Growing an audience
Running the business
Both cover crowdfunding. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
| Kickstarter | PledgeBox | |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | Not stated |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | 5% of what you earn | 3% of what you earn |
| Runs on | Web | Web |
| Covers | Crowdfunding | Crowdfunding |
| Works with | Nothing in particular | Nothing in particular |
| Founded | Not listed | Not listed |
| Reader rating | No reviews yet | No reviews yet |
| Live deals | None right now | None right now |
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.
Pledge manager for a funded campaign
PledgeBox handles what happens after a campaign funds: surveying backers for addresses and choices, selling add-ons, and producing the shipping list. It costs nothing unless the survey earns something, because the fee is a percentage of add-on sales rather than a subscription. Campaigns with no upsell pay nothing at all.
Our note
Free until there are add-ons to sell is the right shape for a first campaign, because the cost only arrives with the revenue. The 3 percent applies to add-on sales and not to what the campaign already raised, which is the distinction that makes it cheap.
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.