Ko-fi fees explained: what it takes in 2026

Ko-fi charges a US creator a 5% service fee on shop sales, membership tiers and commissions, and 0% on one-off tips. A Ko-fi Gold subscription at $12 a month drops the service fee to 0% on everything. This guide sets out each rate as Ko-fi publishes it, with worked examples computed by the same engine as the Ko-fi fee calculator. Every rate below is quoted from Ko-fi's official pricing page, cross-checked against Ko-fi's "Does Ko-fi take a fee?" help-centre article, and was verified on 3 September 2026.

What Ko-fi charges

Ko-fi prices by what the payment is for, not by where you or your supporter are: there is one global schedule, quoted in US dollars.

There is no listing fee, no payout fee and no buyer fee.

On a $100 shop sale on a free account, the fee on $100.00 is $5.00 and you keep $95.00, an effective rate of 5%. On a $5 one-off tip, the fee on $5.00 is $0.00 and you keep $5.00, an effective rate of 0%.

When Ko-fi Gold pays for itself

Gold is a flat $12 a month, so it is worth it once 5% of your fee-bearing payments passes $12 — that is $240 a month in shop sales, memberships and commissions combined. Below that the free account costs less. Tips are 0% on either plan, so tip income never counts towards the break-even point.

On the same $100 shop sale with Gold, the fee on $100.00 is $0.00 and you keep $100.00, an effective rate of 0%.

The $12 is a subscription, not a per-payment charge, so it never appears in a single payment's breakdown, and the calculator leaves it out for the same reason.

Why a tip can still cost 5%

Ko-fi's help centre describes a second, free switch called Standard mode, and says new creators now start with it on. Standard mode unlocks extra page features — supporter-only content, scheduled posts, a shorter page name — in exchange for the same flat 5% fee on one-off tips. Shop, membership and commission rates are unchanged by it.

So a tip that arrives with 5% deducted is not a different rate; it is Standard mode being on. Turning it off in Settings > Payment restores the 0% tip rate this guide and the calculator show. Ko-fi notes that a Gold subscriber with Standard mode on must opt out separately to lose the fee.

Your payment processor takes its own fee

Ko-fi never holds your money. Supporters pay into your own PayPal or Stripe account, and that provider deducts its usual transaction fee before Ko-fi's figures are relevant at all. Ko-fi says this is typically around 3% + $0.30, and that it varies with account type, location and currency — so treat it as an estimate, not a rate.

On a $100 shop sale with that estimate included, the fee on $100.00 is $8.30 ($5.00 shop sales (free account) plus $3.30 payment processor fee (PayPal or Stripe)) and you keep $91.70, an effective rate of 8.3%.

The calculator's processor toggle is off by default, because it is not Ko-fi's charge. For an exact figure, use the PayPal fee calculator with your own account's rate.

Pricing so you keep a round number

Ko-fi's fee comes out of what your supporter pays, so adding 5% to what you want is never quite enough. Work backwards instead:

• A shop sale on a free account: To keep $50.00 you charge $52.63, and the fee is $2.63.
• A commission on a free account: To keep $250.00 you charge $263.16, and the fee is $13.16.

The calculator's "I want to net" mode does this for any amount and payment type.

What this guide leaves out

The schedule covers Ko-fi's service fee on tips, shop sales, membership tiers and commissions, plus the Gold rate and an estimate of the payment processor's own fee. Out of scope: crowdfunding goals and monthly tips, which Ko-fi's help centre prices separately from one-off tips; the Gold subscription's $12 monthly cost as a per-payment line, since it is billed monthly whatever you earn; currency conversion, which PayPal and Stripe charge when a supporter pays in a currency other than your Ko-fi one; and Ko-fi's non-US currencies, which the pricing page does not price separately.

When these rates last changed

This schedule was first verified on 3 September 2026 against Ko-fi's official pricing page, cross-checked against its "Does Ko-fi take a fee?" help-centre article. The two agree on the free-account rates, but only the pricing page states Gold's 0% rate and its $12 price, so the schedule is medium confidence, and Ko-fi states no effective date. The Ko-fi fee changelog holds that single entry; later changes are added there with the date and the rule affected, and the schedule is re-verified every 60 days. The methodology explains the check; if a figure here disagrees with what Ko-fi shows you, report it.

Frequently asked questions

Is Ko-fi really free?

Creating a page is free and there is no monthly charge on the free account. You pay 5% when you are paid for a shop item, a membership or a commission, and nothing on a one-off tip — plus whatever PayPal or Stripe takes on their side.

Is Ko-fi cheaper than a crowdfunding platform?

For one-off support, usually: 0% on tips is lower than a donation platform's transaction fee. Compare it against the GoFundMe fees guide at the amount you actually raise, since GoFundMe's fee has a fixed part charged on every single donation.

Where do these numbers come from?

Every figure is quoted from Ko-fi's official pricing page and its help-centre fee article, saved as a dated snapshot and checked by a person. The schedule is quoted line by line, with the verbatim source text behind every rule, in the calculator's fee table for anyone who wants to check it.