Are you looking for Patreon alternatives? You are in luck! We have dug out the best of the best alternatives to Patreon that will supercharge your profile and help you multiply your earnings effortlessly.
Sound good? Let’s dive in!
Patreon is one of the super popular crowdfunding and membership platforms with over 8 million patrons and more than 250000 artists. For creators, artists, social media influencers, and other types of artists, this platform provides a straightforward way to collect donations from subscribers and fans in exchange for exclusive content.
However, some pitfalls like privacy issues, censorship, increasing high fees, and lack of in-built marketing tools have led many users to look for other membership platforms like Patreon.
Luckily, tons of sites like Patreon can help creators monetize their talent effortlessly. We have included all the details of the best Patreon alternatives including their features, pros and cons, pricing plans, and more to help you find the best platform to monetize your skills.
Let’s get started!
15 Best Patreon Alternatives For Creators to Make Money
Before jumping to the alternatives to Patreon, let’s understand what this platform is all about including its pros and cons and what led users to look for the other options.
Patreon is a site where gamers, podcasters, bloggers, Youtubers, musicians, and other types of content creators can earn recurring subscriptions from their audience. Followers pay monthly fees to their favorite artists to support them and in exchange get access to exclusive content of the creators.
However, even with a big name in the content monetization business, Patreon has benefits and some downsides that need to be highlighted while looking for alternatives.
Patreon Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Setting up membership tiers, and brand pages, and earning money is easy. | No free tiers which means followers can interact with creators only after paying a subscription fee. |
| Free to use platform. | Limited interaction among followers. Patreon has limitations on patron-to-patron messaging. |
| Due to the large user base, creators will not face any difficulty in making users understand the subscription model and how the platform works. | Creators cannot accept one-time payments to fund their big projects. |
| High transaction fee. creators are charged transaction fees from their earnings as follows: Lite: 5% transaction fee. Pro: 8% transaction fee. Premium: 12% transaction fee. |
So these are a few pros and cons of Patreon, here is the list of top Patreon alternatives that you should consider if this platform is not meeting your needs.
Kickstarter
Kickstarter is one of the best Patreon alternatives in the market today. This popular crowdfunding platform allows creators to put together one-time projects or campaigns and collect money for the goal within a specific timeframe.
So, if you are someone who likes to focus on one or two projects for a year, then this platform is the right choice. This platform can host any type of file, embed live streams, and online videos, and ask contributions from the fans. Kickstarter has a large user base which can help you gain a lot of supporters.
Key Features of Kickstarter:
- Unlimited creative categories including music, craft, film, technology, etc.
- Tools and resources like project editor, app, and guidelines, to help in creating the project.
- Ease of rewarding supporters with early bird access or customized merchandise.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| All projects can be thoroughly analyzed before publication. | No option for recurring income. |
| Best for startups who want to raise funds for big projects within a specific timeframe. | All-or-nothing model based on hitting or missing the target. This means, if you Whereas if you don’t, it will be sent back to the donors and you won’t get anything. |
| A feature like Google Analytics helps creators to monitor traffic and growth. | |
| Best for funding a one-time project. | |
| Ease of rewarding supporters. |
Kickstarter Pricing Plans:
- Kickstarter charges 5% of the commission if the project gets fully funded within the timeframe.
- Additionally, it takes a 3% to 5% processing fee from creators.
Memberful
Memberful is another website like Patreon that allows creators to monetize their exclusive content. It is a WordPress plugin that enables creators to build membership communities on their own sites. Please note that Patreon owns Memberful but it offers additional customization options to give more control to the creators.
As Memberful is a WordPress plugin, you can easily integrate it with other software and plugins to add more functionalities to your site. For instance, you can combine your site with LearnDash to sell courses along with membership.
Key Features of Memberful:
- Several options in payment such as pay what you like, one-time, monthly membership, etc.
- Options for free trials, group subscriptions, and gift subscriptions.
- Podcast feature available.
- Include all types of content on the website.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| All types of content can be included on the site. | Recommended for those who are good with WordPress as it will be complicated for those who are not tech-savvy. |
| Can sell paid email newsletters, emails, podcast membership, and other digital or physical products. | Extra expense for a domain, themes, apps, and web hosting is required. |
| Advanced customization options that offer more control to the creators. |
Memberful Pricing Plans:
- The Starter plan is free with a 10% translation fee.
