Selling Digital Products on Shopify: Files, License Keys and Delivery

Illustration of a stack of digital files with a PDF label, an arrow into an email window reading Your files are ready with two Download buttons, and a hanging key with a license key tag

Updated September 2026

Most of our apps started because we noticed merchants doing the same workaround over and over. Digital Products is no exception. We kept seeing stores selling ebooks, license keys, classes, design files or music and hitting the same friction: emailing files by hand after every order, or bolting on something that didn't fit how they sold.

This post covers how selling digital products on Shopify works, what Shopify gives you for free, and where our app, launched in May 2026, fits in.

Start with the product settings

Whatever you use for delivery, the product itself is set up the same way. On the product page in your admin, go to the Shipping section and turn off Physical product. If nothing in the cart needs shipping, checkout skips the shipping address step and collects billing details only. You can switch off shipping for many products at once with the bulk editor.

Two more things to check before you launch:

  • Taxes. Digital goods are taxed differently from physical ones in many places, the EU in particular. Shopify's guide to digital product taxes explains what applies to you.
  • Your policies. Say clearly whether downloads can be refunded, and put it on the product page, not just in your terms.

Shopify's free option

Shopify has its own free app for this, Shopify Digital Products, and for many stores it's enough. You upload files (up to 5 GB each) or add links from services like Google Drive or Dropbox, attach them to a variant, and customers get a download link by email after they buy. If you turn on downloads at checkout, there's also a Download now link on the order status page. You can cap the number of downloads per customer.

If you sell a handful of ebooks, printables or sample packs, start there.

When you need more: our Digital Products app

Digital Products is the app we build for stores whose digital goods need more control than a single file link. Delivery is automatic: the buyer gets an email the moment the order lands, and their files are also on the order status page and in a customer portal.

What it adds:

  • License keys. Issue a key with each item sold. Import your own keys, or let the app generate them per variant.
  • One link or one per item. Set it per variant. Someone buying five seats gets five distinct links and keys, and each one can be revoked on its own.
  • Limits and expiry. Cap downloads and expire links so files don't end up passed around.
  • Large files. Delivered by link, so email attachment limits don't matter.
  • Streaming for audio and video, and PDF stamping on paid plans, which marks each copy of a PDF to its buyer.
An order for three copies of a digital product can be delivered as one shared download link for the order, or as three separate links each with its own license key ONE ORDER, TWO WAYS ORDER #1042 3 × Font license A · ONE LINK PER ORDER Download all files Simple. Fine for an ebook or a pack. B · ONE LINK PER ITEM Copy 1 KEY 7QF2-M8ZK Copy 2 KEY H3LD-9PWA Copy 3 KEY X6TN-2RCE REVOKED Each copy gets its own link and key, and can be revoked on its own.
For licensed products, one link per item means every copy has its own key that you can revoke without touching the others.

Who it's for

The obvious users are stores selling digital-only products: ebooks, design templates, fonts, audio courses, stock photos, software, music, sewing patterns, recipe collections. They were the loudest about the gap, and they're who we built it for first.

But digital delivery turns up in physical-product stores too. A bakery selling printable cake templates alongside its baking kits. A clothing brand including a downloadable style guide. A coffee roaster adding a brewing guide PDF to each bag. If a file earns its place in the order, the app handles delivering it. That kind of add-on is also an easy way to raise order value without new stock. And if you make things at home, digital versions of what you already make are worth a look.

Shopify's app or ours?

Shopify Digital Products Pasilobus Digital Products
Price Free Free plan (1 GB storage); paid plans add storage and features
Delivery Email link; optional Download now on the order status page Email, order status page and a customer portal
Download limits Yes Yes, plus link expiry
License keys No Yes, imported or generated
Separate link per item bought No Yes, each revocable
PDF stamping, streaming No Yes

Choose Shopify's app for simple files. Choose ours when you sell licenses, seats or anything where one leaked link is a real cost.

Try it

The free plan includes unlimited products, orders and bandwidth, automated delivery and the customer portal, with 1 GB of storage. Paid plans add more storage, customizable emails, download limits and PDF stamping; the top tiers remove our branding. Digital Products is on the Shopify App Store. If you're not sure which setup suits your catalog, ask us.