Brillay vs. Buy Me a Coffee

Choose Buy Me a Coffee if your priority is simple one-time support, recurring memberships, or a shop for pre-made products. Choose Brillay if followers ask for personalized replies, Personalized Videos, or small services and you want those paid interactions, tips, Goals, and brand inquiries organized on one creator link. Personalized Videos let a follower pay upfront for one personalized video for themselves or someone they care about: you set the price and the delivery time, then record it on your schedule.

Pricing and features can change. The figures below were checked against each company’s own pages; confirm current numbers on their official sites before deciding.

Both platforms cost $0 per month: Buy Me a Coffee has a 5% platform fee per transaction (Buy Me a Coffee: how to calculate charges, updated March 18, 2026), while Brillay has an 8% platform fee when a follower pays for work and 5% on tips and goals (Brillay pricing). The difference that matters is what each is designed to sell — a support-and-store model versus a paid-requests-and-one-time-support model.

How do Brillay and Buy Me a Coffee compare at a glance?

Buy Me a Coffee charges a 5% platform fee and sells one-time support, memberships, and pre-made products (how charges are calculated). Brillay charges an 8% platform fee when a follower pays for work and 5% on tips and goals, and organizes paid interactions — private questions, Personalized Videos, and small services — plus tips, goals, and free brand inquiries.

Buy Me a Coffee’s help center states, “we only apply a 5% platform fee per transaction, which means you get to keep 95% of your earnings,” and confirms that Buy Me a Coffee charges no monthly fee.

Buy Me a Coffee’s help center lists four costs stacked on top of its 5% platform fee: Stripe’s 2.9% + $0.30 per successful transaction, a 0.5% payout-processing fee, an extra 1% on international (non-US) transactions, and an extra 0.5% on subscription payments (how charges are calculated).

Buy Me a Coffee’s help center article “How to eliminate the credit card fee from your earnings” documents a “Cover credit card fee” toggle in creator settings that shifts Stripe’s 2.9% + $0.30 card fee onto supporters instead of deducting it from creator earnings (how to eliminate the credit card fee).

Buy Me a Coffee requires a $10 outstanding balance before a creator can request a payout, transfers approved payouts to the creator’s Stripe account every Wednesday, and says bank arrival typically takes 3–5 business days while a first payout usually completes in 7–14 days after account review.

Buy Me a Coffee’s dormancy policy (article updated June 17, 2026) treats a creator account with no login activity for 18 consecutive months as inactive, and begins weekly email reminders after 12 consecutive months without a login.

Buy Me a Coffee pays creators out in USD no matter which currency a supporter pays in, and its localized-pricing feature requires their own Stripe account with USD as the base currency.

Buy Me a Coffee states that over 1 million creators use the platform, that it is supported in 110+ countries with payments processed through Stripe, and that setting up a page takes less than 5 minutes.

Buy Me a Coffee’s default one-time support price is $5 per “coffee,” supporters can enter a custom higher amount, and one-time support uses a one-tap checkout with no supporter account required.

Buy Me a Coffee lets a creator publish unlimited membership tiers billed monthly or yearly but exactly one lifetime membership level per account, and unlimited shop listings with no setup or listing fees.

Buy Me a Coffee’s own product overview describes the platform as one-time support, memberships, and a shop for digital or physical products, and states no follower threshold anywhere in that overview, so this comparison does not treat the absence of one as a separately verified policy.

Stripe’s published pricing lists a standard US online card rate of 2.9% + $0.30 per successful transaction (Stripe pricing), and Stripe’s payout documentation states that an initial payout typically completes within 7–14 days (Stripe: payouts).

Brillay’s pricing page lists an 8% platform fee when a follower pays for work and 5% on tips and goals on a page that costs $0 per month.

Brillay’s pricing page also states that brand collaboration inquiries carry no fee and that a connected Stripe account is required before any paid widget can accept money.

On a $50 payment, Brillay’s 8% platform fee on a paid-work order plus Stripe’s 2.9% + $0.30 charge take about $5.75 and leave roughly $44.25, while Buy Me a Coffee’s 5% platform fee plus its 0.5% payout fee and the same Stripe charge take about $4.50 and leave roughly $45.50 — a gap of about $1.25 per $50 (Brillay pricing; Buy Me a Coffee fee calculation; Stripe pricing). These are illustrative estimates from each platform’s published rates — actual take-home varies by card type, country, and whether a payment is one-time support, a membership, or a shop purchase.

Who is Brillay best for?