- The Pro plan will cost you $25 per month with a 4.9% transaction fee.
- The Premium plan will cost $100 per month with a 4.9% transaction fee.
- Additional costs for hosting, domain registration, other plugins, and integrations.
Podia
Podia is one of the best Patreon alternatives in the market today. Just like Pateron, this platform enables creators to share exclusive content with their subscribers and fans in exchange for a membership fee. Podia is an all-in-one platform that helps creators, influencers, and all types of artists to run and earn from their businesses effortlessly.
This platform offers a rich community membership feature that allows creators to sell webinars, courses, and coaching, and earn from digital downloads. Plus, users can also create their website on this platform with several sales pages. Artists can also create both free and paid membership communities to organize their audience easily which is missing in Patreon.
Key Features of Podia:
- Subscribers get lots of things under one roof.
- Ease of organizing both free and paid communities at one convenient location.
- Inbuilt features like affiliate marketing, customer chat, and email marketing.
- Selling online courses, coaching, webinars, and earrings via digital downloads is easy.
- Different membership tiers.
- Choosing a preferred currency is easy.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Beginner-friendly and intuitive user interface. | Lack of dedicated mobile app. |
| Tons of features like email marketing, affiliate marketing, site building, third-party integrations, etc. | Limited option in customization. |
| Top-notch customer service. | |
| All types of digital products can be sold. | |
| No requirement to pay transaction fees on paid plans. |
Podia Pricing Plans:
- Free plan with an 8% transaction fee.
- The Mover plan will cost $39 per month.
- The Shaker plan will cost $89 per month.
- The Earthquaker plan is $199 per month.
Buy Me a Coffee
Buy Me a Coffee is another best alternative to Patreon for creators who are looking for a straightforward way to collect donations from their fans. You can easily create a premise on this platform with a custom page on a subdomain. Once you are done, your fans can visit it, make your donation (buy you a coffee), and get access to exclusive content.
You can easily show appreciation for the donation that your fans will be making. Unlike Patreon, your followers, don’t need to set up an account on this platform to make donations. They simply choose the number of coffees they want to buy for you and make the payment easily.
Key Features of Buy Me a Coffee:
- A simple method to monetize.
- Doesn’t charge high transaction fees.
- Ease of creating benefits for fans and followers.
- Creating profiles and sharing work.
- Supports creating member-only content.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Instant and straight payouts for creators. | Lack of scalability feature. |
| Features like ‘Extra’ to sell digital products like Zoom calls with you, ebooks, Discord access, etc. | Limited functionalities and features. |
| No requirement to create an account for users to donate money to their favorite artists. | Cannot sell courses. |
| Supports most payment methods including Paypal, Apple Pay, credit card, etc. | |
| User-friendly and easy to start. |
Buy Me a Coffee Pricing Plans:
Free to use but charges a 5% fee from your earnings and lets you keep 95%.
Indiegogo
Indiegogo is another best Patreon alternatives and one of the biggest crowdfunding platforms for creators. This platform majorly focuses on innovative and new projects where creators can convert their ideas into full working reality.
You can browse through this platform and see innovative projects like substitutes for vegan meat, animated films, and much more. This platform provides several payout options to the creators. Similarly, as Kickstarter, creators can run one-time projects on this platform. However, Indiegogo allows you to collect payments recurrently no matter how much you earn.
Key Features of Indiegogo:
- One of the best crowdfunding platforms.
- Offering rewards to the supporters is easy.
- Three types of payout options including recurring payments.
- Risk-free and no chances of ending up empty-handed.
- The ‘Discover page’ helps users to see your new projects.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Freedom of choosing lumpsum payment or recurring payouts after project completion. | The length of the project is a maximum of 2 months which is short for many creators. |
| Creators can keep the amount of money they have raised. | Fundraising can be done for one-time projects only. |
| No requirement for pre-screening as projects are approved instantly. | |
| Earn money even if creators don’t hit their target. |
Indiegogo Pricing Plans:
- Free to launch projects.
- Indiegogo charges a 5% transaction fee.
