Best Direct.me Alternatives in 2026

Direct.me is a link in bio page builder that says it is trusted by 1.5 million creators. You claim a direct.me address, add your content, collect email addresses, and sell digital products, memberships and tips through Stripe Connect. Paid "VIP" features add your own domain, advanced styling and marketing tools.

Two things send people looking for an alternative. First, Direct.me's terms say it retains up to 25% as a platform fee on creator sales, plus processing fees. Second, we could not find a public pricing page for its VIP features. If you plan to earn from your page, or you just want to know what you will pay before you start, those two points matter.

The best Direct.me alternatives in 2026 are hoo.be for creators who earn from tips, products and affiliate links, Linktree for a familiar all-rounder, Beacons for a store with email, Lnk.Bio for the lowest cost, Taplink for a digital business card with contact buttons, and Carrd for a one-page website. Here is how they compare, using each company's own pages as of October 2026.

What is Direct.me and how does it work?

Direct.me was founded in late 2019 by Tom Packer and Derrick Chafin and launched in summer 2020. In November 2020 it raised a $2.6 million seed round led by Fuel Ventures. Its original pitch was an interactive digital business card that pulls your scattered profiles into one place.

Today the product covers four jobs:

• A page: a direct.me handle with custom themes. Using your own domain is a VIP feature.
• An audience list: email collection, so you can reach followers without an algorithm in the way.
• Selling: digital products, memberships and tips, paid through Stripe Connect. Subscriptions renew automatically, and tips are generally non-refundable.
• AI Studio: tools that turn a photo into a headshot or stylised portrait for your page.

It is a capable setup. The questions are what it costs and how much of each sale you keep.

Why look for a Direct.me alternative?

The fee on sales can be high

Direct.me's Creator Monetization Terms say it "retains up to 25% platform fee plus processing fees." It may also delay payouts, hold reserves and recover refunds from your balance, which is common practice for payment platforms. The 25% is a ceiling, not necessarily what you will pay, but it is far above the published fees of most link in bio tools. On a $20 product, 25% is $5 before Stripe takes its share.

Pricing is not published

Direct.me's homepage marks custom domains, advanced styling and marketing tools as VIP features, but the address direct.me/pricing returned a "page not found" message when we checked in October 2026. If you like to compare plans before signing up, that makes it hard to plan.

You want something more specific

Some creators want a page built for selling, others want a contact card for clients, and others want a full website. A general tool can do all three, but a specialist often does one of them better.

What are the best Direct.me alternatives in 2026?

1. hoo.be: for creators who earn from their page

hoo.be builds your page at hoo.be/yourname from blocks: Links, swipeable Carousels, Products with a price and shop button, Tips, Events with ticket links, Contact collection and Forms with text, email, phone, select, yes/no and address fields. Contacts and form responses export to CSV, so the list stays yours.

Tips go through Stripe, from $1 to $500 each, with default presets of $5, $15 and $25. hoo.be's fee on tips is 9% on Free, 5% on Pro and 0% on Premium, and Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 applies separately. Product links recognise 30 shopping platforms, including Amazon, LTK, ShopMy, Etsy and Shopify, and there is a field for your Amazon affiliate tag.

Pro adds branding removal, custom SEO, page scheduling, unlimited contacts and analytics broken down by referrer, device, country and city. Premium adds custom domains, up to five profiles and a verification checkmark. Prices are at hoo.be/pricing.

2. Linktree: the familiar all-rounder

Linktree's free plan includes unlimited basic links and email and phone sign-ups. Starter is $6 a month billed yearly ($8 monthly). Pro is $12 a month billed yearly ($15 monthly) and removes Linktree branding, adds custom designs and mailing list integrations, and lets you sell with 0% Linktree fees. Stripe's processing fee still applies on every plan. Premium, at $30 a month billed yearly, adds link routing, all-time analytics, data export and social scheduling.

