Patreon

Patreon built the membership model for creators: fans pay a monthly subscription to access exclusive content, and the creator receives predictable recurring income. Since August 4, 2025, all new creators pay a flat 10% commission.

Patreon is a membership platform for creators that lets you build a direct economic relationship with your audience. The model is simple: the creator sets up one or more monthly or annual subscription tiers, each with its own exclusive benefits — members-only posts, early-access videos, a Discord community, bonus podcasts, PDFs, access to monthly calls — and fans choose which tier to subscribe to. The creator receives payments on a recurring basis, building predictable income independent of social platform algorithms. Patreon handles payments, content delivery to subscribers, notifications and analytics access. Creators can also sell one-time digital products and content through the platform. Integrations with Discord, Zoom and other tools let you build richer community experiences. The most important evolution in 2025 is the commission model change: since August 4, 2025, all new creators pay a flat 10% commission (previously there were three different plans — Lite at 5%, Pro at 8%, Premium at 12% — which existing active creators keep as long as they don't unpublish their page).

For content creators — podcasters, artists, writers, YouTubers, musicians — who want to build recurring income through monthly subscriptions from their most loyal community.

Patreon is free to start: there are no fixed monthly costs. The platform instead takes a commission on earnings. Since August 4, 2025, all new creators pay a flat 10% commission. Creators who had their page published before that date keep the old rates (Lite 5%, Pro 8%, Premium 12%) as long as the page remains published. On top of this commission come payment processing fees (around 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction) and any in-app purchase platform fees (Apple takes 30% on iOS purchases, which Patreon partially passes on). In practice, a creator earns between 12% and 15% less than what patrons pay.