Kickstarter
See Top Picks

Kickstarter Review

Kickstarter is one of the most popular crowdfunding sites, but could it work for funding your small business?

    Erica Seppala
  • Last updated onUpdated

  • Chelsea Krause
  • REVIEWED BY

    Chelsea Krause

    Lead Staff Writer

Our content reflects the editorial opinions of our experts. While our site makes money through referral partnerships, we only partner with companies that meet our standards for quality, as outlined in our independent rating and scoring system.

Kickstarter

Total Rating 4.0
Terms & Fees3.7

Project Qualifications5.0

Application Process3.4

Sales & Advertising Transparency5.0

Customer Service3.5

User Reviews2.8

Kickstarter At A Glance

  • 5% platform fees
  • Crowdfunding platform designed for creative projects
  • All projects must be approved before going live

Our Methodology

We spend hours researching and evaluating each crowdfunding platform that we review at Merchant Maverick, placing emphasis on key characteristics to generate our product ratings.

Weighted Rating Breakdown

Terms & Fees 25%
Project Qualifications 25%
Application Process 25%
Sales & Advertising Transparency 10%
Customer Service 10%
User Reviews 5%

When rating crowdfunding platforms, we use a rubric that looks at terms and fees, project qualifications, application process, sales and advertising transparency, customer service, and user reviews. We weigh each section differently to calculate the total star rating.

  • Terms & Fees: 25% of the total star rating
  • Project Qualifications: 25% of the total star rating
  • Application Process: 25% of the total star rating
  • Sales & Advertising Transparency: 10% of the total star rating
  • Customer Service: 10% of the total star rating
  • User Reviews: 5% of the total star rating

Each section is further broken down into granular, weighted subsections, in which we look at specific attributes, such as campaign durations, supported project types, time to funding, application processing times, and platform fees. Learn more about how we rate crowdfunding platforms.

Erica Seppala

Erica Seppala

Editor & Senior Staff Writer at Merchant Maverick
Erica began writing on small business topics in 2008. She joined Merchant Maverick in 2018 and focuses on loans, accounting, and POS. She is a Certified ProAdvisor for QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Payroll. She has been cited in MSN, Reader's Digest, Vox, U.S. News & World Report, and Real Simple. She is a graduate of Limestone University and resides in Greenville, South Carolina.
Erica Seppala
View Erica Seppala's professional experience on LinkedIn.



Find Funding for Any Credit Level

BusinessLoans.com


Visit Site

Explore a wide range of business loan options at BusinessLoans.com. With no minimum credit score requirement, find the perfect funding solution for your needs. Get Started.

Find Funding for Any Credit Level

BusinessLoans.com


Visit Site

Explore a wide range of business loan options at BusinessLoans.com. With no minimum credit score requirement, find the perfect funding solution for your needs. Get Started.

To learn more about how we score our reviews, see our Business Loan Rating Criteria.