Patreon / Ko-fi
Sends your audience to a page you don't own, and usually needs a recurring membership with tiers and perks to justify itself. The payment relationship belongs to the platform.
The problem with a donate link
Asking at the right moment.
A "Donate" link in the footer asks people to leave your site and fill in a form. By the time the page loads, the impulse is gone. A tip jar inside your chat asks the person who's been talking in your room for twenty minutes — and it takes one tap.
A tip jar in your chat
The visitor never leaves. It's a one-off ask, not a subscription. And the money moves directly between them and your Stripe account.
How it works
Step 1
Connect Stripe
Two minutes in your panel, under Monetization. Sign in to Stripe or open an account — they collect your business details and payout info.
Step 2
Set your amounts
A ladder of presets — $1 / $5 / $10 / $25 out of the box — plus a minimum you control and USD, EUR or GBP.
Step 3
The button turns on
Once Stripe clears you for charges, the Tip button appears in the chat by itself. Nothing to install, no change to your embed code.
What it costs
| On every tip | Who takes it |
|---|---|
| 5% platform fee, with a 25¢ floor | Embedded Chat |
| Standard card processing fee | Stripe |
| Everything else | You |
On a $5 tip our cut is 25¢; on a $20 tip, $1. The funds are paid into your Stripe account on your normal payout schedule — they don't route through us and they don't sit in a balance waiting for a withdrawal.
Tipping is included on the Basic plan at $9/month. There's no extra fee to switch it on.
Why it works in a chat
Right timing
Someone twenty minutes into your live show is in a completely different frame of mind than someone who just landed from Google.
It's social
Each tip lands in the room as a callout. One visible tipper gives everyone else permission — the dynamic that makes tipping work on Twitch.
Your name on the statement
The charge is on your Stripe account, so supporters recognise the line on their card — the main reason small payments get disputed.
Who it's for
Internet radio and DJ streams. Listeners want to support the station during a show, and the chat is already where requests and shout-outs happen. Radio chat guide →
Streamers running their own site. If you moved your audience off Twitch or YouTube to keep the relationship, tipping is the revenue you gave up by leaving. Live stream chat →
Independent publishers and niche communities. Tipping runs on affection rather than transactions, so it rewards exactly the communities that are hardest to monetise with ads.
Add a tip jar — 15-day free trial
No credit card. Tipping included on Basic and up.