Ko-fi vs Lemon Squeezy

Ko-fi

• Ko-fi takes 5% of shop, membership and commission sales without Gold(6/10)
• Ko-fi Gold costs $12 a month for new creators(6/10)
• Memberships taken before switching to Gold keep paying the 5% fee(5/10)
• Supporters confuse Ko-fi membership billing and cancellation(6/10)

Lemon Squeezy

• Lemon Squeezy fees: +1.5% international, +1.5% PayPal, +0.5% subscriptions(6/10)
• Stripe Managed Payments costs 3.5% on top of Stripe fees(6/10)

Ko-fi

• Ko-fi payment pending or unclaimed because of PayPal(7/10)
• PayPal holds Ko-fi funds for up to 21 days(7/10)
• Ko-fi page unpublished or account suspended with little explanation(9/10)
• Supporters cannot see Ko-fi content after paying(6/10)

Lemon Squeezy

• Accounts suspended without clear explanation(10/10)
• Payment and payout issues leave money stuck(9/10)
• Cancelled subscriptions still charge customers(8/10)
• Payment confirmations fail silently(7/10)

Ko-fi

• Ko-fi support is slow and unhelpful for account problems(8/10)

Lemon Squeezy

• Customer support is slow to non-existent(8/10)
• Lemon Squeezy support slower since 2025, CEO admits quiet period(8/10)

Ko-fi

• Ko-fi Discord roles do not sync for members(6/10)
• Weak marketing and discovery tools for growing creators(5/10)

Lemon Squeezy

No signals

Ko-fi

• Ko-fi refunds are the creator's job, not Ko-fi's(6/10)

Lemon Squeezy

• Account verification is slow and blocks operations(6/10)
• Technical glitches affect checkout(4/10)
• Less advanced subscription features than Paddle(5/10)
• Is Lemon Squeezy shutting down? Stripe Managed Payments migration unclear(4/10)
• Analytics less sophisticated than competitors(4/10)