Growing an audience
Running the business
Both cover community platforms. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
| NodeBB | Patreon | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $20 | Free |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Usage-based |
| Free trial | 14 days | Not stated |
| API | Not stated | Yes |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | Not stated | 10% of what you earn |
| Runs on | Web | Not stated |
| Covers | Community Platforms | Memberships & Subscriptions, Community Platforms, Monetization & Payments |
| Works with | Nothing in particular | YouTube, Podcast, Discord |
| Founded | Not listed | Not listed |
| Reader rating | No reviews yet | No reviews yet |
| Live deals | None right now | None right now |
Forum software you can host yourself
NodeBB is forum software in the old sense, with categories and threads, built on Node.js and released under the GPL. You can run it on your own server for nothing, or pay NodeBB to host it and keep the plugins and backups somebody else's problem. Hosted plans are sized by pageviews rather than by seats, so a busy community with three moderators costs the same as a quiet one with thirty.
Our note
Take the self-hosted route only if somebody on your side is comfortable keeping a Node application patched. Otherwise the $20 plan is cheaper than the hours, and it is the same software either way.
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.
Only on this side
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.