[OSS GAP] Digital Downloads Store #creator #ecommerce #self-hosted #payments
Pain: Creators selling a few digital products want storefront, checkout, and file delivery — not platform lock-in plus rising take rates. “Hey everyone, I’m u/AccomplishedArt1791 , a founding moderator of r/opensourcealternative . This is our new home for discovering and sharing open-source alternatives to popular” — reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/opensourcealternative/comments/1shm78a/welcome_to_ropensourcealternative_introduce/)
Why now: Small teams in 2026 are cutting tool spend and refusing extra platform debt. Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy, Payhip are strong products, but they are packaged for bigger companies than creator and other small teams. That makes a smaller, self-hosted wedge in digital downloads store unusually easy to explain.
Tiny wedge: Storefront for creator and other small teams without Gumroad-style pricing and platform weight.
Why this wins: Replaces recurring Gumroad spend with a boring self-hosted alternative for creator and other small teams.
Scope cut: Skip tax merchant of record and affiliate network in v1.
Stack: Node.js + Express + SQLite + Web Components + S3-compatible object storage.