create lessons, tutorials, webinars, and manuals and sell them online.
6. Single. If you’re a musician selling music, Single bridges the gap between physical and digital music sales. The app takes a percentage of digital and membership sales and charges for chart reporting. There’s a free-to-install version and paid plans available.
7. FetchApp. FetchApp is another digital download delivery app with a free plan available (five megabytes of storage).
8. Sky Pilot. This app is for building a membership program. Sell files and exclusive video streams to customers.
9. BookThatApp, Tipo, or Sesami. Use these apps to schedule consultations or coaching sessions with customers. All three have a free plan available.
10. Printful. If you plan to sell physical versions of your digital creations, this print-on-demand app allows you to create and sell custom-designed products. Sell items like T-shirts, posters, art prints, and mugs without managing inventory. Printful has a free-to-install plan and a paid plan available.

Beyond these digital product delivery systems, there are other Shopify apps to power and protect your digital goods, such as:

• RecurrinGO! This is an app for weekly or monthly subscriptions. Use it to automate recurring orders, invoices, and digital subscriptions for online memberships or programs.
• MenuLock. When your content is your product, this app helps you protect it from theft. Lock images and text so they can’t be saved or copied without your permission.

Reminder: When creating digital products in Shopify, be sure to uncheck “This is a physical product.”

Sales and marketing tips for selling digital products

According to a 2025 Shopify survey** of store owners, marketing and finding customers top the list of year one challenges, at 37% and 36%, respectively.

Whether you’re a new business owner or adding online digital products to your existing store, keep these sales and marketing tips in mind:

Create compelling digital product previews

For digital products, effective previews can help address customer uncertainty.

Consider creating:

• Interactive demos to let customers experience limited functionality before purchasing.
• Annotated screenshots with callouts highlighting key features and benefits.
• Comparison tables showing different versions or tiers of your digital product.
• Before and after examples demonstrating the transformation your digital product provides.

For digital products, previews are important, because customers can’t physically examine what they’re buying.

Build trust with social proof

Digital products may require stronger trust signals than physical goods. Show customers that your products are well-regarded by including these social proof elements:

• Feature verified purchase badges on reviews to show they come from actual customers.
• Include specific metrics in case studies (e.g., “increased productivity by 27%”).
• Create a dedicated testimonials page with detailed case studies and video testimonials.

Use social media to strategically promote your digital products

For digital products, platform-specific social strategies may yield better results:

• Record platform-native tutorials showing your digital product in action.
• Host live demonstrations on platforms like Instagram and TikTok.
• Share user-generated content from customers using your digital products.
• Create platform-specific landing pages for social traffic from different sources.

Businesses selling digital products should focus on creating content that demonstrates value rather than promoting features.

Promote a free lead magnet

Regardless of how much your product costs, create a light version of it for free.

A free product can help you build an email list to sell to in the future. It also opens the door for upselling and retargeting potential customers with different promotions. Free products can build trust between your business and potential customers.

Use Shopify Forms, a free lead capture tool, to provide access in exchange for an email address.

Start an affiliate program for your product

Affiliates are a source of traffic and sales for creators selling digital products. Find influencers who are established and trusted in your industry and offer them an affiliate commission for each sale they make.

Create different percentages for different affiliates, so if someone has a large audience, you can give them a higher commission rate to promote more and attract customers.

Note: The FTC has strict guidelines around affiliate links and paid product recommendations. Affiliates must clearly disclose any relationship to a brand when endorsing a product. Any product endorsements must be honest opinions without making claims the brand can’t legally make themselves.

Price your product strategically and collect preorders

Digital product pricing requires careful consideration. Research competitor pricing for similar products, and if appropriate, consider tiered pricing (basic, premium, enterprise) or bundles of complementary products.

One way to attract early sales is by giving a discounted “early bird” price. If you’re releasing a new digital product, you can offer a 50% discount for the first 100 buyers, then 25% for the next 100 buyers, and then release the product at full price after the 25% discount runs out.

If you use Shopify, you have access to Shopify’s discount code capabilities.

Offer a money-back guarantee

A money-back guarantee shows potential buyers you’re putting the risk on you, not them, and can build trust. Consider setting guidelines around the guarantee, like “no refunds once downloaded,” or set a time limit, like “must request within seven days to be eligible.”

**Based on a November 2025 survey of 500 Shopify merchants conducted in English across Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United States. Respondents were established merchants with two or more years on the platform. Results reflect the experiences of this specific sample and may not be representative of all merchants.