Ko-fi Fee Calculator
Calculate Ko-fi's 0–5% platform fee by plan and revenue type, plus the payment processing on your own Stripe/PayPal.
Ko-fi help — platform fees last updated · reference source
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Currency: Amounts are calculated in the currency you select; this site does not convert between currencies and does not use live exchange rates.
Fee figures are stored in our static fee table and change over time. Confirm current rates against the platform's official fee page before relying on them.
What this tool does
Ko-fi's free plan takes 0% from one-time tips, while shop sales, memberships, monthly tips and commissions carry a 5% service fee; the Standard tier applies 5% across the board, and Gold ($12/month) removes the service fee entirely. Because Ko-fi pays through your own Stripe or PayPal account, your processor's fee comes on top.
How to use the Ko-fi Fee Calculator
- Enter your monthly Ko-fi revenue and roughly how many payments it came from.
- Pick the plan and revenue type that matches the income.
- Adjust the processor rate if your Stripe/PayPal rate differs.
Formula
Fees = Revenue × Ko-fi rate + Revenue × proc% + Payments × $0.30 + plan cost
- Revenue
- Gross Ko-fi income for the month
- Payments
- Number of individual payments received
Worked example
$500 of shop/membership income across 100 payments on the 5% tier.
Inputs
- Monthly revenue$500
- Number of payments in the month100
- Plan & revenue typeStandard — shop, memberships, commissions (5%)
- Your processor rate2.9 %
Result
- Monthly take-home$430.50
- Total monthly fees$69.50
- Effective fee rate13.9%
Results explained
- Take-home
- Revenue minus Ko-fi's fee, processing and any Gold subscription.
- Effective rate
- All-in cost as a share of revenue — the fixed per-payment fee makes small tips expensive.
Frequently asked questions
On the free plan, one-time tips are 0% — Ko-fi takes nothing. Monthly/recurring tips carry the 5% service fee, and shop items, memberships and commissions are 5% too.
Gold costs $12/month and removes the 5% service fee. It breaks even at $240/month of fee-bearing revenue (12 ÷ 0.05) — above that, Gold saves you money.
Ko-fi never holds your money: payments go straight to your own Stripe or PayPal account, so your processor deducts its standard fee (about 2.9% + $0.30) from each payment.
Patreon charges 10% platform fee for new creators plus processing; Ko-fi's 5% (or 0% for one-off tips and Gold) is cheaper, though Patreon bundles discovery and membership tooling differently.
No Ko-fi payout fee — money lands directly in your Stripe/PayPal balance; your processor's own withdrawal terms apply from there.