Kickstarter review 2025: This platform is popular with creatives, uses an 'all-or-nothing' crowdfunding model

If you have an idea for a creative business or side project but don't have the cash to fully invest in it, crowdfunding through Kickstarter might be able to help. Kickstarter is a popular platform that individuals use to fundraise money. Large pools of supporters donate small amounts of money to their campaign, and creators don't need to pay the money back.

Read on for a deeper review of Kickstarter.

Kickstarter lets individuals crowdfund money for projects that can span arts and crafts, film, photography, tech, publishing and more. Creators set a funding goal for their project and a deadline by which the funds should be raised.

Individuals "pledge" small amounts of money to help creators reach their fundraising goal for their project.

According to Kickstarter's website, funding is all-or-nothing, which means that creators won't receive the funds they raise if they don't reach their goal. Also, pledgers are only charged if creators reach their fundraising goal.

Pledges don't receive equity in any ventures run by the creators they back. However, creators may offer rewards to show their appreciation. Rewards may be free merchandise, exclusive discounts, a copy of the work produced by the project and more.

Creators can set deadlines of up to 60 days, but Kickstarter's website says that they usually see 30-day fundraising windows work best. You're locked into the fundraising goal and deadline once your campaign is live and can't change either. Campaigns also can't be paused, but if you need to stop it for any reason, you can cancel the campaign and relaunch later.

Kickstarter campaigns cannot be created to donate money to charity or to pay yourself. However, you may factor a fair salary for yourself into the project's fundraising goal.

CNBC Select previously spoke with Dr. Jenny Woo of Mind Brain Emotion, who used Kickstarter to raise money for a business venture. Read some of Dr. Woo's insights on launching a business in our article.

Kickstarter takes a 5% fee deducted from your funds if your campaign reaches its goal. Pledges get charged a processing fee of 3% + $0.30 per pledge.

If you don't reach your goal, no fees will be taken.

Consider these pros and cons if you're having trouble deciding if Kickstarter is the right way to raise cash for your next project or business venture.

Kickstarter can be a solid way to raise money for a creative or business project if you don't have enough personal savings and don't want to take on debt to fund it. You won't pay anything upfront to set up a campaign as a creator, but you will have 5% deducted from your proceeds if you reach your fundraising goal, and your funds may count as taxable income.

You won't receive any funds if you don't reach your goal by your deadline. If Kickstarter doesn't sound like the right fit for you, there are other ways to fund your creative business venture.

Save up to bootstrap

If you don't urgently need funds, try saving up for your venture. It can take a while but depositing your money into a high-yield savings account like the Marcus by Goldman Sachs® High-Yield Online Savings Account or the CIT Bank Platinum Savings Account can help your savings grow a bit faster since you'll be paid higher amounts of interest compared to traditional savings accounts.

If you're building a more robust business that will require significant amounts of funding, or your business is already off the ground but you need more money to grow operations, then you may consider a small business loan from lenders like Credibly or OnDeck. They offer loans as high as $600,000 and $250,000, respectively.

At CNBC Select, our mission is to provide our readers with high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice so they can make informed decisions with their money. Every crowdfunding review is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge of small business products. While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics.

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*Platinum Savings is a tiered interest rate account. Interest is paid on the entire account balance based on the interest rate and APY in effect that day for the balance tier associated with the end-of-day account balance. *APYs — Annual Percentage Yields are accurate as of January 9, 2026: 0.25% APY on balances of $0.01 to $4,999.99; 3.75% APY on balances of $5,000.00 or more. Interest Rates for the Platinum Savings account are variable and may change at any time without notice. The minimum to open a Platinum Savings account is $100.