FediPay — Reward the Fediverse, on your own terms

FediPay is a user-owned, federated way to support creators and Free/Open Source Software—based on what you actually read, watch, and use.

You set a monthly budget. FediPay privately tracks your consumption (starting with the fediverse) and suggests a fair split—so your money follows your attention, not an algorithm.

Creator recording a podcast

Why FediPay?

Most of us moved to the fediverse to get away from centralized platforms—yet when we want to pay the people we follow, we’re sent right back to centralized services, platform fees, and lock-in.

FediPay is building a different model:

  • User-controlled: your rules, your budget, your data
  • Privacy-first: tracking is opt-in and designed to stay local to you
  • Federated: host your own FediPay server, or join a community-run one
  • FOSS-friendly: support not just creators, but the open source projects you rely on

How it works

  1. Track (privately)
    Install the FediPay browser extension (and later, use compatible apps). It records lightweight “usage events” such as reading a thread or watching a video—without needing to copy or upload the content itself.

  2. Allocate (fairly)
    Set a monthly budget (e.g. £10). FediPay generates an allocation plan based on your real usage, with controls for caps, minimums, and exclusions.

  3. Reward (your choice)
    In the first phase, FediPay focuses on allocation-only: it helps you decide who to pay and how much. Payments can be done via existing links in creator profiles. Automated federated settlement is on the roadmap.

Built for creators and contributors

The fediverse is full of people doing meaningful work—often without reliable income:

  • artists, writers, podcasters, filmmakers
  • community maintainers and moderators
  • FOSS developers shipping the tools we all depend on

FediPay is designed to make “supporting the commons” as natural as following, boosting, or subscribing.

For Users

Support should be simple.

With FediPay you can:

  • set one monthly budget
  • see who you actually spent time with this month
  • tweak the split (pin favorites, set caps, exclude accounts)
  • export a simple “payout plan” you can act on

Get started below

For Creators

You shouldn’t have to join a new platform to get paid.

FediPay aims to let creators publish payment routing info the same way they publish identity on the fediverse: openly, portably, and without lock-in.

If you’re a creator, you’ll be able to:

  • add a FediPay-compatible payment reference to your profile or site
  • receive allocations from supporters using different apps and instances
  • keep your audience relationship independent of any single platform

[Read more on the Docs] https://docs.fedipay.net (Coming soon)

Federation

FediPay follows the same spirit as the fediverse:

  • there isn’t one “FediPay HQ”
  • anyone can run a server
  • communities can host shared instances
  • users stay in control and can move providers

server.fedipay.net (coming soon) is the first public reference instance. Self-hosting and community hosting options will be documented as the project matures.

Project status

FediPay is early-stage and being built in public.

  • Current phase: Allocation-only (tracking + fair split + exports)
  • Next: broader fediverse coverage, RSS/WordPress and podcasts, SDKs for app developers
  • Later: federated credit/settlement to reduce transaction costs (with careful attention to legal/regulatory realities)

Get Started

1) Install the extension (coming soon)

A browser extension will help you track fediverse usage privately and sync it to your own FediPay server.

  • Chrome/Chromium (Manifest v3): coming soon
  • Firefox: planned

2) Follow the project

  • Docs and specs: docs.fedipay.net (coming soon)
  • Server reference instance: server.fedipay.net (setup details coming soon)

3) Join the community

We’ll publish community links (forum/Discord/Reddit) on the docs site as they come online.

FAQ

Is FediPay a payment platform?

Not at first. The first goal is to make it easy to compute a fair allocation plan—without requiring custody of funds.

Does FediPay track everything I do?

No. Tracking is opt-in, designed to be minimal, and intended to stay under your control. You choose what to enable and what to exclude.

Can I use it for things outside the fediverse?

Not yet. The roadmap includes RSS/WordPress and podcasts. Video platforms are a “later” discussion—with a bias toward open alternatives like PeerTube.

Want to help?

If you’re a developer, designer, writer, or community builder and this idea resonates, the docs will include contribution guidelines and repos as they’re published.