Ko-fi Alternatives 2026: 6 Free Options
Ko-fi alternatives: Buy Me a Coffee, Liberapay, Patreon, GitHub Sponsors and 2 more. Prices and licenses checked October 25, 2026.
•3 min read•Online Courses & Creator Platforms
Verdict:Ko-fi is popular because tips are free of platform fees: the free plan takes 0% on one-off tips and 5% on shop sales, memberships, commissions and monthly tips, plus PayPal or Stripe fees. Gold costs $12 a month and removes that 5%. Few alternatives beat that on tips. Liberapay charges no platform fee at all and is the cleanest option for recurring donations, though it is plain: no shop, no commissions. Buy Me a Coffee and Patreon are the closest feature rivals, but both take a bigger cut, 5% and 10% respectively, so moving to them costs you money unless you value their audience or tiers. GitHub Sponsors is fee-free for personal accounts, but only developers on GitHub can use it. Payhip and Polar are better if what you really sell is digital products, and both charge a 5% transaction fee on their free plans (Polar adds 50 cents). The trade-off is reach against fees. Ko-fi's pricing is hard to beat for a hobbyist; switch only if you need a different supporter base or a product-focused store. Stay on Ko-fi if most of your income is tips. Leave it when you want a store with better product delivery.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buy Me a Coffee | Free (No monthly fee; 5% platform fee per transaction, plus Stripe 2.9% + $0.30, 0.5% payout processing, 1% extra outside the US and 0.5% extra on subscriptions) | Web browser | Tip jar with memberships | Docs only |
| Liberapay | Free (No platform fee; payment processor fees averaged about 3% for Stripe and 5% for PayPal over the last year) | Web browser | Lowest-fee recurring donations | Docs only |
| Patreon | Free (Free to start; Patreon takes 10% of income earned, plus payment processing, currency conversion and payout fees) | Web browser | Established membership community | Docs only |
| GitHub Sponsors | Free (No fees on sponsorships from personal accounts; up to 6% on organization sponsorships (3% card processing plus 3% GitHub service fee, card part avoidable with invoiced billing)) | Web browser | Open-source developers | Docs only |
| Payhip | Free (Free Forever plan at $0 with a 5% transaction fee; all features, unlimited products on every plan; PayPal or Stripe fees apply); paid from $29 per month (Plus; 2% transaction fee; Pro is $99 with no fee) | Web browser | Selling digital products | Docs only |
| Polar | Free (Starter plan: no monthly fee, 5% + 50¢ per transaction); paid from $20 per month (Pro plan, 3.8% + 40¢ per transaction) | Web API | Developers selling digital products | Docs only |
| Gumroad | Free (No monthly fee; 10% + $0.50 per direct sale and 30% on sales found through Discover) | Web browser | Creator Monetization | Docs only |
| Podia | Paid from $42 per month, billed annually (Mover; $49 monthly; 5% transaction fee) | Web browser | Online Courses | Docs only |
Independent comparison. Paid placements are labelled separately; editorial links earn no affiliate commissions. Learn more.
Good fit if
- Developers with an open-source project (GitHub Sponsors is the pick)
- You want the lowest fees on recurring donations (Liberapay is the pick)
- You sell digital downloads or courses (Payhip is the pick)
- You want the biggest membership audience (Patreon is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You rely on Ko-fi features or integrations that these tools do not replicate
Ko-fi today: Free (0% fee on one-off tips; 5% on shop sales, memberships, commissions and monthly tips on the free plan, plus PayPal or Stripe processing fees); paid from $12 per month (Gold, 0% fee; new subscribers are monthly only) (Ko-fi pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Why people look for Ko-fi alternatives
On the free plan Ko-fi charges 0% on one-off tips but 5% on shop sales, memberships, commissions and monthly tips, plus PayPal or Stripe processing fees. Moving every sale to a 0% platform fee requires the Gold plan at $12 per month, and new Gold subscribers can only pay monthly.
Buy Me a Coffee
Compared with Ko-fi: No monthly fee but a 5% platform fee per transaction plus Stripe fees. Ko-fi takes 0% on one-off tips, so Buy Me a Coffee costs more on tips but has a similar supporter page.
