Buy Me a Coffee
Ranked 5 of 5 donation platforms by recommenders
Creators use it to collect one-off tips and support from fans, and people find it easy to use on both sides. Some say supporter conversion is low compared with other ways to get feedback.
Creators use it to collect one-off tips and support from fans, and people find it easy to use on both sides. Some say supporter conversion is low compared with other ways to get feedback.
12 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 5
- approval share
- 58%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1.4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Easy to use for tippers and creators
“it's very user friendly on both sides (tipper and tippee)”
Comment from 25 Aug 2026 in “Show HN: Wirespan, a daily power grid optimization puzzle I made for my son” “Platforms like BuyMeACoffee handle tips well”
Comment from 29 May 2026 in “Show HN: Imagine Kickstarter, but doubters get paid if the project flops” Responsive, appreciated support team
“Many thanks to everyone involved at Stripe & BuyMeACoffee!”
Comment from 28 Mar 2026 in “The danger of using "Hide My Email" with third-party Stripe handoffs” “I’m very appreciative of their response.”
Comment from 27 Mar 2026 in “The danger of using "Hide My Email" with third-party Stripe handoffs”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Community vibe turns some people off
“As soon as I see "buy me a coffee" I get the sense that there is some kind of community”
Comment from 12 Jun 2026 in “I Won't Buy You a Coffee” “they seem to be repulsed by BuyMeACoffee”
Comment from 31 Mar 2026 in “Why a "Buy Me a Coffee" Prompt Yielded $0 and Churned Our Power Users”
Other donation platforms people recommend
The four most recommended other donation platforms, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patreon | 55 | 37 | 60% | 12 | — | — |
| Watsi | 29 | 1 | 97% | 4 | 12 yrs4 owners | Approved |
| GitHub Sponsors | 10 | 4 | 71% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Ko-fi | 8 | 1 | 89% | 5 | — | — |
| Buy Me a CoffeeThis page | 7 | 5 | 58% | 6 | — | — |
What people said
12 of the 13 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Buy-me-a-coffee with a <0.01% hit rate compared to open feature requests/gh issues”
“it's very user friendly on both sides (tipper and tippee)”
“As soon as I see "buy me a coffee" I get the sense that there is some kind of community”
“I smile at the quaint notion, and I have clicked it a few times.”
“I much prefer it to actual ads.”
“Platforms like BuyMeACoffee handle tips well”
“they seem to be repulsed by BuyMeACoffee”
“Many thanks to everyone involved at Stripe & BuyMeACoffee!”
“I’m very appreciative of their response.”
“there's got to be a better way of getting some $$ rewards”
“Buy Me a Coffee doesn't seem to make the page publicly accessible from my location.”
“Buy Me A Coffee or a TipJar... Starring a repository... They're good... but they're not enough.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.