SubscribeStar
SubscribeStar is one of the best Patreon alternatives that help creators earn money from subscriptions. It is a software where creators are free to build their own tiered subscriptions for their followers. They can create a SubscribeStar page in the software and share any type of content including images, blogs, videos, articles, files, ebooks, audio, etc.
This software helps creators stay organized and save a lot of time as it gives them the freedom to schedule their posts. Using advanced analytical tools and audience statistics, creators can learn more about their fans and check what they like more. Creators must have at least 5 subscribers to get the payout.
Key Features of SubscribeStar:
- Freedom to schedule posts that help creators save time and stay organized.
- Creators and fans can talk to each other directly via messaging.
- Best for musicians, educators, and artists.
- In-built analytical tools and statistics.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Simple and straightforward software. | Lack of community features. |
| Direct messaging promotes healthy relationships with fans. | Restrictions on withdrawal. |
| Inbuilt post editor. |
SubscribeStar Pricing Plans:
- It charges a 5% transaction fee.
Substack
Substack is one of the best Patreon alternatives today that allows creators to monetize their content with paid newsletters. This platform is best for writers, journalists, and creative people who want to build a good number of followers and earn donations from their support. Just like Patreon, Substack allows creators to build subscription tiers and benefits for their fans.
This platform allows you to use email to distribute your writing as well as host it on the platform. Using the discovery features, creators can find new readers as well. Substack is best for regular bloggers and people who want to distribute newsletters for a fee or completely free of cost.
Key Features of Substack:
- Allows creators to offer yearly memberships and select newsletter subscription costs.
- In-built promotional tools to attract more readers.
- Discounts and free trials for newsletter subscribers.
- Analytical tools to monitor newsletter click-through rates.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Ease of launching newsletter subscription. | Limited customization options. |
| The payment gets released within 48 hours of the transaction. | Suitable for writers with an email list as building an audience is tough in this platform. |
| User-friendly writing interface. | Lack of automated email campaigns. |
| Drag and drop feature to add videos, photos, audio files, and more to the post. |
Substack Pricing Plans:
- Blog posting is free.
- Substack charges a 10% platform fee on paid subscriptions.
Uscreen
Uscreen is a comprehensive business platform that lets video creators convert their passion into revenue. This platform is best for those creators who have a good number of followers and has already established brand. Uscreen is one of the best Patreon alternatives that allows creators to build Netflix-styled videos and engage their subscribers.
This platform allows creators to monetize their video content through one-time purchases, subscriptions, ads, and rentals. Uscreen has very transparent pricing plans. Creators can also stream their video content through Apple TV and via mobile with any operating system including iOS and Android.
Key Features of Uscreen:
- Live streaming content directly and monetize it.
- Automated marketing tools to attract, increase, and retain subscribers.
- Customizable themes and sites.
- Options to create tiered memberships.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Easy to understand and user-friendly. | Advanced features can be accessed in paid plans which are very expensive. |
| Selling video memberships is effortless on this platform. | |
| Analytical and marketing tools. | |
| Helps growing community. | |
| Create high-quality videos. |
Uscreen Pricing Plans:
- The Basic Plan is $79 per month.
- The Growth Plan is $159 per month.
- The Uscreen Plus Plan is customizable on request.
Gumroad
Gumroad is one of the best membership platforms like Patreon that allows creators to monetize their passion easily. This platform allows people to convert their interests into business. Using Gumroad, they can create an appealing storefront online to display their products and sell physical products as well. They can sell digital products like software, ebooks, music, coaching sessions, and much more easily.
Using Gumroad, people can sell anything and get monetized in different ways. You can find many new supporters and customers on this platform easily. With the flexible pricing options, you can get paid through a subscription-based model.
Key Features of Gumroad:
- Easy to understand and user-friendly interface.
- Checkout pages are very clean and intuitive.
- Analytical tools and statistics to view products and purchases.
- Create offers for supporters including discount codes and coupons.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Easy to set up an online storefront and sell products. | High transaction fee. |
| Can sell almost everything on this platform. | Only 25MB size files can be uploaded in the free plan. |
| Ease of creating discount codes, coupons, or ‘pay what you want’ offers. | A minimum $10 balance is required for payouts. |
| Pre-order function. | |
| Several license keys for software products. |
Gumroad Pricing Plans:
- No subscription or platform fee.
