Brillay vs. Ko-fi Commissions

Ko-fi Commissions is better for artists who want to discuss custom work, add paid options, and collect upfront payment after the order is agreed. Brillay is better when the request can be packaged as a defined custom request with price and turnaround visible before checkout. Custom Work lets you offer clearly scoped commissions and services: you set the price, the scope and the delivery time, and followers submit a brief and pay before you start.

For Custom Work, price, scope and delivery time are written down before anyone pays; followers pay upfront as guests before you start, with no follower account needed, and each service is one time, no membership. 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. The full flow is in how it works, and pricing has the fee detail.

Should artists choose Brillay or Ko-fi Commissions?

Choose Ko-fi Commissions when your art process benefits from a pre-sale conversation: character references, pose questions, complexity checks, usage questions, and custom add-ons before a buyer pays. Choose Brillay when the offer is narrow enough to package as a fixed service: a bust sketch, profile-image cleanup, mini critique, emote review, or other defined deliverable.

Ko-fi's public Commissions page says creators can "Chat with potential buyers through DMs to agree the work, then get paid upfront" (Ko-fi Commissions, accessed September 2026).

"Chat with potential buyers through DMs to agree the work, then get paid upfront."

— Ko-fi Commissions

That distinction matters because commission artists often lose time before an order exists. Ko-fi gives that quoting process a built-in place. Brillay removes most of that quoting step only when the artist can define the service clearly enough for a follower to purchase without a custom estimate.

The National Endowment for the Arts reports that 34.1% of artists are self-employed, compared with 9.4% of the overall U.S. workforce, which makes quoting, scope control, and direct buyer communication unusually important for art sellers (NEA, Entrepreneurship as a Career Choice).

For artists deciding where their commissions should live, the real choice is not Ko-fi versus Brillay generally; it is whether the commission should be negotiated before payment or defined before checkout.

How does Ko-fi's message-first flow work?

Ko-fi's message-first flow starts with the buyer contacting the creator about the commission before every detail is locked. Ko-fi's own Commissions help center describes commission listings for custom work and services, says buyers can contact creators from a message icon on commission listings, and says creators can provide buyers with up to 12 paid add-on options for a commission (What are Ko-fi Commissions?).

That structure can be helpful for art commissions with variable complexity. A buyer might need to ask whether a creature design counts as one character, whether a weapon is included, whether a background is simple or detailed, or whether commercial use is allowed. The conversation protects the artist from underpricing unusual requests, and the add-on menu gives buyers a way to increase the order total without creating a completely separate listing.

The downside is that the first serious work may happen before the order is paid: reading the brief, clarifying scope, checking references, and explaining what costs extra. If you already enjoy that consultative process, Ko-fi Commissions gives it a home. If that back-and-forth is the part that drains you, a fixed Brillay custom request is intentionally less conversational before checkout.

What happens to price and payment timing?

Ko-fi settles the commission price after the buyer conversation, then takes payment upfront once the order is agreed. On Brillay the price is already on the listing, so followers pay upfront at checkout, and you can still decline a request that does not fit.

Ko-fi's pricing page is presented in U.S. dollars and lists a free Standard plan with a 5% service fee, plus Ko-fi Gold at $12/month with 0% service fees on tips, memberships, commissions, and shop sales (Ko-fi pricing). Stripe publishes typical U.S. online card pricing of 2.9% + 30¢ per successful card transaction, with additional charges for international cards and some currency situations (Stripe pricing).

Illustrative net amounts below use only the platform fee plus typical U.S. Stripe card processing. They exclude taxes, chargebacks, payout timing, currency conversion, and any allocation of Ko-fi Gold's monthly subscription across orders.

These are illustrative pricing examples, not financial advice or guaranteed payout amounts. Actual net depends on payment method, country, currency conversion, disputes, refunds, taxes, and whether a monthly plan cost should be treated as part of your commission overhead.

How do add-ons affect commission totals?

Add-ons make Ko-fi Commissions more flexible for variable art, because the buyer can select extras on top of a base commission. A common setup is a base portrait listing with paid options for extra characters, complex armor, background detail, commercial usage, rush delivery, or source files.

That flexibility is useful when buyers are not good at estimating what their idea costs. Instead of writing ten separate listings, an artist can keep one core listing and let add-ons handle the common complexity jumps. Ko-fi's up-to-12 add-on limit is enough for many commission menus, but it still requires the artist to name each add-on clearly so buyers do not treat optional work as included.

Brillay Custom Work handles the same problem with separate, defined offers rather than Ko-fi-style paid add-on menus. On a custom request offer, you set the title, description, price, delivery time, what the follower gets, what you need from them, and what is not included. The same feature supports optional max slots, optional custom follower fields, follower file attachments, and creator delivery by text plus files and/or a link. Delivery is one-time in Brillay's current Custom Work flow, so a different scope should become a new paid order rather than an open-ended revision thread.

Which flow reduces scope creep better?

Brillay reduces scope creep by requiring the artist to define the offer before checkout; Ko-fi reduces scope creep by letting the artist negotiate and price extras before accepting the commission. Neither approach magically fixes vague briefs, but they fail in different ways.

Ko-fi's message-first model is safer when the buyer's idea is genuinely unknown at the start. You can ask for references, decide whether the job belongs in your style, and tell the buyer which add-ons apply before the agreed upfront payment step. The risk is unpaid admin time: several buyers may ask questions, request quotes, or disappear before paying.

