Kickstarter vs PayPal Comparison 2026
Both cover monetization & payments. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
All or nothing funding with a real audience
Card and wallet payments with no monthly fee
At a glance
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
Side by side
Kickstarter | PayPal | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free | Free |
| Pricing model | Free | Free |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Usage-based | Usage-based |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Not stated | Yes |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | 5% of what you earn | Not stated |
| Runs on (they differ) | Web | Web, iOS, Android |
| Covers | Crowdfunding, Monetization & Payments | Monetization & Payments, Creator Finance |
Shaded rows are where the two answers disagree and both listings have answered. A row where one side has not stated a fact is left plain, because silence is not a difference.
Kickstarter
All or nothing funding with a real audience
Kickstarter is still where a project with no list of its own has the best chance of finding backers, because people browse it the way they browse a shop. All or nothing is the rule: miss the goal and nobody is charged, which protects a creator from half-funding something they cannot deliver. Nothing about the platform helps after the campaign ends.
Only on this side
- Covers crowdfunding
PayPal
Card and wallet payments with no monthly fee
PayPal charges nothing monthly for a business account and takes its money on each transaction, which is what makes it the default for anybody whose income arrives unevenly. Buyers can pay with a PayPal balance, a card, Venmo or a pay-later option without a merchant account of their own. The rate depends on how the money arrives rather than on a plan, and receiving from another country adds a percentage on top. Its dispute process is the part sellers complain about, and it is worth reading before it matters.
Our note
Use this as the second payment option rather than the only one, because acceptance is its real advantage and the rate is not competitive against Stripe at volume. Read the dated fee schedule rather than an article about it, since the rates on this page carry a revision date and most summaries elsewhere do not.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.