Free Ko-fi Fee Calculator

Last updated: October 23, 2026

Quick answer: Ko-fi's headline is 0% on tips — and that headline hides the rest of the bill. On the free plan, shop sales, memberships and commissions all cost 5%, and Stripe processing (~2.9% + $0.30 per payment) applies on top of everything, on both plans. On $500/month of shop sales, Ko-fi takes $25 before processing even starts. This free Ko-fi fee calculator prices every stream separately: enter your monthly tips, shop sales, memberships and commissions, pick Free or Gold, and it shows the Ko-fi fee, processing and net for each stream, your total monthly net, and the Gold verdict — whether Gold's flat monthly cost beats the 5% it removes, and the exact fee-bearing income where it breaks even ($240/month at $12 Gold). Everything runs in your browser; your income never leaves your device.

Tips this month ($)

Shop sales this month ($)

Memberships this month ($)

Commissions this month ($)

Payments this month (count)

Your plan

Gold cost ($/month)

Contributor mode is ON (tips also charged 5% on the free plan)

US card rates for 2026: Ko-fi free = 0% on one-time tips with Contributor mode off, 5% on shop sales, memberships and commissions; Gold = $12/month for new subscribers (older accounts grandfathered at $6/$8 — enter what you actually pay) and 0% Ko-fi fee everywhere. Stripe/PayPal processing of about 2.9% + $0.30 per payment applies on both plans and is shown separately; the $0.30 fixed fees are spread across your payment count, so the processing line is an estimate that gets more exact the closer your count is. Worked check: $500/month of shop sales on free = $25 Ko-fi fee, and Gold saves $25 − $12 = $13/month. Memberships are charged 5% on the free plan on Ko-fi's current pricing pages — some older guides describe them as fee-free tips, but the pricing pages govern. Verify against Ko-fi's fee schedule before repricing.

✓ Free forever · ✓ No signup · ✓ Tool inputs stay in your browser — never sent to our servers.

How to Use the Ko-fi Fee Calculator

Enter your monthly tips, shop sales, memberships and commissions as dollar totals. Splitting them matters: tips are 0% on the free plan while the other three streams are 5%, so one blended total would misprice you.
Enter your payment count for the month — how many separate payments those totals came from. Stripe's $0.30 fixed fee lands per payment, so the count decides how big the processing line is.
Pick your plan: Free or Gold. If you are on Gold, enter what you actually pay — $12 for new subscribers, $6 or $8 if you were grandfathered — because the break-even math uses your real number.
Tick Contributor mode is ON only if you left it on in Settings → Payment. New accounts often default to it, and it quietly charges 5% on tips that would otherwise be free.
Press Calculate Ko-fi fees. Read the per-stream table first, then the Gold verdict: Gold wins only when the 5% it removes exceeds its monthly cost.

Why Use Our Ko-fi Fee Calculator?

Per-stream breakdown, not one blended rate — tips, shop, memberships and commissions each get their own Ko-fi fee, processing and net line, because a tip-heavy creator and a shop-heavy creator pay very different effective rates on the same gross.
The Contributor-mode gotcha, priced — new accounts often default to Contributor mode ON, which charges 5% on tips. The checkbox shows exactly what that default costs you per month, so you can decide whether to switch it off.
Gold verdict with exact break-even — Gold costs $12/month for new subscribers and removes 5% everywhere, so it breaks even at $240/month of fee-bearing income ($12 ÷ 5%). The calculator states your fee-bearing income and whether Gold wins at your volume.
Processing shown separately — Stripe's ~2.9% + $0.30 per payment is a real cost that fee tables often hide inside a blended percentage. It applies on both plans and is shown as its own line, so Gold's saving is never overstated.
Worked-check accuracy — $500/month of shop sales on free = $25 Ko-fi fee, and Gold saves $25 − $12 = $13/month: the same figures independent breakdowns publish, so you can trust the model before you trust the totals.
100% in your browser — your income never leaves your device; no signup, no account.

Common Use Cases

An artist earning $150 in tips and $500 in shop sales: Gross is $650. On free with Contributor mode off: tips cost $0 to Ko-fi, shop costs $25, processing is about $33.85 (2.9% of $650 plus $0.30 across 60 payments), net about $591.15. Turn Contributor mode on by accident and tips cost another $7.50 — the checkbox exists so that $7.50 never hides. On Gold the same month nets about $604.15 after the $12 Gold cost, so Gold wins by $13 — exactly the shop-fee saving.
Deciding whether Gold is worth it at $200/month of shop sales: At $200/month of fee-bearing income, the 5% fee is $10 — less than Gold's $12. Gold loses $2/month at this volume, and the calculator says so plainly instead of upselling the plan. The decision flips at $240: at $300 of fee-bearing income Gold saves $15 − $12 = $3/month, and every $100 beyond that adds $5/month to Gold's lead.
A creator whose income is almost all tips: With $800 in tips and $0 elsewhere, Contributor mode off, Ko-fi takes $0 on any plan — Gold saves nothing and costs $12, so the free plan wins by $12. This is the case where Ko-fi's '0% on tips' headline is actually the whole story, and the calculator's Gold verdict will tell you to stay free rather than pay for a plan that removes a fee you never paid.

