VGen alternatives for commission artists (and how to use them with VGen)

The quick answer

Here's the short list. Fees are what each tool's own pages say today, before your PayPal or Stripe fees.

The big split is simple. Some of these take your orders and money. Others only help you run the work. You can mix one of each.

What VGen does well, and why people leave

Let's be fair first. VGen is good at a lot of things.

• Services. Each one holds your samples, terms and request form in one place. You can set it to Open, Waitlist or Closed.
• Proposals. You reply to a request with an exact price and a built-in invoice. Then the client pays on VGen.
• Safe payments. With VGen Payments, the client's money is held until you finish the commission.
• Discovery. It's a marketplace, so new clients can find you.
• Delivery. Final Delivery is a shared space for the finished files, and VGen says they stay there for good.

So why search for a VGen alternative? From VGen's own help pages, three things stand out.

1. You need an invite code to sell. Anyone can make an account to buy. Artist access needs an Artist Invite Code. Codes are free and can't be sold, but you have to find one.
2. The fee. VGen takes a 5% service fee. With VGen Payments, add Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30, and a 1.5 to 2.5% payout fee outside the US.
3. File size. Final Delivery takes 100 MB per file. A big layered PSD or a video can go over that. VGen lets you add a link instead, but then the file lives somewhere else.

None of these are deal breakers for everyone. You can stay on VGen and fix the gaps with other tools.

The alternatives, one by one

Ko-fi commissions

If you already have a Ko-fi page, this is the easiest switch. You add listings, set slots and write your terms. Buyers agree to your terms before they send a request.

Ko-fi takes 5% of commission sales, plus your PayPal or Stripe fee. Ko-fi Gold costs $12 a month and drops that fee to 0%. The money goes straight into your own account, up front. One thing to know: Ko-fi says disputes are between you and the buyer.

Good for: artists who can't get a VGen code and already have fans on Ko-fi.

Artistree

Artistree is built just for commissions. It has invoices, request forms and messaging. Its big selling point is that artists keep 100% of their price.

How? The client pays a 6.5% platform fee at checkout. On orders under $100, Artistree adds another $2.60. It also suggests you take the full price up front.

Good for: artists who want a VGen-style setup without the fee coming out of their price.

Kirke

Kirke is a marketplace for art and physical goods like plushies and ceramics. It says it has over 30,000 artists. You sign up and open a shop, and you can sell through your shop link right away. To show up in Kirke's marketplace and search, you get verified.

Kirke charges artists no platform fee. Its terms say the buyer pays a 5% purchase protection fee. When a client pays by card through Stripe, Kirke holds the money until you deliver and the client approves. PayPal Business payments go through PayPal instead. One rule to know: a commission that starts on Kirke must be finished on Kirke.

Good for: artists who want the client's money held safely until the work is done.

Draw Market

Draw Market calls itself a worldwide commission community for handmade digital art. It's run by the HuaJia team from China, and it says it has 300,000 artists. Payments are held by a licensed payment partner. Its user agreement says it charges a fee on each sale and shows that fee before the deal.

Good for: artists who want to reach Chinese and global clients in one place.

Trello or Notion, plus email

Some artists run their whole queue on a Trello board or a Notion page. You get full control, and both have free plans. Here's how to set up a commission queue if you want to try it.

The weak spot is files. Trello's free plan takes files up to 10 MB each. Notion's free plan takes 5 MB. So references and finals still end up in email or a cloud drive, spread across threads.

Good for: artists who like building their own system.

A Carrd page

Carrd makes simple one-page sites. It's free for up to three sites, which is plenty for a price sheet and your terms. Forms come with Pro Standard, which starts at $19 a year.

A Carrd page shows your info well. It doesn't track commissions or collect files from clients, though.

Good for: a nice-looking "commissions open" page in your bio.

refDrop

refDrop isn't a marketplace, and it never handles money. Think of it as the box where the commission happens.

• One box per commission. Your client gets one private link. They need no account.
• Almost any file, full size. Clients drop in PSDs, Clip Studio files, videos and notes. Only programs and scripts are blocked. Nothing is compressed. A box holds 2 GB and 1,000 files on the free plan.
• Sketch sign-off. Post a work in progress. Your client approves it or asks for changes, once, in writing.
• Delivery in the same box. The client gets an email when finals arrive, if they left one.
• A commission page. At refdrop.to/yourname you can show prices, open slots, examples, terms and your payment links. It also has a public queue and a request form. A request can carry up to 10 reference images.

After you close a box, the files stay for 3 months. Then the box becomes an archive with previews. The help page has the details.

Good for: keeping references, sign-off and delivery in one tidy place, wherever you get paid.

How to use refDrop with VGen

You don't have to pick one. Here's a setup that keeps VGen for the money.

1. Take the request and send your proposal on VGen, like you do now.
2. Once the client pays, make a refDrop box for that commission.
3. Send the client the box link. They drop in references and notes, with no account.
4. Post your sketch in the box. The client approves it or asks for changes.
5. Deliver the finals in the same box, at full size.
6. Add the files, or the box link, to VGen's Final Delivery and mark the order complete. With VGen Payments, that's when your money is released.

There's more on the last step in how to send finished commission art to a client.

The same works with Ko-fi, Artistree, PayPal invoices or anything else. Your payment link stays yours.

Which one should you pick?

Ask yourself what's actually bugging you.

• No invite code? Try Ko-fi commissions. Anyone with a Ko-fi page can turn them on.
• Fees eat your prices? Artistree and Kirke charge artists no platform fee. The client pays instead.
• Want the payment held safely? Kirke (for card payments) and Draw Market hold the client's payment until delivery. VGen Payments does too.
• Files are a mess? Keep your platform and add refDrop for the files and sign-off.
• Want your own page? Carrd works, or use the refDrop page with its request form.

refDrop is free to start. During the beta there's a set number of free spots, then a waitlist. The free plan gives you 5 open boxes at once. Paid plans aren't open yet. See pricing for every plan.