Patreon alternatives for creators who want tips and gifts

Patreon is built for monthly memberships. If your fans would rather send a one-time tip or a gift, these platforms fit that better.

By Josh Wade, co-founder of SpoiletUpdated October 21, 20267 min read

The short answer

Patreon's fee is 10% for pages published after August 4, 2025, plus 2.9% + $0.30 card processing.
Patreon has no standalone tip, and fans need a Patreon account to pay.
Ko-fi and Buy Me a Coffee take one-time tips from fans with no account, for 0% to 5%.
FanFix and Passes keep 20% on their default plans. Throne takes 0% from creators and charges the fan instead.

Patreon is the default name in fan funding, and it's built around one thing: monthly memberships with posts behind a paywall. A lot of creators don't run a membership. Their fans want to send $10 after a good stream, or buy them dinner on their birthday, and Patreon makes that harder than it needs to be.

This guide compares 7 alternatives on the things that decide what you actually take home: the fee, whether fans need an account, how payouts work and what content is allowed. Every number links to the platform's own page.

Where Patreon falls short for tips and gifts

Three things push tip-first creators off Patreon.

There's no plain tip. One-time payments on Patreon are purchases of a post, a product or a collection. A fan can't just send money.
Every fan needs an account. Patreon's help center says guest checkout isn't available, and every extra screen gives a fan who was ready to pay a chance to leave.
New pages pay more. Pages published after August 4, 2025 pay 10% of income, and no plan lowers it. Older pages keep 5%, 8% or 11% only if they were never unpublished.

Add card processing at 2.9% + $0.30 and a $10 purchase leaves you $8.41. Payments made inside Patreon's iOS app lose Apple's 30% instead of the card fee, and the 10% still applies on top.

What each alternative takes

Platform fee on a one-time payment, before card processing

FanFixFans also pay 13% on cards20%
PassesDefault plan. 10% + $0.30 on Starter20%
PatreonPages published after Aug 4, 202510%
Buy Me a Coffee5%
Ko-fi0% on tips in Free mode5%
ThroneFans pay 7% to 9.75%0%
SellfyPlans from $22 a month0%

Patreon's 10% sits in the middle. The platforms at 0% get paid another way: Throne charges the fan and Sellfy charges you a monthly plan.

7 Patreon alternatives compared

Patreon and 7 alternatives, from each platform's own pages (October 2026)
Platform	Fee	One-time tips	Fan account	Payout	Adult content
Patreon	10% + 2.9% + $0.30	Purchases only	Required	Bank or PayPal, 5-day hold on new details	18+ pages allowed, no real sexual activity
Ko-fi	0% or 5% on tips, 5% on the rest	Yes	Not needed	Straight to PayPal or Stripe	NSFW tag, no pornography
Buy Me a Coffee	5% + 2.9% + $0.30	Yes	Not needed	Stripe, $10 minimum, 49 countries	Not allowed
Throne	0% (fan pays 7% to 9.75%)	Gifts tied to an item	Not needed	Bank, free above $30	Non-explicit adult creators allowed
Passes	20%, or 10% + $0.30	Yes	Not needed for memberships, posts or shop	$50 minimum	Not allowed
FanFix	20% (fan pays 13% on cards)	Yes	Required	Stripe, US and UK	Not allowed, 18+ only
Sellfy	0% + plan from $22/month	Pay what you want	Not needed	Straight to Stripe or PayPal	Not allowed

What each alternative is good for

Ko-fi: the closest swap, without the sign-up

Ko-fi does memberships, a shop and commissions like Patreon, plus the plain one-off tip Patreon lacks. Tips cost 0% in Free mode and 5% in Standard mode, which is the default, so check your settings. Fans pay as guests, and money goes straight to your PayPal or Stripe with no minimum. The Ko-fi vs Buy Me a Coffee comparison covers the fee modes in detail.

Buy Me a Coffee: one flat 5% and nothing to configure

Buy Me a Coffee charges 5% on everything with no plans or modes, and it lets fans cover the card fee. It pays through Stripe only, in 49 countries, and holds your first payout for a manual review. It bans adult content.

Throne: for fans who want to buy you something

Throne is a wishlist. Fans buy items from it, and Throne ships them without showing your address. Creators pay 0%, and fans pay a service fee of 0% to 9.75% depending on the item. It isn't a tip jar: cash gifts must be tied to a real product, and Throne says plainly that they're “not a tip jar”.

Passes: memberships that fans can buy as guests

Passes sells memberships, paid posts, DMs, tips, livestreams and calls. Every creator starts on the Creators+ plan at 20%, and you can drop to Starter at 10% + $0.30 per sale. Guest checkout covers memberships, paid posts and shop items, but not messages. Payouts start at $50, and faster payouts cost 6.5% to 10% extra.

FanFix: invite-only and safe for work

FanFix keeps 20% of every transaction and adds a 13% surcharge to fans paying by card. It's invite-only, 18+, strictly safe for work, and pays through Stripe in the US and UK. Fans need an account.

Sellfy: a store with 0% fees and a monthly bill

Sellfy takes no cut of sales. You pay a plan instead, from $22 a month billed yearly, and tips work as a “pay what you want” product with a $0.50 minimum. It suits creators who mainly sell downloads and want tips on the side. There's no free plan, and checkout stays off during the 14-day trial.

How to choose in one minute

Fans tip you once in a while

Ko-fi in Free mode
Buy Me a Coffee if you want fans to cover the card fee

You run a membership with posts

Stay on Patreon
Or Ko-fi, at 5% instead of 10%

Fans want to buy you things

Throne, for physical gifts shipped privately

You mostly sell downloads

Ko-fi's shop at 5% while sales stay under $440 a month
Sellfy's $22 plan above that

Sellfy's $22 plan costs the same as a 5% fee at $440 a month in sales, and the same as Patreon's 10% at $220. Card processing applies on top of all three.

How to move fans without losing them

Switching platforms costs you the fans who don't follow. These steps keep that number small.

Set up the new page first
Keep Patreon running until the new page is live and you've checked that a payment goes through.
Tell fans what changes for them
If the new platform needs no account, say so. "No sign-up, just tap and pay" is the strongest line you have.
Use your own channels
Announce it on your socials, your email list and your Discord, with the new link in each post.
Give a date
Pick a day the old page stops taking new members, and remind people a week before.
Update every link
Swap the link in your bio, pinned posts, video descriptions and stream panels on the same day.

Questions creators ask

Is there a better platform than Patreon?

It depends on what your fans pay for. For memberships with posts behind a paywall, Patreon is still the default. For one-time tips, Ko-fi and Buy Me a Coffee cost less and don't make fans sign up.

What is a free alternative to Patreon?

Ko-fi charges 0% on one-off tips in Free mode and has no monthly fee, so you only pay card processing. Throne also charges creators 0%, but it only takes gifts tied to wishlist items.

Can fans send a one-time tip on Patreon?

Not as a plain tip. One-time payments on Patreon are purchases of posts, products or collections.

Do fans need a Patreon account to pay?

Yes. Patreon's help center says guest checkout isn't available.

How much does Patreon take?

10% on the standard plan for new pages, plus 2.9% + $0.30 card processing, 2.5% when a fan pays in another currency, and a payout fee of $0.25 by US bank or 1% by PayPal.

From the Spoilet team

Let fans spoil you with one link

On Spoilet, fans tap a fixed-price Spoil, from a $5 Coffee to a $100 Golden, and pay without an account. Spoilet is in an invite-only beta, so claim your name and we'll hold it while we send invites.

Sources

Every fee and rule above comes from these pages, read on October 21, 2026. Platforms change their terms, so check the page before you decide.