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Updated · 2026

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 back office: booking, commissions, inventory, payroll with 1099 forms, analytics. coil ships the client side: healing photos checked for you, a style-fit read and quote suggestion on every request, the cancellation waitlist, the healed-photo reward, apprentice approvals, and a page that goes with you to any shop. coil is cheaper for a solo tattooer. Keep The Fees is cheaper for a shop of any size on subscription math. The feature gaps are wide on both sides.

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The honest read

  • coil is built for the client side.

    Healing photo checks, style-fit reads, quote suggestions from your past jobs, the cancellation waitlist, apprentice approvals, and a page that goes with you if you change shops. None of which Keep The Fees ships.

  • Keep The Fees is the operating-stack bet.

    Inventory tracking, full payroll, filing 1099 forms, deeper analytics. coil doesn't ship those yet; it gives you each artist's yearly total for the 1099.

  • 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 costs less for a solo tattooer, and from two chairs up KTF's flat plans cost less.

The price difference.

 CoilKeep The Fees

  • Solo artist · entry

    $59/mo$69.99/mo

  • Shop · 2 chairs

    KTF's $69.99 plan is for solo artists and private studios; its next plan starts at 3 artists.

    $98/mo$69.99/mo

  • Shop · 3 chairs

    $147/mo$99.99/mo

  • Shop · 4 chairs

    $196/mo$99.99/mo

  • Shop · 6 chairs

    KTF's $99.99 tier covers 3–6 artists.

    $294/mo$99.99/mo

  • Shop · 7+ chairs

    coil bills 8 chairs at most: chair 9 and up are free.

    $343 to $392/mo$129.99/mo

  • Cut taken on client payments

    0%0%

Feature by feature.

 CoilKeep The Fees

  • Public artist site + URL

    YesYes

  • Custom domain

    PartlyPartly

  • Booking form that asks placement, references and budget

    YesYes

  • Stripe-Connect deposits + tips

    YesYes

  • Digital consent + signed waivers

    YesYes

  • Aftercare SMS drip

    YesYes

  • Roster + commission tracking

    YesYes

  • Healing photos checked for you

    YesNo

  • Style-fit read and a quote suggestion from your past jobs

    YesNo

  • Cancellation waitlist: texts your top five, first deposit wins

    YesNo

  • Healed-photo reward and touch-up credits

    YesNo

  • Two-stage drawing deposit

    YesNo

  • A business phone number for every artist

    YesNo

  • Apprentice bookings wait for your approval

    YesNo

  • Your page and clients go with you if you change shops

    YesNo

  • Site built from your photos or Instagram

    YesNo

  • Convention booth QR + lead capture

    YesNo

  • Inventory management (needles, ink, jewelry)

    NoYes

  • Full payroll system

    NoYes

  • 1099 forms for contractors

    coil lists what you paid each artist for the year, ready for your accountant. It doesn't file the forms.

    PartlyYes

  • Deep analytics + custom reports

    PartlyYes

When Keep The Fees fits you better

If your shop's operating bottleneck is inventory + payroll + reporting (you spend Sunday counting needles, running payroll, and pulling per-artist revenue reports out of spreadsheets), Keep The Fees ships that and coil doesn't yet. Same goes for shops of two or more chairs, where KTF's flat plans cost less than coil's per-chair price. KTF was built around that back-office work; 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 and lose their page), coil ships that and KTF doesn't. Healing photo checks, style-fit reads and quote suggestions give an artist back evenings every week. Keeping their page if they change shops is what gets the good ones to say yes to your shop in the first place. For a solo tattooer, coil is also cheaper.

Questions

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 for a solo tattooer ($59 vs $69.99). From two artists up, Keep The Fees costs less: its $69.99 plan is for solo artists and private studios, $99.99 covers 3 to 6 artists and $129.99 covers 7 or more, while coil is $49 a chair and tops out at $392 a month, since chair 9 and up are free.
Does Keep The Fees have AI features?
No. Keep The Fees' marketing and feature page don't mention AI. coil's healing photo checks, style-fit reads and quote suggestions are coil-only.
Will coil ever ship payroll or inventory?
coil is built around the client side: requests, texts, deposits and healing follow-up. Payroll and inventory aren't on the list yet. 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. Drop in a few photos and coil builds your site in about a minute. Connect Instagram after and new work shows up on its own. Client lists and past sessions can be imported from a CSV. 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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