Are you searching for the top crowdfunding and membership platforms like Patreon? Look through our review of the top Patreon alternatives.
Patreon is a hugely popular membership site that offers an easy method for creators of content to get donations from their fans and subscribers, in exchange for exclusive content.
However, issues with censorship, as well as the increasing cost of fees have led users to search for alternatives. Fortunately, there are a number of options there.
In this article we’ll examine the top Patreon alternatives on the market currently. We’ll examine their most important features, discuss the ways different they are from Patreon, and more.
Ready? Let’s get started!
The most effective Patreon alternatives Summary
TL;DR
Podia – Best Patreon alternative overall. Sell subscriptions, build paid communities, and sell other digital products. Zero fees on paid plans. Also, a limited free plan is offered.
Sellfy is a well-known ecommerce platform that allows you to sell physical and subscription products, print-on-demand products, and other digital products. It is incredibly simple to use.
Get Me A Coffee Buy Me A Coffee – A straightforward Patreon alternative to start with immediately. It allows you to accept donations and to sell digital goods. Instant payouts via Stripe. A 5% fee plus free to use without features hidden behind paid plans.
1 1. Podia
Podia is our absolute preference Patreon alternative. As opposed to Patreon, Podia is an all-in-one platform you can use to build your own website, build communities that are paid, and also sell subscriptions , as well as other digital items, and all without transaction costs!
One of the challenges of the use of Patreon has to do with building your community on a different platform. Not only is this not good for branding, it also means that you’re in little control over and don’t have ownership of your revenue source. In addition you’ll also be subject to payments from Patreon.
That’s the reason why Podia is a superior alternative. With Podia, you build your own community, and you sell memberships on the website you own.
Like Patreon as well, you are able to make use of Podia to host your exclusive members-only content, and then sell paid memberships to people who would like to support your work as a creator.
However, the main difference is that you’ll have complete control over all aspects of your membership site how you’d like it to be. You can create your own tiers of plan with various rewards, and you can create as many paid or free plans as you’d like.
As the owner of your community and membership platform You can retain 100% of your revenue. So long as you choose to sign up for a paid subscription There are no transaction costs to worry about.
You can engage with your followers directly through the community feature with multimedia discussions. Members can post all posts, photos, text video, or text.
Aside from memberships, members can sell other digital goods through Podia including online courses, digital downloads, etc.
Key features
Sell memberships, memberships, and other digital products
Create paid communities
Create your own creator site
Total control and ownership
Integrates with Google Analytics
There are no transaction costs
Pricing
Paid podia plans that do not charge fee for transactions start at $33 per month. They also have a free plan with fee for transactions of 8.
2. Sellfy
Sellfy is a straightforward user-friendly ecommerce platform designed by creators. It’s a good alternative for creators looking to gather donations and create their fan base through their own website instead of the third-party platform.
It is possible to create a stunning storefront on Sellfy in less than 5 minutes, then customize the design to match your brand and connect it to your own domain.
Then, you can create digital subscription products and offer your customers access exclusive content as well as other goodies in exchange for weekly, monthly, or yearly payments.
In addition to subscriptions, you are also able to sell various other types of merchandise on Sellfy such as physical and digital items, video streaming, and prints-on-demand.
The print-on-demand option is especially beneficial for creators since it allows you to market your own personalized merchandise to your followers. All you need to upload is your design to the Sellfy fulfillment catalog and add the items on your website.
You don’t need to buy anything upfront. Whenever someone makes a purchase, Sellfy will print the order and send it to the buyer for you and then they bill you for the basis cost of the item and fulfillment. You set your own profit margins.
Key characteristics
Sell subscriptions
Print-on-demand fulfillment
Sell all kinds of products
Video streaming
Store builder
Pricing
Paid plans that allow you to sell subscriptions and unlimited products start at $22 per month.
3 – Get Me Coffee
Make Me A Coffee is the best option for creators who are looking for a simple method of collecting donations. It’s extremely simple to use and unlike Patreon that you are able to utilize it to accept regular donations as well as one-off contributions from your fans.
The concept behind Buy Me a Coffee is gloriously simple. Create the custom page for a subdomain (e.g. buymeacoffee.com/yourname), and your audience can visit it and buy you a coffee (make a donation) to say thanks for creating great content in a couple of clicks.
If they decide to make a donation, they can leave a message, which you can reply to and express your gratitude. Unlike Patreon, your supporters don’t have to sign up for an account in order to purchase coffee. They simply select which coffees to purchase you (how much to give) and pay with a single click.
Of course, if you want to offer something in exchange you are able to do that as well. Similar to Patreon, you can create subscription options and distribute exclusive content to your fans. You can also use the extras feature to sell digital items, such as ebooks, access to Discord to you, Zoom calls or your supporters, etc.