Ko-fi Fee Calculator vs Alternatives

payoutmath.com's Ko-fi fee calculator: A dedicated Ko-fi calculator with the same fee structure — free vs Gold, break-even at $240/month — and the Contributor-mode warning this page also carries. What it does not do is split your income by stream: one blended total cannot show that a tip-heavy month and a shop-heavy month pay different effective rates, which is the gap this page fills.
feexivo.com's creator fee calculator: A multi-platform comparator covering 50+ platforms, useful for the 'which platform' question — its Ko-fi line shows about 2.9% all-in on $1,000 because it models tips. For the 'what do I keep on Ko-fi specifically' question, a dedicated per-stream breakdown with the Gold verdict and Contributor gotcha is the sharper tool.
vendwright.com's multi-platform fee table: The most careful published table for cross-platform math — Ko-fi free 5% on shop/memberships/commissions, Gold 0% at $12 for new subscribers, with the grandfathering caveat stated. A table answers 'what are the rates'; this calculator answers 'what do I keep this month, on my mix, and does Gold win'.
Your own spreadsheet: The most flexible option — refunds, churn, tax, multi-tier memberships, all yours. The cost is building it and keeping Ko-fi's rates current when they change (Gold's price has already moved from $6 to $12 for new subscribers, and older articles still quote $6). Use this calculator for the fast answer at pricing time; keep the spreadsheet for the monthly close if you already have one.

Multi-platform tables tell you Ko-fi's rates; single-number calculators tell you one blended total. For the number that decides a plan — what you keep per stream, what Contributor mode costs you, and the exact income where Gold pays for itself — this page gives you all of it in one calculation, free and private.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does Ko-fi take from tips?

Nothing on the free plan — with one trap. One-time tips carry a 0% Ko-fi fee only while Contributor mode is OFF in Settings → Payment. New accounts often default to Contributor mode ON, which charges the same 5% on tips as on shop sales. Stripe processing (~2.9% + $0.30 per payment) applies to tips on every plan, so a $3 coffee still costs about $0.39 in processing even when Ko-fi takes nothing.

What does Ko-fi charge on shop sales, memberships and commissions?

5% on the free plan, 0% on Gold — plus Stripe/PayPal processing of about 2.9% + $0.30 per payment on both plans. On $500/month of shop sales, that is $25 to Ko-fi plus roughly $20.50 in processing (2.9% plus $0.30 across 20 payments), leaving about $454.50. On Gold the same $500 costs $0 to Ko-fi, $20.50 in processing and $12 for Gold, leaving about $467.50.

When does Ko-fi Gold pay for itself?

When your monthly fee-bearing income passes Gold's cost divided by 5%. At $12/month Gold, break-even is $240/month of shop, membership and commission income (plus tips, if Contributor mode is on). Below $240, the free plan is cheaper; above it, every extra dollar of fee-bearing income makes Gold cheaper by 5 cents. At $500/month of shop sales, Gold saves $25 − $12 = $13/month. If you were grandfathered at $6, break-even drops to $120/month.

Are memberships really charged 5% on Ko-fi?

Yes, on Ko-fi's current pricing pages: memberships sit in the 5% group with shop sales and commissions on the free plan, and 0% on Gold. Some older guides describe memberships as fee-free 'tips' — that wording predates the current pricing structure. This calculator follows the pricing pages, and the note on the tool says so, so a guide that disagrees is easy to spot and check.

Why is Ko-fi Gold $12 in some places and $6 in others?

$12/month is the price for new subscribers; earlier subscribers were grandfathered at $6 or $8, and annual billing is no longer offered to new sign-ups. That is why Gold cost is an input on this calculator rather than a fixed number: enter what you actually pay and the break-even math follows your price, not a headline.

What is not included in this calculator?

PayPal's slightly different rate structure (Ko-fi quotes processing as 'usually around 3% + $0.30' across processors), multi-currency conversion fees on Gold, refunds and chargebacks, sales tax or VAT where you charge it, and Ko-fi's payout timing (Stripe's 2-day rolling schedule). Treat the output as the standard US Stripe card case and check Ko-fi's fee schedule for your account's specifics.