Substack vs. Ko-fi: Which Is Right for Your Creator Page?

Choose Substack if you want to publish a recurring paid newsletter and build an email subscriber business. Choose Ko-fi if you want a lower-fee tip jar, shop, or optional memberships without a regular publishing commitment. Substack charges 10% of subscription revenue; Ko-fi offers $0 options with either 0% or 5% platform fees depending on configuration. Paid Questions let a follower pay upfront to ask one private question, and you send one written reply on your own time — no live call or scheduling.

Do you want subscribers or supporters?

Substack is built around recurring publishing: readers enter a card, choose a monthly or annual paid-newsletter subscription, and keep paying until they cancel, at Substack’s own minimum of $5 per month or $30 per year for a paid plan (How do I set up a paid publication?). Substack’s own support documentation describes subscriptions as “the most important type of relationship on Substack,” with its post editor, subscriber email list, and follow/recommendation network built to help creators grow that subscription business rather than just publish one-off posts.

Ko-fi begins with one-off support. A follower can leave a tip or buy an item without starting a recurring subscription. Ko-fi also offers memberships, but you can keep using tips, shop sales, and commissions without asking supporters to join one.

If asking for donations feels like begging, Ko-fi gives supporters a low-pressure one-off tip button; if readers ask why they should subscribe, Substack lets you make a clear paid-newsletter promise based on regular writing.

What does each platform take from your earnings?

Substack’s platform fee is 10% of paid-subscription revenue, and it has no monthly software charge (Substack fee explainer).

Stripe’s own pricing page lists its standard US card rate as 2.9% + 30¢ per successful charge (Stripe pricing), and Substack’s own support documentation confirms that same 2.9% + $0.30 card fee applies to Substack subscription payments, plus a 0.5% recurring-billing fee that applies specifically to those recurring subscriptions (How can readers pay for a subscription on my Substack publication?, updated August 31, 2026).

Ko-fi names its two free options “Ko-fi Free” (0% on one-off tips, with a flat 5% fee on shop items, memberships, monthly tips, and commissions) and “Standard” (a flat 5% fee on every payment type, including one-off tips, in exchange for extra perks like supporter-only content); a creator toggles between them anytime from Settings > Payment, and Ko-fi’s own documentation states that “new creators now start with all of Ko-fi unlocked from day one,” with the option to “opt out at any time” and keep tips fee-free (Ko-fi fee explainer). On top of Ko-fi’s own service fee, that same page notes PayPal and Stripe still charge their normal transaction fees on every payment, which Ko-fi states are “usually around 3% + $0.30” and does not discount or absorb. Ko-fi Gold costs $12 per month and removes Ko-fi’s own platform fee, though PayPal’s or Stripe’s processing fee still applies.

Substack pays subscription revenue into the creator’s connected Stripe account, since Substack requires creators to connect Stripe before enabling paid subscriptions (How do I set up a paid publication?). Ko-fi sends each payment to the PayPal or Stripe account you connect, rather than making you wait for a separate Ko-fi payout (How do I get paid?).

Which platform keeps more from a small payment?

For an eligible creator using Ko-fi Free, a $5 one-off tip has a 0% Ko-fi platform fee; PayPal’s or Stripe’s own transaction fee still applies on top, which Ko-fi’s documentation describes only as “usually around 3% + $0.30” since the exact rate varies by processor, country, and card type. Ko-fi’s Standard tier instead applies a 5% Ko-fi fee to that same $5 tip before the same variable PayPal/Stripe processing fee.

Substack’s official setup documentation lists only monthly, annual, and founding-member subscription plans as payment options for a publication, with no built-in one-off tipping feature described; its documented paid product is therefore a recurring subscription, from which Substack takes 10% (How do I set up a paid publication? and Substack fee explainer).

For example, one reader paying $7 per month generates $84 over 12 months. Substack’s 10% platform fee is $8.40, leaving $75.60 before Stripe’s processing and recurring-billing fees. The trade-off is then clear: Substack takes a larger percentage, but the charge repeats automatically until the subscriber cancels.

