Ko-fi is a versatile platform. It helps creators to grow their businesses with a perfect finance plan. There are also some more facilities for Ko-fi. Along with the positive Ko-fi reviews, there are also more negative reviews too. Because despite all of the facilities Ko-fi gives us, there are some disadvantages of Ko-fi too.

And all these disadvantages can make you think twice before using Ko-fi! Do you wanna know them? Well, you might have noticed some of them too while using Ko-fi. Let's know together about the disadvantages of Ko-fi!

Cons of Ko-Fi

• Ko-fi is not technologically advanced. That's why if a creator wants to post any of his creations, then he can notice there is a basic blogging setup.
• Even Ko-fi lacks some advanced features. These features are very popular. And these features are even available on other bigger and more popular sites.
• Though Ko-fi gives the facility of opening an account free, it doesn't offer you free features along with that free account. Their better facilities are available in their Gold membership plan. And it costs about $10. But, there are many sites available now that can give you better features. And you can get it along with the facilities of opening a free account.
• In case of features, Ko-fi has some good features but they are very much common in many other sites. It doesn't have a most needed feature which is discovery feature or a portal like system. Portal type feature is a must for new creators to get noticed.
• As a writer or a designer, a creator loves to gain more attention and followers. But for these cases, somehow, Ko-fi gains less attention from the followers like other sites get attention. So, it can be less effective for writers, designers, etc.
• Donation is the feature that attracts supporters and inspires the creator too. It also helps them financially. But in Ko-fi one needs to open an account to donate. And it's very irritating too.
• As is already said that Ko-fi is not technologically updated. Even to open or go through its integrated graphics software like WordPress, etc, you will need to click a button. It's not updated or attractive at all. The integrations are weak at some point here.

All these disadvantages can affect the whole career of the creator. These disadvantages are collected after researching a lot about Ko-fi.

But along with these disadvantages, if you get to know about the reviews of Ko-fi, from the users like you, not from us, won't it be more useful for you? Yes, because it will be more genuine.

That's why I have thought about collecting all the negative reviews from the users like you from trusted sources. By this, you can get a clear idea of why you shouldn't use Ko-fi. So, let's hear what people say about Ko-fi.

What User Say About Ko-fi

According to Trustpilot, the average rating of Ko-fi is only 3.3. Among the reviews, 29% of the users have given a 1-star rating to Ko-fi and some have given 2 stars too. And it is not a good rating at all. Let's get to know some of those reviews about why they don't like using Ko-fi.

In one review, a user had complained about Ko-fi that he had got banned while using it despite being a gold member. And he had complained about it in the support too. But got no help from there.

In another review, a user had written that he had not got the membership facilities despite having an account and paying for it. And when he tried to contact the help page and support, it showed an error and there was no response.

Wanna learn more? In one review of Ko-fi, another user had complained that he wanted to buy something and paid for it too. But after the transaction, it showed some error and there was no return of the money and the product.

Another user complained that there is no protection for our personal information in Ko-fi. It can easily hamper our privacy.

These are some of the numerous negative reviews of Ko-fi. You can get many like that on their site. Like, Trustpilot, you can also get to know some genuine negative reviews from ProductHunt where Ko-fi had launched their websites to get customers.

In ProductHunt, the average rating of Ko-fi is only 2.8. Here, a user complained about the weak customer support and missing important features of Ko-fi. Another user had complained about the note and the transaction of the donation being sent without any confirmation.

There are also many negative reviews complaining about the help platform of Ko-fi. The user had written that the help platform is very slow and sometimes doesn't respond too.

Some users complained about underage girls posting their NSFW and disgusting content and they had also prevented all ways so that one can't report it. And the Ko-fi platform has not taken any steps against it after complaining about it.

So, you can notice that there are many negative reviews of Ko-fi in ProductHunt too.

After noticing all of these negative reviews, one can easily say that Ko-fi is not a perfect platform for the creators and it has many disadvantages too.

So, if you are also facing these kinds of disadvantages in Ko-fi, then you should take a step back and immediately stop using it.

