Patreon is the best membership platform for most creators in 2026, because paid tiers are the whole product and there is nothing to build. It is not the cheapest. A new creator on Patreon keeps about $841 of every $1,000 in $10 US card payments, while Ko-fi Gold leaves $929 and Ghost leaves $899.
How we picked
We ranked six platforms by how well each one runs a paid membership, not by the overall score on its review. That meant weighing tiers, free members, gated posts and delivery to podcasts or Discord alongside what you keep from our standard test of 100 US card payments of $10. Every fee here comes from our platform reviews, and our scoring method explains the overall scores shown beside each pick.
| Platform and plan | Platform fee | Monthly plan | Keep of $1,000 in memberships |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ko-fi Gold | 0% | $12 | $929 |
| Ghost(Pro) Publisher | 0% | $35 | $899 |
| Ko-fi Free mode | 5% | $0 | $891 |
| Fourthwall | 5% | $0 | $891 |
| Buy Me a Coffee | 5%, plus 0.5% on subscriptions | $0 | $881 |
| Memberful | 4.9% | $49 | $843 |
| Patreon standard plan | 10% | $0 | $841 |
These figures are arithmetic on each platform’s published fees as of October 2026, with card processing included.
Why is Patreon the best membership platform for most creators?
Patreon ranks first because memberships are what it was built for, even though its overall score of 6.0 is the lowest of these six and every other pick leaves you more money. Ko-fi’s tiers sit on a tip page and Ghost’s are built around a newsletter. Fourthwall and Memberful send no one your way, while Patreon ties Ghost for the best discovery score here.
One fee covers a lot. Pages published after August 4, 2025 pay Patreon 10% plus 2.9% + $0.30 per US card payment. That buys paid tiers, free memberships that need only a name and email, a shop for one-time purchases from $3 to $5,000, ticketed livestreams, and up to 100 hours of video uploads a month once you have a paying fan. Many fans already have a Patreon login and a saved card, which shortens checkout. The $88 gap to Ko-fi Gold on $1,000 is the price of that toolkit.
Patreon pays out on demand once every 24 hours, and a US bank transfer costs $0.25. Two catches matter. Saved cards stay with Patreon, so leaving means every member subscribes again. Apple also takes 30% of purchases made in Patreon’s iOS app and that money stays pending for up to 75 days, though US fans can pay through mobile web checkout instead.
Is Ko-fi cheaper than Patreon for memberships?
Ko-fi is cheaper than Patreon at any size, because its highest membership fee is half of Patreon’s 10%. Free mode charges 5% with no monthly bill, which leaves $891 of $1,000, and Ko-fi Gold charges 0% for $12 a month, which leaves $929.
Gold pays for itself once memberships, shop sales and commissions pass $240 a month, since 5% of $240 is $12. Ko-fi tiers have a minimum monthly price that fans can pay above, and benefits can include supporter-only posts, Discord roles and physical rewards shipped to an address you collect. Every payment goes straight into your own PayPal or Stripe account, so Ko-fi never holds your money.
The trade is depth. Patreon adds free members and video hosting that Ko-fi’s tiers lack, and Ko-fi does little to send new fans your way.
Is Fourthwall good for memberships?
Fourthwall suits creators who want memberships and merch under their own brand, and it costs nothing until you sell. Fourthwall takes 5% of membership revenue plus 2.9% + $0.30 per US card, so 100 payments of $10 leave $891.
Memberships can include members-only video, audio, polls, private RSS feeds and Discord channel access. Members use a branded web app installed from the browser, so no Apple or Google fee applies. Order exports include each member’s email, and Fourthwall handles sales tax as merchant of record. We rank it above Ghost, which scores 7.0 to Fourthwall’s 6.2, because it fits video, audio and Discord memberships, not only writing. The weak spot is cash flow, with one payout a month, a $25 minimum and a manual site review before the first payout.
Who should use Memberful?
Memberful suits creators who already run a website and want members, cards and checkout under their own name. Memberful costs $49 a month plus 4.9% of each payment, with Stripe’s fees on top, so 100 US card payments of $10 leave $843.
That fixed $49 makes Memberful dearer than Patreon below about $956 a month and cheaper above it. At $5,000 a month, Memberful leaves $4,411 against Patreon’s $4,205 on the same arithmetic. Members pay into your own Stripe account, checkout can run on your own domain, and you can export members, orders and subscriptions as CSV files at any time.
We rank Memberful above Ghost, which scores 7.0 overall to Memberful’s 6.1, because Memberful delivers more kinds of membership. It gates posts on WordPress, runs private podcast feeds, assigns Discord roles by plan and syncs members to Kit or Mailchimp. Ghost is the better publishing tool, but a podcaster with an existing site fits Memberful better.
Skip Memberful if you are starting out, because it finds you no fans and works only with Stripe.
When is Ghost the right membership platform?
Ghost is the right pick when your membership is a publication and a large share of your list pays. Ghost takes 0% of memberships, so your costs are Stripe and a Ghost(Pro) plan, and Publisher at $35 a month for up to 1,000 members leaves about $899 of $1,000.
The catch is that Ghost(Pro) prices by every member, free or paid. Publisher costs $105 a month at 10,000 members, so a big free list with few paying readers gets expensive. Members pay into your own Stripe account, and because Ghost is open source you can host it yourself with the same 0% fee. Writers weighing Ghost against Substack should read our Substack vs Ghost comparison.
Is Buy Me a Coffee good for memberships?
Buy Me a Coffee is good for simple tiers sold next to a tip button, and fans pay in one tap without making an account. Buy Me a Coffee takes a flat 5% with no monthly fee. Memberships carry an extra 0.5% subscription charge on top of a 0.5% payout processing charge, which leaves $881 of $1,000.
Its tiers cover monthly or yearly billing, member limits, discount codes, 7-day free trials and one lifetime tier per account. Your first payout waits for a manual account review and typically takes 7 to 14 days. We rank Buy Me a Coffee last because Ko-fi charges the same 5% on memberships, skips the subscription surcharge and pays out instantly.
How to choose a membership platform
Start with what members get, then run the fee math at your current revenue. These rules come from the published fees above.
- Pick Patreon if you want free members, video and a shop in one place and nothing to maintain.
- Pick Ko-fi in Free mode while memberships and sales stay under $240 a month, then move to Gold.
- Pick Fourthwall if you sell merch too, or want members on a branded app with no app store cut.
- Pick Memberful once you clear about $956 a month and already run your own site.
- Pick Ghost if you publish writing and most of your list pays.
- Pick Buy Me a Coffee if most support arrives as one-off tips and you want the quickest checkout for fans.
Our Patreon vs Ko-fi and Patreon vs Memberful comparisons work through the two closest calls. Ownership is the hardest choice to undo. Memberful and Ghost keep subscriptions in your own Stripe account, while Patreon keeps members’ saved cards, so moving away from Patreon later costs you every member who does not re-subscribe.