How QuietJar compares.
Every tool here does something well. The question is what happens to your visitor after they decide to support you.
Ko-fi
Ko-fi charges 0% on one-off tips (checked September 2026), and that is a real advantage. Your visitor clicks your button, lands on Ko-fi's page, and pays there with PayPal or a card. How many of them finish the trip?
Buy Me a Coffee
Buy Me a Coffee has the friendliest brand in the space and a huge installed base on blogs and READMEs. It takes a flat 5% platform fee with no cap (checked September 2026), and payment happens on its page, not yours. Does a coffee cup fit your site, and how many of your visitors finish the trip?
Stripe direct
Stripe is the best payment infrastructure there is, and you can build the button yourself on it: 1.5% + €0.25 per EU card and €0.29 per iDEAL payment (checked September 2026). Payment Links redirect to Stripe's page; Embedded Checkout stays on yours and needs real code. How many weekends, and who maintains it after?
GitHub Sponsors
GitHub Sponsors is the right default for maintainers, and it takes 0% (checked September 2026). It lives on github.com, both sides need a GitHub account, and support is recurring by default. How many of your readers ever open the repo? Use both.
| Platform fee | Monthly fee | Payment happens on your page | Apple Pay | iDEAL and Bancontact | Steps back after giving | Who can use it | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QuietJar | 5% (Sep 2026) | None | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Anyone with a site |
| Ko-fi | 0% tips, 5% memberships and shop (Sep 2026) | Gold plan optional | No | No | No | No | Anyone |
| Buy Me a Coffee | 5% (Sep 2026) | None | No | Limited | No | No | Anyone |
| Stripe direct | 0% platform, processing on top (Sep 2026) | None | If you build it | Yes | Yes | No | Anyone technical |
| GitHub Sponsors | 0% (Sep 2026) | None | No | No | No | Not applicable | GitHub users |
Fees checked September 2026. Tell us if something changed.
Processing fees apply on top for every row.