But if you stop using Ko-fi, then what will you use? Is there any site like Ko-fi without these disadvantages?

Yes! There are many sites similar to Ko-fi, also without these disadvantages and with many facilities. So, what are the ko-fi alternatives?

Well, there are many alternatives to Ko-fi. But not all of them are the best and up to the mark. That's why, after researching a lot, we have selected the best of them for you. They are Crowdfundly, Buy me a coffee, Patreon, Liberapay, Flattr, Open Collective, Bounty Source, Tipeee, and Stripe.

Wait. That's not all! You should know about their features and advantages very well that are not available in Ko-fi. We have given a complete guideline about it in the following article.

Let's read about them!

9 Leading Ko-fi Alternatives of 2023- [Final Moment of Truth!]

Here I am going to talk about all the best alternatives to Ko-fi. Some features of them are the same as Ko-fi. That's why here I have discussed only those features that are different and not available in Ko-fi. And these features make them more beneficial than Ko-fi too.

So, let's start talking about them!

Crowdfundly vs Ko-fi

Among all the alternatives to Ko-fi, Crowdfundly is the perfect and superior one. But why is crowdfundly the better one among all of them?

Because it has many better features than others and Ko-fi. All of these features make it more useful than others. These features are unique and not available in Ko-fi. But do you know about these better features? No worries. Let me tell you about them!

Better Sharing Feature

Sharing is very important for the creators. It connects them with their supporters. And it also helps them grow their business too. That's why a creator gives more importance to the sharing feature.

That's why Crowdfundly also gives more importance to the sharing facilities. It has a separate feature named 'Broadcast'. This feature allows the creators to share their creations and content easily anywhere they want.

You can share them, not only on the internet or browsers but also on YouTube, social media, and other accounts. A creator can easily share them whenever he wants. It will also make them connect to their supporters easily.

But in Ko-fi, the sharing option is minimal. That's why Crowdfundly gives more facilities for sharing than Ko-fi.

Separate Space for Exclusive Contents

Every Creator has some special content that they love and prefer more than others. They love this content more and they believe this content to be their special one.

Not only that, but fans also love this content more too. That's why they want to share this content with their fans more. By this, they can always showcase their talents and earn more donations from supporters.

By considering all of these, Crowdfundly has a special place where they can easily showcase their exclusive content. This special place is such a place on the cover page where everyone can notice it and know about it. And they can easily learn about these contents too.

But in Ko-fi, there is not any special facility like this one. That's why a Crowdfundly user can showcase his special and exclusive content easily.

Get Better Features With The Best Deals

If we differentiate between ko-fi fees and Crowdfundly fees, then Crowdfundly is the most cost-effective one. There are two versions of  Crowdfundly that are available. One is free and another is the pro version.

In the free version of Crowdfundly, you will need to pay a 3% commission from the income that you get from sales and donations. You can also get a lot of good features here. To get many of these features, you will have to be a paid member of them. But for Crowdfundly users, it's not needed here.

And to get many more good features, you can use the Pro Version of Crowdfundly. You will have to pay $4.99 monthly to use this pro version. And moreover, you will not need to give any commission on sales or donations too.

But in Ko-fi the silver membership is $7 monthly and the Gold membership is $10 monthly. And it is more than the membership price of Crowdfundly. And the features of the pro version of Crowdfundly and the gold version of Ko-fi are the same too. So, which is more beneficial? So, it's a great advantage for Crowdfundly users.

The payment methods of Crowdfundly are the same as ko-fi payment methods.

After all of the above discussion, there is no doubt that Crowdfundly is the best alternative for Kofi. Its features are unique and beneficial for everyone too.

Wanna know more alternatives? Well, no worries! Because there are many more alternatives left to discuss. Come and let's know them!

Buy Me A Coffee vs Ko-fi

Well, who doesn't love to have support from their fans? All of us love to have support from our lovers. And for a creator, to continue their business properly, the support of the followers is more important. It is also important to keep them motivated.

But how will they get to know that they are being adored by people? They can easily know from the comments and donations from their fans. That's why donations play a very important part here.

