Side hustlers and solopreneurs have a difficult decision to make when it comes to choosing the right platform to house their business.
With 48.2% of all side hustlers selling products online, such as digital products, subscriptions, or online courses, finding the right tools to facilitate the launch of a new online business can be overwhelming.
Two popular choices that often come up are Whop vs. Nas.io. While both platforms promise an easy way to grow a community and monetize your online presence, their features, pricing, and approach are very different.
This article will provide an overview of each platform, along with a feature-by-feature comparison to give you an idea of which tool is right for your business. You’ll discover both a Nas.io and Whop features review, with both the strengths and weaknesses of each platform, so that you can make an informed decision on the best platform for side hustles with your business in mind.
Overview of Whop
Core Features and Functionality
Whop is an all-in-one marketplace and storefront for solopreneurs and sidehustlers to sell digital products, memberships, and community access.
Creators can use Whop to sell eBooks, templates, software licences, online courses, and downloadable files to their online community. You can also set up recurring subscriptions or one-time payments, and integrate platforms like Discord or Telegram to sell access to private channels via Whop.
Whop can handle payment processing via its built-in system, supporting multiple currencies and global payments. Its checkout is streamlined and easy to use, which is beneficial for the user journey and international buyers.
They also promote analytics, with a system that allows users to track sales performance, subscription metrics, and customer retention. This allows users to understand how their community is performing and where they may need to refine.
Target Audience and Typical Use Cases
Whop is targeted at creators, developers, and solopreneurs who are looking for a quick way to monetize digital products or community access, without needing to build a website from scratch.
Side hustlers and freelancers often use Whop because it allows them to quickly test ideas, manage payments, and deliver digital goods or community access.
It also promotes subscriptions and recurring payments, allowing customers a route for ongoing revenue.
Strengths Highlighted by Users
Users typically praise Whop for its ease of use and flexibility, and for being able to bundle different offerings together (such as a template, software license, and community access) under one sale.
Payment and delivery automation are often noted as buyers receive instant access to digital assets once they pay, reducing the manual load on creators and improving overall customer experience.
Whop is also complimented for its reachability. Creators can list their products publicly, which can expose their products to a wider audience beyond their current following. This can be particularly useful for small creators looking to make their mark in their industry and build more traction.
Known Limitations / Challenges
However, there are limitations and challenges that Whop faces, as highlighted by frequent users.
One common criticism is around quality control. As anyone can list products, the marketplace often features products that are low-quality or overly salesy, which can make it difficult for high-quality creators to compete.
Another point that’s often raised by Whop customers is regular issues with payment holds or verification delays, which can be particularly frustrating for new creators.
While Whop’s marketplace offers potential discovery benefits, creators should also be careful that they don’t own the audience in the same way they would when creating their own website. To some extent, Whop customers are dependent on the platform’s policies, fees, and marketplace dynamics, which may not be suitable for every creator.
Overview of Nas.io
Core Features and Functionality
Nas.io is an all-in-one platform for creators to build and monetize a community without the need for technical knowledge or setup.
Key features include launching digital products, memberships, 1:1 services, events, courses, and downloadable files, all from one dashboard. You can also create exclusive access to your community, providing a home for your audience to engage with and an area for your content to exist.
Nas.io is known for its suite of AI-powered tools and automation features, allowing customers to quickly produce AI-generated product templates, nurture a community, and generate leads.
It also offers built-in community management, giving your audience a place to both purchase products and join challenges, events, and generally engage with other people in their community.
Nas.io also includes lead generation tools within its remit, such as automated outreach for email and WhatsApp, plus community feeds, affiliate capabilities, and the ability to track results via advanced analytics.
Target Audience Alignment
Nas.io is primarily designed for solopreneurs, creators, coaches, and small teams looking to build a community-based business without needing advanced technical expertise or complex infrastructures.
Its all-in-one nature, handling product sales, community, and marketing automation, makes it well-suited to creators looking for a simple, quick, unified workspace for their online business.
Creators looking to build relationships and recurring revenue are also drawn to Nas.io, primarily if they’re looking to offer value beyond a one-time sale. You can offer coaching sessions, challenges, events, and recurring content, while leveraging AI tools to launch quickly and access an audience that will likely be interested in your products.
Advantages for Non-Technical Solopreneurs
Nas.io is often praised for its low barrier to entry. Its AI-powered product templates allow creators to build a professional online presence with sellable digital products, without needing the technical knowledge to construct a complex website.
Product creation, payments, community, and marketing all live in one dashboard, which can be useful for solopreneurs who want to avoid juggling multiple tools.
