Verdict. Pick Patreon if your fans already live on it or you want memberships, digital sales, video hosting and chat in one place. The 10% fee for new pages is fair for what you get, and payouts are cheap and flexible. The catch is everything stacked on top of it. Card processing, currency conversion and Apple's 30% cut on iOS purchases outside the US all come out of your share, and low-priced tiers feel it most.
- Founded
- 2013
- Headquarters
- San Francisco, California, US
- Best for
- Video creators, podcasters and artists with loyal fans
- Plans from
- Free
- You keep from $1,000
- $841 on Standard
Who can join. Open to anyone 18+, or younger with a parent's or guardian's permission. US creators get paid by bank transfer, and creators elsewhere use Payoneer, PayPal or local bank transfer in supported currencies.
Patreon pricing and fees
New creators pay a 10% platform fee plus 2.9% + $0.30 card processing per payment, a 2.5% currency conversion fee when fans pay in another currency, and a small payout fee.
| Plan | Price | Fee on sales | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | $0/mo | 10% of income | Default for pages published after August 4, 2025. Processing, conversion and payout fees are extra. |
| Legacy Pro | $0/mo | 8% of income | Closed to new creators. Switches to Standard if your page is ever unpublished. |
| Legacy Pro + Merch | $0/mo | 11% of income | Closed to new creators. Includes merch fulfillment. |
| Legacy Founders | $0/mo | 5% of income | Only for creators who joined before May 7, 2019 and never changed plan. |
On $1,000 of monthly sales at $10 each, the cheapest option is the Standard plan. You'd pay about $159 in platform and card fees, 15.9% of revenue, and keep $841. Compare that with every other platform.
Payment processing. Patreon processes payments itself. On the standard plan, cards, Apple Pay and US PayPal cost 2.9% + $0.30 per payment, non-US PayPal costs 3.9% + $0.30, and a 2.5% conversion fee applies when a fan pays in a different currency. Purchases inside the iOS app carry Apple's 30% App Store fee instead of Patreon processing.
Payouts. You withdraw manually up to once every 24 hours, or turn on automatic payouts on the 5th of each month. US bank transfers cost $0.25 per payout, PayPal costs 1% capped at $20 with a $10 minimum, and Payoneer costs $1 with a $25 minimum. Money arrives in 1 to 5 days, and iOS in-app earnings stay pending for up to 75 days.
What you get with Patreon
- Monthly and annual memberships
- Digital product sales
- Video hosting up to 100 hours a month
- Community chats, polls and comments
- Ticketed live events
- Gifting, discounts and tier repricing
- Member CSV export with emails
- Audience and growth insights
Patreon pros and cons
What we like
- One 10% fee covers memberships, digital products, video hosting and community chat.
- Payouts work in 16+ currencies, and US bank transfers cost $0.25 each.
- You can export member names and emails to CSV at any time.
- US fans on iPhone can pay through mobile web checkout and skip Apple's 30% fee.
What gets in the way
- New pages pay 10%, up from the old 8% Pro rate, before any processing.
- Unpublishing your page even briefly moves a legacy plan to the 10% standard plan.
- iOS in-app purchases outside the US lose 30% to Apple, or 15% after a member's first year.
- iOS in-app earnings sit pending for up to 75 days before you can withdraw.
- A $3 tier loses about 23% to the platform fee and processing combined.
Who should skip Patreon
If you want your own Stripe account, your own domain and lower fees, look at Memberful or Ko-fi instead.
Patreon alternatives
| Platform | Score | Keep from $1,000 | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ko-fi | 7.9 | $929 | Artists and streamers who mostly take tips and commissions |
| Fourthwall | 6.8 | $891 | YouTubers and streamers selling merch alongside memberships |
| Memberful | 6.6 | $843 | Publishers and podcasters who want a fully branded membership |
| Buy Me a Coffee | 6.4 | $886 | Writers and makers who want a simple tip jar |
Head to head: Patreon vs Ko-fi, Patreon vs Buy Me a Coffee, Patreon vs Memberful, Patreon vs Fourthwall, Patreon vs YouTube channel memberships, Patreon vs Substack.
See all 6 membership platforms ranked.
Patreon questions
How much does Patreon take?
If you published your page after August 4, 2025, Patreon takes 10% of each payment. Card and US PayPal processing adds 2.9% + $0.30, a 2.5% conversion fee applies when fans pay in another currency, and withdrawals cost $0.25 by US bank transfer or 1% through PayPal.
Do older Patreon creators still pay 8%?
Yes, if their page was published on or before August 4, 2025 and has stayed published since. Legacy rates are 5% for Founders, 8% for Pro and 11% for Pro + Merch. If you unpublish, or Patreon does, you move to the 10% standard plan when you republish, so use the pause tool instead.
Does Apple take a cut of Patreon memberships?
For new memberships bought inside the Patreon iOS app, Apple takes 30%, dropping to 15% after a member's first year of continuous billing. Patreon skips its own processing fee on those sales but still charges the platform fee. You can raise iOS prices about 43% to compensate, and US fans can pay on mobile web to avoid the fee.
How do Patreon payouts work?
You can withdraw once every 24 hours or turn on automatic payouts on the 5th of each month. US bank transfers cost $0.25 per payout, PayPal costs 1% with a $10 minimum, and Payoneer costs $1 with a $25 minimum. New creators face a 5-day hold, and money usually lands in 1 to 5 days.
Sources
We checked these pages on October 20, 2026. Platforms change fees often, so confirm on the official page before you commit.
- Patreon pricing
- Patreon Help: Creator fees overview
- Patreon Help: A standard platform fee for new creators, effective after August 4, 2025
- Patreon Help: How iOS in-app purchases work on Patreon
- Patreon Help: How payouts work
- Patreon Help: Set up automatic payouts
- Patreon Help: Exporting your audience's emails
- Patreon Terms of Use
- Wikipedia: Patreon