At Substack’s $5-per-month minimum price, 300 paying subscribers generate $1,500 in monthly billings; after Substack’s 10% fee ($150), Stripe’s card fee of 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction (300 × $0.445 = $133.50), and Stripe’s 0.5% recurring-billing fee ($7.50), the creator nets roughly $1,209 per month, or about 80.6% of gross billings (How do I set up a paid publication? and How can readers pay for a subscription on my Substack publication?). At Ko-fi’s illustrative processing cost of around 3% + $0.30, it would take about 129 tips of $10 to net roughly $1,209; the exact number varies by processor, country, and card type. The real question is whether enough readers will pay every month for regular writing. If your audience is small or support is optional, start with one-off tips, and compare each platform’s current chargeback and dispute rules before choosing.

Which platform fits your content best?

Choose Substack when the product is writing delivered on a schedule. It fits creators who want to publish regularly, collect email subscribers, and place some or all posts behind a recurring paid subscription.

Choose Ko-fi when you want a broader creator page without making a newsletter commitment. You can begin with one-off support, sell prints or downloads through a shop, offer commissions, and add memberships only if recurring access makes sense. Ko-fi’s memberships are optional rather than mandatory.

A simple decision guide is:

• Recurring paid writing: Substack.
• One-off tips with the lowest available platform fee: Ko-fi Free.
• Tips, shop sales, commissions, and optional memberships on one page: Ko-fi.
• One paid question or another fixed-scope interaction: Brillay is built specifically for this; Ko-fi also supports commissions, while Substack focuses on recurring writing.

A note on a third, narrower option

Substack focuses on recurring paid writing, while Ko-fi combines tips, shop sales, memberships, and commissions. Brillay is for fixed-price, one-time requests with no membership: with Paid Questions, you reply in writing on your own time, within the window you set — no live call, no scheduling — while a Personalized Video is made for the person the follower names, down to the occasion and tone they pick. Brillay puts Tips, Custom Work, Paid Questions, and Personalized Videos on one link: followers need no account, you set fixed prices, and there is no follower minimum (how Brillay works and Brillay pricing). 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. Followers pay upfront; you can decline a request. Tips remain one-time support with nothing owed in return, and creators can receive payouts in 41 countries.

Frequently asked questions

Does Substack have a tip jar like Ko-fi?

Not a built-in one. Substack’s official setup documentation lists monthly, annual, and founding-member subscription plans as the available payment options and does not describe a one-off tipping button (How do I set up a paid publication?). Ko-fi, by contrast, specifically supports one-off tips through its creator pages, at a 0% Ko-fi fee on the Free tier.

What does Substack cost after all fees?

Substack takes 10% of paid-subscription revenue and charges no monthly software fee. Stripe separately charges 2.9% + $0.30 per card charge and a 0.5% recurring-billing fee on Substack’s subscription payments (How can readers pay for a subscription on my Substack publication?). The flat $0.30 charge consumes a larger share of lower-priced monthly subscriptions.

Can I move my subscribers if I leave Substack or Ko-fi?

Substack allows creators to export their email subscriber lists (Substack subscriber-export documentation). Substack subscription payments are processed through a connected Stripe account, while Stripe provides a formal process for migrating customer and payment data between supported accounts or processors (Stripe data-migration documentation). A paid-subscriber migration still depends on the destination platform, account setup, and Stripe’s current approval process.

One-off Ko-fi tips do not transfer; if you use Ko-fi’s monthly tips or memberships, check its current export options and confirm what the destination platform can import before moving.

Do I need a minimum number of followers to get paid?

Neither Substack’s paid-subscription documentation nor Ko-fi’s pricing documentation lists a follower or subscriber minimum for enabling payments (Substack fee explainer and Ko-fi pricing). Earnings depend on whether audience members choose to pay, not on reaching a published audience-size threshold first.

Where can you read next?

For the Brillay head-to-head, see Brillay vs. Ko-fi, and for the recurring-membership angle against a tip jar, Patreon vs. Ko-fi. For the full landscape, see Best Creator Monetization Platforms in 2026.

If what you actually want is for followers to pay once for a specific interaction — a question answered, a Personalized Video, a tip — instead of committing to a subscription or an open-ended tip jar, that's what Brillay is built for. Create your free Brillay page