Key Points:
- Kickstarter is a crowdfunding platform that has helped creative projects receive the funding they need to bring projects to life
- In every Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign, creators give rewards to backers, but there are Kickstarter alternatives that have changed that narrative
- Easyship can help you figure out your campaign expenses and fulfillment costs and offer you a streamlined shipping solution
When you think of crowdfunding, Kickstarter is probably the first platform that comes to mind. Since its creation in 2019, Kickstarter has helped over 200,000 campaigns raise the needed amount to fund a project or startup. However, on its own, crowdfunding is premised upon getting small amounts of money from a dedicated audience to finance an entrepreneur's business ideas.
Although other platforms help with crowdfunding, Kickstarter seems the most popular. However, based on your business type and what you intend to achieve, you can raise the funds you need through other Kickstarter alternatives.
Here, Easyship reviews ten fundraising platforms that can help businesses raise capital. These ten have been selected based on their pricing system, flexibility, and incentives.
Table of Contents
What's Kickstarter?
Let us start our trip into the top Kickstarter alternatives by understanding what Kickstarter means and does. Kickstarter was founded in 2009 to help creative business owners raise money to kickstart their business by running campaigns.
As a crowdfunding platform, Kickstarter has helped creative projects receive the funding they need to bring projects to life. Kickstarter supports campaigns for projects in a wide range of categories, including:
- Art
- Comics
- Dance
- Design
- Fashion
- Film
- Food
- Games
- Music
- Photography
- Publishing
- Technology
- Theater
It works best for startups and entrepreneurs with unique and creative ideas. In every Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign, two parties are involved - the creator and the backers.
The creator is the one with the creative or business idea who needs additional funds to run the business. The backers are the members of the public who have taken an interest in the creator's business ideas and are willing to raise money for the company.
Since its creation, over 20 million people have backed 200,000 projects on Kickstarter. However, Kickstarter is just one of many other crowdfunding options, and there are more.
10 Best Kickstarter Alternatives for Your eCommerce Business
Now that you know what Kickstarter is and what it is all about, let's look at other alternatives to Kickstarter that you can consider. In no particular order, here are our top picks for Kickstarter alternatives.
1. Indiegogo
Founded in 2008 and with over $1 billion raised in campaigns, Indiegogo is a major Kickstarter alternative that has funded many businesses. However, Indiegogo is known for helping new companies enter the market by offering various services. These services could be licensing, fulfillment, or distribution.
It also offers partnership opportunities to help businesses gain entrance into the market like production, communications, and even retail. Although Indiegogo has helped 800,000 businesses, it has a minimum fundraising amount of $500. Indiegogo has flexible funding, which allows you to get the raised money even if you do not meet your funding goal. Overall, Indiegogo is one of the best Kickstarter alternatives.
Related post: Indiegogo vs. Kickstarter: The Important Differences
2. Fundable
Fundable has explicitly been geared towards helping small businesses since its creation in 2011. It charges creators monthly about $100 - $300 monthly for the period that the fundraising is active, other than charging based on the raised funds.
Unlike other Kickstarter alternatives, Fundable allows backers to receive rewards in the form of company stock. Also, Fundable offers creators access to consultants to help them achieve their crowdfunding goals.
3. Pozible
Based in Australia, Pozible is a crowdfunding platform that shares similarities with Kickstarter alternatives. However, the All-or-Nothing Pozible campaign only pays creators that have successfully met or exceeded their funding target.
Pozible also has a flexible payment option that includes PayPal and bitcoin. For backers, Pozible offers two rewards options - backers can receive products or services as rewards or get paid back. In addition, on Pozible, backers can get recurring awards for supporting a business.
4. FundAnything
Having attracted the support of Donald Trump, FundAnything is one of the companies like Kickstarter that operates similarly to Indiegogo. However, it allows users to create different projects with a flexible funding plan. This way, creators can keep whatever amount they raise, though at a higher fee if they don't reach their goal.
Specifically, creators pay a 9% fee if they don't meet their fundraising goals which are relatively high compared to other platforms. In review, creators enjoy many benefits on FundAnything, like easy setup, customer service, and accessible funds withdrawal.
5. Bonfire
The crowdfunding operations of Bonfire are pretty unique and distinct from other Kickstarter alternatives. It started by offering services to anyone who wanted to design, buy or sell custom products. Over time, Bonfire has expanded its objectives to raise funds for businesses or creatives through apparel sales while keeping the profits from their sales.
