Comparison

SponsoredBy vs Kickstarter

Kickstarter is for a thing with an end. You set a goal, you set a deadline, and if you miss the goal nobody pays. A sponsorship wall has no goal, no deadline and no campaign — it is for the ongoing work that never finishes. Plenty of creators want both, at different times.

Side by side
 SponsoredByKickstarter
What it’s for Public sponsorship. People fund work that stays free, and get credit for it. Crowdfunding a specific project with a funding goal and an end date.
Are supporters public? Yes. Every backer gets a plaque with their name, tier and how long they’ve backed you — or stays anonymous by choice. Partly. Backer counts are public and a Community tab lists backer names, though Kickstarter openly advises backers to use a name that is not identifiable if they would rather stay private. It is per-campaign, not a permanent record on your profile.
Who holds the money You do. Every backing is paid into your own Stripe account; we never hold it. Collected at the end of the campaign and released after it succeeds — not paid to you as each pledge comes in.
Cost Free plan takes 10%. Pro is $29/mo and takes 5%; Max is $49/mo and takes 3%. Stripe’s processing is separate. 5% of funds collected, but only if the project reaches its goal, plus payment processing. Their published fee page covers the United States; other countries have their own.

Kickstarter figures were read from their own pricing page in August 2026. Pricing changes — check theirs before deciding.

Their strengths

What Kickstarter is built for

  • The deadline and the goal create urgency that ongoing support simply cannot.
  • All-or-nothing lowers the risk for backers, who pay nothing if you do not hit your number.
  • Real discovery. People browse Kickstarter looking for projects to fund.
  • You pay nothing if the campaign fails.
Our strengths

What a sponsorship wall does that Kickstarter doesn’t

  • Ongoing rather than one-shot. No campaign to run, and no cliff when it ends.
  • Money reaches you immediately, not after a campaign closes.
  • The credit is permanent and on your own page, not archived with a finished project.
  • No goal to miss. One backer at $5 is a real outcome here.
Deciding
Kickstarter

Pick Kickstarter if…

You have a specific, finite project with a number attached — a record, a game, a hardware run.

SponsoredBy

Pick a wall if…

You want steady support for work that keeps going, without running a campaign every time.

Plenty of creators run both. A wall doesn’t ask you to move anything — it’s a link you add.

Free to try alongside whatever you use now.

A wall takes a few minutes to set up, costs nothing on the free plan, and doesn’t replace anything.

Other comparisons