How to support & contribute to Infosec.Exchange
Infosec.Exchange is a bit of a phenomenon. Think of it, with Elon Musk taking over Twitter, the platform witnessed a mass exodus of 'infosec' people, including many Twitter infosec celebrities with a MASSIVE following (100k+), and social media clout to… this single, humble Mastodon instance that, until recently, was not very known…
This, of course, comes with a price.
Believe it or not, Infosec.Exchange has actual financial costs associated with its hosting. Yup, it doesn't happen in a void, there are a lot of toots, a lot of pictures of cats, a lot of disk space, and network bandwidth that someone has to pay for!
Luckily for you, me and everyone else enjoying presence of this little gem… options exist for you to support Infosec.Exchange financially!
Don't be shy and support the below:
Liberapay
https://liberapay.com/Infosec.exchange/
- Used for: recurring donations.
- Fees: Low-Medium (via Stripe) to Medium-High (via PayPal).
Current as of July 2023, Liberapay uses Stripe and PayPal as payment processors (along with associated fees).1) Liberapay does not take an additional cut on top of these fees, instead relying on donations.2)
Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/infosecexchange
- Used for: recurring donations.
- Fees: Medium-High (<$3 USD) to High-Very High (>$3 USD)
Patreon allows for comparatively low fees on very small (<$3 USD) donation amounts.3) There is a 2.5% currency conversion fee if not paying in the creator's currency (USD).4) Patreon also takes an additional 5-12% cut,5) making their platform expensive if only using it for donations.
Although a once-off donation is possible by starting then cancelling a pledge, Patreon's higher fees means doing so is typically not recommended.
Ko-Fi
https://ko-fi.com/infosecexchange
- Used for: once-off and recurring donations.
- Fees: Low-Medium (via Stripe “Pay with Card”) to Medium-High (via PayPal)
Ko-Fi charges no additional fees for using their platform for Ko-Fi gold subscribers (such as the Infosec.Exchange account),6) and uses Stripe and PayPal as their payment processors (along with associated fees).7)
PayPal
Direct your payment to Jerry@infosec.exchange
- Used for: once-off donations.
- Fees: complicated.
Sending money directly through PayPal incurs variable fees depending on whether the transaction is domestic or international, the source of the funds (bank account, card, etc), and whether the sender selects the “Friends and Family” options.8)9)
Domestic (sender within US):
| Friends and Family? | Funding source | Fee* |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | PayPal balance, bank account, or Amex Send Account | None* |
| Yes | Cards | Medium* |
| No | Most payment methods | Medium-Medium+* |
International (sender outside US):
| Friends and Family? | Funding source | Fee* |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | PayPal balance, bank account, or Amex Send Account | High* |
| Yes | Cards | High-Very High* |
| No | Most payment methods | High* |
* 
An additional fee of 3-4% applies for currency conversion via PayPal, on top of the existing transaction fees. This makes most non-USD payments relatively expensive to process!