Brillay is safer when you can productize the recurring commission request. For example, a profile icon, sketch critique, emote cleanup, or simple character expression sheet can be written as a clear service with a fixed delivery time.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that craft and fine artists had a median annual wage of $55,290, the highest 10 percent earned more than $131,810, and about 4,300 openings are projected each year (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Craft and Fine Artists). That wage spread is a reminder that an artist's scoping system should protect time as well as payment; one underpriced custom order can consume hours that should have been quoted separately.

What should commission artists list upfront?

Commission artists should list the price logic, deliverable, delivery time, usage rights, reference requirements, and what is not included before taking paid work. The platform matters less than whether the buyer can see the boundary between the base order and a custom quote.

The U.S. Copyright Office says copyright gives the owner exclusive rights that include reproducing the work, preparing derivative works, distributing copies, and publicly displaying the work (U.S. Copyright Office, Copyright Basics). That is why commission listings should not treat usage rights as an afterthought; personal avatar use, streaming overlay use, merchandise, and brand use can be different scopes.

The Federal Trade Commission's online disclosure guidance says required disclosures must be clear and conspicuous, a useful standard for commission terms that affect the buyer's price or usage rights (FTC Dot Com Disclosures).

"Required disclosures must be clear and conspicuous."

— Federal Trade Commission, Dot Com Disclosures

On Ko-fi, a clear base listing plus add-ons works best for predictable extras. If a buyer's request does not fit, the message-first flow gives you room to clarify before payment. The better your add-on labels are, the less often a buyer has to ask whether an extra character, detailed background, commercial license, or faster delivery changes the total.

On Brillay, repeatable jobs usually belong in separate Custom Work rather than one vague custom art slot. A simple icon, a five-emote cleanup pack, and a portfolio critique should usually be three services, not one catchall. If pricing is the hard part, how much to charge for an art commission walks through estimating hours, complexity, and base rates.

When is Ko-fi Commissions the better fit?

Ko-fi Commissions is the better fit when you want a commission storefront, a buyer conversation, and additive pricing for custom work. It is especially strong when most orders vary by character count, pose, background, commercial use, or materials.

Ko-fi can also fit artists who already use Ko-fi for tips, memberships, or shop sales and want commissions to live in the same ecosystem. This page is intentionally not a general Ko-fi comparison; the only question here is whether Ko-fi's Commissions listing type fits your commission workflow better than Brillay Custom Work.

Brillay is the better fit when you want to stop awkwardly negotiating payment in DMs: put Custom Work and your other paid offers on one link, show the price upfront, and let the follower choose what to buy. Artists and illustrators can use Brillay for artists and illustrators to keep repeatable follower requests separate from free social DMs while still linking from the same bio.

The practical test is simple: if each buyer needs a quote, use a commission flow that welcomes quoting; if your audience is small but repeatedly asks for the same work, Brillay has no follower minimum or application gate. If the same three requests keep arriving in your inbox, package those requests into fixed services and make the follower choose the scope before checkout.

What are the honest tradeoffs here?

Ko-fi's tradeoff is that flexibility invites more pre-sale conversation; Brillay's tradeoff is that fixed services do not fit every custom-art brief. The better platform is the one that matches the way your buyers actually describe their requests.

Ko-fi Commissions is not merely a payment button. Its own commission materials emphasize DMs, agreement, upfront payment, and add-ons, so the product is strongest when an artist wants to evaluate a brief before the buyer pays. That can prevent underpricing, but it also means you should expect some messages that never become orders.

Brillay Custom Work is not a custom quote marketplace. You publish a defined service, the follower pays as a guest before you start, and you deliver within the window you set — no live call, no scheduling. The trade is structural: a follower who decides mid-scroll pays by card as a guest, with no account to make and no quote conversation between the decision and the order.

For many artists, the cleanest setup is not either-or. Use Ko-fi Commissions for open-ended custom art that needs quoting, and use Brillay for repeatable paid follower requests that can be described in one clear listing.

Frequently asked questions

Does Ko-fi make buyers message before paying?

Ko-fi Commissions is designed around a buyer conversation before the commission is agreed, and Ko-fi's public commission page describes chatting through DMs to agree the work before getting paid upfront. That works well for custom art that needs scope checks, but it can create unpaid back-and-forth for simple repeatable requests.

When does a follower pay for Custom Work?

Upfront. The follower pays as a guest when they send the brief, and you deliver within the delivery time you set.

How does Brillay Custom Work handle extras?

Each offer is its own priced listing instead of a base price plus a menu of extras: you define each service with its price, delivery time, what the follower gets, what you need from them, and what is not included; a different scope should become a separate paid order.

Is Ko-fi cheaper than Brillay for commissions?

On platform fee alone, Ko-fi is usually lower: Ko-fi Standard lists a 5% service fee and Ko-fi Gold lists 0% service fees with a monthly plan, while Brillay charges 8% when a follower pays for work and 5% on tips and goals. Weigh the monthly line too: Ko-fi Gold's 0% comes with a monthly plan that bills in the months no commission arrives, while on Brillay a quiet month costs you nothing.

Do commission artists need to report this income?

Income rules depend on your country and situation, so this is not tax advice. The IRS says gig economy income is taxable and that workers with net self-employment earnings of $400 or more generally must file a tax return for that work (IRS gig work taxes).

Ready to try Brillay?

If followers already ask for critiques, emote cleanup, profile art, or other repeatable work, turn those requests into Custom Work with a fixed price and delivery time instead of hoping every follower will buy. Create your free Brillay page — no monthly fee, no follower minimum, and payouts in 41 countries.