Lanternbee vs Ko-fi

Looking for a Ko-fi alternative for your books?

A tip jar, membership and small shop for creators. Here is what it costs, where it does better than Lanternbee, and what moving would take.

What Ko-fi is

Ko-fi started as a way for fans to buy a creator a coffee. It now has memberships, commissions and a shop where authors sell ebooks, PDFs and signed copies.

Who it suits

Authors with fans who already support them, who want tips and memberships with a few books on the side.

What Ko-fi costs

US prices, checked against the sources at the bottom of this page.

Plan	Price	Fee on sales
Free	Free	5% on shop sales, memberships and commissions
Gold	$12 a month	None; payment processor fees still apply

Ko-fi and Lanternbee side by side

The jobs a bookstore has to do, and how each one handles them.

Ko-fi and Lanternbee, feature by feature
What you need	Ko-fi	Lanternbee
One book with several editions	Not listed	Yes. Ebook, audiobook, paperback and hardcover live on one book page.
Series with a reading order	Not listed	Yes, with the reading order you set.
Bundles and box sets	Not listed	Yes. Readers who own book one pay less for the rest.
Ebook and audiobook delivery	YesFiles right after paying.	Yes. Download links by email, and a reader library.
Send to Kindle	NoNo delivery to Kindle or e-reader apps.	Yes, from the reader library.
Print on demand for books	Not listedPhysical items are shipped by you.	Yes, through BookVault or Lulu.
Your reader list	Not listed	Yes. Every buyer lands on your list, with tags.
Your own domain	Not listed	Yes. yourname.lanternbee.shop or shop.yourname.com.
Monthly cost	Free: FreeGold: $12 a month	Free: nothing a month. Author: $45 a month, or $35 paid yearly.
Fee on sales	Free: 5% on shop sales, memberships and commissionsGold: None; payment processor fees still apply	Free: 5%, only when you sell. Author: none.

US prices. “Not listed” means we could not find it on Ko-fi’s own pages or in the sources below, so check with them. Card fees apply everywhere; on Lanternbee they are Stripe’s, with nothing added.

What Ko-fi does better

No store is right for every author. These are fair reasons to stay.

Tips and monthly memberships, with posts only members can read and Discord roles for each tier.
A warm, simple page fans already know how to use.
Commissions, if you also take paid requests.

Moving from Ko-fi

There is no importer for Ko-fi. Here is what you would do by hand.

Keep Ko-fi for tips and memberships if your fans like it there.
Add your books on Lanternbee with every format on one page, and link to them from your Ko-fi page.
Ko-fi purchases cannot come across to a Lanternbee library, so readers keep the files they downloaded.

Questions about Ko-fi and Lanternbee

Should I sell my books on Ko-fi or Lanternbee?

Ko-fi is good for tips and memberships. Lanternbee is built for selling books: series, bundles, print on demand, Send to Kindle and a reader library. Many authors could keep Ko-fi for support and sell the books on Lanternbee.

What does Ko-fi charge?

On the free plan Ko-fi takes 5% of shop sales, memberships and commissions. Gold costs $12 a month and takes no fee. Payment processing applies either way.

Does Ko-fi handle tax on ebook sales?

No, according to the review we checked. Neither does Lanternbee yet: you sell through your own Stripe account, Stripe Tax works out the tax at checkout, and you report and pay it.