Ko-fi vs Buy Me a Coffee: fees compared for tips and memberships
Ko-fi and Buy Me a Coffee both let fans send a tip or join a monthly membership, and both are free to start. Their fees still differ in ways that matter. Ko-fi can take 0% on a one-time tip, while Buy Me a Coffee takes 5% of every transaction. This guide puts the fees side by side, adds card processing, and works out what a creator keeps.
The fees at a glance
| Fee | Ko-fi Free | Ko-fi Standard | Ko-fi Gold | Buy Me a Coffee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | $0 | $0 | $12 (new users) | $0 |
| One-time tips | 0% | 5% | 0% | 5% |
| Monthly tips, memberships, shop | 5% | 5% | 0% | 5% |
| Other fee lines listed | None | None | None | 0.5% payout, +0.5% subscriptions, +1% outside the US |
Card processing comes on top at both. Ko-fi does not process payments or hold a balance: each payment goes straight into your own PayPal or Stripe account, which charges its normal fee (Ko-fi says usually around 3% + $0.30). Ko-fi charges buyers nothing and takes no payout fee. Its own fee shows as a Partner Fee in PayPal and an Application Fee in Stripe. On Buy Me a Coffee, Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 comes out of the creator's earnings by default.
How Ko-fi's three settings work
- Free: 0% on one-time tips and 5% on monthly tips, memberships, shop sales and commissions. It leaves out supporter-only content, scheduled posts and a few other extras.
- Standard: 5% on everything, with those extras included. Older articles call it Contributor status. It is the default for new creators, and you can switch it off under Payment in your settings to keep one-time tips at 0%.
- Gold: $12 a month for new users, billed monthly, and 0% on everything. If you were on Standard, switch Standard off as well or the 5% stays. Memberships that began before Gold keep the 5%.
Gold beats the 5% fee once you earn more than $240 a month that would carry it ($12 divided by 0.05). Ko-fi explains each setting in Does Ko-fi take a fee?
How Buy Me a Coffee's fee works
Buy Me a Coffee has no paid plan. Its FAQ says it takes 5% of every transaction, so creators keep 95%. A setting lets supporters pay a little extra to cover the card fee: the help article's example turns a $25 contribution into $26.03.
The fee article lists three more lines: 0.5% for payout processing, +0.5% on subscription payments and +1% outside the US. It does not say who pays them, so the table below shows Buy Me a Coffee with and without the first two. Supporters pay by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or Cash App in supported regions; the article on how it works does not list PayPal. Its pages describe payouts in more than one way, so read the payout article for your account. See How to calculate charges.
What a creator keeps after card fees
Every figure assumes a US supporter paying by card through Stripe: $0.45 on $5, $0.59 on $10, and $45.00 on 100 payments of $5. The $12 for Gold is counted only in the last column.
| Setting | $5 tip | $10 tip | 100 members at $5 a month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ko-fi Free | $4.55 | $9.41 | $430.00 |
| Ko-fi Standard | $4.30 | $8.91 | $430.00 |
| Ko-fi Gold | $4.55 | $9.41 | $443.00 |
| Buy Me a Coffee, 5% plus Stripe | $4.30 | $8.91 | $430.00 |
| Buy Me a Coffee, with the two 0.5% lines | $4.28 | $8.87 | $425.36 |
The creator pays every fee in the table. Ko-fi supporters pay nothing extra, and Buy Me a Coffee supporters pay more only if the creator turns on the card-fee setting. A PayPal payment on Ko-fi is charged at PayPal's rate in your own account, and PayPal's page lists 3.49% + $0.49 for PayPal Checkout. The totals leave out sales tax, refunds, disputes and currency conversion. They also leave out Stripe's separate 0.7% Billing fee for subscriptions, which may or may not reach your account, so check your Stripe statement. For the processing rates, see Stripe fees explained.
Which one fits
- Mostly one-time tips: Ko-fi on Free or Gold. Buy Me a Coffee always takes 5%, which is $0.50 on a $10 tip.
- Memberships under $240 a month: Ko-fi Free or Standard and Buy Me a Coffee all take 5%, so choose on features. Ko-fi's memberships article describes monthly billing only. Buy Me a Coffee offers monthly or yearly levels and a 7-day free trial.
- Memberships over $240 a month: Ko-fi Gold. At $500 a month it keeps $13.00 more than Ko-fi Free.
- Supporters who cover card fees: Buy Me a Coffee has a setting for it.
Check which Ko-fi setting you are on. New creators start on Standard, which takes 5% of one-time tips. If you take tips only, switching Standard off keeps them at 0%.
Where Payly's tip jar fits
Payly is free, with no monthly fee, no transaction fee and no commission, so a tip jar adds nothing to PayPal's or Stripe's fee. A $5 tip by card leaves $4.55, level with Ko-fi Free and Gold. Monthly tips and creator memberships keep $455.00 from 100 members at $5, against $443.00 on Ko-fi Gold and $430.00 or less on the rest.
Payly's pages do not list followers, a supporter feed, stream alerts or video replies, which Ko-fi or Buy Me a Coffee offer. A tip jar runs on your own free Cloudflare account, and PayPal or Stripe pays out on its own schedule. See Set up a tip jar and Start a creator page, or create a free Payly account.
Questions
Does Ko-fi take a cut of tips?
Not on the Free setting, where one-time tips are 0%. New creators start on Standard, which takes 5%. Gold takes 0% for $12 a month. PayPal or Stripe still charges its own fee.
Is Buy Me a Coffee free to use?
It has no monthly fee. It takes 5% of every transaction, plus Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30, and its fee article lists three more small lines.
Which is better for monthly memberships?
On the headline fee they tie at 5%, unless you earn more than $240 a month and choose Ko-fi Gold. After that, compare billing periods, trials and how supporters pay.
Prices as published by each company for the US in November 2026. Prices can change; check each company's own pricing page.