Most payment methods are supported such as credit, debit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, etc. When someone makes a donation, you get paid straight in a matter of minutes. No waiting period of 30 days!
Buy Me a Coffee is free to use but takes an 5% fee for platform use out of your donations; you keep 95% of your earnings. It’s comparable to PayPal’s Lite plan but cheaper than its Premium and Pro plans.
Fun fact: You can purchase Me a Coffee is the platform that we use to receive donations. Our Creator page by clicking here. If you are a fan of the content we create here in Blogging Wizard and wish to purchase us a coffee, your support is always appreciated!
Key characteristics
One-off payments supported
Sell digital items and memberships
No account is required to make a donation.
It’s very easy to get started.
Competitive 5% transaction fees
Pricing
You can sign up for free to Buy Me a Coffee, however, a 5% service cost will be deducted of the donations.
4 – Ko-fi
Ko-fi is a crowdfunding platform similar that of Buy Me A Coffee. You can use it for an easy tip jar, or as a membership site. They don’t charge fees for sales and donations but do make a charge to use premium services available to Buy Me A Coffee customers can avail for free.
Similar to Patreon like Patreon, you can also utilize Ko-fi for accepting contributions and memberships from your supporters. You can create a Kofi creator page free of charge in just one minute. You can then set a fundraising goal and then encourage your supporters to help you achieve it. Plus, you can provide incentives like exclusive content exclusively for supporters as well as membership benefits to encourage users to make donations.
It’s compatible with Discord, WordPress, and Zapier It can even get donations alerts while you stream.
The interface looks very similar to Buy Me a Coffee. What makes Ko-fi stand out is that it’s one the few platforms that is totally free. There’s no cost to sign up and they don’t take a portion of your profits on this plan.
The catch it that the basic plan does not include premium features like memberships or the possibility of selling downloads as well as physical products from your online store.
Key features
No transaction fee for users that are free
Memberships
Sell your products
Crowdfunding goals
Donation alerts
Pricing
Ko-fi can be used as an entry-level tip jar for no cost. However, if you want to unlock premium features, you’ll have to upgrade to the Gold plan, starting from $6,000 per month, which includes the transaction fee is 5. Gold members earn 7.2x more on average.
5 – Kickstarter
Kickstarter is most likely the most well-known crowdfunding platform the world. It’s a great alternative to Patreon in the event that you want to raise money for a single projects, but it’s not compatible with memberships as such, making it unsuitable for collecting recurrent donations.
Kickstarter functions a little different than Patreon. It’s designed for creators that require funding to finance a project that is a one-time event.
When you begin your campaign, you’ll describe the project you’re trying to fund, and then you set an amount of money you want to raise and a deadline to achieve it (e.g. by 60 days).
If your fans are enthusiastic about your idea, they are able to pledge money to help make it happen. Backers will be charged only after your project has succeeded in achieving the goal of funding. If you don’t meet your goal in the deadline your backers won’t get charged and you won’t be able to keep any of the donations. It’s all-or-nothing.
Another aspect Kickstarter distinguishes itself with Patreon is that it vets crowdfunders seriously, so not everyone can join. However, if your campaign gets approved and successful it’s possible to get huge amounts of money.
Kickstarter charges 5% platform fees, which is on par with Patreon’s introductory plan, however cheaper than higher-tier plans.
Key features
Ideal for funding one-time creative projects
Huge user base
Funding goals
Model that is all-or-nothing
Pricing
It’s absolutely free to create an initiative on Kickstarter however there is a 5% commission subtracted from the total funds raised, plus PayPal or Stripe processing fees for payments.
6 – Hypage
Hypage falls somewhere in between an online bio-linking tool and a membership platform. It’s a good alternative for social media influencers particularly Instagram. It’s a great tool to create content for your community that is gated and set up recurring memberships, and sell to your audience directly through your link-in-bio pages.
Instagram will only allow creators to promote a single link within their account description. This is why many Instagram creators make use of link-in-bio tools to build landing pages that house all their promotional and affiliate links. That’s precisely what Hypage is.
But, unlike other link-in-bio software, Hypage also lets you accept donations and requests directly from your customized landing page. It can also be used to offer recurring memberships, as well as other products, and share members-only content on your site.
It’s a two-in-one solution that replaces both link-in-bio tools like Linktree as well as membership-based platforms such as Patreon together in a tidy package.
And the most exciting part? Zero transaction charges on paid plans!
Key features
Create a link-in-bio landing page
Connect your own domain
Collect donations
Give premium content with a gated access
Sell digital products and memberships
Pricing
Start with a free plan. Paid plans with extra features and zero transaction fees start at $19/month.
7 – OnlyFans
OnlyFans is the ideal alternative for content creators of adult age. It’s a subscription-based social platform that allows fans to support their favorite creators through an annual subscription that grants members access to exclusive content.
