Gumroad vs Patreon vs Ko-fi fees for creators
What a US creator keeps from 100, 500 and 2,000 US dollars of sales, computed from the platform fees Gumroad, Patreon and Lemon Squeezy publish on their own pages, with a plain statement of what could not be read.
What this page can and cannot tell you.
- Ko-fi: no figure. Ko-fi's pages refused the automated reader on 2026-10-06, so no Ko-fi fee could be read at its source and none is published here. Use the calculator at the end of this page with the rate shown on your own Ko-fi account.
- Patreon: platform fee only. Patreon's pricing page states a 10% platform fee "plus payment processing, currency conversion, and payout fees, and applicable taxes", without numbers. The Patreon rows below therefore understate what Patreon deducts.
- Gumroad: Gumroad fee only. Gumroad's pricing page states 10% + 0.50 US dollars per direct sale and 30% per sale to a new customer through its Discover marketplace. Whether a separate payment processing fee is added could not be read on a Gumroad page, so the real deduction may be higher.
Worked examples
| Platform and rate | Buyer pays | Fee | Effective % | You keep |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gumroad direct sale, 10% + $0.50 (partial) | $100.00 | $10.50 | 10.50% | $89.50 |
| Gumroad direct sale, 10% + $0.50 (partial) | $500.00 | $50.50 | 10.10% | $449.50 |
| Gumroad direct sale, 10% + $0.50 (partial) | $2,000.00 | $200.50 | 10.03% | $1,799.50 |
| Gumroad Discover sale to a new customer, 30% | $100.00 | $30.00 | 30.00% | $70.00 |
| Gumroad Discover sale to a new customer, 30% | $500.00 | $150.00 | 30.00% | $350.00 |
| Gumroad Discover sale to a new customer, 30% | $2,000.00 | $600.00 | 30.00% | $1,400.00 |
| Patreon platform fee, 10% (partial) | $100.00 | $10.00 | 10.00% | $90.00 |
| Patreon platform fee, 10% (partial) | $500.00 | $50.00 | 10.00% | $450.00 |
| Patreon platform fee, 10% (partial) | $2,000.00 | $200.00 | 10.00% | $1,800.00 |
| Lemon Squeezy, 5% + $0.50 | $100.00 | $5.50 | 5.50% | $94.50 |
| Lemon Squeezy, 5% + $0.50 | $500.00 | $25.50 | 5.10% | $474.50 |
| Lemon Squeezy, 5% + $0.50 | $2,000.00 | $100.50 | 5.03% | $1,899.50 |
Source: Pricing (gumroad.com), fees last verified 2026-10-06
Source: Patreon Pricing Plans — Patreon (www.patreon.com), fees last verified 2026-10-06
Source: Pricing • Lemon Squeezy (www.lemonsqueezy.com), fees last verified 2026-10-06
One sale of 100 is not one hundred sales of 1
The table treats each amount as a single payment. A fixed fee per sale changes the picture for small prices: one hundred Gumroad direct sales of 5 US dollars pay 10% + 0.50 on each sale, which is 1.00 US dollar per sale and 100 US dollars on 500 of sales (20%), not the 50.50 shown for a single 500 US dollar sale. For memberships and tips, where payments are small and many, the fixed fee per payment matters more than the percentage. The calculator gives the fee for any single amount.
Source: Pricing (gumroad.com), fees last verified 2026-10-06
What else the published pages say
- Gumroad says it acts as merchant of record and handles sales tax collection and remittance.
- Lemon Squeezy also acts as merchant of record. It publishes an extra 1.5% when the buyer pays with PayPal and an extra 0.5% on subscription payments, added to the 5% + 0.50 base fee. A payout to a US bank account is listed with no fee, and a payout to a US PayPal account with a flat 0.50 US dollar fee.
- Patreon states that its payout fee varies by payout method.
Source: Pricing (gumroad.com), fees last verified 2026-10-06
Source: Fees • Lemon Squeezy (docs.lemonsqueezy.com), fees last verified 2026-10-06
Source: Patreon Pricing Plans — Patreon (www.patreon.com), fees last verified 2026-10-06
Calculator for the rate on your own account
For Ko-fi, or to add the processing fee your Patreon or Gumroad dashboard shows, type the percentage and fixed fee from your own account page. The figures you type are yours; this site does not publish or confirm them.
The method and the list of what was left out are on the methodology page.