How to start a Patreon feat. @BeccaFarsace
Published by PatreonWatch on YouTube
Updated Oct 5, 2026
Membership & Community Platforms
Patreon
Membership platform for creators, with tiers, chats and a digital shop
Free plan available
Patreon at a glance
from our research
Membership platform for podcasters, video creators, musicians and artists, with tiers, posts, video and chats
Patreon processes payments and handles chargebacks, disputes and fraud, so creators don't set up Stripe
Costs grow with income: 10% of each payment plus processing, currency conversion and payout fees
Standard plan: no monthly fee; Patreon keeps 10% of income, plus 2.9% + $0.30 per card payment
Overview
What is Patreon?
Patreon is a membership platform for creators, made by Patreon, Inc., a US company founded in 2013 by Jack Conte and Sam Yam. Creators set up a page where fans pay for a membership, and Patreon's About page says they can also launch a digital shop. The site's navigation lists podcasters, video creators, musicians, artists and game developers among its creators, and members use Patreon on the web or in its app for iOS and Android.
A creator's page can offer monthly and annual subscriptions, several membership tiers, and one-time purchases of digital products, posts and collections. Patreon hosts native video and livestreams, sends newsletters, and runs chats, DMs and comments. A creator can open up to 10 chat spaces, each for all members, paid members only or chosen tiers. Podcasters can import and sync shows, run several podcasts and distribute through RSS and Spotify. Patreon processes the payments itself and handles chargebacks, disputes and fraud, so creators don't set up Stripe. Fans can pay with PayPal, Apple Pay, Venmo and other methods, Patreon supports 16+ currencies for payments and payouts, and creators can export their email lists.
There's no monthly fee. Creators whose pages were published after August 4, 2025 pay a 10% platform fee on successful membership and one-time payments, plus payment processing, currency conversion and payout fees. Older pages keep legacy plans that are closed to new creators.
Our verdict on Patreon
Updated Oct 5, 2026Pricing checked Oct 5, 2026
Patreon suits creators with an audience for a podcast, videos, music or art who want fans to pay without running a payment setup of their own. There's no monthly fee, so nothing is spent before the first member pays. Patreon processes payments itself, handles chargebacks, disputes and fraud, and takes PayPal, Apple Pay and Venmo in 16+ currencies. Video, livestreams, newsletters and podcast feeds sit beside the membership, and the 10% plan includes up to 100 hours a month of video hosting for creators with paying fans.
The trade-off is that cost grows with income, since Patreon takes a share of every payment instead of a flat fee. Community runs through chats, DMs and comments, with up to 10 chat spaces per creator, and Patreon's own help center has a guide comparing its chats with Discord and Discourse. Developers should know that Patreon ended developer support for its API in June 2020 and that version 1 of the public API retires on October 7, 2026. Purchases in the iOS app carry Apple's 30% App Store fee, and Patreon's 10% still applies.
A page published today pays 10% of successful payments, calculated before sales tax, plus processing of 2.9% + $0.30 per card or Apple Pay payment for a US-dollar payout. PayPal and Venmo cost the same from US members and 3.9% + $0.30 from members elsewhere, a member paying in a currency other than your payout currency adds a 2.5% conversion fee, and each US direct-deposit payout costs $0.25. On $2,000 a month from 100 members paying $20 by card, the platform fee is $200 and processing $88, which leaves $1,712 before the payout fee. The older 5%, 8% and 11% plans are closed to new creators.
Choose Patreon to start charging an existing audience with no upfront cost and no payment admin. Once income is steady, a flat-fee platform can cost less. Skool's Pro plan costs $99 a month plus 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction, the same rate as Patreon's card processing, against the $200 that Patreon's 10% takes from $2,000. Circle suits a creator who wants courses and a community on a custom domain: Professional costs $89 a month, based on annual billing, with a 2% fee plus Stripe's processing.
Written by Lokesh Kapoor
Pros & cons
Patreon pros and cons
What it does well
- No monthly fee: Patreon takes its share from member payments as they come in
- Handles chargebacks, disputes and fraud, with no Stripe account to set up
- Fans can pay by card, PayPal, Apple Pay or Venmo, in 16+ currencies
- Podcast tools import and sync shows and distribute them by RSS and Spotify
Where it falls short
- Pages published after August 4, 2025 pay 10%; the 5% and 8% plans are closed
- iOS in-app purchases carry Apple's 30% App Store fee, and the 10% still applies
- API developer support ended in June 2020, and public API v1 retires October 7, 2026
Editor's assessment from vendor documentation and published pricing
Pricing
Patreon pricing
Standard
$0
Free plan
- Memberships, tiers and one-time payments
- Native video and livestreaming
- Chats, DMs and comments
- Member analytics and insights
- Exportable email lists
Usage: No monthly fee; Patreon keeps 10% of successfully processed payments, calculated before sales tax. Card and Apple Pay payments also carry 2.9% + $0.30 processing, a 2.5% currency conversion fee applies when a member pays in another currency, and payouts cost extra (for example $0.25 by US direct deposit).
