Ko-fi
Ranked 4 of 5 donation platforms by recommenders
Lets creators take donations, memberships and shop sales, free for single donations, with a small cut on recurring ones.
Lets creators take donations, memberships and shop sales, free for single donations, with a small cut on recurring ones.
9 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 8
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 89%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 8 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 8 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 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
Free single donations, low fees
“free for single donations but take a small cut on recurring donations”
Comment from 23 Sep 2026 in “Show HN: FreeCoffee – Self-hostable donation tool with crypto support” “You mention having kofi being the lowest prices”
Comment from 8 Dec 2025 in “Microsoft Download Center Archive” Popular with donors and creators
“I've donated quite a bit through the Kofi and Tipjar payment systems”
Comment from 4 Dec 2025 in “The long wait is over, Ganymede has arrived” “things like Kofi and Patreon came along and have been a huge success”
Comment from 7 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: Tanstaafl – Pay-to-inbox email on Bitcoin Lightning”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Takes cut on recurring donations
“free for single donations but take a small cut on recurring donations”
Comment from 23 Sep 2026 in “Show HN: FreeCoffee – Self-hostable donation tool with crypto support”
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-fiThis page | 8 | 1 | 89% | 5 | — | — |
| Buy Me a Coffee | 7 | 5 | 58% | 6 | — | — |
What people said
6 of the 9 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“free for single donations but take a small cut on recurring donations”
“oh, you linked your stripe to ko-fi? banned forever!”
“things like Kofi and Patreon came along and have been a huge success”
“Ko-fi also has memberships, chatting, tips and a shop.”
“You mention having kofi being the lowest prices”
“I've donated quite a bit through the Kofi and Tipjar payment systems”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.