Bluesky payments and tips: what we know

Updated October 18, 2026 · bskycheck keeps this page up to date as Bluesky shares more.

In short: Bluesky is adding payments. In the coming months, you should be able to send money to the accounts and posts you like, and fundraising and selling on Bluesky should get easier. It's Bluesky's plan to make money without relying on ads. Prices, fees and the launch date are not known yet.

What Bluesky announced

On October 15, 2026, at TechCrunch Disrupt, Bluesky's CEO Toni Schneider and COO Rose Wang said payments are coming to the network "in the coming months".

Support people and posts you like: send money directly to accounts and posts on Bluesky.
Fundraising and selling: make the fundraising and selling that already happen on Bluesky easier.
Across the network: payments are meant to work across the whole network and in the other apps built on it, not only in the Bluesky app.
Instead of ads: Bluesky presents payments as the first step of a business model that doesn't depend on advertising.

What we don't know yet

The date. Only "the coming months".
Fees. Whether Bluesky takes a share of payments, and how much.
The exact features. One-off tips, monthly support, paid posts, a shop: nothing has been detailed.
Who handles the money. No payment provider has been named.
Where it's available. Which countries, and whether every account can receive money.

How creators get paid on Bluesky today

Until payments launch, everything happens outside Bluesky, through a link in your profile or your posts:

Tip jars: Ko-fi, Buy Me a Coffee or PayPal. Ko-fi can also show your Bluesky account on your Ko-fi page.
Memberships: Patreon, Ko-fi memberships or Substack for monthly supporters.
Shops and commissions: a store or commission page linked from your profile.

bskycheck works this way too: it's free, and supporters buy it a coffee on Ko-fi.

How to get ready

When tipping arrives, the accounts that benefit first will be the ones with a real, engaged audience. A few things you can do now:

Know your audience. Real people tip, bots don't. Check how many of your followers look like bots with the Bot Checker.
Grow steadily. Follow your follower gains and losses over time with the Follower Tracker.
Find what works. See your profile's numbers and engagement with the profile tool, and which posts get the most likes with the Likes tool.
Put your support link where people see it, in your profile and in a pinned post, so your audience already knows how to support you.

Questions

Can you make money on Bluesky?

Not inside the app yet. Today, creators on Bluesky get paid outside it, with a Ko-fi, Patreon, PayPal or shop link in their profile or posts. Bluesky has announced payments for the coming months, so people can support accounts and posts they like directly.

When will Bluesky payments launch?

Bluesky said "in the coming months" when it announced payments in October 2026. No date has been given yet.

Will Bluesky take a cut of tips?

Unknown. Bluesky has not said whether it will take a fee or a share of payments.

Will Bluesky have ads?

Bluesky says it wants to make money without relying on advertising, and presents payments as the first step of that plan.

Will payments work in other Bluesky apps?

Bluesky says payments should work across the whole network and in the other apps built on it, not only in the Bluesky app. The technical details are not public yet.

Is there a Bluesky creator fund or subscription?

Not at the time of writing. Bluesky announced a premium plan in 2024 (better video quality, profile customization, no boost in ranking for subscribers), separate from payments to creators.

Sources

bskycheck is an independent project, not affiliated with Bluesky. Follow @bskycheck.com for updates.