Ko-fi
Worth it
Confidence: High
Buy if you're a solo creator taking tips, commissions, or small memberships and want near-zero fees.
Comparison
Ko-fi lands on Worth it, and Buy Me a Coffee lands on Depends.
Buy if you're a solo creator taking tips, commissions, or small memberships and want near-zero fees.
Buy it if you're a solo creator who wants a fast, free-to-start page for tips and memberships.
| Compare | Ko-fi | Buy Me a Coffee |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Worth it | Depends |
| Best for | Artists taking commissions | Individual creators |
| Who it's not for | Serious online stores needing inventory and shipping | Businesses selling actual products or services |
| Privacy | Runs a HackerOne bug bounty program; a 2023 XSS hit the unofficial Ko-fi WordPress button plugin; no confirmed breach found in reviewed sources.⁸ | No platform-wide breach found in reviewed sources; its WordPress plugin had three CVEs in 2023. |
| Support quality | 4.6/5 Trustpilot, but payout complaints exist | Users report email and login failures |
| Public sentiment | Creators broadly praise Ko-fi's low fees and simplicity, with recurring complaints about payout hiccups and support.³ | Praise for fast, simple setup is balanced by recurring complaints about support, fees, and account reliability.10 |
| Biggest gotcha | The 5% fee applies to shop and membership income, not just tips . margins shrink on product sales.¹ | 5% platform fee applies to every contribution . it compounds as your income grows12 |