# Hotly, at a glance

- **Name:** Hotly. Penpal is the name of Hotly's paid-message inbox; some older pages and the install command use it.
- **What it is:** Hotly is a paid inbox for creators. Share one link. People pay $5-$20 to write to you. Reply when it suits you. Stripe pays you.
- **Who it's for:** Creators, coaches and experts whose DMs fill up with questions, brand pitches and thank-yous they answer for free.
- **What fans pay:** $5-$20 per message. The creator sets the price to unlock a photo.
- **Plans:** Hosted: $5.99/mo + 20% commission, or $9.99/mo + 10% commission on Hosted Plus - servers, updates and backups included. Self-hosting the free code has 0% commission but costs about $430/mo in servers and developer time, plus ~$600 to set up.
- **Payments:** Fans pay by card when they send a message. Stripe pays you out to your bank. Self-hosted, it's your own Stripe account.
- **Open source:** Yes, under the Apache 2.0 License. [Code on GitHub](https://github.com/designAtHotly/hotly-os)
- **How to start:** Request a hosted plan - no card needed - and we'll email you to set up your inbox. Self-hosting needs a Linux server, Docker, a domain, and your own Stripe, Firebase and SendGrid accounts.
- **Team:** Bhavneet (engineering), Kimora (marketing), Saloni (design), Ray (product).
- **Contact:** care@hotly.com [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/hotlyofficial/) - [GitHub](https://github.com/designAtHotly)

## Use cases

- [Get paid to answer advice DMs](https://www.hotly.com/use-cases/paid-advice)
- [Make brands pay to pitch you](https://www.hotly.com/use-cases/brand-pitches)
- [Get paid when fans message you](https://www.hotly.com/use-cases/fan-messages)
- [Sell locked photos in your DMs](https://www.hotly.com/use-cases/locked-photos)

## Compared

- [Hotly vs Ko-fi](https://www.hotly.com/compare/ko-fi)
- [Hotly vs Buy Me a Coffee](https://www.hotly.com/compare/buy-me-a-coffee)
- [Hotly vs Passes](https://www.hotly.com/compare/passes)
- [Hotly vs Fanfix](https://www.hotly.com/compare/fanfix)