- Gumroad cuts off a 10% fee on every sale.
MemberPress
MemberPress allows creators to easily make and sell online courses and content like files, videos, pages, communities, and more. This platform is undeniably one of the best alternatives to Patreon which is great for people who want to start their own eLearning or membership site for their supporters and customers.
This platform is a membership-specific WordPress plugin that lets users sell their content on their own site.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Ease of creating and customizing various coupons. | No free plan. |
| Mobile-responsive. | Must have a WordPress website to use MemberPress. |
| Creators can decide access levels for different members. | |
| Community building features to promote engagement and gain more support. | |
| No risk 100% refund guarantee, if creators don’t find this platform enjoyable. |
MemberPress Pricing Plans:
- The Basic Plan is $179.50 per year.
- The Plus Plan is $299.50 per year.
- The Pro Plan is $399.50 per year.
Kajabi
Kajabi is one of the best Patreon alternatives that offers many features to creators for monetizing their content. Kajabi is basically an online course platform that offers great marketing tools to creators. For people who want to establish an online business and sell their products, Kajabi is the right option.
This platform allows users to sell their online courses, membership websites, coaching services, and even podcasts.
Key Features of Mighty Networks:
- Build custom landing pages and forms easily.
- In-built integrations with apps like Google Analytics, MailChimp, and Infusionsoft.
- Create and sell engaging content.
- Gaining insights into the progress of customers.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Ease of creating and selling digital products such as online courses, training portals, membership sites, and more. | Lack of free plan. |
| Facilitates marketing, sales, and customer engagement. | Pricing plans are very expensive. |
| Stream videos, add file downloads, upload images, and audio files, and produce customizable themes. | Suitable for creators with a large number of subscribers only. |
| In-built sales funnel and marketing software to drive conversions. | |
Kajabi Pricing Plans:
- Free trial with no transaction fee.
- The Basic Plan will cost $149 per month.
- The Growth Plan is $199 per month.
- The Pro Plan is $399 per month.
OnlyFans
OnlyFans is another great Patreon alternative that enables creators to monetize their content easily. This platform has a lot of similarities with Patreon. However, OnlyFans allows adult content on their site which is restricted in Patreon. Any type of creator can use this platform and earn from their supporters through a subscription model. You can set different subscription levels and give different types of rewards to your subscribers, just like Patreon.
This platform offers several features to the creators like personal messaging, better community building, and more content options. Although OnlyFans is an alternative to Patreon, some drawbacks of this site need to be considered before choosing it for content monetization.
Key Features of OnlyFans:
- Creators can set up membership tiers, subscriptions, and more.
- Ease of raising money for charitable causes.
- Get feedback from fans via creating polls.
- Creators can work with other artists on the platform to multiply their fanbase.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Freedom to create and monetize content while connecting with fans. | Very high transaction fees. |
| Ample features for content and engagement. | Association with adult content has led to many controversies. |
| Creators have more control over their earnings. | Some creators have reported harassment and plagiarism of their content. |
| A strong community of creators for support and collaboration. |
OnlyFans Pricing Plans:
- OnlyFans charges a 20% commission fee on creators’ earnings.
Ko-fi
Ko-fi is another website similar to Patreon that enables creators to accept donations from their followers to fund different sorts of projects. Plus, using Ko-fi creators can build a basic commerce store for themselves to sell physical products, digital products, custom commissions, or other types of requests from fans.
This platform allows you to easily accept donations and tips from your supporters. The Ko-fi widget can be easily added to existing blogs or websites to make donations effortless for fans. Running crowdfunding campaigns on this platform and raising money for your projects is very easy.
Key Features of Ko-fi:
- Allow supporters to place different types of requests from their favorite artists.
- Ease of selling digital products, physical products, and memberships.
- Direct messaging to fans.
- Options for both recurring or one-time tips and donations.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| No fee is charged for the tips and donations that creators receive from their fans. | Limited customization options. |
| Can sell memberships, physical products, and digital products like wallpapers, stickers, books, crafting kits, etc. | Lack of setting up the price for membership-based donations unless creators opt for the Gold Plan. |
| Options for one-time donations or recurring tips through memberships. | |
| Ease of rewarding supporters. |
Ko-fi Pricing Plans:
- Free plan with 0% commission fees.
