Fee structures reflect publicly published 2026 pricing. Confirm current rates before making a platform switch.
Patreon and Substack both sell recurring access to your work, but they take money in different ways and win at different sizes. The short version: Substack is cheaper on paper, Patreon is better at tiered and non-written products, and the deciding variable is usually churn, not fees.
Run your own numbers in the Patreon Revenue Calculator and the Substack Revenue Calculator.
The fee stack, side by side
- Substack: 10% platform fee + roughly 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction in card processing.
- Patreon: 8–12% platform fee depending on plan, plus payment processing of roughly 2.9% + $0.30 on larger pledges and a higher effective rate on small ones, plus payout fees.
On a $10/month subscription, both platforms land in the same neighborhood: you keep roughly $8.40–$8.70. The fee difference between them is real but small — typically 1–3 points.
Where the small-pledge penalty bites
The $0.30 flat processing fee is proportionally brutal on cheap tiers. At a $3/month pledge you lose about 10% to the flat fee alone before any platform cut, so your net is closer to 78–80%. At $15/month the same flat fee costs you 2%.
Practical takeaway: a $5 entry tier is usually a mistake unless it converts a meaningfully larger number of people. Two hundred members at $10 nets far more than four hundred at $5.
Worked comparison at three sizes
- 100 paying members at $8/mo: ~$800 gross → ~$672–$690 net on either platform. Fee differences are noise; pick on product fit.
- 1,000 paying members at $8/mo: ~$8,000 gross → roughly $6,700–$6,900 net. A 2-point fee gap is now ~$160/month — worth caring about.
- 5,000 paying members at $10/mo: ~$50,000 gross. At this size, negotiated processing rates and annual-plan mix matter more than the headline platform fee.
Churn is the real number
Monthly churn on creator subscriptions typically runs 4–8% for monthly plans and 1–3% effective for annual plans. At 6% monthly churn you replace your entire member base roughly every 16 months — which means acquisition, not fees, is the binding constraint.
Pushing annual plans is usually worth more than any platform migration. Moving 30% of members to annual at a 15–20% discount typically raises 12-month revenue per member despite the discount, because retention improves so much.
Choose Substack if…
- Your core product is written, and email is the delivery mechanism.
- You want discovery from the network's recommendation surface.
- You want a single price point with minimal tier management.
- You plan to sell newsletter sponsorships alongside subscriptions — see the newsletter sponsorship rate calculator.
Choose Patreon if…
- You produce video, audio, art, or community rather than essays.
- Tiered perks and one-off merch or shop items are part of the offer.
- You want a member community layer without running Discord as the paid product.
- Your audience already associates you with a podcast or YouTube channel.
The hybrid most full-time creators end up with
Free newsletter for reach → paid tier for recurring income → sponsorships against the free list → one high-ticket product (course, cohort, or consulting) for the top 2% of subscribers. That mix consistently out-earns a single-platform subscription business at the same audience size.
FAQ
Can I run both at once?
Yes, and plenty do — Substack for the written archive, Patreon for video and community. The cost is split attention and duplicated billing support.
Which is cheaper for a 1,000-subscriber newsletter?
Substack, marginally, but the difference is a few hundred dollars a year — smaller than the effect of a one-point churn improvement.
Do I own my subscriber list?
On both platforms you can export email addresses. Payment relationships do not transfer, so a migration always costs you some percentage of paying members.
How is this income taxed in the US?
As self-employment income. Set aside quarterly — see the quarterly estimated taxes guide.