3. Beacons: for a store with email

Beacons is the closest match to Direct.me's mix of page, audience and selling. The free plan includes a customizable link in bio, auto-reply DMs, auto-updating media kits, courses with video hosting and five email automations, and you can sell with a 9% seller fee. Creator Plus costs $30 a month and brings seller fees to 0%, with unlimited email sends, memberships and a free custom domain. Read our Beacons alternatives for the trade-offs.

4. Lnk.Bio: for the lowest cost

Lnk.Bio's free plan includes unlimited links, a donation box, contact buttons for email, phone, SMS and iMessage, and a "save my contact" vCard link. Mini costs $0.99 a month or $9.99 once. Unique costs $24.99 once and removes branding, adds custom colours and fonts, a built-in shop and email integrations. A custom domain is a $29.99 yearly add-on.

5. Taplink: for a digital business card

If you mainly used Direct.me as a contact card, Taplink fits well. Its free Basic plan includes unlimited links, messaging app links, a QR code, and email, SMS, click-to-call and save-contact buttons. Pro is $4 a month on a 12-month plan. Business is $8 a month on a 12-month plan and adds branding removal, a custom domain, lead forms, a CRM and payments with a 0% Taplink transaction fee.

6. Carrd: for a one-page website

Carrd builds simple one-page sites. Pro Lite is $9 a year and removes the "Made with Carrd" branding. Pro Standard is $19 a year and adds custom domains, contact and signup forms, payment-enabled forms and embeds. It suits freelancers who want a portfolio and contact page rather than a link list. Our guide to turning your link in bio into a portfolio shows what to include.

How much do Direct.me alternatives charge when you sell?

Platform fees are where the real cost difference sits. This chart shows the platform's own cut on a sale, before payment processing.

Platform fee on a sale, by plan

Direct.me (maximum)25%

Beacons Free9%

hoo.be Free (tips)9%

hoo.be Pro (tips)5%

Linktree Pro0%

Beacons Creator Plus0%

Taplink Business0%

hoo.be Premium (tips)0%

A fee-free plan is not automatically cheaper. Linktree Pro costs $144 a year billed yearly, and Beacons Creator Plus costs $360 a year. If you sell $100 a month, a 9% fee costs $108 a year, so a free plan with a fee can still win. Once sales grow, a paid plan with no platform fee pulls ahead. For more on this maths, read how to turn your link in bio into a revenue driver.

How do the alternatives compare side by side?

Prices and fees from each company's website in October 2026, in USD. hoo.be fee figures apply to tips.

Can a link in bio page replace a digital business card?

For most creators and freelancers, yes. A business card needs three things: who you are, how to reach you, and an easy way to save your details. A good link in bio page covers all three, and you can update it any time without reprinting anything.

• Contact buttons. Taplink includes email, SMS, click-to-call and save-contact buttons on its free plan. Lnk.Bio includes email, phone, SMS and iMessage links plus a vCard on its free plan.
• Lead capture. hoo.be's Contact collection and Forms blocks gather names, emails, phone numbers and more, and export to CSV.
• A QR code. Print it on a flyer, a table tent or the back of a real card, so people in the room can reach your page.
• A short bio and one clear action. Book a call, request a quote, or shop the current drop.

If you want a fuller profile with work samples, our media kit guide covers what brands look for.

How do you move from Direct.me to another tool?

Direct.me's terms say creators own their subscriber lists and may export them where the feature exists. Start there.

1. Export your subscribers. Download your email list and any customer records before you change anything.
2. Settle open sales. Check pending payouts, active memberships and recent orders, so no buyer is left without access.
3. List your top links. Note which links and products earned or got clicks in the last 30 days. Everything else is optional.
4. Rebuild in order of value. Lead with your current offer or best seller, then contact options, then the rest.
5. Reconnect payments and tracking. Connect Stripe on the new tool, then add your Meta Pixel, TikTok Pixel or Google Analytics ID.
6. Tell your members and update every bio. Email your subscribers with the new link, then change Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and your email signature on the same day.

Frequently asked questions