Software Alternatives & Reviews

Substack VS Ko-fi

Compare Substack VS Ko-fi and see what are their differences

Substack logo Substack

Substack makes it simple for a writer to start an email newsletter that makes money from subscriptions.

Ko-fi logo Ko-fi

Ko-fi offers a friendly way for content creators to get paid for their work.
  • Substack Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-10-26
  • Ko-fi Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-10-10

Substack videos

Monetizing Podcasts and Newsletters - Chris Best of Substack and Jonathan Gill of Backtracks

More videos:

  • Review - E1016 Substack CEO Chris Best empowers writers via email newsletter platform, raised $15M from a16z

Ko-fi videos

What is Ko-Fi?

More videos:

  • Review - Artist Tip Jars? | Buy me a Ko-fi Picture | Art Rambles
  • Demo - Ko-fi Intro

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Substack and Ko-fi)
Blogging
100 100%
0% 0
Crowdfunding
0 0%
100% 100
Email Newsletters
100 100%
0% 0
Fundraising And Donation Management

User comments

Share your experience with using Substack and Ko-fi. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Substack and Ko-fi

Substack Reviews

25+ Medium Alternative Platforms for Publishing Articles
Substack offers writers of all experience levels the ability to write an email newsletter that’s profitable through subscriptions. Substack provides purpose-built web and newsletter publishing tools to enable writers to monetize their newsletters. It is a service often favoured by readers because it’s a convenient all-in-one solution for writing a successful podcast that...
Source: forgefusion.io
10 Best Medium Alternatives for Reading and Publishing
What sеts Substack apart is its sеamlеss intеgration of contеnt crеation and subscription-basеd monеtization. Substack’s usеr-friеndly intеrfacе, distribution tools, and support for various contеnt formats make it a popular choice for indеpеndеnt crеators looking to connеct dirеctly with thеir audiеncе and turn thеir passion into a sustainablе incomе strеam.
9 Best Medium Alternatives for Making Money With Your Writing in 2023
Substack and Medium differ primarily in their monetization methods. Medium pays creators based on reader engagement, while Substack enables writers to monetize directly through paid subscriptions to their newsletters. This business model allows Substack users to build a direct relationship with their readers via their email inboxes, whereas Medium interactions primarily...
11 Patreon Alternatives for Audience Monetization in 2023
Like a few of the other platforms we’ve looked at, Substack takes a cut of your earnings rather than charging a 10% platform fee.
Source: www.uscreen.tv
Any good Mailchimp alternatives?
My question for you is, what is keeping you from making $31 per month from your list? Are you using any feature that Substack (free until you get paid) can't handle?

Ko-fi Reviews

8 Best Patreon Alternatives for Creators (2023)
Ko-fi is another Patreon alternative that lets you receive donations and memberships and sell digital or physical items to your fans. It’s free and easy to use, and there are no fees or commissions taken on donations. You can create a page for your project, set up a payment method, and start accepting payments from your fans in minutes.
Source: talkbitz.com
8 Best Patreon Alternatives & Competitors For 2023 (Comparison)
Like Patreon, you can use Ko-fi to accept donations and memberships from your fans. You can create a Ko-fi creator page for free in under a minute. Then, set a crowdfunding goal and encourage your audience to help you reach it. Plus, you can provide incentives like exclusive supporter-only content and membership perks to incentivize people to donate.
11 Patreon Alternatives for Audience Monetization in 2023
You can remove the 5% fee by signing up to Ko-fi Gold for $6 per month — with extra perks like shorter URL handles and the option to change your page colors.
Source: www.uscreen.tv
12+ Brilliant Patreon Alternatives to Monetize Your Audience
At Ko-fi, you can share your work, and fans can support you for the price of a cup of coffee — or more. You can set up donations and commissions on a one-time basis or monthly.
10 Best Patreon Alternatives
If you want three times more income, the Ko-Fi Gold subscription is available for only $6 monthly. The Gold package offers exclusive posts and rewards, commission tools, shorter Ko-Fi username, gallery extras, analytics insights, shorter Ko-Fi name, previews for new features, and a no-ads experience.

Social recommendations and mentions

Ko-fi might be a bit more popular than Substack. We know about 91 links to it since March 2021 and only 88 links to Substack. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Substack mentions (88)

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Ko-fi mentions (91)

  • Show HN: I made a privacy friendly and simple app to track my menstruation
    Doing necessary work. How can I sponsor or otherwise provide fiat for this work? https://buymeacoffee.com/, etc. - Source: Hacker News / 4 days ago
  • Flattr: 404 – Service No Long Exists
    A few alternatives for micro donations that people have mentioned: https://ko-fi.com/ https://github.com/sponsors https://www.buymeacoffee.com/ Any others, let me know. - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • Making 3D porn is "easy money"?
    I still have to try https://ci-en.net/, https://slushe.com/, https://ko-fi.com/, https://catbox.moe/, I heard they were possible good alternatives. But I couldn't say, dunno yet. Source: 5 months ago
  • Rogue System Reboot
    I did, however, remember another crowdfunding platform that may be the best of both worlds here (second highest voted so far being Patreon). Ko-fi: it offers both monthly and one-time donations as well as a store where we could sell things like early access keys or things like that. Their fees are very low as well, capping out at 5%. Source: 5 months ago
  • Regarding Somerton's supposed drop in Patreon support earlier this year
    With everything going on with Patreon lately that's probably why I've suddenly started hearing about Ko-fi this year. Source: 5 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Substack and Ko-fi, you can also consider the following products

Ghost - Ghost is a fully open source, adaptable platform for building and running a modern online publication. We power blogs, magazines and journalists from Zappos to Sky News.

Patreon - Patreon enables fans to give ongoing support to their favorite creators.

Medium - Welcome to Medium, a place to read, write, and interact with the stories that matter most to you.

Buy Me A Coffee - A free, fast and friendly way to accept donations 💰

MailChimp - MailChimp is the best way to design, send, and share email newsletters.

Liberapay - Liberapay is a recurrent donations platform.