Patreon Review
Membership platform for creators to charge fans a monthly or annual fee
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Looking for a Patreon alternative? See our ranked comparison.→What is Patreon?
Patreon lets creators sell recurring memberships to fans, usually in a few paid tiers, in exchange for exclusive posts, early access, community chat, or other perks. There's no software subscription fee. Instead Patreon takes a percentage of what you collect from patrons, plus standard card processing.
As of August 2025, new creator pages pay a flat 10% platform fee. Creators who set up their page before that date keep whichever legacy plan they were on (5%, 8%, or 12%), but only for as long as that page stays live and unchanged. The platform covers subscription billing, one-time payments, annual memberships, a member CRM with analytics, podcast hosting and RSS feeds, and basic content delivery for video, audio, and text posts.
Who it's for
- ✓ Creators who already have an audience and want recurring memberships without building payment infrastructure themselves
- ✓ Podcasters who want private RSS feeds and ad-free member feeds alongside a public show
Who should look elsewhere
- ✗ Creators who want to keep the largest possible share of small pledges, since flat per-transaction fees eat a bigger percentage at low price points
- ✗ Anyone who wants a flat monthly software price instead of a revenue cut
Pros
- + No upfront or monthly cost, you only pay when you get paid
- + Handles subscription billing, taxes, chargebacks, and fraud protection so creators don't have to run their own payment stack
- + Built-in tools for tiers, free trials, one-time payments, and podcast RSS distribution
- + Large existing pool of patrons who already have Patreon accounts and payment methods saved
Cons
- – Total fees (platform cut plus processing plus currency conversion) commonly reach 13-20% of revenue and run higher than that on small pledges
- – New creators pay 10% flat; the old lower-cost Lite (5%) and Pro (8%) plans are gone for anyone who unpublishes or starts fresh
- – iOS memberships bought in Patreon's app route through Apple's in-app purchase system, which takes 30% of new memberships (dropping to 15% after a member's first year), on top of Patreon's own fee
- – Patreon rates roughly 1.2 out of 5 on Trustpilot, with billing, payout, and account-suspension complaints as the recurring themes
- – No price list beyond the percentage cut; total take-home depends on payment method, country, and currency
Patreon pricing
What you pay for
Patreon doesn't publish a price list because there isn't one. You pay a percentage of what your patrons give you, not a subscription fee. New creators pay a flat 10% platform fee; creators grandfathered in before August 4, 2025 keep their old 5%, 8%, or 12% rate as long as their page stays continuously published. Card processing, currency conversion, and payout fees stack on top, so real-world take rates run from about 13% on larger pledges to over 20% on small ones.
You pay for what you consume rather than a per-seat fee, so cost scales with usage.
| Plan | Price | Highlights |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing is quote-only. Contact the vendor for a quote. | ||
Patreon has no monthly software fee. It takes a cut of what you earn from members. Creators who published a page on or before August 4, 2025 keep their old rate (Lite 5%, Pro 8%, or Premium 12%) as long as the page stays published and on that plan. Any creator who publishes a new page after that date, or who unpublishes and republishes, pays a single 10% fee. On top of that cut, Patreon adds payment processing (around 2.9% + $0.30 per card charge in the US, higher for PayPal and some countries), currency conversion, and payout fees. Total deductions commonly land between 13% and 20% of what a patron pays on typical pledges, and go higher on small pledges: a $3 pledge can lose over 20% to fees because the flat $0.30 counts for more of it. iOS memberships bought through Patreon's app also route through Apple's in-app purchase system, which has required a 30% cut of new iOS memberships since November 2024 (dropping to 15% after a member's first year), stacked on top of Patreon's own fee.
Pricing verified July 7, 2026 · source
How Patreon's pricing compares
Patreon next to its closest alternatives on entry price, billing, and whether pricing is public.
| Tool | Starting price | Billing | Free option | Pricing disclosed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patreon | Free tier + custom | usage-based | Yes | Not disclosed |
| Memberful | $49/mo | flat + transaction fee | Trial (Free until you go live and start accepting real payments) | Partly public |
| Ko-fi | Free tier + custom | tiered | Yes | Partly public |
| Buy Me a Coffee | Free tier + custom | usage-based | Yes | Not disclosed |
| Substack | Free tier + custom | revenue-share | Yes | Not disclosed |
Is Patreon still actively developed?
Last significant update: April 2026. Expanded its discovery network, first tested in late 2025, to most of its roughly 300,000 creators. The redesigned Home feed now mixes posts from creators a fan already supports with public posts and recommendations, including a new short, free post format called Quips (text, images, or short video) and Collab Posts that let two creators co-publish to reach both audiences. Fans who don't want recommendations can switch to a memberships-only feed.
Top Patreon alternatives
Patreon FAQ
Is Patreon free to use?+
Yes, there's no charge to set up a page. Patreon only takes a cut when you actually get paid: 10% for new creators, or your old grandfathered rate (5%, 8%, or 12%) if your page has stayed published since before August 4, 2025.
How much of my revenue does Patreon actually take?+
Add the platform fee (10%, or your legacy rate) to card processing of roughly 2.9% + $0.30 per charge, plus currency conversion if your patron pays in a different currency. Most creators end up losing 13-20% of gross pledges, and it's worse on small pledges because the flat $0.30 fee counts for more: a $3 pledge can lose over 20% to fees combined.
What happens if I unpublish my Patreon page?+
If you had a legacy Lite, Pro, or Premium plan, unpublishing your page (for any reason, including Patreon unpublishing it) moves you permanently to the standard 10% plan when you republish. There's no way back to the old rate.