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CompareVerified 2026-11-07

MemberPad vs Patreon

Patreon is the best understood way to turn an audience into paying members, with native video, livestreaming and private podcast feeds and no monthly fee. MemberPad charges one point less, adds courses and live rooms, and puts the whole thing on a domain you own.

The short version

Choose Patreon if

  • Your audience already knows what Patreon is. That familiarity is worth real money at the moment somebody decides whether to pay, and nothing on our side substitutes for it.1
  • You want a private podcast feed and the widest possible app support. Patreon syncs shows to Spotify as well as issuing feeds, where MemberPad’s one tap subscribe covers Apple Podcasts and Overcast only.1
  • Members messaging each other matters and you do not want a paywall on it. Patreon includes chat and direct messages outright, and on MemberPad starting a direct message needs the sender on a paid tier.1
  • You want an email list with no meter on it. Patreon includes newsletters and an exportable list, and MemberPad counts sends against a monthly allowance.1

It is a tie on

  • Neither charges a monthly platform fee, so both are genuinely free to set up and only cost anything once a member pays you something.1
  • Both host podcast audio and hand paid members a private feed, which is rarer than it sounds and puts both well ahead of most community platforms.1
  • Both support membership tiers, one time payments, discounts, trials and real apps on iPhone and Android for members to consume it all in.1

Choose MemberPad if

  • You teach. Patreon names no course product at all, and MemberPad has modules, lessons, graded quizzes, reviewed assignments and certificates on completion.1
  • You want the address to be yours. Patreon does not name custom domains, so your membership lives at patreon.com. MemberPad puts any community on its own domain without an upgrade.1
  • You want to keep one more point. Patreon takes 10% of what you earn and MemberPad takes 9%, and on both the payment processing sits on top of that.1
  • You want to run the room, not just broadcast into it. Patreon has livestreaming, and MemberPad adds two way video rooms, audio rooms and chat rooms with presence.1

At a glance

One row per category. The full table, with every row and every source, is further down.

The eight categories at a glance. Every row here also appears in the full table below.
CapabilityPatreonMemberPad
Real time chatThe difference between a forum people check weekly and a room they sit in.YesCommunity chat is a named part of the product1YesLive rooms with typing and presence, free on every community9
Build courses inside the platformA course hosted somewhere else is a second login and a second bill.NoNo course product is named on the pricing page1YesCourses, modules and lessons, with video uploaded here or linked from YouTube9
Private member only podcast feedA private feed puts your paid show in the app people already listen in.YesEpisodes distribute to paid members over RSS1YesAn RSS feed unique to each member, authenticated per person9
Broadcast to an audienceOne to many video, where the audience watches rather than joins.YesNative livestreaming, with no paid tier requirement1YesAny audience size, but the community needs one paid tier9
What the platform takesThe number that decides how much of every membership actually reaches you.Different10% of income, plus processing, currency and payout fees3Different9% of what a member pays, and nothing at all before that8
Desktop appA window that stays open is very different from a tab that gets closed.NoNo desktop application is offered to creators or patrons1YesWindows and macOS installers that update themselves10
On demand video libraryA back catalog people can browse is worth more than the same videos buried in a feed.DifferentNative video, arranged as a feed rather than a library1YesUploads or YouTube links, browsable, with progress, bookmarks and comments9
Start without paying anythingWhat you owe in the months before the community is earning anything at all.YesNothing up front. You only pay when you start earning1YesNothing. There is no MemberPad subscription to buy8

What each one costs

These two are the closest on price of any pair in this comparison. Patreon takes 10% of what you earn and MemberPad takes 9%, neither charges a monthly fee, and on both the payment processing is charged separately on top.1

One point of difference on a thousand dollars a month is ten dollars, which is not a reason to move anything. Anyone telling you to switch platforms over this particular gap is selling you something, and in this case that would be us.4

Patreon also names currency conversion and payout fees as additional, without stating what they are. Those are worth checking against your own audience, because a creator paid mostly in one currency and a creator paid in a dozen will see very different bills.3

Patreon

$0/moplus 10% of each sale

  • No monthly fee
  • Processing charged on top
  • Currency and payout fees additional

MemberPad

$0/moplus 9% of each sale

  • No plans and no tiers
  • Processing charged by Stripe
  • No feature behind a higher plan

What each one takes on top

Where a percentage is shown above, Patreon charges it on top of card processing, which Stripe bills separately, so what a sale really costs is the two added together. MemberPad takes 9% of what a member actually pays you, and card processing sits on top of ours as well, billed by Stripe on your own account. There is one plan, nothing is held back behind a higher one, and a month where nobody pays you costs nothing.

