If you aren’t keen on doing commissions, trying platforms like patreon and kofi might be for you. They allow your supporters to donate and subscribe to you, in exchange for benefits and extra access content. But when it comes to NSFW, what’s better? Let’s take a look at Patreon vs Kofi for NSFW creators.

Not sure whether to use Kofi or Patreon? Here's a pros and cons look at both of them. Click To Tweet

Table of Contents

• What are Ko-fi and Patreon?
• NSFW-friendliness
• Getting paid
• How I use them

What are Ko-fi and Patreon?

Ko-fi is firstly a donation platform, allowing supporters to donate “a cup of coffee” to you. You can unlock extra features like monthly pledges with Ko-fi Gold. You don’t pay ko-fi anything to receive donations.

Patreon is a subscription service platform, allowing ‘Patrons’ to subscribe monthly to you. In exchange, you can create Tiers with exclusive content and benefits, depending on what you want. Patreon takes a % cut monthly, depending on your Patreon plan.

NSFW-friendliness

Ko-fi does NOT allow NSFW of any kind, because they have to abide by Paypal and Stripe’s terms. You can read more about their terms here, but it’s pretty strict. You can use it with SFW art, but be careful not to post anything remotely NSFW.

Patreon allows NSFW, but you can’t post it publicly. You cannot show NSFW on your profile images, banner, or tier images. You can link to websites containing NSFW, such as your Twitter or other platforms.

Patreon doesn’t allow certain NSFW content, which you can find at https://www.patreon.com/policy/guidelines. 

Getting Paid

For Ko-fi, the only fees are from Paypal or Stripe. You can set how much a “coffee” is, and then your donator can choose how many to send.

If you use ko-fi gold, you have more options for getting paid (like monthly subscriptions), but you need to pay a monthly fee to Ko-fi.

I’ve had friends who run into issues getting paid via Paypal balance, but I’ve personally never had issues with payouts from Ko-fi.

Patreon is a bit more complicated. There are two things that impact your payout:

A) Patreon Plans

Patreon offers three tiers, and takes a % cut of your income accordingly. 

1. Lite (5%) – Simplest creator page, Patrons pay monthly what they want
2. Pro (8%) – You can set membership Tier prices, then Patrons choose a tier (My Plan)
3. Premium (12%) – Better support, merch handled by Patreon

B) Payment Schedule

You can choose when to charge Patrons: 

1. Monthly – New Patrons are not charged when they start to support you. Only at the start of the coming month. (My Schedule)
2. Monthly Up front – New Patrons are charged when they start to support you, then on the start of the coming month. 
3. Per Creation – You can charge Patrons when making ‘paid posts’. Consider this if you don’t release content often.

Your choices will impact total payout, but you can see a breakdown in Patreon. You can get paid through Stripe, Paypal or Payoneer. 

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How I Use Them

I started my ko-fi first, since I liked that there was no obligation to create exclusive content compared to Patreon. A common technique to encourage donations is to make sketch art for donators.

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You can include a link to your ko-fi when posting art. Make sure you prompt action, something like ‘Consider supporting me by donating at ko-fi.com/username!’.

Nowadays, I include ko-fi on my website, but I focus more on promoting my Patreon.

I started a Patreon a few months ago, but closed it when I realized I wasn’t prepared with what to offer. If you use Patreon to offer exclusive content, rather than just as a monthly tip jar, then it helps to plan out what extra content you can create.

I started by offering three tiers. Notice how the benefits aren’t too heavy, just things I can create from finished artworks. Make sure you don’t overwhelm yourself when creating benefits!

Here are my first posts. I focused on making early access content, and explaining my creative choices and showing WIPs and behind the scenes. 

Once I was more confident with being able to deliver, I added a few more tiers. I limited the number of Patrons for Goddess Tier, because I didn’t want to get overwhelmed with making sketch art for Patrons. 

The Patreon blog has a bunch of ideas for what you can offer Patrons, but don’t be afraid to think of your own stuff!

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Is one better than the other? Maybe not, as long as you leverage them to their strengths. I’ve earned over $250 over the year I’ve been on Ko-fi, and I’m continuously growing my Patreon with exclusives and early access.

Is Kofi better than Patreon, or vice versa? Well, they both have their strengths! Leverage both properly, and give your audience options to support you. Click To Tweet

If you’re planning on using Kofi and/or Patreon and need a strategy, feel free to reach out to me!

Thanks to @BearHotto for asking me about it the other day and inspiring this article. Cheers, brother.

As always, you can support me at patreon.com/hbeatsart 🙂 Thanks!