Its community-first structure is also appealing to those looking to build recurring revenue and loyalty without complicated technical processes, facilitating sustainable, long-term growth and the ability to carefully nurture community relationships.
Potential Drawbacks or Gaps
Some users have reported potential drawbacks to Nas.io. The fact that it’s a ‘no-code’ and ‘AI-powered’ system naturally means it relies more on templates and automation, which can result in a lower level of customization compared with building a site from scratch.
Some have also reported mixed experiences with advanced features or support, suggesting that while Nas.io is useful for side hustlers and solopreneurs, it may not yet match the flexibility of older, more established platforms.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
Side hustlers and solopreneurs often need to weigh up the features of different tools to see which platform is best for their business.
This often needs to be done for specific capabilities that affect day-to-day operations, revenue growth, and audience engagement.
We’ve included below a solopreneur platform comparison of Whop and Nas.io across key functional areas such as customer acquisition, sales, automation, ease-of-use, and pricing.
| Feature | Whop | Nas.io |
| Customer Acquisition Tools | Offers a marketplace that can expose your products to new buyers, basic email capture, and integrations with social platforms for promotions. Limited ad management tools within the platform itself. | Includes native outreach features (email, WhatsApp), affiliate programs, and community-driven discovery. AI-assisted tools can help structure offers to attract new members, such as Magic Ads and Magic Reach. Stronger focus on building audience retention through community engagement. |
| Offer Packaging & Sales Process | Supports digital products, memberships, and bundles. Checkout pages are simple and functional. Offers subscriptions or one-time sales. Marketplace exposure allows bundling products, but less flexibility for tiered memberships within one community. | Supports memberships, subscriptions, digital products, and events. Offers built-in content delivery for community members, tiered access, and multiple product types in one community. AI templates help structure offers for maximum engagement. |
| Automation & Workflow Capabilities | Basic automation, such as product delivery and email integrations. Workflow customization is limited; it requires third-party tools for more complex sequences. | Built-in automations for onboarding, drip content, community engagement, and subscription management. AI-driven templates can automate parts of product setup and content delivery. Minimal reliance on external tools. |
| Ease of Onboarding & No-Code Setup | Quick setup for product listings and memberships. Minimal technical skill required, but complex offers may require manual setup. | Designed for no-code use. AI templates, pre-built workflows, and integrated dashboards allow creators to launch quickly without coding. It can present a learning curve due to more features. |
| Pricing Models | Transaction fees plus optional subscription tiers for access to advanced features. Free to list products, but fees apply to sales. The marketplace model means earnings are shared with the platform. | Subscription-based pricing with tiered plans depending on community size, feature access, and AI tools. No marketplace fees, but costs increase with scale. Pricing is straightforward but depends on desired features and the number of members. |
Feature
Whop
Nas.io
Customer Acquisition Tools
Offers a marketplace that can expose your products to new buyers, basic email capture, and integrations with social platforms for promotions. Limited ad management tools within the platform itself.
Includes native outreach features (email, WhatsApp), affiliate programs, and community-driven discovery. AI-assisted tools can help structure offers to attract new members, such as Magic Ads and Magic Reach. Stronger focus on building audience retention through community engagement.
Offer Packaging & Sales Process
Supports digital products, memberships, and bundles. Checkout pages are simple and functional. Offers subscriptions or one-time sales. Marketplace exposure allows bundling products, but less flexibility for tiered memberships within one community.
Supports memberships, subscriptions, digital products, and events. Offers built-in content delivery for community members, tiered access, and multiple product types in one community. AI templates help structure offers for maximum engagement.
Automation & Workflow Capabilities
Basic automation, such as product delivery and email integrations. Workflow customization is limited; it requires third-party tools for more complex sequences.
Built-in automations for onboarding, drip content, community engagement, and subscription management. AI-driven templates can automate parts of product setup and content delivery. Minimal reliance on external tools.
Ease of Onboarding & No-Code Setup
Quick setup for product listings and memberships. Minimal technical skill required, but complex offers may require manual setup.
Designed for no-code use. AI templates, pre-built workflows, and integrated dashboards allow creators to launch quickly without coding. It can present a learning curve due to more features.
Pricing Models
Transaction fees plus optional subscription tiers for access to advanced features. Free to list products, but fees apply to sales. The marketplace model means earnings are shared with the platform.
Subscription-based pricing with tiered plans depending on community size, feature access, and AI tools. No marketplace fees, but costs increase with scale. Pricing is straightforward but depends on desired features and the number of members.
