Buy Me a Coffee review

How much does Buy Me a Coffee take?

Buy Me a Coffee takes 5% of every transaction, with no monthly fee. Stripe adds 2.9% + $0.30 per payment. The help center also lists 0.5% for payout processing, 0.5% on subscription payments, and 1% on payments from outside the US.

On a $10 membership from a US card, that leaves you about $8.86 before the payout fee. Ko-fi leaves about $8.91 on the same payment and Patreon about $8.41. The gap with Ko-fi is small per payment and grows with volume, which our fee table shows at each revenue level.

At $1,000 a month in $10 memberships, the 5% fee is $50, Stripe takes about $59, and the subscription surcharge adds $5. You keep about $886, against about $891 on Ko-fi and $841 on Patreon. Paying that out costs another 0.5%, about $4.43.

You can pass the card processing fee on to supporters instead of absorbing it. That raises what they pay, so test it on one tier before you switch it on everywhere.

How do Buy Me a Coffee memberships work?

You can create unlimited membership tiers with custom perks, plus one lifetime tier per account. Members see your posts, which you can schedule, and you can message one supporter or broadcast to all members at once.

The rest of the toolkit is short. There is one-time support with a default $5 coffee, a shop with unlimited products and no listing fees, free followers, and live stream alerts.

That covers a creator who wants a tip jar with a members' corner. The help center's feature overview lists no video hosting or group chat. If you need those, Patreon has both.

How and when does Buy Me a Coffee pay you?

Buy Me a Coffee pays out weekly through Stripe. Once your balance reaches $10 and your account passes a one-time review, payouts go to your Stripe account every Wednesday, then on to your bank in 2 to 7 business days. Each payout loses 0.5% to Stripe's payout processing fee.

Your first payout can take 7 to 14 days in total. That is slow next to Ko-fi, where money lands in your PayPal or Stripe account the moment someone pays.

Stripe is the only route. The help center lists 49 payout countries, 44 through Stripe Standard Connect and 5 through Stripe Express: India, Israel, the Philippines, South Korea, and Türkiye. If your country is not listed, you cannot get paid.

Can you take your supporters with you?

You can take the list. Buy Me a Coffee's FAQ says you can export your supporters any time.

The help center does not document custom domains, so your page stays on a buymeacoffee.com address. It also does not say whether memberships can move elsewhere with payment details. Plan on members re-subscribing if you switch.

That puts Buy Me a Coffee in the middle on ownership. Keeping the emails beats having nothing, but a move still means asking every member to sign up again. If keeping billing matters, Memberful stores cards in your own Stripe account.

Should you pick Buy Me a Coffee over Ko-fi?

Usually not. Both take 5% of memberships, but Ko-fi can charge 0% on tips, offers a $12 Gold plan with no platform fee, accepts PayPal, and pays instantly. Buy Me a Coffee adds small Stripe surcharges and pays weekly.

The surcharges are small at first. At $200 a month in memberships, the subscription surcharge and payout fee together cost you about $2. At $5,000 a month they cost about $50, and Ko-fi Gold would save you far more than that.

Pick Buy Me a Coffee if you want one flat fee with no modes or plans to think about, or if your supporters want Cash App, which it accepts in supported regions.