There is no crossover to find, and this time it runs our way. On fees alone Patreon costs the same or more than MemberPad at every level of revenue, so whatever the reason to choose them is, it is not the cut they take.

Community

One is built for fans, the other for members

Patreon is built around the relationship between one creator and many supporters. Chats and direct messages are included and work well, and the whole experience is designed so a fan can go from watching to paying in about four taps.1

What it is not designed for is members talking to each other in a place that feels like somewhere. There are no topic spaces with their own membership, no presence, and no sense of a room that is busier on a Tuesday night.1

MemberPad is the other shape. Chat rooms grouped into sections, presence and typing, profiles people build, follows and blocks. The one thing Patreon does better here is direct messages, which are open to everyone there and need a paid tier on ours.

Courses

Patreon has no course product, and does not claim one

This is the widest gap on the page. Patreon names no course product anywhere on its pricing page, and a creator teaching something on Patreon is posting lessons into a feed and hoping people find them in order.1

Scheduled posts get part of the way there, since you can publish on a date and build something that resembles a sequence. What you cannot do is track who finished, gate the next thing on the last thing, or hand anyone a certificate.1

MemberPad has courses with modules and lessons, quizzes that hold the next lesson closed until a member passes, assignments that come back to you for review, and a certificate at the end. If teaching is any part of the plan, that is the comparison.

Podcasting

Both do this properly, and Patreon reaches one more app

Private podcast feeds are the thing most community platforms cannot do, and both of these can. Patreon hosts audio, imports existing shows, and gets episodes to paying patrons through a feed their podcast app understands.1

Patreon is ahead on reach. It names a Spotify integration alongside RSS, and MemberPad’s one tap subscribe covers Apple Podcasts and Overcast, with everything else needing a member to paste a feed URL by hand.1

Where MemberPad pulls level is what surrounds the show. The same membership that unlocks the feed also unlocks courses, a video library, live rooms and files, so a podcast can be one part of an offer rather than the whole of it.

Live

Streaming on both, and only one of them is free to start

Patreon has native livestreaming with no published hour cap and no paid tier requirement, which is genuinely better than what a new MemberPad community gets on day one.1

MemberPad requires at least one paid tier in your own community before any live feature will start, and then meters a pool of participant minutes that begins at roughly three hours of broadcasting a month and grows with revenue.

What MemberPad adds is the formats Patreon does not have. Two way video rooms for office hours and coaching, audio rooms for the lower effort kind of session people actually turn up to, and replays saved to the library automatically.

Money

Nine against ten, which is not a reason to move

The fee comparison here is almost a tie and it would be dishonest to dress it up. Patreon takes 10%, MemberPad takes 9%, neither charges anything monthly, and processing sits on top for both.1

At a thousand dollars a month that one point is ten dollars, which no reasonable person should uproot a membership for. If price is the only thing pulling you, the honest advice is to stay where your audience already is.

Where the money conversation gets more interesting is what each fee is buying. Patreon is paying for reach and familiarity. MemberPad is paying for a wider product, including the course and live tooling Patreon has no answer for.1

Access

Their app is more familiar, ours runs on more screens

The Patreon app is on a great many phones already, and a patron joining your membership very often does not need to install anything. That is a real advantage at the exact moment somebody is deciding.1

MemberPad matches on iPhone and Android and adds Windows and macOS desktop applications, which Patreon does not offer. For a membership people dip into that is irrelevant, and for one people work alongside it is not.

The thing neither feature list captures is installed base. A fan who already supports three creators on Patreon has the app, a payment method saved and the habit of opening it, and starting a membership somewhere new means asking for all three of those again.

