Buy Me a Coffee vs Stan
We give Buy Me a Coffee a 2.6 GPA and Stan a 2.4, out of 4.0. Buy Me a Coffee grades higher on the free plan. Stan grades higher on features. They get the same grade on value for money, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Stan
Link-in-bio store for creators selling downloads, courses and calls
How we grade them
| 2.6GPABuy Me a CoffeeGood | 2.4GPAStanFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CGraded against its alternatives, tip and membership pages. 5% of $1,000 is $50 a month, with Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 and 0.5% payout fee on top (not counted). The same as Ko-fi's 5% and half Patreon's 10%, with no plan that lowers it. | CCreator is $300 billed yearly with no cut of sales, so $1,000 a month in sales costs $300 a year, inside this category's usual range. Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 comes on top and isn't counted. Discount codes, upsells and email need Creator Pro at $948 a year. |
| Free plan and trial | AEvery feature is free, including posts and emails to supporters, with no monthly fee and no cap. You pay 5% of each payment instead, and the value grade counts that. | CNo free plan. There's a 14-day trial of either plan, you can sell during it, and the listing doesn't say it needs a card. |
| Features | CGraded against its alternatives. One-tap support, monthly or yearly memberships, a shop for files, commissions and Zoom calls, posts, emails and stream alerts. It does that job fully, but it's a smaller kit than Patreon's, with no video hosting or podcasts in the listing. | BDownloads, unlimited courses, coaching calls and webinars with booking, memberships, a community and Instagram auto-replies. The whole job is here, though discount codes, upsells, funnels, affiliates and email all wait for Creator Pro. |
| Ease of use | C4.4 from about 1,900 App Store ratings, just short of the 4.5 a B needs. Fans can pay without signing up, which helps. | CNo App Store rating on record. The store is built for a phone screen and a bio link, but you're still setting up products, calendars and Stripe or PayPal. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, iPhone and Android, with Stripe, Wise and Zoom, plus buttons, QR codes and stream alerts to point fans to your page. No desktop app, which an A needs. | BWeb and iPhone, with Stripe, PayPal, Zapier, Zoom, Google Meet, Google Calendar, Afterpay and Klarna. There's no Android app and no desktop app. |
| Best for | tips and memberships with no monthly bill | creators selling from a link in their bio |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Buy Me a Coffee and Stan. How we grade
Price against what you get
Buy Me a Coffee has no paid plan and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Stan starts at $29 a month and scores 2.7.
Stan scores higher, and starts $29 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other tools for selling digital products on the chart, none scores higher than Buy Me a Coffee for less, and 2 score higher than Stan for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Buy Me a Coffee is free. Stan starts at $29 per month ($300 billed yearly).
- Buy Me a Coffee has a free plan. Stan does not, though it has a free trial.
- Only Buy Me a Coffee lists an Android app.
- Buy Me a Coffee also covers paid newsletters.
- Stan also covers email campaigns, online courses, community, appointment booking and affiliate tracking.
At a glance
| Buy Me a Coffee | Stan | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free trial |
| Starts at | Free | $29 per month ($300 billed yearly) |
| Free plan | No monthly fee and every feature included. Buy Me a Coffee keeps 5% of each transaction, and Stripe charges 2.9% + $0.30 plus 0.5% for payouts. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | 14-day free trial of either plan, and you can sell during the trial |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Buy Me a Coffee | Stan |
| Price read from | help.buymeacoffee.com | help.stan.store |
| Checked | Oct 18, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Buy Me a Coffee
- Creators who want tips and memberships without a monthly bill
- Podcasters, writers and streamers asking fans for support
- Creators selling a few ebooks, commissions or calls
Stan
- Social media creators who sell from a link in their bio
- Coaches selling calls, courses and downloads in one place
- Creators who want a flat fee with no cut of sales
Worth knowing
Buy Me a Coffee
- Each payment costs 5% plus Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 and 0.5% payout fee; international payments add 1% and subscription payments 0.5%.
- Payouts go straight to a bank account, but only for creators in the 44 countries Buy Me a Coffee supports.
- The help center describes one 5% platform fee for every creator, with no paid plan that lowers it.
Stan
- No free plan; Stan takes 0% of sales, but Stripe charges US sellers 2.9% + $0.30 a sale, plus 1.5% for buyers abroad.
- Discount codes, upsells, funnels, affiliates, email broadcasts and email flows all need Creator Pro at $99 a month.
- Physical products have no shipping or stock tools: sellers collect addresses at checkout and fulfill by hand.
- The mobile app is on iPhone and iPad only; there is no Android app.
Key features
Buy Me a Coffee
- One-off support
- Fans pay in a couple of taps without signing up, pick how many coffees to buy and leave a message on the creator's page.
- Memberships
- Monthly or yearly membership tiers with exclusive posts and messages, email alerts for new posts and perks such as discounts.
- Shop
- Sell ebooks and other files, art commissions or one-to-one Zoom calls, with one-tap checkout and buyer ratings.
- Posts and emails
- Publish posts and email supporters from the same account, with no extra charge for publishing or sending.
- Creator tools
- Stream alerts, QR codes and buttons for websites point fans to the page.
- Payment methods
- Supporters pay by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Cash App or other global methods, processed by Stripe and Wise.
Stan
- Bio-link storefront
- A mobile-first store built for a social media bio link, with digital downloads, custom products and links out to other sites.
- Courses, calls and webinars
- Unlimited password-protected courses, 1:1 or group coaching calls and webinars run through Zoom or Google Meet with calendar booking.
- Memberships and community
- Charge members daily, weekly, monthly or yearly, and run a community space with admins and moderators inside Stan.
- Email marketing on Creator Pro
- Import contacts, send broadcasts and build automated email flows with unlimited sends, all on the Creator Pro plan.
- Sales tools on Creator Pro
- Discount codes, limited-quantity offers, upsells, order bumps, funnels, payment plans with Afterpay or Klarna, and an affiliate program.
- Stan AutoDM
- Sends automated replies to Instagram messages and comments, included on both plans.
Plans
Buy Me a Coffee
Buy Me a Coffee$0
No monthly fee. A 5% platform fee per transaction, plus Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30; creators can choose to have supporters cover the card fee.
Stan
Creator$29
per month ($300 billed yearly)
Storefront, unlimited courses, calendar booking, recurring subscriptions, lead magnets, community, analytics and Stan AutoDM for Instagram. No transaction fee.
Creator Pro$99
per month ($948 billed yearly)
Adds discount codes, payment plans, upsells, order bumps, funnels, Afterpay and Klarna, affiliate management, email broadcasts and flows, and ad pixels.
Ways to pay less
Buy Me a Coffee
No public discounts listed.
Stan
- Annual discount
Lower price with yearly billing
Stan sells Creator at $300 a year instead of $29 a month ($348 over a year), and Creator Pro at $948 a year instead of $99 a month ($1,188).