We’ve noted below some key takeaways from the above table:
- Customer Acquisition: Nas.io offers a stronger toolkit for growing and retaining an audience. Whop excels more when providing early exposure for small creators.
- Sales and Packaging: Nas.io excels for community-driven and tiered products, while Whop is simpler and more functional for simple digital sales.
- Automation and Workflow: Nas.io offers a more integrated automation and AI-powered setup; Whop is good for basic product delivery but may need extra tools for trickier workflows.
- Onboarding and Ease-of-Use: Both platforms are no-code friendly, requiring no coding/design experience from a user.
- Pricing: Nas.io uses a predictable subscription-based plan, with pricing increasing with scale, while Whop charges transaction fees as per a marketplace fee model, with subscription fees chargeable for advanced features.
Which Platform Fits Your Side Hustle?
The right platform for you will vary, depending on your specific side hustle goals and workflow.
Both Whop and Nas.io have different strengths depending on the side hustler profile, which we’ve explained in more detail in the sections below.
Matching Platform Strengths to Different Side Hustler Profiles
For coaches and consultants, Nas.io is the best tool for you. Its community tools, tiered access, and automated workflows make onboarding new clients super easy, and you can offer paid memberships, digital courses, and recurring coaching sessions to every client.
For creatives like designers, writers, and artists, Whop may be the better choice. It works well for selling digital downloads, templates, and art assets with a simple checkout, and its marketplace exposure can be useful for small creators looking to reach new buyers.
Both platforms cater well to freelancers and solopreneurs, with different benefits depending on monetization objectives. If you’re looking for straightforward product sales, Whop may be better for you, but if you want to build a community or recurring revenue, Nas.io offers more tools and flexibility to achieve this.
When to Choose Whop vs. When to Choose Nas.io
In simple terms, follow the guidelines below for advice on which platform to choose:
Choose Whop if:
- You’re looking for a quick, no-fuss route to selling digital products/memberships.
- Your brand would benefit from marketplace exposure.
- You prefer a simple setup and minimal onboarding.
Choose Nas.io if:
- You want to build a branded community with recurring revenue and a focus on engagement.
- You want to prioritise AI-powered tools for creating offers, workflows, and delivering content.
- You’re looking for an all-in-one platform for managing sales, automation, and community.
Considerations about Scalability, Community, and Technical Support
Nas.io is very well suited for scaling memberships or subscription communities as it has built-in tools designed to retain and manage large numbers of members.
While Whop may work well for smaller-scale product sales, you may need extra tools are you scale.
For the community, Nas.io’s community features give you more control and flexibility, while Whop tends to rely on third-party platforms like Discord or Telegram. This can make things a little tricky if you’d prefer to keep everything in one place.
Both platforms offer good technical support, but Nas.io’s all-in-one platform tends to reduce reliance on external integrations. Whop’s marketplace may need you to manage multiple dollars for complicated setups.
Conclusion
Whop and Nas.io offer a valuable set of tools for side hustlers looking to build an AI business. When choosing which is best for you, it’s important to weigh up your goals and how you plan to grow to ensure you make the right choice.
Nas.io excels at community-building, automation, and long-term growth, while Whop is best for simple digital sales and marketplace exposure.
Before choosing a platform, assess which platform aligns best with your workflow, technical expertise, and future goals. Prioritizing the features that matter most to you will help you pick the right platform for the long-term success of your side hustle.
FAQs
Is Whop or Nas.io Better for Beginners?
Both side hustler tools are beginner-friendly, but they do meet different needs. Whop is simpler if you’re looking to upload digital products, while Nas.io offers more built-in tools, including AI assistance and workflows.
How Different are the Features Between the Two Platforms?
Whop focuses on digital product sales and is a nas.io alternative for solopreneurs looking for marketplace exposure, while Nas.io centers on community-building, automation, and multi-format monetization such as courses, memberships, challenges, and events.
What Should I Expect in Terms of Pricing?
Whop focuses on a transaction-fee model where you pay based on what you sell on their platform.
Nas.io uses subscription-based pricing that scales with community and feature needs.
Do I Need Technical Skills to Use Either Platform?
No, both Whop and Nas.io are no-code platforms, which means you don’t require technical skills to get started.
Is AI Automation Better Than Manual Marketing Tools?
While Nas.io is an AI-powered platform, it still values strategic thinking and manual marketing tools. Its primary focus with AI is to speed up repetitive tasks like drafting onboarding flows, organizing community spaces, and structuring content, to allow creators to focus on creative tasks and engagement.
