7 Platforms to Collect Tips from Viewers
Let your audience support you!
Donations and tips are some of the main ways creators can get financial support from their audience without depending on platforms like YouTube or Twitch to pay them.
To get them, creators can set up a tipping page on a third-party platform that will take a small cut of the money made or none at all, depending on their business model.
Either way, it’s a great way for viewers to support you in making a living doing what you love.
In this post, I’ll share 7 platforms where you can create a tipping page today.
PayPal Me
PayPal.Me is PayPal’s donation page feature. It’s pretty simple and offers little besides a way for people to send you money in the form of donations or tips.
If that is all you want, then this is all you need.
Features
- A tipping page
- You can modify the tipping page link
- You can add a profile picture, description, and banner
Pros
- It's straightforward to use
- PayPal users can easily send you tips
- You can keep your identity private
- You can set up your settings to accept all currencies and auto convert them to yours
Cons
- PayPal is not available in many countries
- Supporters need a PayPal account to send tips
- It doesn't offer any additional features
- Bad actors tend to use PayPal for fraudulent chargebacks
Try it here:
StreamElements
StreamElements is one of the most popular platforms for creators and streamers because it offers a wide variety of free tools for YouTube, Twitch, and now Kick, and one of them is a tipping page specifically for creators.
Features
- A tipping page and a leaderboard showing who has tipped the most
- Supporters can send messages on stream after a tip
- Uses PayPal and SE.Pay (their own payment method) for withdrawing payments
- You can set up minimum, maximum, and preset amounts
- You can create alerts that play every time someone tips
- Offers protection against fraudulent tips and chargebacks
- You can add banners and background images
- Moderation tools to control the tip messages
Pros
- Accepts various currencies
- They protect against bad actors
- Offers a lot of customization options for a tipping page
- You get a platform that has tons of resources for streamers
- More interaction tools between your viewers and you
- They don't take a cut of your tips
Cons
- Their payment methods aren't available in many places, so if you don't have access to them, you can't use this feature
- You can only collect tips
- If you are not a streamer, you will not use most of its features
Try it here:
StreamElements
Streamlabs
Streamlabs is an OBS alternative that has many integrated tools that offer more functions for live streamers. This includes a tipping page pretty similar to StreamElements’, but with a few differences.
Features
- A tipping page with a leaderboard
- Supporters can send messages on stream after a tip
- Supporters can send one-time or recurring tips
- Stream and bot alerts that play every time someone tips
- Uses PayPal Standard and Business to receive tips
- Moderation tools for tip messages
- Tipping history page
Pros
- They don't take a cut from your tips
- Supporters can choose to send recurring tips
- They offer far more features for livestreamers
- You can create alerts for every platform you multistream
Cons
- Again, PayPal isn't available in many countries
- Most other features are exclusive to Ultra Members
Try it here:
SPONSA
SPONSA is a new tipping platform, and it's the only one on this list that lets you set up various projects/goals to crowdfund simultaneously, and it's currently in it's Alpha stage.
Features
- A tipping page
- You can set up various tipping goals at the same time
- A leaderboard
- A search page to find creators to support
- A dashboard with all your goals and current earnings
- PayPal as a payment method
- Stream alerts
Pros
- It's designed by creators for creators
- It's free
- You can set up various goals at the same time
- You can accept tips from every currency
Cons
- It's still new, so it's missing some of the features other options have
- They take a 5% cut from each tip from your supporters
- While you can accept tips in every currency, PayPal will only convert to USD or GBP
- You need to apply to get access to the platform
Try it here:
Ko-Fi
Ko-fi is a popular option for artists that you can also use as a streamer. This can be your one-stop platform for creating a page to get support from your audience since it lets you receive support in different ways.
Features
- Tipping page for getting one-time or monthly support
- Post articles, photos, audio, and polls
- Memberships for recurring earnings and exclusive benefits
- Shops for selling products and offering discounts
- Commissions to sell services
- Stream alerts and promotional material
- Connects with Stripe and PayPal
- Set up goals
- Open API
Pros
- It's free
- Offers more features than just collecting tips and donations
- Have various resources for streamers
- Have codes you can insert on your website to collect tips
- Has a lot of promotional materials for your page
- You can find a lot of artists selling their assets
- You can set your own terms and conditions for your services and products
Cons
- They take a 5% cut from everything you make
- PayPal and Stripe are not available in most places
Try it here:
Buy Me A Coffee
Buy Me A Coffee is another old crowdfunding platform that's packed with features for collecting funds, giving back to your fans, and building a community while growing a creative business.
Features
- Tipping pages and funding goals
- Make memberships with exclusive content
- Set up a shop for physical and digital products
- Create a commission page to sell your services
- Send DMs to your supporters
- Upload and post content
- Integrations with various platforms
- Stream alerts, button, and widgets
- Connects with Stripe Express
Pros
- It's free
- Offers more features than just collecting tips and donations
- Have various resources for streamers
- Have a lot of promo materials
- You can add your own Terms and Conditions
- Since it connects to Stripe Express, it is available in more countries than those accepted by regular Stripe
- Has a discoverability feed to find more creators
- discoverability
Cons
- It takes 5% of your earnings
- While Stripe Express is available in more countries, it is not available on a few others, which limits who can use it
- You cannot upload videos to your posts; you can only upload them to YouTube and embed them on a post, but they still have a share button available
- The creator Discovery Feed constantly shows the same creators almost all the time, and it's very bad for finding new creators
Try it here:
Gank
Gank is one of my recent discoveries, and it is probably the best option for creators whose fans and communities are located in Asia, and it offers various tools to run a creative business and collect support from your community.
Features
- Collect tips for one-time donations
- Set up memberships for recurring support
- Create a shop and coupons for your products
- Have a commissions page for your services
- It accepts various payment processors
- Send DMs to your supporters
- Use stream alerts to promote your page
Pros
- You can get started for free
- They don't take a cut of your earnings
- It has various features to set up a creative business
- It offers many payment options
- It has a creator university meant to help new creators get started
- Has various promotional resources
- It has a Twitch Extension
Cons
- Some features are limited unless you become a member
- Requires you to verify your identity, which might be bad for those who want to remain anonymous
- It doesn't have many integrations
Try it here:
Final Thoughts
As vtubers, streamers, and content creators, we have to find different ways to receive support from our communities. At least if we hope to one day make a living doing what we love.
All of these options will help you do that, and I personally recommend any of them except PayPal.Me.
The reason is that fraudulent chargebacks are very common in the vtuber/streaming space, and PayPal tends to be the one platform they use to issue them.
All the other platforms offer some level of protection against them, so you should be safer.
If you just need a platform to receive tips while livestreaming, then StreamElements or Streamlabs are enough, but if you are cooking various projects and would like some help funding them, SPONSA is your best bet.
On the other hand, if you want a platform that helps run and manage a creative business, Ko-Fi, Buy Me A Coffee, and Gank are your best bets. You still need to see which one is the most convenient for you, though.
Select one, make an account, set up your page, create content, and promote it whenever you can.
See you next time.
