Growing an audience
Running the business
Both cover monetization & payments and memberships & subscriptions. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
| Ko-fi | SubscribeStar | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $12 | Free |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Usage-based |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Not stated | Yes |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | Not stated | 5% of what you earn |
| Runs on | Not stated | Web |
| Covers | Monetization & Payments, Memberships & Subscriptions, Tips & Donations | Tips & Donations, Memberships & Subscriptions, Monetization & Payments |
| Works with | YouTube, Twitch | YouTube, Discord |
| Founded | Not listed | Not listed |
| Reader rating | No reviews yet | No reviews yet |
| Live deals | None right now | None right now |
Tips, memberships and a shop with no platform cut
Ko-fi takes nothing from tips on the free plan, which no other platform of its size does. Memberships, commissions and digital downloads all work from the same page. It is lighter than Patreon in every direction, which is often the point.
Our note
The best free option for somebody who mostly gets tipped, and worth weighing against Patreon the moment memberships become the larger half of the income. Do the Gold arithmetic yourself rather than taking the upgrade prompt's word for it.
Only on this side
Membership tiers with the fees printed
SubscribeStar runs paid membership tiers and posts for creators, and prints its fee arithmetic on the front page rather than in a help centre. A free profile gets the publishing tools and the money only costs something when it moves. It is smaller than the platform everybody names first, which matters, because a membership platform is only worth what an audience will follow you onto.
Our note
Patreon takes 10 percent and gives you an audience that already has an account there. This takes half that and gives you none, which is the entire decision. It is worth running as a second option rather than a replacement.
Only on this side
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.