The website has design tools that allow businesses to easily create or upload their designs. With this, Bonfire offers services like order fulfillment, payment processing, and customer service.
6. Fundly
Fundly makes it easy for anyone with a cause to reach the necessary audience and make money. In addition, creators have the opportunity of categorizing their crowdfunding effort so that audiences with similar passions can notice them. These categories include fraternities and sororities, medical and health, clubs and communities, politics and public offices, pets and animals, and education.
With a built-in payment processor, Fundly allows project creators to leverage photography and video, storytelling, and social media to reach their fundraising goals.
7. Patreon
Patreon stands out for its accessible tools and plans that have been designed to help people reach their fundraising goals. It integrates with software like Zapier, Google Analytics, and even Mailchimp. So far, Patreon has helped over 200,000 creators raise more than 2 billion dollars since its creation in 2013.
So what sets Patreon apart from others? Patreon leans towards artistry; it is the best fundraising platform for artists or writers seeking support from their fans. There are different pricing plans available, the first being the platform fee which is 5%.
The upsides of Patreon include customer support, availability of the mobile app, flexible payouts, tools that help you get and track funds, communication tools, and resources to help you get started.
8. GoFundMe
GoFundMe is likely one of the most popular fundraising platforms. With over 9 billion dollars raised from 120+ million donations, GoFundMe allows creators to raise money for as long as they want without setting deadlines. Unlike other Kickstarter alternatives, causes to raise money for are limitless on GoFundMe.
Anyone can raise money on GoFundMe as much as the audience is there. To add to its flexibility, creators can receive their money once verified, even if they do not meet their fundraising goals. GoFundMe is a good option for anyone, but you have to consider its charging system.
Apart from 2.9% and the $0.30 charged per transaction, donors are often asked to support the platform with a voluntary amount, a great Kickstarter alternative.
9. FundRazr
FundRazr is another alternative to Kickstarter that offers excellent incentives and plans for users with tools to make their fundraising journey easy. Like GoFundMe, just anyone can raise funds on FundRazr. It also integrates with helpful software and social media to help you reach your audience faster.
With three pricing plans, FundRazr is flexible enough to meet the funding goal as a Kickstarter alternative. The pricing plan includes the Free, Standard, and Pro. It also offers creators two options: All or Nothing and Keeps it All. Like Kickstarter, creators get nothing if they do not reach their goals, and no money will be charged to the supporters.
10. Wefunder
For business owners seeking to launch an idea or startup, Wefunder is a crowdfunding platform that promises a lot. It offers legal assistance to clients and provides marketing strategies and access to over one million investors - one aspect that sets it ahead of the others.
However, with Wefunder, creators have to offer companies equities for financial support. It has a fixed 7.5% fee that you would not be charged if you fail to reach your goal. Your supporters in the case will also not be charged.
For those who are new to crowdfunding, Wefunder provides resources and guidelines to help project creators run successful campaigns. Also, anyone can join the platform as an investor, and is a great Kickstarter alternative.
Use Alternatives to Kickstarter with Easyship
Not having enough funds to start a business should not be a problem for you. Crowdfunding and fundraising platforms can help you achieve it while focusing on essential aspects of your business. Although Kickstarter is one of the best platforms to help you achieve your funding goals, there are other Kickstarter alternatives with plans and structures tailored to meet your needs.
When you reach your fundraising goal, you consider how backers will receive their rewards. This aspect is crucial for a healthy long-term relationship between you and them. This is where fulfillment comes in.
Easyship is a partner you can trust to provide fulfillment and logistics solutions to avoid spending unnecessary funds. With years of experience in crowdfunding and optimized software, you can estimate your shipping costs to any country, taxes and duties, and delivery lead times.
- Easyship Collect: Easyship Collect is the only shipping tool for crowdfunding campaigns. Let backers upgrade shipping, prepay duty, and tax, plus add the shipping insurance with this premium feature
- Crowdfunding Shipping Calculator: Start planning your next crowdfunding campaign with our crowdfunding calculator
- Shipping Policy Generator: Our shipping policy generator helps merchants and crowdfunding campaigns generate their shipping policy by providing tracking and insurance options, plus other vital information for your shipping process
Ready to ship? Sign up for a FREE Easyship account and get instant access to high-volume discounts for your crowdfunding campaign
If you found this article informative, you may enjoy the following:
