Besides Twitch subscriptions, accepting tips and donations is another popular way of earning income on the platform. For many streamers, donations from viewers often make a substantial, if not the primary share of their income.
Unlike subscriptions, however, to be able to accept donations, streamers need to first pick a donation service and set up the donations section on their channels. In this article, Streams Charts covers all you need to know about Twitch donations, which services are the best and how to set them up.
Twitch Bits
While Twitch has its own built-in donation feature called Cheering, it’s only available for Twitch Partners and Affiliates, with the platform taking a cut from each donation.
Bits are essentially Twitch’s digital currency which can be used within the channel's chat box to trigger special audio and visual effects such as animated emotes. They can be purchased in packs directly from Twitch via Amazon Payments and then spent on supporting creators.
As a reward for using bits, users earn ranks and special badges which are then displayed alongside their names in the stream's chat. Moreover, Twitch viewers can also get Bits for simply watching the channel without spending cash.
Setting up Twitch Bits requires only a few simple steps:
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Go to the Partner Settings tab of your dashboard.
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Scroll down to the Bits & Cheering section.
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Choose your preferred configuration.
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Click enable Cheering.
Related: The most popular donation systems among French-speaking Twitch streamers
PayPal
One of the easiest and most common ways to accept donations on Twitch is PayPal. A streamer can receive donations directly through the email address associated with the streamer's PayPal account, through a PayPal.me link, or through a PayPal donation button.
To add a donation panel to your Twitch channel, follow these steps:
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Go to the "About" section of your Twitch channel screen (twitch.tv/username/about)
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Scroll down and toggle “Edit panels” option
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Click the large “+” symbol
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Click “Add a Text or Image panel”
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Fill in the “Panel Title” and “Description” fields; you can also add image
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Add your PayPal.me link to the description or link it with the added button image
You can create and download a custom PayPal button image in your PayPal account in the “My selling tools” section, where you can also set up the currency or generate a special donation button code that can be linked with the image instead of the PayPal.me link.
While PayPal’s clean and easy-to-understand interface makes the entire process easy for streamers and viewers, its high provisions from each transaction make it, compared to other donation services, arguably a less desirable option.
Streamlabs
Streamlabs is basically a complete streaming solution that includes all the tools that streamers might need, including the donation feature. Besides PayPal, Streamlabs also offers a number of other payment options such as Debit/Credit Card, Unitpay, Skrill or Coinbase.
To link your Streamlabs account with your Twitch channel you will need to set up donation settings in your Streamlabs account, which will generate a Streamlabs donation link usable in your Twitch donation panel. The process from here is similar as in the case of PayPal.
Additionally, you can set up a “Tip Jar” widget that places a customizable jar on your screen that fills as people donate.
Stream Elements
Stream Elements is another third-party platform that offers a wide range of streaming tools, including donations. In addition, the platform offers the KappaGen feature, which can make all of the emotes on the screen explode as a way to celebrate received donations. Moreover, the Stream Elements tip jar can be personalized with a custom banner.
Other popular services that offer the donation feature include StreamBits, DonorboxGaming For Good, Muxy, Own3d Pro and PeachPay. Each of these services has a unique donation page and requires the same process to set up as in the previous cases. Furthermore, using a cryptocurrency wallet is also an option.
Related: Best Chatbots for Twitch