Comparisons

Creator platforms, compared

More of what you earn, less platform overhead. The honest version — including the rows where a competitor beats us.

See what you keepFeature matrix

On a £40.00 sale, you keep

£36.00

The buyer pays £44.00 — they cover the fee, not you. Card processing (£0.86) comes out of our share.

10% creator-side + 10% buyer-side, against Stripe’s published UK rate of 1.5% + 20p.

What each one costs

Platform fee and card processing are shown in separate columns for everyone, because several platforms quote a percentage that excludes processing — so a headline “5%” beside our “20%” would imply a gap several times the real one.

Unlockable

ours

20%

10% creator-side + 10% paid by the buyer

Card processing
Covered by us
You keep on £40.00
£36.00

Unlockt

compare →

25% total

Card processing
Not stated on the pages we could reach

Fee needs review against their pricing page

Patreon

compare →

10% + processing

Card processing
Additional

Fee needs review against their pricing page

Gumroad

compare →

10% + $0.50 direct

Card processing
Additional

Fourthwall

compare →

5% digital, Free plan

Card processing
2.9% + $0.30 on US card transactions

Ko-fi

compare →

0–5%

Card processing
Additional

Fee needs review against their pricing page

Fourthwall, Ko-fi, Stan, Passes and Fanvue are in the matrix below. Jump to it.

A £40.00 sale, walked through

  1. 1

    You set a price

    Your list price, in USD, GBP or EUR.

    £40.00

  2. 2

    The buyer pays

    They cover the 10% privacy & security fee.

    £44.00

  3. 3

    Card processing

    Charged to us, not deducted from your share.

    −£0.86

  4. 4

    You receive

    Paid into your wallet, per currency.

    £36.00

The buyer checkout screen showing the content price, the privacy and security fee and the total

Feature by feature

✓ core feature · – available but not the main experience · – not a core feature

Unlockt25% total

Same answers as Unlockable on every row here.

Full comparison →
Patreon10% + processing
  • Voice notesNo
  • Limited or expiring contentPartly
  • Recurring membershipsYes
  • CoursesPartly
  • Coaching / callsPartly
  • Community featuresYes
Full comparison →
Gumroad10% + $0.50 direct
  • Paid shareable linksPartly
  • Voice notesNo
  • Limited or expiring contentPartly
  • Recurring membershipsYes
  • CoursesYes
  • Coaching / callsYes
  • Community featuresPartly
  • Merchant of record (handles your sales tax)Yes
Full comparison →
Fourthwall5% digital, Free plan
  • Paid shareable linksPartly
  • Voice notesNo
  • Limited or expiring contentPartly
  • Recurring membershipsYes
  • CoursesPartly
  • Physical productsYes
  • Merchant of record (handles your sales tax)Yes
Full comparison →
Ko-fi0–5%
  • Voice notesNo
  • Limited or expiring contentPartly
  • Recurring membershipsYes
  • CoursesPartly
  • Coaching / callsPartly
  • Community featuresPartly
  • Physical productsYes
Full comparison →
Stan$29/mo or $99/mo
  • Voice notesNo
  • Limited or expiring contentPartly
  • Recurring membershipsYes
  • CoursesYes
  • Coaching / callsYes
  • Community featuresYes
Full comparison →
Passes10% + $0.30 / 20%
  • Limited or expiring contentPartly
  • Recurring membershipsYes
  • CoursesPartly
  • Coaching / callsYes
  • Community featuresYes
  • Physical productsYes
Full comparison →
Fanvue20%
  • Limited or expiring contentPartly
  • Recurring membershipsYes
  • CoursesPartly
  • Coaching / callsYes
  • Community featuresYes
  • Physical productsPartly
Full comparison →

Where the others are better

A comparison page with no losses on it is advertising. These are the three things we genuinely do not do as well.

They handle your sales tax

Gumroad and Fourthwall act as merchant of record, collecting and remitting sales tax and VAT worldwide. On Unlockable you are the seller, so tax is yours to manage.

They do memberships, courses and community

We deliberately do not. If you want a recurring membership, a course platform or a community space, Patreon, Passes, Fourthwall and Stan are built for exactly that.

Some are cheaper per sale

Fourthwall’s 5% on digital products is lower than ours, and Ko-fi charges nothing on tips. We only win on total cost once processing is counted.

Where these figures come from

Fee structures change without notice. Every row below links to the provider’s own page, and the date is when we last read it. A row marked needs review has not yet been confirmed against the provider’s current published pricing.

Unlockable
checked 26 September 2026
10% creator-side + 10% buyer-side
Processing: Covered by Unlockable
source
Unlockt
needs review
10% seller + 15% buyer
Processing: Not stated on the pages we could reach
sourcefull comparison
Patreon
needs review
10% (standard plan)
Processing: Additional
sourcefull comparison
Gumroad
checked 26 September 2026
10% + $0.50 direct, 30% via Discover
Processing: Additional
sourcefull comparison
Fourthwall
checked 26 September 2026
5% digital (Free) / $15 per month (Pro)
Processing: 2.9% + $0.30 on US card transactions
sourcefull comparison
Ko-fi
needs review
0% tips / 5% shop
Processing: Additional
sourcefull comparison
Stan
needs review
Subscription, 0% transaction fee
Processing: Additional
sourcefull comparison
Passes
needs review
10% + $0.30 (Starter) / 20% (Creators+)
Processing: Not stated on the pages we could reach
sourcefull comparison
Fanvue
needs review
20%
Processing: Not stated on the pages we could reach
sourcefull comparison

Try it on one piece of content

No monthly fee, no membership, no listing to wait for. Upload something, set a price, share one link.

  • You keep 80% of your list price
  • Processing is our cost, not yours
  • Nothing charged until something sells
Create your first paid drop