What Ko-fi takes
Ko-fi’s service fee depends on your plan and the payment type (Does Ko-fi take a fee?, Ko-fi Pricing):
- Ko-fi Free: 0% on one-off tips and crowdfunding goals, 5% on monthly tips, memberships, commissions and shop sales.
- Standard: 5% on everything, in return for extra features.
- Gold ($12/month): 0% on every payment type.
Your PayPal or Stripe fee comes on top, “usually around 3% + $0.30”.
| $25 payment | Fees | Fee rate | You keep |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tip · Free | $1.03 | 4.12% | $23.97 |
| Shop sale · Free | $2.28 | 9.12% | $22.72 |
| Membership · Free | $2.28 | 9.12% | $22.72 |
| Shop sale · Gold | $1.03 | 4.12% | $23.97 |
Ko-fi Fee on Memberships and Shop Sales: Is Gold Worth It?
On Free, Ko-fi’s 5% applies to the payments most creators grow into: memberships, shop sales and commissions. Gold replaces that with a flat $12 a month, so the break-even is simple: $240 a month of 5%-fee income. Above that, Gold saves money; below it, stay on Free.
The processor fee doesn’t change with your Ko-fi plan, and on small tips it’s the bigger cost: on a $5 tip the $0.30 fixed fee alone is 6%. Encouraging larger, less frequent support helps more than switching plans.
Small tips: where the money really goes
On a $5 one-off tip Ko-fi itself takes nothing, but a typical processor fee of 2.9% + $0.30 takes $0.45, so you keep $4.55. A $10 membership on Ko-fi Free loses $0.50 to Ko-fi and $0.59 to the processor, leaving $8.91. PayPal and Stripe each publish their own rates; check the one on your account (Stripe pricing).
Compare with Patreon for memberships or Gumroad for digital products.