Content

A feed, against a set of named places

Everything on Patreon is a post. Audio, video, images, text, all flowing down one timeline with tier gating on each. It is simple to understand and it is the reason Patreon memberships often feel like a stream rather than a place.1

MemberPad splits content into sections that stay put: a video library with progress and bookmarks, a file library, photo albums, notebooks, events, polls and a shop. Older material stays findable rather than scrolling away.

A feed is a good place to publish and a poor place to keep things. Work from eight months ago is technically still there and practically gone, which is why so many Patreon creators end up maintaining an index post by hand and updating it every few weeks.

Value

The real question is whose address it lives at

The fee is nearly identical, so the decision comes down to something else, and the honest version of that something else is ownership. A Patreon membership lives at patreon.com, discovered partly through Patreon, and Patreon does not name custom domains.1

That cuts both ways and it would be unfair to present it only as a cost. Being on Patreon means being somewhere fans already trust with a card on file, and a brand new domain nobody has heard of converts worse than a familiar one.

So the case for moving is not about fees. It is about whether you need to teach, to run live sessions with faces in them, and to own the address the whole thing sits at. If none of those apply, Patreon is doing its job.

Everything we checked

Every row carries a note rather than a tick, and every claim about Patreon links to the page it came from.

Patreon and MemberPad compared. Every claim about Patreon is sourced, and was last checked on 2026-11-07.
CapabilityPatreonMemberPad
Community Whether people actually talk to each other, and what happens when the room gets busy.
Separate spaces for separate topicsOne undifferentiated feed is where a growing community starts to feel noisy.PartialChats exist, but not topic spaces with their own membership1YesChat rooms grouped into sections, beside one community feed9
Real time chatThe difference between a forum people check weekly and a room they sit in.YesCommunity chat is a named part of the product1YesLive rooms with typing and presence, free on every community9
Direct messages between membersMembers who can reach each other privately stay for each other, not only for you.YesDirect messaging is included with no tier requirement1PartialOne to one or groups of up to 10, but starting one needs a paid tier9
Member profilesA face and a history is what turns an account into a person other members recognize.PartialPatron records and analytics rather than member facing profiles1YesPublic profiles with follows, blocks and private member notes9
Moderation toolsWhoever helps you run the place needs powers that stop short of your own.PartialCreator controls exist without a published role system1YesPick each moderator's powers: moderate messages, time out, ban9
Points, levels or a leaderboardVisible progress is one of the few things that reliably brings people back daily.NoNo points, levels or badges are offered anywhere1YesPoints, levels, streaks, badges, celebrations, and a leaderboard the creator switches on9
Courses Whether you can teach something and check that it landed, not just publish videos.
Build courses inside the platformA course hosted somewhere else is a second login and a second bill.NoNo course product is named on the pricing page1YesCourses, modules and lessons, with video uploaded here or linked from YouTube9
Course video hosted for youEmbedding from YouTube means your paid lessons live on someone else’s player.DifferentNative video hosting, but as posts rather than lessons1YesHosted and streamed by us, uploads capped at 1080p9
Quizzes and graded assessmentsChecking that someone learned it is the difference between a course and a playlist.NoNothing to answer and nothing to grade here1YesGraded quizzes that hold the next lesson shut until passed9
Assignments you reviewWork handed in and marked up is what cohort programs are built on.NoNo mechanism for a member to submit work1YesAssignments a creator reviews, approves or sends back9
Certificates on completionA certificate is the thing a member posts, which is free marketing for you.NoNothing is completed, so nothing is issued1YesGenerated on completion, in the community accent color9
Release lessons on a scheduleDrip keeps a cohort together and stops a member finishing in a weekend and leaving.DifferentPosts publish on a date, which is close but not lesson release1YesOn a fixed date, or a number of days after each member starts9
Courses that unlock by taking partEarning your way into the next course is a reason to show up that a paywall never gives anybody.NoTiers decide access, and there is no level to reach1YesA course can open at a level, showing the climb rather than a paywall9
Podcasting Whether a paid show reaches members in the app they already listen in.
Host podcast audioPodcast hosting is otherwise a separate product and a separate monthly bill.YesAudio posts plus podcast importing and syncing1YesAudio hosted here, organized into shows and episodes9
Private member only podcast feedA private feed puts your paid show in the app people already listen in.YesEpisodes distribute to paid members over RSS1YesAn RSS feed unique to each member, authenticated per person9
Plays in normal podcast appsAudio that only plays on the website is not really a podcast.YesFeeds plus a direct Spotify integration for listeners1PartialOne tap subscribe covers Apple Podcasts and Overcast only9
Lock a show to a paid tierAudio is one of the easiest things to charge for, if the platform lets you.YesEpisodes are gated by the tier a patron is on1YesA whole show can be held to a paid tier9
Live experiences What you can run live, and whether the platform runs it or points at something else.
Broadcast to an audienceOne to many video, where the audience watches rather than joins.YesNative livestreaming, with no paid tier requirement1YesAny audience size, but the community needs one paid tier9