But don't you think that it's more annoying for your fans that they need to face the hassle of opening an account to support them? Yes, it is! That's why you can see that there are more supporters of Ko-fi. But donations are less than that. And it's very annoying for Ko-fi users.

But don't worry. I have a solution for you. And that solution is Buy Me A Coffee. Buy me a coffee offers people to make donations without any hassle of opening an account. And it's a great advantage of using Buy me a coffee over Ko-fi.

Not only that, its name is even more interesting than Ko-fi. It's indirectly influencing the supporters to make more donations.

So, for those, donations are more important than any other features, so Buy me a coffee is more suitable for them than Ko-fi.

Patreon vs Ko-fi

There are two kinds of creators. One who posts their content and sells them when they wish to. It can be after 15 days, one month, two months, etc. Another type of creator is those who like to post their content regularly and sell them too.

Some prefer the second one more as it connects them to their fans more and helps grow their business. Are you one of these creators who like to post their content regularly?

Then, you should switch to Patreon from Ko-fi. Because Patreon is a platform that is perfect for the second type of creators than Ko-fi.

There is one more advantage of Patreon that is not available in Ko-fi. And the advantage is that Patreon has the facility of integration with other websites like stream labs, discord, MailChimp, WordPress, convertkit, and many more.

But in Ko-fi you can't enjoy this facility. And this makes Patreon users promote their content on their different social accounts.

So, Patreon can be a better alternative for Ko-fi.

Liberapay vs Ko-fi

Well, won't it be better to make your content preferable and favourite for your supporters?

Won't it be amazing if you get to know about their choices and suggestions? Yes, it will be. And it's a great way to increase your supporters and make them like your content.

In Ko-fi one can comment on the profile of a creator. But there is no particular feature here to give suggestions and vote for the content they like.

But in Liberapay, one can easily do it. Because there is a separate feature here. In this feature, one can easily give suggestions and vote for their favourite content of the creator.

Liberapay also supports multiple currencies for payment methods. It is very useful for those who prefer to do the transaction with their country's currency. But in Ko-fi, it's not available at all.

Liberapay is also available in multiple languages. And because of all of these facilities, one can prefer to use Liberapay as a Ko-fi alternative.

Flattr vs Ko-fi

Flattr is a platform that encourages creators to share their content in an easy way among supporters. And Flattr makes it easier than Ko-fi because it has an amazing feature that Ko-fi doesn't have.

And the feature is 'Browser Integration'. If one supporter gets to know about their favourite content from browsing easily, then won't they follow the creators more? And won't it be more useful for creators?

By using Flattr one can easily share content on the internet. And his supporters can easily share the information too. And sharing can be easier through the Flattr Android App. And the process of sharing these is called 'Flatter'.

Moreover, you will need to pay only a little fee monthly on Flattr. And the amount is divided into the contents that you will flattr on the internet.

And because of all of this, Flattr is a better platform for sharing than Ko-fi. So, you can also choose Flattr if you want a better way for sharing.

Open collective vs Ko-fi

Won't it be better for you to get the control to manage your finances transparently? Well, you can do it easily by using Open Collective.

In Open Collective, you can manage your finances easily. Here you can easily know where your money has been spent and from where you are collecting money. Not only you, even everyone can get to know about these.

And this transparency is only available in Open-collective. It's not available in Ko-fi. Along with that, you don't need to worry about leaking any of your personal information. You can easily enjoy keeping your private information private.

Open Collective is also easy to use and a better platform to know the reports and records easily. You can also easily control your expenses here with a separate feature.

If you are one of those who wants to have control of your finances, then you should switch from Ko-fi to Open Collective. Because Open Collective is also a good choice as an alternative.

Bounty Source vs Ko-fi

If you are one of those that are working with open source projects, then Bounty Source is the perfect one among all of them. Bounty Source is still especially made for the Open Source Projects.

You can easily earn here by improving the Open Source Projects. You can also earn here by solving the issues regarding the issues of Open Source Projects. It also encourages the developers to work here for a solution. Open Collective allows any kind of Open Source software.

