Patreon in 10 slides
The leading membership platform, where fans pay creators monthly or per release for exclusive work. Creators of podcasts, video, art, and writing build recurring income.
- Membership platform
- Creator platforms
- Based in San Francisco, California, United States
What you do on Patreon
How the money is made: creating content
- Create and publish
- Grow an audience
- Fans, ads or sponsors pay
- Regular payouts
The leading membership platform, where fans pay creators monthly or per release for exclusive work. Creators of podcasts, video, art, and writing build recurring income.
Founded 2013 · next to 12 other creator platforms
Work and topics
What Patreon takes
10% for pages published after Aug 4, 2025 + processing (USD cards over $3: 2.9% + $0.30), legacy rates vary
From the published fees, before payment-processing, currency or withdrawal charges (the $0.30 fixed part counted once). Work out your own amount →
How the money reaches you
From sign-up to payout
- Sign upFree
- Start straight away
- Do the work
- Earnings clearOn demand or automatic on the 5th of each month
- First payout30+ days
Time to your first payout
$10 via PayPal, $25 via Payoneer wallet
3 ways to withdraw
Can you join?
Yes, if you are 18 or older and live almost anywhere.
You need reliable internet and a tax ID number. You can start straight after signing up. First payout: 30+ days.
What you need
- 18 or olderMinimum age
- Reliable internet
- A tax ID number
- Free to joinSign-up cost
- Instant sign-upHow sign-up works
Open in 197 of 200 countries and territories
What people actually earn
Patreon says creators have earned more than $10 billion on the platform since it was founded in 2013.
Source: patreon.com ↗Patreon reports more than 300,000 creators running memberships on the platform.
Source: patreon.com ↗Patreon reports more than 10 million fans paying for memberships each month, plus over 100 million free memberships.
Source: patreon.com ↗How it scores
Strong on access and fees.
- Fees4.5
- Getting paid4.3
- Access4.8
- Track record4.0
- Proof of earnings4.0
- Verified earnings
- Open worldwide
- Free to join
- Clear fees
- Low cut
- Low payout bar
- Fast payouts
- Top 10K website
- 10 years running
- Fully documented
Patreon against its peers
Guess: next to the 9 other creator platforms that charge a percentage, is Patreon…
The cut of all 10 creator platforms that charge a percentage
| Platform | Fee |
|---|---|
| Mighty Networks | 1.3% |
| Circle | 2.3% |
| Ko-fi | 2.5% |
| Memberful | 4.9% |
| Buy Me a Coffee | 5% |
| Substack | 10% |
| Gumroad | 10% |
| Boosty | 10% |
| Patreon | 12.9% |
| Fanvue | 17.5% |
- At 12.9%, Patreon charges more than 8 of the 10 creator platforms we track that take a percentage (median 7.5%).
- Patreon is the only one of the 13 creator platforms we track that pays out via Payoneer.
How much we know
We have 11 of the 17 things we track for every platform. Fees, payouts, join rules, countries and real earnings count most.
What we have
- What kind of platform it is
- Year founded
- Headquarters
- Fees
- Minimum payout
- How fast you get paid
- Withdrawal methods
- Join requirements
- Countries it accepts
- Real earnings figures
- Wikipedia or reference page
Still missing
- Plain-English overview
- Payment protection
- Review ratings
- Support channels
- Mobile apps
- Social accounts