Checked against Patreon, Inc.'s pricing page on October 5, 2026 · see the full breakdown
Capabilities
Patreon features
Checked against the same feature list as every other tool in its category.
Community Experience
- Not included:Branded mobile appYour own iOS and Android app rather than a shared platform app.
- Not included:Built-in coursesStructured lessons alongside discussion, without a separate course platform.
- Included:Live events & streamingHost calls, streams or events inside the platform rather than linking out.
- Included:Real-time chat & DMsLive chat channels and direct messages between members.
- Included:Spaces & sub-groupsSeparate areas for topics or member tiers within one community.Chat spaces only, up to 10
Monetisation
- Included:Multiple membership tiersSeveral price points with different access levels.
- Included:Paid membershipsRecurring subscriptions with tiers, trials and coupons.
- Not included:Zero platform feesThe platform takes no percentage of member payments.
Moderation & Growth
- Included:API & integrationsConnect member data to your CRM, email tool or automation platform.
- Included:Engagement analyticsActivity, retention and member health reporting for the owner.
- Not included:Gamification & leaderboardsPoints, levels and leaderboards to encourage participation.
- Included:Moderation toolsFlagging, queues, member roles and automated spam handling.
- Not included:Public, SEO-visible contentThreads are indexable, so the community also attracts search traffic.
- Not included:Self-hosting optionRun it on your own infrastructure and own the database.
Ecosystem
Patreon integrations
Videos
Watch Patreon in action
Product walkthroughs from Patreon's own YouTube channel.
How to set up Patreon's tiers and benefits
Published by PatreonWatch on YouTube
Alternatives
Top Patreon alternatives
Tools that do the same job, from the same category.
Circle
Best for creators and brands selling memberships, courses and events in one paid community
From $89/mo
Mighty Networks
Best for course creators and brands whose members will join from iOS and Android phones
From $29/mo
Fit check
Will Patreon fit your team?
Support
- Email support
- Knowledge base
Training
- Documentation
- Video tutorials
Deployment
- Web
- iOS
- Android
Typical users
- Freelancers
- Small businesses
FAQs
Patreon FAQs
Written by our editorial team.
Is Patreon free for creators?
Yes, to start. Patreon charges no monthly fee and takes its cut only when you earn. New creators are on the standard plan, which keeps 10% of successfully processed membership and one-time payments, calculated before sales tax. Payment processing, currency conversion and payout fees come on top, along with any VAT, GST or sales tax Patreon has to collect on its own fees. See Patreon pricing for the full list.
How much does Patreon take from creators?
Patreon keeps 10% of what members pay on pages published after August 4, 2025, plus processing of 2.9% + $0.30 per card or Apple Pay payment when you're paid out in US dollars. PayPal and Venmo cost the same for US members and 3.9% + $0.30 for members elsewhere, a 2.5% fee applies when a member pays in another currency, and each US direct-deposit payout costs $0.25. From $2,000 paid by 100 members at $20 each by card, $1,712 is left before the payout fee.
Can creators keep Patreon's older 5% and 8% plans?
Yes, if the page was published on or before August 4, 2025 and stays published. Those pages keep their legacy plan: Founders at 5%, Pro at 8% or Pro + Merch at 11%, the last of which included merch fulfillment. The legacy plans are closed to new creators, and a page that's unpublished and later republished moves to the standard 10% plan.
Does Patreon have community features like chat?
Yes. A creator can open up to 10 chat spaces, each available to all members, paid members only or selected tiers, with threads and reactions, and members can comment on posts and send DMs. Live video can run with up to 10 trusted moderators through a Moderation Hub. Patreon's help center also has a guide comparing its chats with Discord and Discourse. For platforms built around community, see Patreon alternatives.
What fees apply to Patreon purchases made in the iOS app?
Apple's 30% App Store fee applies to in-app purchases on iOS, and Patreon's platform fee still applies as well. Patreon doesn't add its own processing fee to those purchases. On the web, the same payment would instead carry card processing of 2.9% + $0.30 for a US-dollar payout. To compare Patreon's revenue share with a community platform that charges a plan fee, see Circle vs Patreon.
Sources & methodology
Product details come from Patreon, Inc.'s public website and documentation (United States). Every plan and price was checked against the vendor's pricing page on October 5, 2026. We haven't tested this product hands-on; the verdict is a desk assessment. How we research and rank tools
- Founded 2013
- 7 languages supported
- patreon.com
Keep researching