Buy Me a Coffee review
A single creator page for one-off tips, memberships, and a digital or physical shop, with no monthly fee and a flat 5% cut of every transaction.
By Noahlast updated pricing verified
Buy Me a Coffee screenshots & video
Buy Me a Coffee in 20 seconds
Best for: collecting one-off tips and small memberships from an existing audience through one link with no monthly fee
Pricing: No monthly fee; Buy Me a Coffee keeps 5% of each transaction and Stripe adds 2.9% + $0.30 per charge.
- Buy Me a Coffee charges no monthly fee and takes a flat 5% platform fee per transaction, leaving creators 95% of the payment.
- Stripe adds 2.9% + $0.30 per successful charge, 0.5% for payout processing, +1% on international transactions, and +0.5% on subscription payments.
- Buy Me a Coffee's homepage says more than 2,000,000 creators use the platform.
- Creators can request a payout once their balance reaches $10; after approval, Stripe transfers go out every Wednesday to 49 supported countries.
- Buy Me a Coffee holds a 3.9/5 TrustScore from 1,667 Trustpilot reviews and 4.4/5 from 1,883 ratings on the US App Store.
- Buy Me a Coffee was started in 2017 and is backed by Y Combinator and Stripe.
Limitations: The 5% platform fee cannot be bought down with a paid plan.; Payouts depend on Stripe and are available in only 49 countries.; Public review scores are middling: 3.9/5 on Trustpilot and 3.5/5 on Product Hunt.; A page is unpublished after 18 months without a creator login, and its balance is paid out or refunded.
Top alternatives: Ko-fi, Patreon, Gumroad, Substack, Memberful — full list
What is Buy Me a Coffee?
Buy Me a Coffee is a hosted page where an audience can support a creator in three ways: a one-off tip (the coffee, $5 by default and adjustable), a recurring membership billed monthly or yearly, and a purchase from a shop of digital downloads, physical goods or services such as commissions and one-on-one calls. The business model is the defining detail. Creators pay no subscription, and the publishing tools (posts, galleries, audio, polls, direct messages and unlimited email to supporters) are included free; Buy Me a Coffee keeps 5% of every transaction and Stripe adds its processing fees, which creators can pass on to supporters. Creators can run unlimited membership tiers plus one lifetime tier, list unlimited products with instant download links, show live-stream alerts in OBS, Streamlabs or StreamElements, and export their supporter list at any time. Payouts run through Stripe after a moderation review once the balance reaches $10, and a page with no creator login for 18 months is unpublished, with any balance paid out or refunded to supporters.
Loved by 1,000,000+ creators (current homepage copy, down from the figure in the prior listing)
Standout feature: One page carries one-time tips, unlimited membership tiers, and an unlimited-product shop, and one-time supporters can pay in one tap with a card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Cash App without creating an account.
Biggest weakness: Buy Me a Coffee's 5% platform fee is permanent: no paid plan buys it down, so a creator earning $2,000 a month hands over $100 before Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 per charge, 0.5% payout fee and the extra 1% on international payments, while Ko-fi sells a $12/month Gold plan with a 0% platform fee. Payouts also depend on Stripe, so creators outside the 49 countries Buy Me a Coffee supports for payouts cannot get paid at all.
Buy Me a Coffee: pros and cons
Pros
- No monthly fee and no listing fees: publishing, posts, galleries, supporter emails, memberships, and the shop are all on the single free plan.
- One page combines one-time tips, unlimited membership tiers, and an unlimited-product shop, so a creator does not stitch together separate tools.
- One-time supporters check out in one tap with a card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Cash App without creating an account; only members and followers need to sign up.
- Creator apps for iPhone and Android cover earnings, payouts, posts, and supporter messages from a phone.
- Creators own their supporter list: Buy Me a Coffee states it never emails supporters, and the list can be exported at any time.
Cons
- The flat 5% platform fee applies to every transaction with no paid plan that removes it.
- Stripe fees stack on top: 2.9% + $0.30 per charge, 0.5% for payouts, +1% international, +0.5% on subscription payments.
- Payouts need a $10 balance and a moderation review, go out weekly through Stripe, and are limited to 49 supported countries.
- Public review scores are middling: 3.9/5 from 1,667 Trustpilot reviews (28% one-star) and 3.5/5 from 26 Product Hunt reviews, with complaints about verification and payout delays.
Buy Me a Coffee pricing
Free · verified from the vendor's pricing page
| Plan | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | The only plan: no monthly fee and no listing fees, with all publishing, membership, shop, and email features included. Buy Me a Coffee takes a flat 5% platform fee per transaction (creators keep 95%); Stripe adds 2.9% + $0.30 per successful charge, 0.5% for payout processing, +1% on non-US transactions, and +0.5% on subscription payments. |
What reviewers say
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