What distinguishes OnlyFans in comparison to Patreon is its expansive policy on content that allows creators to promote content that isn’t in line with the guidelines of Patreon’s community. This includes adult-only content.
This is why OnlyFans has become very popular among adult content creators and the platform’s top earners have millions of dollars in earnings every month.
Key features
Functions as a social platform
Creators can interact with fans
Liberal content policies
Great for creators of adult content.
Large user base (high discoverability)
Pricing
It’s completely free to sign up to OnlyFans. However, the platform will take 20% of your subscription revenue.
8- Mighty Networks
Mighty Networks is a powerful community platform that lets you sell online community access as well as other materials such as online courses or livestreams.
Contrary to Patreon, Mighty Network lets you create a paid community on your own platform , with full ownership and complete control. It’s used by some the most popular YouTubers, such as Drew Binsky, Adriene Mishler and many more.
Mighty Networks also offers some innovative community-focused features that can’t find from other websites. Like, for instance, the cutting-edge Mighty Effect(tm) technology can personalize your members’ experiences by supplying their feeds with the most relevant subjects, groups, members and products, for example.
Key characteristics
Mighty Effect personalization technology
Welcome and Discovery sections for new members
Moderators and members are unlimited for all plans
You have complete control over your community
Native course builder
Rich member profiles
Livestreaming and native video uploads
Integrated analytics
Pricing
Plans start at $33 per month with no additional transaction costs. A free trial is available.
The pros & pros and Patreon
Let’s look at why Patreon might not be the ideal choice for every creator. Like any platform there are plenty of pros and cons. These are the major ones to know about.
Pros
Simple ways to make money for creators. If you’re an established influencer or creator who has many avid followers, Patreon offers an easy option to earn money from your followers by launching crowdfunding campaigns.
There are no upfront costs. Unlike some other platforms, Patreon doesn’t require an ongoing fee, meaning you can create your own page without cost. Patreon gets a percentage of your monthly revenue in the backend.
The model for recurring revenues. Patreon relies on an underlying subscription model. Patrons are required to make monthly payments, which means you’ll earn a stable monthly income , instead of having to rely on single-time donations.
Communication tools. With Patreon you can set up your own private community for members only and connect direct with patrons on the platform. You can also give them the ability to access exclusive content and more.
Flexible membership options and funding goals. With Patreon, you can create various membership levels with various benefits based on the amount your patrons will pledge.
A diverse creator base. Patreon is suitable for a variety of kinds of creators like YouTubers, streamers, musicians and podcasters, artists and writers.
Link to your WordPress website. Patreon offers a WordPress plugin that can be installed on your site to get the most benefit from making Patreons.
Cons
There aren’t any built-in marketing tools. If you don’t have an existing audience or community to make money from, it might be hard to build one through Patreon. The platform isn’t very effective in terms of tools for promotion and projects aren’t well-known.
Censorship. Patreon was the subject of controversy several years ago when it banned accounts that they claimed violated its community guidelines, which ban hatred speech. However, some conservative commentators believe these bans constitute an attack on free speech and have accused the site of bias towards political opinions. They later went on to block an account for an NGO that raised money for the Ukrainian army.
Uncapped fees. Patreon is a percentage of your income (either 5 percent, 8% or 12% based of the package you choose to sign up for) instead of a fixed fee. This means that those earning a lot could be paying hundreds of dollars every month in charges.
Subscriptions-only. Patreon does not allow single-off donations. Being asked to sign up to an ongoing monthly subscription could hinder many potential patrons from donating.
Less Control and Ownership. Patreon is an unaffiliated platform that you don’t own. In other words, you won’t enjoy the same degree of control or ownership as if you built your fan base on your website.
Bad for branding. If you’re on Patreon the audience you are targeting will be going to Patreon to view your content, rather than your own website with a brand name.
Picking the best Patreon alternative
The list is complete. the top Patreon alternatives. Hopefully, you found something that’s a good fit to your target audience in this list.
If you’re unsure what platform to choose Here’s a quick overview on our three best recommendations (you aren’t going to be disappointed with any of them):
Podia is the overall best Patreon alternative for the majority of creators. It is possible to build your own community website and sell memberships as well as other digital content without fees (on Paid plans).
Sellfy is another e-commerce platform that allows you to sell and create subscriptions. It’s designed specifically for creators and comes with some options that other platforms don’t have including built-in print-ondemand fulfillment.
Buy Me a Cup of Coffee is the most cost-effective Patreon alternative if you just need an easy way to get donations. Create your own website in just a couple of clicks and then begin taking donations and selling digital products, and receive instant Stripe payment.
If you’re still not sure, go ahead and try a no cost plan, or instead one of their free trial plans.