Here is a feature named Bounties where one can request any problem or features they want for the projects.

All of these features are not available in Ko-fi. But Bounty Source is perfect for Open Source software. So, if you are working with open-source software, then Bounty Source is the perfect one for you than Ko-fi.

Tipeee vs Ko-fi

Among many alternatives to Ko-fi, Tipeee is the most different one. It has a special feature for content creators.

Because in Tipeee, a content creator gets some payment from his community. So, it's a way of extra earning for them. So, it encourages the content creator to post more often.

Moreover, it helps content creators to focus more on the quality of the content. So that more people like their content and buy them more often. As a result, it will grow their business too.

That's why Tipeee is also a perfect alternative among all of them.

Stripe vs Ko-fi

Are you a businessman? Do you want to set up your own business of your own creation? Well, there are many people who want to set up their own businesses. But they are afraid of the payments and finance and don't know how to manage them properly.

Well, then don't get worried because we have got a wonderful solution for you. And the solution is Stripe. Stripe is a company that can build economic infrastructure for small to big businesses through the internet.

It makes the transaction and payment process very easier through direct integration. Even Ko-fi is dependent on Stripe for its payment process. Moreover, Stripe is improving day by day and creating more facilities for operating a business.

It also supports all kinds of startups and helps them maintain their business online. So, there is no need to worry about paying any commission here like Ko-fi. It's like your own kingdom and your own rules.

It also helps companies in recognizing frauds, sending invoices, reducing friction at checkouts, getting finances, managing business spend, etc.

So, if you wanna have your own business, then Stripe is the perfect one for you.

That's all. Now you know all the features and advantages of the Ko-fi alternatives.

Overall Verdict: How to Know Which Ko-fi Alternative One Should Choose!

There are many kinds of creators in Ko-fi. Not all kinds of creators do their work in the same pattern. And not all of them are all comfortable with the same policy. All of their working procedures and preferences are different. That's why their needs can be different too. Sometimes their preferences can be the same too.

Here we have discussed 9 alternatives to Ko-fi that are the best and the leading ones of them. They are leading in that sector because of their different features. But their features are different. Many of them have some features that are suitable for everyone. But not all features are suitable for all creators.

That's why here we discussed their features differently. We have compared their features with Ko-fi and brought out the best of them. So that you can easily know if your desired feature is in there or not. If that alternative has all of your desired features, then you have found the perfect alternative to Ko-fi for yourself.

You should just have to know your needs and what kind of features you want. Then go through all the alternatives in the article and find your desired one! That's how you can easily find your perfect one!

That's all! Now you know all the best sites like Ko-fi and how to choose one of them too!

FAQs

Does Ko-fi hold your money?

Yes, there is a feature in ko-fi that can hold the funds of the creators for about 21 days. However, some creators have claimed to receive the money earlier. Well, there are chances of getting the money earlier if money was earned through a sale. In that case, you should submit all the shipping information to PayPal. It can help you receive the money earlier.

Can people see the creators' PayPal on Ko-fi?

Usually, yes, people can see some information about PayPal like the name and email address, etc of the creators in their dashboard during donations. The donations are paid instantly to the creators without any involvement of Ko-fi. During transactions, PayPal shares the name and email address of both parties, the creator and the donator.

What is coffee in ko-fi?

Coffee is a drink to enjoy but in ko-fi, coffee is like an analogy that means donations. In ko-fi one can support the creators as much as one likes and he or she can also make some donations that can help the creators to grow the business. If you buy a coffee for your favourite creator, then he or she will receive about $3 as a donation. It is the price of a coffee in Ko-fi.

Endnote

I hope that you know now all about ko-fi alternatives and their uses too. Here I have presented their comparison with Ko-fi. Now you can easily know which one you should use. All these comparisons are written after researching a lot about them. Hope they will be useful for you.

It's time to say goodbye to you. If you have any questions regarding ko-fi alternatives or if you have any more opinions about them, then you can write them in the comment section.

Until then, well wishes to you!