Indiegogo and Kickstarter are two of the largest rewards-based crowdfunding platforms. They allow eligible creators to raise money for projects in a wide variety of categories, in return for rewards or experiences. They are different from each other in a few important ways, and knowing why can help you choose which site will be best for your project. Here are some facts about these differences and a brief overviews of their terms of use to give you an idea of how both platforms work:

Indiegogo

Indiegogo prides itself on being a more open platform than Kickstarter and it allows individuals to raise money for pretty much anything legal. Creators on their platform have started projects in over 224 countries. Their community is smaller than Kickstarter’s, but their platform is good for creators who want a little more freedom or whose projects may not qualify for Kickstarter.

Indiegogo says that its goal is to empower everyone:

“Indiegogo is democratizing the way ideas get funded and realized across the globe. We have a simple mission: to empower everyone to change the world, one idea at a time. We provide the tools to help campaigns—large and mainstream, or small and personal—boost the awareness and funds to get there.”

What you need to know.

– Fixed and flexible funding models – the fixed model works like Kickstarter’s all-or-nothing model; the creator chooses a goal and if they meet it they get the money they raised. Otherwise, no commitments are made. With flexible funding ,even if they don’t reach their goal, creators can keep the money in return for a higher fee. The creators must still fulfill all reward or perk promises made to backers.

– They apply a 4% fee for projects with fixed funding (all or nothing) that reach their goal and approximately 3% for a PayPal transaction fee.

– They apply a 4% fee to projects with flexible funding (keep what you raise) that reach their goal and 9% if the goal is not reached + a 3% PayPal fee/3% credit card fee.

– Recently they have “integrated with Apple Pay, the new single-touch iPhone payment system,” and are the only crowdfunding platform with this feature

– They place projects into the following categories: Animals, Art, Comic, Community, Dance, Design, Education, Environment, Fashion, Film, Food, Gaming, Health, Music, Photography, Politics, Religion, Small Business, Sports, Technology, Theatre, Transmedia, Video/Web, Writing

– Percentage of failed campaigns: 80%. (Source)

Terms of Use

– “You are not eligible to use the Services without consent if you are under 18 years of age. If you are between the ages of 13 and 17, you can use the Services with the consent and supervision of your parent or legal guardian who is at least 18 years old, provided that your parent or legal guardian also agrees to be bound by the Terms and agrees to be responsible for your use of the Services”

– “Campaign Owners are not permitted to create a Campaign to raise funds for illegal activities, to cause harm to people or property, or to scam others. If you know that your Campaign is claiming to do the impossible or it’s just plain phony, don’t post it. You must comply with all applicable laws and regulations in connection with your Campaign, including offering Perks and using Contributions.”

– Prohibited perks include: any form of “security”, financial incentive or profit sharing, alcoholic consumer products, controlled substance or drug paraphernalia, weapons or ammunition, lottery or gambling, air transportation, items promoting hate, or anything that breaks the law.

Kickstarter

Kickstarter’s mission is to facilitate creative projects. They don’t allow people to raise funds for personal causes like tuition or medical bills. This platform is open to creators from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, Australia, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, and New Zealand (though anyone can donate).

They describe themselves as:

“[A]n independent company of 96 people based in … Brooklyn. We spend our time making Kickstarter a little bit better every day, answering questions from backers and creators, and finding new projects to share … We believe that creative projects make for a better world, and we’re thrilled to help support new ones. Building a community of backers around an idea is an amazing way to make something new.”

– They have raised $1,403,819,673+ for more than 73.8k projects.

– All-or-nothing funding model – if a project fails to meet its goal, the backers aren’t charged and nothing else happens.

– Apply a 5% fee to successful projects (and about 3 to 5% for credit card processing fees).

– Categories: Art, Comics, Crafts, Dance, Design, Fashion, Film & Video, Food, Games, Journalism, Music, Photography, Publishing, Technology, Theater

– Percentage of failed campaigns: ~60%

Terms of Use

– “To sign up for an account, you need to be at least 18 years old, or old enough to form a binding contract where you live. If necessary, we may ask you for proof of age.”

– Don’t break the law, lie to people, offer prohibited items, victimize anyone, spam, harm anyone’s computer, or abuse other users’ personal information

Conclusion

Both of these platforms have different goals and core values built into them. While Kickstarter has fewer categories and still moderates its projects fairly closely, Indiegogo offers more flexibility for creators to raise funds for almost any type of project. Each site has had projects that have received huge success and attention in the media and are growing as the crowdfunding industry continues to evolve.

Which one is your favorite and why? Leave any comments or questions below!