Brillay fits creators who keep hearing “can I pick your brain?” or getting requests for personalized work. You might set $5 for one written answer, $25 for a portfolio review, $50 for a commission with one defined delivery, or let someone send a $3 Tip with nothing owed in return. It puts six formats on one link: five ways to get paid, plus the free Brand Collaboration Inquiries form.

The six offers are Paid Questions, Personalized Videos, Custom Work, Tips, Goals, and Brand Collaboration Inquiries. You set the price and delivery time for the three request offers; Tips and Goals are one-time contributions, and Brand Collaboration Inquiries is a free form.

• Paid Questions — one private question, one written answer — followers pay upfront.
• Personalized Videos — a follower pays your price upfront for one custom video, which you record and deliver through Brillay.
• Custom Work — a small, defined deliverable, such as a review, mini audit, or piece of feedback, offered at a set price and delivery time.
• Tips — one-time support from a supporter, with nothing to deliver in return.
• Goals — followers contribute one time toward a named goal displayed with a progress bar, with nothing to ship.
• Brand Collaboration Inquiries — a “work with me” form that routes brand leads to a separate inbox.

All six offers sit on one Brillay page. No monthly fee, you only pay a small platform fee when you get paid. 8% platform fee when a follower pays for work, 5% platform fee on tips and goals. Card processing is separate. Brillay supports creator payouts in exactly 41 countries, so eligibility is concrete rather than open-ended.

The follower pays upfront when they ask; you reply when you can.

Creators can decline any request they do not want to fulfill. Paid follower interaction explains the rest of that model.

Brillay keeps each request bounded: one written reply for Paid Questions, one delivered video for Personalized Videos, and one defined delivery for Custom Work. You set the delivery time, with no live call, no scheduling.

Brillay is a weaker fit if your main goal is a recurring membership or a product shop: Brillay’s offers are one-time and on-demand, with no subscription tier and no storefront for pre-made files or merchandise.

Who is Buy Me a Coffee best for?

Buy Me a Coffee fits creators who want one-click support at a 5% platform fee and may add memberships or a product shop later. Its three building blocks are one-time support at a $5 default coffee price, unlimited monthly or yearly membership tiers, and a shop for digital or physical goods (what Buy Me a Coffee is).

Buy Me a Coffee’s shop allows unlimited product listings with no setup or listing fees, and the 5% platform fee is deducted at payout only when a sale happens. If you're weighing Buy Me a Coffee specifically against another tip-jar-style platform rather than against Brillay's paid-interaction model, see our side-by-side of Ko-fi and Buy Me a Coffee. Brillay does not need a finished file or stocked catalogue; you publish what you will make and the delivery time, then make it after an order arrives.

None of those three Buy Me a Coffee products is structured around delivering a personalized response to each paying follower: a supporter sends a $5-default coffee, joins a membership tier, or buys a listed shop item.

Buy Me a Coffee is likely the better fit when:

• Followers want to thank you, not ask you for something. Buy Me a Coffee’s one-tap checkout defaults to a $5 coffee and requires no supporter account.
• You publish enough to justify a subscription. Buy Me a Coffee supports unlimited monthly or yearly tiers plus one lifetime level per account.
• You have pre-made products to sell. Buy Me a Coffee’s shop takes unlimited digital or physical listings with no setup or listing fees.
• You want to compare headline fees. Buy Me a Coffee charges 5% per transaction; Brillay charges 8% when a follower pays for work and 5% on tips and goals (Buy Me a Coffee: how to calculate charges; Brillay pricing).

Buy Me a Coffee is a weaker fit when followers regularly request personalized work, because its model centres on support, memberships, and a shop; it does take priced commissions, but a single written answer or a personalized video is not its core format. Brillay reverses Buy Me a Coffee’s post-payment order-question flow: your listing states what the follower will receive, what you need, what is excluded, the price, and the delivery time, and checkout collects the brief before the paid order reaches you.

What do Brillay and Buy Me a Coffee have in common?

Both platforms are free to open, take money only when a follower pays, and pay out earnings to a bank account through Stripe. Buy Me a Coffee charges 5% per transaction with no monthly fee (how charges are calculated); Brillay costs $0 per month and charges 8% when a follower pays for work and 5% on tips and goals.

The structural similarities are worth listing precisely:

• Both cost $0 per month. Brillay’s pricing page lists $0/month with an 8% platform fee when a follower pays for work and 5% on tips and goals, and Buy Me a Coffee states it “doesn’t charge you a monthly fee” and applies 5% per transaction.
• Both have transaction-based platform fees. Buy Me a Coffee’s 5% is deducted at payout when a sale happens, and Brillay charges 8% when a follower pays for work and 5% on tips and goals.
• Both use Stripe for payments and bank payouts. Brillay payouts go to the creator’s own Stripe-connected account on Stripe’s standard schedule, and Stripe’s standard US online card rate of 2.9% + $0.30 sits outside either platform’s headline fee.
• Both let a follower pay without creating an account. Buy Me a Coffee states one-time support uses a one-tap checkout with no account needed (what Buy Me a Coffee is), and Brillay followers pay by card through Stripe as guests, with no Brillay account and no app.
• Brillay explicitly has no follower minimum. Buy Me a Coffee’s public overview reviewed in August 2026 does not state a follower threshold, but that absence should not be treated as a separately verified policy.
• Both provide a standalone creator link. Neither operates by reading or automatically charging followers inside a social platform’s DM inbox.

The practical gap is what each platform is designed to sell: Buy Me a Coffee sells support at a $5 default coffee, memberships, and pre-made products at 5%, while Brillay sells paid request offers at 8% plus Tips and Goals at 5%, with Brand Collaboration Inquiries available as a free lead form.

Creators can also use both. For example, a creator could maintain a Buy Me a Coffee shop for finished products and recurring support while using Brillay for one-off paid questions, Personalized Videos, and Custom Work. For a broader look at how Buy Me a Coffee stacks up against other tip-and-membership tools, see our three-way comparison of Patreon, Ko-fi, and Buy Me a Coffee. A follower pays once for one question, one commission or one video, and nothing is owed afterwards — so the followers who were never going to join a membership tier can still pay you, beside the Buy Me a Coffee page you already keep.

Frequently asked questions

Should I use Brillay when people keep asking to pick my brain or request custom work?

Buy Me a Coffee is built around one-time support at a $5 default coffee price, recurring memberships, and a product shop, at a 5% platform fee (what Buy Me a Coffee is). Brillay is built around paid requests from your followers — private questions, personalized videos, and small custom work, alongside Tips, Goals, and free Brand Collaboration Inquiries — with an 8% platform fee when a follower pays for work and 5% on tips and goals.

Choose on what followers are paying for: general support or pre-made products favor Buy Me a Coffee at 5%, while personalized access or custom work favors Brillay at 8% with a required reply or deliverable.

Is Brillay or Buy Me a Coffee cheaper?

Buy Me a Coffee has a 5% platform fee per transaction, while Brillay has an 8% platform fee when a follower pays for work and 5% on tips and goals. Buy Me a Coffee’s documentation also lists a 0.5% payout-processing fee, +1% on non-US transactions, and +0.5% on subscription payments (how charges are calculated).

On a $50 payment, published rates leave roughly $45.50 on Buy Me a Coffee (5% platform fee, 0.5% payout fee, Stripe’s 2.9% + $0.30) versus roughly $44.25 on Brillay (8% platform fee when a follower pays for work, plus the same Stripe charge) — about a $1.25 difference per $50 (Buy Me a Coffee fee calculation; Brillay pricing; Stripe pricing). Fee percentage favors Buy Me a Coffee, while product fit depends on whether you are selling support and products or personalized interactions.

Can I use Brillay and Buy Me a Coffee at the same time?

Yes. A creator can use Buy Me a Coffee for memberships, general support, and pre-made products while using Brillay for paid questions, Personalized Videos, or small services. Neither model requires exclusivity, and both cost $0 per month: Buy Me a Coffee charges no monthly fee (how charges are calculated), while Brillay charges 8% when a follower pays for work and 5% on tips and goals.

Which should I choose for a recurring membership or shop?

Choose Buy Me a Coffee. It supports unlimited monthly or yearly membership tiers, exactly one lifetime membership level per account, and unlimited shop listings with no setup or listing fees. Brillay’s offers are one-time and on-demand with no subscription tier, so it is not the closer fit for a membership or a product store.

How can you get started with Brillay?

Creating a Brillay page costs $0 per month, requires no follower minimum, and has an 8% platform fee when a follower pays for work and 5% on tips and goals.

If general support, memberships, or pre-made products are your priority, Buy Me a Coffee at 5% remains the more suitable option. When followers already ask to pick your brain, request a birthday video, or want a portfolio review, Brillay lets you put a fixed price and clear deliverable on that request.

Set up your free Brillay link and turn on whichever offers match what followers already ask you for. No monthly fee.