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Coil vs Keep The Fees.
Two no-cut tattoo platforms, different bets.
Both are flat-monthly tattoo-specialty software. Both pitch on no-cut. The product philosophies diverge sharply from there. Keep The Fees ships the traditional shop operating stack — booking, commissions, inventory, payroll with 1099 generation, analytics. Coil ships the AI + portability stack — vision-model healing watch, AI style-fit, AI pricing coach, cancellation waitlist auto-fill, healed-photo bounty, apprentice mode, the URL that follows you to any shop for life. Coil is cheaper for small shops. Keep The Fees is cheaper for 3+ chair shops on subscription math. The feature gaps are wide on both sides.
The honest read
Coil is the AI + portability bet.
Healing watch, style-fit, pricing coach trained on your jobs, auto-fill waitlist, apprentice mode, the portability moat. None of which Keep The Fees ships.
Keep The Fees is the operating-stack bet.
Inventory tracking, full payroll, 1099 generation, deeper analytics. None of which coil ships yet.
Both are flat-monthly and no-cut.
Neither takes a percentage of deposits, tips, or balances. The cost difference is the per-chair math — coil wins under 3 chairs, KTF wins above.
The price difference.
- Solo artist · entry$29/mo$69.99/mo
- Solo artist · pro tier$59/mon/a
- Shop · 2 chairs$98/mo$69.99/moKTF's solo tier covers 1 artist; 2+ artists starts the next tier.
- Shop · 3 chairs$147/mo$99.99/mo
- Shop · 4 chairs$196/mo$99.99/mo
- Shop · 6 chairs$294/mo$99.99/moKTF's $99.99 tier covers 3–6 artists.
- Shop · 7+ chairs$343+/mo$129.99/mo
- Cut taken on client payments0%0%
What ships on each side.
- ✓ Ships✓ Ships
Public artist site + URL
- ◐ Partial◐ Partial
Custom domain
- ✓ Ships✓ Ships
Qualified inquiry form (body location, refs, budget)
- ✓ Ships✓ Ships
Stripe-Connect deposits + tips
- ✓ Ships✓ Ships
Digital consent + signed waivers
- ✓ Ships✓ Ships
Aftercare SMS drip
- ✓ Ships✓ Ships
Roster + commission tracking
- ✓ Ships— Doesn't
AI healing watch (vision-model photo reads)
- ✓ Ships— Doesn't
AI style-fit score + AI pricing coach
- ✓ Ships— Doesn't
Cancellation waitlist — auto-fills the slot
- ✓ Ships— Doesn't
Healed-photo bounty + touch-up credit ledger
- ✓ Ships— Doesn't
Two-stage drawing deposit
- ✓ Ships— Doesn't
Per-artist Twilio number for client SMS
- ✓ Ships— Doesn't
Apprentice mode (mentor approval queue)
- ✓ Ships— Doesn't
Portability moat — URL stays with the artist
- ✓ Ships— Doesn't
60-second IG sync (OAuth → site generated)
- ✓ Ships— Doesn't
Convention booth QR + lead capture
- ✓ Ships— Doesn't
Referral code system
- — Doesn't✓ Ships
Inventory management (needles, ink, jewelry)
- — Doesn't✓ Ships
Full payroll system
- — Doesn't✓ Ships
1099 form generation for contractors
- ◐ Partial✓ Ships
Deep analytics + custom reports
If your shop's operating bottleneck is inventory + payroll + reporting — you spend Sunday counting needles, calculating 1099s by hand, and pulling per-artist revenue reports out of spreadsheets — Keep The Fees ships that stack and coil doesn't yet. Same goes for shops at 3+ chairs where the flat $99.99 subscription math beats coil's per-chair scaling. KTF was built around the operating-stack pain; if that's where you feel the most friction, they fit you better.
When coil is the right call
If your shop's operating bottleneck is the inquiry → drawing → healed-photo loop — you sort 50+ DMs a week, draw four hours for clients who flake, lose touch with everyone six weeks after their session, and watch good artists leave with their URLs gone — coil ships that stack and KTF doesn't. The AI features alone (healing watch, style-fit, pricing coach) recoup an artist's evenings every week. The portability moat is the recruiting tool that gets the good ones to say yes to your shop in the first place. Under 3 chairs, coil is also cheaper.
What people ask.
- Is Keep The Fees actually flat-monthly with no cut, like coil?
- Yes. Both platforms charge a flat monthly subscription and take zero percentage of deposits, tips, or balances. Both route card payments through Stripe Connect direct to the artist's account.
- Where does each one win on price?
- Coil is cheaper at 1 artist ($29 vs $69.99) and at 2 artists ($98 vs $69.99 — KTF's solo tier covers 1 artist, so 2 jumps you to the next tier). Keep The Fees is cheaper at 3+ artists ($99.99 flat for 3–6 artists vs coil's $49/chair scaling).
- Does Keep The Fees have AI features?
- No. Keep The Fees' marketing and feature page don't mention AI. Coil's healing watch (vision-model photo reads), style-fit score, and pricing coach are coil-only.
- Will coil ever ship payroll or inventory?
- Coil's stated focus is the AI + portability + voice stack. Payroll and inventory are explicitly deferred. The bet is that custom tattooers care more about answering inquiries and healed-photo follow-through than they care about a tool that counts needle cartridges.
- Can I migrate from Keep The Fees to coil or vice versa?
- Yes. Coil's IG OAuth flow auto-generates a site in 60 seconds. Client records can be imported via CSV from either direction. The fastest test is running both in parallel for a month and seeing which one is doing more work for you.
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