Price: Free (No monthly fee; 5% platform fee per transaction, plus Stripe 2.9% + $0.30, 0.5% payout processing, 1% extra outside the US and 0.5% extra on subscriptions) (Buy Me a Coffee pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: Tip jar with memberships.
Liberapay
Compared with Ko-fi: No platform fee at all; only payment processor fees, which averaged about 3% for Stripe and 5% for PayPal. Fewer features than Ko-fi's shop and commissions, and aimed at recurring donations.
Price: Free (No platform fee; payment processor fees averaged about 3% for Stripe and 5% for PayPal over the last year) (Liberapay pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser. CC0 1.0 public domain dedication (per README) (open source).
Project activity: 2k GitHub stars · last commit Oct 25, 2026
Best for: Lowest-fee recurring donations.
Worth knowing: Run by a non-profit; supported by donations to its own account. Recurring donations only; no content hosting.
Patreon
Compared with Ko-fi: Takes 10% of income plus payment fees, against Ko-fi's 0% on tips. You get a larger membership audience and tiers, but give up more of each payment.
Price: Free (Free to start; Patreon takes 10% of income earned, plus payment processing, currency conversion and payout fees) (Patreon pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: Established membership community.
GitHub Sponsors
Compared with Ko-fi: Personal-account sponsorships carry no fees; organizations pay up to 6%. Limited to developers on GitHub, so you lose Ko-fi's shop and commissions.
Price: Free (No fees on sponsorships from personal accounts; up to 6% on organization sponsorships (3% card processing plus 3% GitHub service fee, card part avoidable with invoiced billing)) (GitHub Sponsors pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: Open-source developers.
Payhip
Compared with Ko-fi: Free plan with a 5% transaction fee and unlimited products. Stronger as a store for digital downloads and courses than Ko-fi, with no donation-first page.
Price: Free (Free Forever plan at $0 with a 5% transaction fee; all features, unlimited products on every plan; PayPal or Stripe fees apply); paid from $29 per month (Plus; 2% transaction fee; Pro is $99 with no fee) (Payhip pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: Selling digital products.
Polar
Compared with Ko-fi: No monthly fee, 5% + 50 cents per transaction as a merchant of record that handles tax. Suited to software and digital products rather than casual tips.
Price: Free (Starter plan: no monthly fee, 5% + 50¢ per transaction); paid from $20 per month (Pro plan, 3.8% + 40¢ per transaction) (Polar pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web API. Proprietary.
Best for: Developers selling digital products.
Worth knowing: Merchant of record. Adds 1.5% on international cards and $15 per dispute.
Other popular options (paid)
Gumroad
Compared with Ko-fi: No monthly fee, but it takes 10% plus $0.50 per direct sale and 30% on sales found through Discover. Since January 1, 2025 it collects and remits sales tax worldwide as merchant of record.
Price: Free (No monthly fee; 10% + $0.50 per direct sale and 30% on sales found through Discover) (Gumroad pricing, checked 2026-10-25).
Podia
Compared with Ko-fi: Mover is $42 per month billed annually ($49 monthly) with a 5% transaction fee; Shaker at $84 has no Podia fee. There is no free plan, only a 14-day trial, and processor fees of 2.9% + 30 cents apply.
Price: Paid from $42 per month, billed annually (Mover; $49 monthly; 5% transaction fee) (Podia pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Which one to pick
- Developers with an open-source project: GitHub Sponsors
- You want the lowest fees on recurring donations: Liberapay
- You sell digital downloads or courses: Payhip
- You want the biggest membership audience: Patreon
Limits of this review
Docs-only for Buy Me a Coffee, Liberapay, Patreon, GitHub Sponsors, Payhip, Polar: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages and we did not test import from Ko-fi. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you buy or migrate.
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Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Based on official pricing and product pages checked between 2026-10-22 and 2026-10-25: Ko-fi, Buy Me a Coffee, Liberapay, Patreon, GitHub Sponsors, Payhip, Polar, Gumroad, Podia. Prices, free limits and licenses are the figures shown on those pages on those dates. No tool on this page was installed or run. No accounts were created.