If you maintain a repo that people actually use, GitHub Sponsors is one of the few ways to get paid without building a separate product. Before you click "Join", these are the three numbers from GitHub's own docs that surprised us most:
- 0%: sponsorships from personal accounts carry no GitHub fee.
- Up to 6%: sponsorships from organization accounts (3% card processing plus 3% service fee; paying by invoice skips the card part).
- 60 days: your first payout arrives about 60 days after the first sponsorship starts, then monthly. ACH or wire payouts wait until the balance reaches US$100.
A few setup tips:
- Turn on two-factor authentication first; setup asks for it.
- Have your tax and bank details ready before you start.
- Point your sponsor profile at the one repo people depend on most, and write one plain sentence about what sponsorship pays for.
Sponsors are never guaranteed, and results vary by project.
#ad: we wrote a short PDF walkthrough of the whole setup (tiers, tax form, payout) with the sources linked: https://bamsuni.com/money/en/github-sponsors-setup-guide/ ($2.99). The free summary on that page covers the basics too.
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