Choosing a digital product marketplace comes down to who you want to reach, how much control you need, and what you’re selling. For a design educator with templates and courses, I’d compare platforms using these criteria:

1) Audience and discoverability

Ask: Will the platform actually bring you buyers?

• Marketplace-heavy platforms help with organic discovery but usually take a bigger cut.
• Creator-owned storefront platforms give you more control but require you to drive your own traffic.

If you’re early and need visibility, marketplace traffic matters. If you already have an audience, control may matter more.

2) Product fit: templates vs. courses

Not all platforms handle both well.

• Templates: look for strong file delivery, version updates, bundles, license options, and simple checkout.
• Courses: look for lessons/modules, video hosting or integrations, quizzes, drip content, progress tracking, certificates, and student management.

If you sell both, choose a platform that supports mixed product types or integrates well with a course platform.

3) Fees and margin

Compare:

• Monthly subscription
• Transaction fees
• Payment processor fees
• Add-on costs for email, analytics, memberships, or course features

A platform with a low monthly fee can still be expensive if it takes a large percentage of each sale.

4) Brand control and customer relationship

Consider whether you can:

• Use your own domain
• Customize the storefront
• Collect customer emails
• Own the customer relationship
• Run upsells, bundles, and email automation

For a design educator, brand presentation matters a lot. A more customizable platform often converts better if your visuals are strong.

5) Ease of use

Important if you want to spend time creating, not managing tech. Look for:

• Simple product setup
• Fast upload and publishing
• Good support/documentation
• Low maintenance for payments, taxes, and delivery

6) Marketing tools

Useful features include:

• Discount codes
• Bundles
• Affiliates
• Abandoned cart recovery
• Email capture
• SEO support
• Landing pages

If you plan to scale, these can matter as much as the storefront itself.

7) Community and recurring revenue

If your courses will grow into a membership, cohort, or design club, choose a platform that supports:

• Subscriptions
• Community spaces
• Recurring billing
• Content drip
• Member access tiers

This can be more valuable than one-time sales over time.

8) File and delivery requirements

For design templates, check:

• File size limits
• Supported file types
• Storage bandwidth
• Instant delivery
• Update notifications for customers

If your templates include large Figma, Canva, Notion, or Adobe files, make sure the platform handles them smoothly.

A practical way to decide

Use this quick framework:

Choose a marketplace-first platform if:

• You’re new and need built-in traffic
• Your products are easy to understand and purchase
• You’re okay with less branding control and higher fees

Choose a storefront/course platform if:

• You already have an audience
• Your brand and design presentation are important
• You want email ownership, bundling, and more control

Choose a hybrid approach if:

• You sell both templates and courses
• You want marketplace exposure plus your own site
• You want to test products before building a full funnel

Suggested shortlist by use case

Without naming every platform, the general categories are:

• Marketplace platforms: better for discoverability and validation
• Creator storefront platforms: better for branding and simple digital sales
• Course platforms: best for structured lessons and student experience
• All-in-one platforms: best if you want templates, courses, email, and memberships in one place

What matters most for a design educator

For your case, I’d prioritize:

1. Visual storefront customization
2. Support for both files and courses
3. Email capture and customer ownership
4. Bundles and upsells
5. Low-friction checkout
6. Ability to sell globally with simple tax/payment handling

My recommendation

If you’re starting out:

• Use a marketplace to test demand for templates
• Build your own storefront or course platform for long-term brand growth

If you already have an audience:

• Go with a creator-owned platform that supports both templates and courses, or pair a course platform with a separate digital goods storefront.

If you want, I can also give you:

1. a comparison table of popular platforms, or
2. a decision tree based on your audience size, product type, and budget.