- A 5% fee is charged on payments for shops, commissions, and memberships.
- The Gold Plan will cost $6 per month with zero transaction fees.
Liberapay
Liberapay is one of the best Patreon alternatives that describes itself as a platform for getting recurrent donations. Unlike Patreon, Liberapay does not charge any platform fee from creators’ earnings. This platform is open-source, however, it is best for users with technical know-how.
Liberapay is strictly dedicated to donations, transactions, and payouts and cannot be linked to any offers related to products or rewards. Therefore, if you are someone who solely earns from fan subscriptions and donations, you might face a challenge in becoming popular on this platform. However, if you are looking for an open-source platform to earn recurrent donations, you can consider Liberapay.
Key Features of Liberapay:
- Open source platform to earn recurrent donations.
- It supports multiple currencies.
- Fans can choose payment options such as weekly, monthly, or yearly.
- Non-profit and open source platform.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| No transaction fee is charged. | Restrictions on selling products and services. |
| Donations are displayed publicly and transparency is maintained. | Does not allow creators to reward their supporters. |
| Creators can receive donations hassle-free. | |
| Free to use and open-source tool. |
Liberapay Pricing Plans:
- Free of cost. However, they charge a processing fee from your earnings.
Mighty Networks
Mighty Networks is another best alternative to Patreon where creators and artists can connect with their fans easily and earn money from subscriptions. This platform is an online community where you can make recurrent earnings from your audience and supporters.
However, this platform works quite differently from Patreon. In Patreon, fans help their favorite artists in exchange for exclusive content or rewards. In Mighty Networks, users pay to access the community that you have created for your fans. This community includes interaction with other members, engaging in other interesting activities, participating in discussion forums, etc.
Key Features of Mighty Networks:
- Feed and chat functionalities to connect with fans in real time.
- Stream live events, create paid memberships, online courses, etc. with ease.
- Bring communities, commerce, content, and courses together.
- Conversion of subscribers into members.
- Ease of creating subscription tiers.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Using AI Mighty Co-Host, creators can quickly build membership profiles, improve writing, create landing pages, and more. | Lack of free plan. |
| Application for every device. | They charge flat $33 per month. |
| This platform doesn’t charge from your revenue. | |
| Ease of creating both paid and free communities for fans. |
Mighty Networks Pricing Plans:
- Free trial with a 5% transaction fee.
- Community Plan costs $39 per month with an additional 3% transaction fee.
- The business plan is priced at $119 per month with an additional 2% transaction fee.
- The Mighty Pro plan can be customized and priced accordingly.
Frequently Asked Questions on Patreon Alternatives
Is there a better option than Patreon?
Many better alternatives are available to Patreon including Kickstarter, Podia, Mighty Networks, and more which we have discussed in our blog. You can go through and pick what is best suited to you.
Is Ko-fi better than Patreon?
The major difference between Ko-fi and Patreon is that, unlike Patreon, Ko-fi cuts less percentage of creators earnings.
Is Patreon really worth it?
For short-term passive earning, Patreon is undeniably a good platform to monetize your content. However, if you are looking for something for the long term, you should consider Patreon alternatives as it cuts off a high percentage of creators’ earnings.
Which are the best free Patreon alternatives?
Buy Me a Coffee, Ko-fi, Subscribestar, and Liberapay offer a free plan with a transaction fee.
Which Patreon alternatives are best for crowdfunding?
Indiegogo and Kickstarter are ideal for creators who are looking to raise funds for big projects.
Concluding Words on Patreon Alternatives
To choose the best Patreon alternatives, you need to set your goals clearly. If you merely looking for a crowdfunding platform to earn money at once then go for Kickstarter, Ko-fi, or Indiegogo. If you want recurrent payment then Podia, Mighty Networks, and Liberapay can help you hit your objective.
No matter what you choose, to get the best outcome you need to be very clear about your objectives.
So, analyze what you are looking for and choose one Patreon alternative that will help you monetize your talent in the right way.
All the best!
