# Ko-fi

8 Hacker News commenters recommended Ko-fi and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Lets creators take donations, memberships and shop sales, free for single donations, with a small cut on recurring ones.

## Why people recommend it

- Free single donations, low fees (2 comments): "free for single donations but take a small cut on recurring donations" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49812657)) "You mention having kofi being the lowest prices" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46197834))
- Popular with donors and creators (2 comments): "I've donated quite a bit through the Kofi and Tipjar payment systems" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46152072)) "things like Kofi and Patreon came along and have been a huge success" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47286813))

## What people warn about

- Takes cut on recurring donations (1 comments): "free for single donations but take a small cut on recurring donations" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49812657))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Patreon](https://hackerapproved.com/p/patreon.md): 55 recommend
- [Watsi](https://hackerapproved.com/p/watsi.md): 29 recommend
- [GitHub Sponsors](https://hackerapproved.com/p/github-sponsors.md): 10 recommend
- [Buy Me a Coffee](https://hackerapproved.com/p/buy-me-a-coffee.md): 7 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://ko-fi.com/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Ko-fi", https://hackerapproved.com/p/ko-fi/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).