Two way video roomsOffice hours, coaching calls and cohort sessions all need faces on both sides.NoStreaming is one to many, with no two way room1YesTwo way rooms, and again a paid tier is required9
Audio only roomsFar lower effort to show up to than video, so far more people do.NoNo audio only room format exists on Patreon1YesAudio only rooms with a stage, paid tier required9
Replays saved automaticallyMost of a live session’s value is watched by people who missed it.PartialA stream can be kept as a post afterwards1YesSaved automatically and publishable to the video library9
How live time is meteredEvery platform meters live somehow, and the shape of the limit decides what you can run.DifferentNo published hour or viewer cap on livestreaming1DifferentA monthly minute pool that grows with your own revenue8
Monetization How money gets from a member to you, and how much of it survives the trip.
Recurring paid membershipsRecurring revenue is the reason most creators move onto a platform at all.YesMonthly and annual membership tiers are the core product1YesMonthly and yearly tiers, charged on your own Stripe account8
One time purchasesNot everything should be a subscription, and not every buyer wants one.YesOne time payments sit alongside recurring membership1YesAny piece of content can be sold once instead of gated9
Digital products and downloadsA template pack or a preset is often the first thing a member ever buys.YesA Shop tab sells digital products, posts and collections6YesDownloads or external links, sold from a shop tab9
Sell physical merch you shipA shirt, a record or a print is something a fan will buy long before a membership.PartialMailed perks on a tier with an address, but the Shop sells digital only567YesVariants, stock and shipping rates. You ship within the US, and buyers need no account9
Coupons and promo codesA launch or a seasonal offer needs a code you can hand out and expire.YesDiscounts are part of the standard growth tools1YesPercent or amount, once, repeating or forever, scoped per tier9
Free trials on a paid tierA trial is the cheapest way to show someone what is behind the wall.YesFree trials on a tier are supported directly1YesUp to 365 days, with the card taken up front9
Affiliate program for membersMembers who earn for referring are the cheapest growth channel there is.NoNo member facing referral program is offered1YesMembers earn a commission on referrals at a rate you set9
What the platform takesThe number that decides how much of every membership actually reaches you.Different10% of income, plus processing, currency and payout fees3Different9% of what a member pays, and nothing at all before that8
Access Every screen a member might open it on, and whether it feels native there.
Web appWhere most members will actually read, and the only surface search engines see.YesThe web experience is where most patrons read1YesA full web app, server rendered for speed and search10
iPhone appPush notifications and a home screen icon are what make a community a habit.YesA widely used shared app on the App Store1YesPublished on the App Store as a native app10
Android appHalf the phones in most audiences, and often the majority outside the US.YesThe same shared app covers Android patrons1YesPublished on Google Play as a native app10
Desktop appA window that stays open is very different from a tab that gets closed.NoNo desktop application is offered to creators or patrons1YesWindows and macOS installers that update themselves10
Your own domainThe address decides whether the community reads as yours or as rented.NoCustom domains are not named anywhere on the pricing page1YesYour own domain on any community, with no upgrade9
Content What else can live alongside the conversation without a second product.
Posts with mediaThe everyday surface. Whatever is awkward to post here will simply not get posted.YesAudio, image and text posts with their own editors1YesCreators and admins post text, sixteen images, video and polls, and members comment and react9
On demand video libraryA back catalog people can browse is worth more than the same videos buried in a feed.DifferentNative video, arranged as a feed rather than a library1YesUploads or YouTube links, browsable, with progress, bookmarks and comments9
Events and a calendarAnything recurring needs a place members can see it coming.NoNo calendar or event product is named at all1YesRepeating events with timezones, RSVPs, a waitlist, and reminders to everyone going9
File libraryTemplates, worksheets and swipe files are what members quietly value most.PartialFiles attach to posts rather than forming a library1YesA file library, 50 MB a file, folders one level deep9
PollsThe lowest effort thing a quiet member will ever do, and often their first.PartialNot named on the pricing page either way1YesIn posts and in chat rooms, results hidden until you vote9
A public page that sells the communityThe page a stranger lands on decides whether they ever become a member.YesA public creator page anyone can find and join from1YesA public page by default, a block builder, and a link in bio page9
Value What the whole arrangement costs you, including the parts that are not the fee.
Start without paying anythingWhat you owe in the months before the community is earning anything at all.YesNothing up front. You only pay when you start earning1YesNothing. There is no MemberPad subscription to buy8
Members without a capA member cap turns your own growth into a bill you did not plan for.YesNo cap on patrons on any part of the product1YesMembers, communities, posts, courses and tiers are all uncapped8
Email your membersEmail is the only channel you keep if the platform ever goes away.YesNewsletters plus an exportable list, with no meter1Partial5,000 sends a month to start, growing with your revenue8
API and webhooksThe difference between a platform you can build around and one you cannot.PartialAn API exists but is not named on the pricing page1YesA documented public API and outbound webhooks9
Remove the platform brandingWhether the product reads as entirely yours, or visibly built on someone else.NoEverything sits on patreon.com under Patreon branding1NoA Powered by MemberPad link always sits on the public page9

