shouldiuse.io

VERDICT

Should I use Buy Me a Coffee?

Buy Me a Coffee is the best way for creators and artists to accept support and membership from their fans. - buymeacoffee.com

Depends. Buy it if you're a solo creator who wants a fast, free-to-start page for tips and memberships. Avoid it if fees or support reliability matter — Ko-fi's 0% fee or Patreon's depth may fit better.

Confidence

Medium. Based on ~50 public sources; several review snippets were truncated, so sentiment weighting is approximate.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support quality
  • Security posture

Pricing

$0

Free

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly fees5%
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes

Best for

  • Individual creators
  • Podcasters and writers
  • Artists and indie devs
  • One-off tip monetization

Not for

  • Businesses selling actual products or services
  • Fee-sensitive creators — 5% beats Patreon but loses to Ko-fi's 0%
  • Anyone needing deep membership management or content hosting
  • Teams wanting guaranteed support response

Gotchas - check before you buy

medium

5% platform fee applies to every contribution — it compounds as your income grows

medium

Old WordPress plugin versions (≤3.7) had authorization and CSRF flaws — update or remove it

medium

Support complaints cluster around email delivery and account access

low

Guess: outgrown tips? Moving fans to Patreon or Ghost means rebuilding memberships and payment habits

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Free to start; you pay only a 5% fee on earnings
  • Fast, simple setup praised in app reviews
  • Combines one-off support and memberships on one page
  • Large creator base — 2M+ onboarded
  • Works as a simple support link alongside any existing website

Cons

  • 5% fee loses to Ko-fi's 0% pricing
  • Users report login and password-reset emails never arriving
  • Some creator communities explicitly advise avoiding it
  • Modest 3.8/5 Google Play rating across ~4,000 ratings

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/20/2026 - 10 sources - No platform-wide breach found in reviewed sources; its WordPress plugin had three CVEs in 2023.

official x2review x5security x2news x1
  • CVE-2023-2078 — Missing Authorization, WordPress 'Buy Me a Coffee – Button and Widget' plugin flaw; affects plugin users, not the hosted platform.
  • CVE-2023-2079 — Cross-Site Request Forgery, Request-forgery vulnerability in the same WordPress plugin.
  • CVE-2023-25030 — Missing Authorization, Additional missing-authorization flaw disclosed for the plugin.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 3/5

    Rating

  • $0

    Starting price

  • 10

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 3/5. 5% fee; Ko-fi charges 0%
  • Ease of use: 4/5. Reviews consistently cite fast, simple setup
  • Feature depth: 3/5. Tips and memberships only; thinner than Patreon or Ghost
  • Support quality: 2/5. Users report email and login failures
  • Security posture: 3/5. Core fine; WordPress plugin logged three CVEs
  • 3.8/5 Google Play rating 3,983 ratings
  • 5% Transaction fee Free to create an account
  • 2M+ Creators onboarded Per vendor case study
  • $150K Funding Early-stage raise

Pricing

Free

$0

  • 5% fee on supporter payments
  • One-off tips, memberships, extras
  • Card processing costs extra

Security

No platform-wide breach found in reviewed sources; its WordPress plugin had three CVEs in 2023.

  • CVE-2023-2078 — Missing AuthorizationWordPress 'Buy Me a Coffee – Button and Widget' plugin flaw; affects plugin users, not the hosted platform.
  • CVE-2023-2079 — Cross-Site Request ForgeryRequest-forgery vulnerability in the same WordPress plugin.
  • CVE-2023-25030 — Missing AuthorizationAdditional missing-authorization flaw disclosed for the plugin.⁷

What users say

Praise for fast, simple setup is balanced by recurring complaints about support, fees, and account reliability.

“Buy Me a Coffee has been worth it for me.”
Reddit, r/Substack
“Stay away from buy me a coffee.”
Reddit, r/indiegamedevforum
“Terrible experience with Buy Me a Coffee”
Product Hunt review
Full analysis

Based on ~50 public sources; several review snippets were truncated, so sentiment weighting is approximate.

Free to start, easy tip jar for creators — but the 5% fee and spotty support reviews give Ko-fi an edge.

Methodology

Based on ~50 public sources; several review snippets were truncated, so sentiment weighting is approximate.

Sources

  1. Buy Me a Coffee Reviews — Trustpilottrustpilot.com
    review
  2. Buy Me a Coffee — Google Playplay.google.com
    review
  3. Buy Me a Coffee Review 2026: Is the 5% Fee Worth It?builtbyfoundry.io
    review
  4. The advanced Buy Me a Coffee alternative with 0% fees — Ghostghost.org
    official
  5. Opinions on 'Buy me a coffee?' — r/indiegamedevforumreddit.com
    review
  6. Buy Me a Coffee Not Sending Emails — Mediummedium.com
    review
  7. CVE-2023-2078 — Missing Authorization (NVD)nvd.nist.gov
    security
  8. Buy Me a Coffee WordPress Plugin Vulnerability — Wordfencewordfence.com
    security
  9. How two brothers built Buy Me a Coffee — What a Startupwhatastartup.substack.com
    news
  10. How Buy Me a Coffee Engages 2M+ Creators with Mailercloudmailercloud.com
    official

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