Ko-fi vs Maven
Side-by-side comparison on fees, payouts, monetization, and audience ownership.
Platform fee
0–5% · 0% tips · 5% sales
10% · of course revenue
Payout speed
instant
weekly
Minimum payout
$0
$0 (Stripe payout schedule)
Countries
PayPal- or Stripe-supported
Global where Stripe is supported
Email list export
Limited export
Limited (course and cohort comms)
Custom domain
Yes (subdomain)
No (hosted on maven.com)
Community features
Comments and DMs
Built-in cohort discussion and Slack integrations
Best for
Visual artists, beginners, small audiences, fee-sensitive creators
Experts running premium live cohort courses rather than self-paced content
Ko-fi vs Maven: which one wins?
Ko-fi charges 0–5% (0% tips · 5% sales) versus Maven at 10% (of course revenue).
On payout speed, Ko-fi pays instant while Maven pays weekly. For creators where cashflow matters, the faster cadence usually wins.
For audience ownership, Ko-fi offers limited export email export and Maven offers limited (course and cohort comms). Email portability matters most for creators planning to migrate later or build a list independent of any single platform.
Best for: Ko-fi suits visual artists, beginners, small audiences, fee-sensitive creators. Maven fits experts running premium live cohort courses rather than self-paced content.