How to set up a virtual tip jar as a creator

A tip jar is the simplest way to get paid by fans: one link, no subscription and no fan account. The catch is the fixed 30-cent card fee, which eats small tips.

By Josh Wade, co-founder of SpoiletUpdated October 21, 20266 min read

The short answer

A virtual tip jar is a payment link fans tap to send you a one-time amount, with no subscription.
The fixed $0.30 card fee hurts small tips. On Ko-fi in Free mode you keep 91% of a $5 tip and 95.9% of a $25 tip.
Ko-fi and Buy Me a Coffee take tips from fans with no account. Patreon and Throne don't take plain tips at all.
Set preset amounts of $5 or more, and give fans a reason to tap, like a goal or a named treat.

A tip jar is the oldest way to get paid for making something people enjoy. Online it's a link: a fan taps it, picks an amount, pays with a card or Apple Pay and leaves. There's no subscription to manage and nothing to deliver.

Setting one up is the easy part. Doing it well takes a little more thought, because the card fee has a fixed 30-cent part that hits small tips hardest. This guide covers both.

What a virtual tip jar is

A virtual tip jar is a page or payment link where fans send you a one-time amount. Creators put it in their bio, on a QR code at live shows, in a stream overlay or under a video. The good ones share three traits:

Fans can pay without making an account.
Fans pick from preset amounts, with an option to type their own.
Money reaches your bank through Stripe or PayPal, with fees you can see up front.

It differs from a membership in one way that matters: nobody signs up for anything recurring, so the fan is only ever deciding about one payment.

Why small tips lose the most to fees

Card processing on most platforms is 2.9% + $0.30. The 30 cents is the same on every payment, so it's 6% of a $5 tip and 1.2% of a $25 one. Percentage fees then come on top.

Share of a tip you keep, $5 tip vs $25 tip

$5 tip
$25 tip

Ko-fi, Free mode91.0% to 95.9%
Ko-fi, Standard mode86.0% to 90.9%
Buy Me a Coffee85.4% to 90.4%
FanFix80.0% to 80.0%

Every platform that passes on the card fee keeps more of a bigger tip. FanFix takes a flat 20% and doesn't list processing separately, so its share stays at 80%. US card, Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30.

Where you can host a tip jar

Platforms that can act as a tip jar (October 2026)
Platform	One-time tips	Fee on a tip	Fan account	How you get paid
Ko-fi	Yes	0% in Free mode, 5% in Standard (the default)	Not needed	Straight to PayPal or Stripe, no minimum
Buy Me a Coffee	Yes	5%, plus 0.5% payout. Fans can cover the card fee	Not needed	Stripe, $10 minimum
Sellfy	As “pay what you want”	0%, but plans start at $22 a month	Not needed	Straight to Stripe or PayPal
Passes	Yes	20% default, or 10% + $0.30	Guest checkout doesn't list tips	$50 minimum
FanFix	Yes	20%, and fans pay 13% on cards	Required	Stripe, US and UK only
Patreon	Purchases only	10% on purchases	Required	Bank or PayPal
Throne	Gifts tied to an item	0% for you, 7% to 9.75% for the fan	Not needed	Bank, free above $30

For a plain tip jar, Ko-fi in Free mode costs the least and Buy Me a Coffee is the simplest. Patreon and Throne don't take plain tips at all: Patreon sells posts and products, and Throne says its cash gifts are “not a tip jar”. Linktree's current help center doesn't describe a tip feature. It sells digital products on its Pro and Premium plans.

Set one up in five steps

Pick a platform that takes guest payments
Fans should be able to pay without making an account. Ko-fi and Buy Me a Coffee both work this way.
Connect Stripe or PayPal
Ko-fi takes either. Buy Me a Coffee needs Stripe and pays out in 49 countries, so check yours is on the list first.
Set preset amounts of $5 or more
Three presets and a custom field is the common pattern. Starting at $5 keeps the fixed card fee under 10% of the tip.
Give fans a reason to tap
Name what the tip pays for, or set a goal. Ko-fi's help center says pages with a goal are 2.4 times more likely to get 5 or more tips, by Ko-fi's own count.
Put the link where fans already are
Your Instagram profile (up to 5 links, no minimum), your TikTok bio once you have 1,000 followers, a pinned post, a QR code at live shows and your stream panels.

Pick amounts that survive the card fee

The fixed fee is why a tip jar that defaults to $1 or $2 loses so much. Here is what you keep on Ko-fi in Free mode, the cheapest setup in the table above, at different tip sizes.

Share of the tip you keep on Ko-fi in Free mode

$2 tip82.0% ($1.64)
$3 tip87.0% ($2.61)
$5 tip91.0% ($4.55)
$10 tip94.1% ($9.41)
$25 tip95.9% ($23.97)

Below $5, the card fee takes more than 9% of each tip. At $10 and up, it takes less than 6%. US card, Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30.

Fixed amounts help in a second way: they make the choice easy. A fan who sees “$5 coffee, $10 lunch, $25 dinner” picks one in a second, where a blank box asks them to decide what you're worth. For the fee details on the two most common tip jars, see Ko-fi vs Buy Me a Coffee.

Questions creators ask

What is a virtual tip jar?

A page or link where fans send you a one-time payment. They open it from your bio, a QR code or a stream overlay and pay by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay.

How do I create a virtual tip jar?

Pick a platform that takes one-time tips without a fan account, connect Stripe or PayPal, set a few preset amounts, then put the link in your bio and print a QR code for live events.

Which digital tip jar has the lowest fees?

Ko-fi in Free mode takes 0% on one-off tips, so you only pay the card fee. Buy Me a Coffee takes 5%. FanFix and Passes keep 20% on their default plans.

How do I get a QR code for tips?

Ko-fi and Buy Me a Coffee both generate a QR code for your page in their buttons and graphics settings. Any QR generator also works with your page link.

Why do small tips lose more to fees?

Card processing includes a fixed $0.30 per payment. On a $5 tip that's 6% of the tip before any percentage fee. On a $25 tip it's 1.2%.

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.