This comparison helps streamers in the UK choose where viewers send tips: Streamlabs, StreamElements, Ko-fi, Fourthwall, Buy Me a Coffee, Patreon or DonoLink. We compare what you keep in pounds, who holds your money, which payment methods UK viewers get and how alerts work. DonoLink wrote it, and we say plainly where others are cheaper.
Streamlabs, StreamElements and Fourthwall take 0% on tips, and Ko-fi does too once you switch off its Contributor status; new Ko-fi pages start with a 5% fee on one-off tips. On paper they beat DonoLink. Payment fees from PayPal or Stripe still apply. Streamlabs adds a 0.5% withdrawal fee, 2% for currency conversion and $15 per chargeback, and its Ultra plan costs $15.75 to $27 a month for extras.
StreamElements' legacy SE.Pay closes on 31 December 2026; card tips there now need your own Stripe account.
Buy Me a Coffee charges 5% and Patreon 10% on new pages. Both are general creator platforms built around memberships and posts rather than live streams, which matters if most of your support comes in while you are live.
Money that stays inside a platform costs the most. Twitch Bits leave you around 71% and subs around 50%. YouTube Super Chat pays out 70%, and TikTok LIVE gifts around half. Direct tips sit next to these; they do not replace them.
DonoLink charges 3.5% per successful tip, with no subscription. Each tip is created on your own Stripe account and paid out to your UK bank in pounds. On a £10 tip with a standard UK card you keep £9.30. Viewers pay by debit or credit card, Apple Pay or Google Pay, plus Pay by Bank and Revolut Pay once Stripe has activated them for your account. PayPal is coming soon.
Pay by Bank is the one option here that cannot be charged back, and alerts by amount, text-to-speech, a goal, a leaderboard and media requests are included.
If you only care about the lowest fee, a 0% tool wins. If you want tips to land on your own Stripe account in pounds, UK payment methods including Pay by Bank, and alerts without add-ons, DonoLink is built for that. Plenty of streamers run two tools side by side while they test.
| Platform | Fee on a tip | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| DonoLink | 3.5% + Stripe fee | Own Stripe account, payouts in pounds, Pay by Bank |
| Streamlabs | 0% + payment fees | 0.5% withdrawal, 2% FX, $15 per chargeback |
| StreamElements | 0% + payment fees | SE.Pay closes 31 December 2026 |
| Ko-fi | 0% with Contributor off (5% by default) | General creator platform |
| Fourthwall | 0% + payment fees | Storefront for creators |
| Buy Me a Coffee | 5% | General creator platform |
| Patreon | 10% (new pages) | Memberships |
DonoLink comparison, October 2026. Check each service's current pricing before you decide.
It depends on your priorities. 0% tools such as Streamlabs and StreamElements are cheapest on paper. DonoLink charges 3.5% per tip and adds payouts in pounds on your own Stripe account, Pay by Bank and alerts in one tool.
The 0% tools, before payment fees. With DonoLink a £10 tip on a standard UK card leaves you £9.30. Bits leave around 71%, Super Chat 70% and TikTok gifts around half.
A PayPal tip costs roughly the same, but it shows no alert, can hold new sellers' funds for up to 21 days and leaves small disputes unprotected.
Yes. DonoLink imports history from StreamElements, Streamlabs, Ko-fi, TipeeeStream and CSV files. Balances are not transferred.