Moving from Patreon to MemberPad

  1. Export your patron list before anything else

    Patreon includes an exportable list, and that export is the only asset that genuinely transfers. Do it first, and do it before you announce anything.

  2. Rebuild tiers as MemberPad billing plans

    Patreon tiers map cleanly onto MemberPad tiers. Keep the prices and names identical for the first month so members recognize what they are re subscribing to.

  3. Move the podcast feed deliberately

    Both platforms issue private feeds, so this is a real migration for your listeners. Every member needs to subscribe to a new feed URL, and that is worth a dedicated email rather than a line in a post.

  4. Decide what the posts become

    A Patreon back catalog is one long feed. On MemberPad it can stay a feed, or become a video library, a course or a notebook, and older material is far easier to find once it has a home.

  5. Point a domain at it and tell people twice

    This is the part that is genuinely better afterwards. Custom domains are ungated on MemberPad, so the membership can live at your own address from the first day.

What does not come across

Patreon discovery goes away entirely. Some proportion of any Patreon income arrives from people browsing Patreon rather than from your own audience, and MemberPad’s directory and creator recommendations will not replace it on day one. Look at where your patrons actually came from before assuming it is small.1

Every patron has to re subscribe by hand, because payment methods do not transfer between platforms. Expect to lose some, and expect the ones you lose to be the least engaged rather than a random sample.

Your podcast listeners lose their feed. They have to subscribe again to a new URL in whatever app they use, and listeners who never open email are the hardest group to reach with that instruction.

Physical perks on a tier do not carry over. Patreon lets a tier ask for a shipping address so you can mail members something, and MemberPad merch is a separate order a fan pays for, with no way to attach an item to a tier or collect addresses from members.5

Questions people actually ask

Is MemberPad cheaper than Patreon?

Slightly. MemberPad takes 9% of what a member pays and Patreon takes 10%, neither charges a monthly platform fee, and both have payment processing charged on top. On a thousand dollars a month that difference is about ten dollars, which is not on its own a reason to move a membership.

Can I run courses on Patreon?

Not properly. Patreon names no course product, so teaching there means posting lessons into a feed with tier gating and hoping people work through them in order. There is no completion tracking, nothing gated on finishing the previous lesson, and no certificate at the end.

Does MemberPad support private podcast feeds like Patreon?

Yes, and this is one of the few rows where both platforms do the hard thing. MemberPad hosts the audio and issues every member their own authenticated RSS feed. Patreon reaches one more place, since it names a Spotify integration where our one tap subscribe covers Apple Podcasts and Overcast.

