Memberful vs Patreon Comparison 2026
Memberful sells memberships from a site you already run, $49 a month plus 4.9 percent of what members pay, with nothing charged until the first payment lands. Patreon costs nothing to open and takes 10 percent of member income instead, no monthly fee at all, but moves your audience onto its platform rather than your own. Below about $960 a month in member payments Patreon's pure percentage costs less; above it, Memberful's flat fee plus smaller cut pulls ahead.
Paid memberships bolted onto a site you own
Membership tiers and posts for paying supporters
At a glance
- Only Patreon has a free tier.
- Memberful takes 4.9% of what you earn against Patreon's 10%.
Side by side
Memberful | Patreon | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $49 | Free |
| Pricing model (they differ) | Paid subscription | Free |
| Free tier (they differ) | No | Yes |
| Billing (they differ) | Monthly or annual | Usage-based |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Yes |
Memberful
Paid memberships bolted onto a site you own
Memberful sells memberships from a site you already run rather than moving your audience to a platform, and it is the tool most WordPress publishers reach for when they start charging. One price covers everything and the money is charged on top as a percentage. Nothing is billed until a first payment comes in, so a launch that never launches costs nothing.
Our note
The 4.9 percent is the number to model, because it is charged on revenue rather than on profit: at $2,000 a month collected it is about double the subscription. Against Ghost, which takes nothing, this wins on flexibility and loses on arithmetic once you are large.
Patreon
Membership tiers and posts for paying supporters
Patreon is still where most audiences expect to pay a creator monthly, and that familiarity is worth something. Tiers, member-only posts, and now paid courses and shops. The platform fee is 10 percent of what you earn, before payment processing.
Our note
Patreon costs more than Ko-fi and more than running memberships yourself, and what you buy with the difference is recognition: a listener who hears the word already knows what to do. Once an audience would follow you anywhere, that premium stops earning its keep.
Why people weigh these two
- Patreon instead of Memberful
- Patreon costs nothing to start and comes with an audience that already has cards on file, trading Memberful's own-site setup for a platform readers already trust.
- Memberful instead of Patreon
- Memberful bolts membership tiers onto a site you already own rather than a page on Patreon's own platform, for a creator who wants the relationship on their own domain.
Which one should you pick
Pick Memberful if you already have a site, especially on WordPress, and want subscriptions without moving your audience anywhere. The math favors it once collected income passes about $960 a month, since the fixed $49 stops mattering as revenue grows and the 4.9 percent cut is half of Patreon's 10 percent. Below that income, you are paying more for the flexibility.
Pick Patreon if your audience already expects to support a creator monthly there, particularly from YouTube or a podcast, since naming it needs no explanation. There is no monthly fee, only 10 percent of what members pay, which makes it the cheaper option under roughly $960 a month in member income. Payment processing and payout fees still come off separately, so the real amount landing in your account is under 90 percent of what a member paid.
Common questions
- Which one is cheaper?
- It depends how much members pay you. Below about $960 a month in member income, Patreon's 10 percent with no monthly fee costs less. Above that, Memberful's $49 flat fee plus 4.9 percent works out cheaper, since the fixed cost matters less as revenue grows.
- Does Memberful move my audience the way Patreon does?
- No. Memberful adds paywalls and accounts to a site you already run, so your audience never leaves it. Patreon is the opposite: it is where the audience already is, or expects to be, which is worth something in recognition even though it costs more at higher revenue.
- Does either charge before I earn anything?
- No, to both, but differently. Memberful charges nothing until your first payment comes in, then $49 a month plus the transaction fee. Patreon has no monthly fee ever, only the 10 percent taken from what members actually pay.
- Which one includes a built-in community space?
- Patreon does, a members' chat inside the platform that can replace a separate Discord for paying supporters. Memberful has no equivalent; it adds billing and access control to your own site rather than a social space.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.