Ko-fi is free to join and publishes a 0–5% service fee: 0% on one-time tips on Ko-fi Free, 5% on memberships, shop sales, monthly tips and commissions, with a Standard/contributor mode at 5% on all payment types. Ko-fi Gold is $12/month for new users and advertises a 0% Ko-fi service fee (payment-processor fees still apply; Ko-fi says typically around 3% + $0.30). Yaff Starter is free with a 5% platform fee; Creator is $19/mo and Pro is $99/mo at 0% platform fee. Ko-fi is a strong tip-and-shop page (including physical goods and commissions). Yaff is a membership platform with hosted video, photo dumps, ebooks, group chats and DMs for adventure and lifestyle creators.
Ko-fi wins on free one-off tips and a low-cost Gold option. Yaff wins if you want hosted video, photo dumps and member community as the core product.
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| Feature | Ko-fi | Yaff |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Tips, commissions, shop items and a lightweight membership | Memberships with posts, hosted video, photo dumps, ebooks, group chats and DMs |
| Platform / service fee | Ko-fi Free: 0% on one-time tips, 5% on memberships, shop, monthly tips and commissions. Standard: 5% on all payment types. Gold: $12/mo for new users with 0% Ko-fi service fee | Starter: 5% platform fee (free plan). Creator: $19/mo at 0%. Pro: $99/mo at 0%. |
| Monthly platform charge | $0, or $12/mo Gold for new users (legacy Gold prices may differ for existing subscribers) | Starter $0/mo. Optional Creator $19/mo and Pro $99/mo. |
| Payment processing | Processor fees still apply. Ko-fi says typically around 3% + $0.30 | Stripe processing fees apply in addition to Yaff's platform fee |
| Payouts | Paid directly to your own PayPal or Stripe; Ko-fi says they never hold your money | Daily payouts to your bank via Stripe Connect |
| Memberships | Membership tiers; 5% service fee on the free/standard models | Multiple tiers with gated videos, posts, ebooks and photos |
| Shop / products | Shop, commissions, physical and digital products | Digital: ebooks, videos, posts, photo dumps (not a physical-goods shop) |
| Community | Supporter-only content and integrations (e.g. Discord roles) on Standard/Gold feature lists | Native group chats and DMs on Yaff |
| Setup | Free | Free |
Competitor figures are taken from each company's public pricing or terms pages, last checked October 2026. Yaff figures come from the plans defined in product (Starter, Creator, Pro). Stripe processing fees apply on Yaff in addition to the platform fee; Yaff does not publish a bundled processing rate, so none is shown here.
For one-off tips on Ko-fi Free, Ko-fi publishes a 0% service fee (processor fees still apply), which can be cheaper than Yaff Starter's 5%. For memberships and shop sales, both list a 5% platform/service fee on their free tiers. Ko-fi Gold is $12/mo with 0% Ko-fi fee; Yaff Creator is $19/mo with 0% Yaff fee. Compare your mix of tips vs memberships vs product sales.
Yaff does not publish a 0% tip-only plan. Starter is 5% on payments. Creator and Pro are 0% platform fee for a monthly subscription.
No. Yaff is for digital products and memberships. Ko-fi's public pricing page includes physical and digital products and commissions.
If you want members-only videos, photo dumps, ebooks and a native group chat around a voyage or channel, Yaff is built for that. If you want a tip jar, commissions and a shop with a 0% option on one-off tips, Ko-fi is the closer fit.
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