Can I use my own domain instead of patreon.com?

Not on Patreon, which does not name custom domains anywhere on its pricing page, so your membership lives at a patreon.com address. MemberPad does not gate custom domains at all, so any community can sit on an address you own from the day it is created.

What is the best Patreon alternative for creators who teach?

MemberPad is a reasonable answer if teaching matters, since it adds courses with graded quizzes, reviewed assignments and certificates that Patreon has no equivalent for. Scheduled release works here too, on a date or a number of days after each member starts, where Patreon can only publish a post on a date and hope people read them in order.

Will I lose members if I move off Patreon?

Almost certainly some. Payment methods do not transfer between platforms, so every patron has to re subscribe by hand, and you also give up whatever share of your income arrived from people browsing Patreon itself. Check your own traffic sources before assuming that share is small.

What is the best Patreon alternative in 2026?

There is no single answer, because Patreon is doing several jobs. For a paid podcast and a membership, MemberPad and Substack both host audio with private feeds. For teaching, MemberPad adds assessed courses that Patreon has no equivalent for. For pure reach, staying on Patreon is often the honest recommendation.

How much does Patreon take?

Patreon's own pricing page states 10% of the income you earn, with payment processing, currency conversion and payout fees additional on top and referred to a support article rather than stated there. MemberPad takes 9% with Stripe charged separately, so the headline gap between the two is a single point.

Can I keep my Patreon and add MemberPad?

Some creators do, usually keeping Patreon as the front door for discovery and running courses or live sessions somewhere it works properly. It costs you a second bill and a second place to maintain, so it is worth doing deliberately for a reason rather than drifting into it because a migration felt hard.

How this was checked

Every figure about another platform on these pages came from that platform’s own published pricing, feature or documentation pages, and each one is listed with the date it was read. Where a company does not publish an answer, the page says that rather than guessing at one.

Nothing here is based on testing a competitor’s product hands on, and no page claims otherwise. Claims about MemberPad are checked against the code that ships rather than against our own marketing, which is why several of them are unflattering.

Fee comparisons put both sides on the same footing. Some platforms quote a percentage that already covers card processing and some quote one that sits on top of it, and treating those two numbers as the same thing is the most common way a comparison like this misleads.

Last verified

Who published it

This comparison was written and published by MemberPad, so read it knowing we make one of the two products in it. We have tried to earn your trust the only way that works, which is by being specific about what the other platform does better and where ours falls short.

Competitor pricing and features change. If you find something here that is out of date or wrong, the sources and the date we checked them are listed on every page so you can see exactly what we were looking at, and we would rather hear about it than have it sit here.

Drew AumanFounder, MemberPad

Sources

  1. 1PricingPatreon · patreon.com · checked 2026-09-17
  2. 2A standard platform fee for new creatorsPatreon · support.patreon.com · checked 2026-11-07
  3. 3Pricing, what Patreon costsPatreon · patreon.com · checked 2026-09-17
  4. 4PricingStripe · stripe.com · checked 2026-11-07
  5. 5Get members' shipping addressesPatreon · support.patreon.com · checked 2026-10-20
  6. 6Selling one-time purchases on PatreonPatreon · support.patreon.com · checked 2026-10-20
  7. 7Add Merch for Membership to your tiersPatreon · support.patreon.com · checked 2026-10-20
  8. 8PricingMemberPad · memberpad.com · checked 2026-11-07
  9. 9FeaturesMemberPad · memberpad.com · checked 2026-11-07
  10. 10AppsMemberPad · memberpad.com · checked 2026-11-07

Other comparisons

MemberPad vs SubstackA far more capable product than its newsletter reputation suggests, with real podcast feeds, native live streaming and a network that sends you readers. It has no courses, and no rooms for members to meet in.MemberPad vs CircleThe most polished community product in this comparison, with a real website builder and automations. You pay for it every month whether the community earns or not.MemberPad vs DiscordThe best real time chat and voice anywhere, free, on every device including consoles. Its monetization is United States only, capped at three tiers, and restricted by a content policy worth reading before you build on it.All comparisonsEvery platform in one table, with the sources behind each row.

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