Spotify for Creators is the best platform for most podcasters, because it hosts your show for free, distributes the RSS feed to other apps and pays Partner Program shows 50% of ad revenue. If you film your show, put it on YouTube as well, where discovery is far stronger and ad revenue opens at 1,000 subscribers plus 4,000 watch hours. For bonus episodes that listeners pay for, add a membership platform, and Patreon is the simplest place to start.
| Platform | What it pays you for | Platform cut | Keep of $1,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spotify for Creators | Ads, Premium video revenue, Memberships | 50% of ads, 10% of Memberships | $900 on Memberships |
| YouTube | Ads, Premium, memberships, Supers | 45% of long-form ads, 30% of memberships | $700 on web memberships |
| Patreon | Paid memberships | 10% plus processing | $841 |
| Fourthwall | Memberships and merch | 5% on memberships plus processing | $891 |
| Memberful | Memberships with private feeds | 4.9% plus $49 a month and processing | $843 |
The last column is arithmetic on published fees as of October 2026, for 100 US payments of $10 through each platform’s main fan payment product.
How we picked
We ranked these platforms by fit for a podcast, not by the overall score next to each pick, which comes from our methodology. Spotify for Creators scores 5.9, below Patreon’s 6.0, Memberful’s 6.1 and Fourthwall’s 6.2, mostly because the Partner Program has eligibility gates and pays monthly. We still rank it first. Every show needs a host, Spotify’s costs nothing, and it sends your feed to other podcast apps. YouTube scores 4.6, the lowest here, because ad revenue sits behind 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours and YouTube scores 2 of 10 on ownership. We rank it second because its discovery score of 9 is the best of the five. Patreon sits above Fourthwall and Memberful because it needs no website and pays out on demand once every 24 hours.
Why is Spotify for Creators the best place to host a podcast?
Spotify for Creators hosts podcasts for free with unlimited storage and sends your RSS feed to other podcast apps, so it can be your only host. Spotify says its share of ad revenue from monetized shows pays for that free hosting.
The Spotify Partner Program is the reason to stay. Since January 2026 a show qualifies with 3 published episodes, 2,000 consumption hours and 1,000 audience members on Spotify in the last 30 days, in 56 markets. Spotify pays 50% of the revenue from ads it places in your episodes, on Spotify and in other apps, plus a share of Premium revenue when Premium members watch your video episodes. Spotify does not publish that Premium formula, and audio-only episodes earn none of it.
Memberships replaced Podcast Subscriptions on October 20, 2026. You can charge for bonus or ad-free episodes in up to 3 tiers, and Spotify keeps a flat 10% with processing included, which leaves $900 of $1,000. Partner Program earnings pay monthly with a $10 minimum after a 30-day onboarding period. Memberships are new, so we would not move a large paying audience onto them yet.
Should podcasters put their show on YouTube?
Yes, if you film it. YouTube scores 9 of 10 on discovery in our reviews, and it pays 55% of net ad revenue on long-form videos once a channel has 1,000 subscribers plus 4,000 public watch hours in 12 months, or 10 million Shorts views in 90 days.
The bar rises for new applicants on February 1, 2027, to 8,000 watch hours or 20 million Shorts views, so a show near 4,000 hours should apply before then. Channel memberships and Super Chat open earlier, at 500 subscribers with 3,000 watch hours in a year, and pay 70% of net revenue. As arithmetic on that split, 100 members paying $10 on the web leave you $700.
YouTube pays once a month through AdSense, between the 21st and 26th, after your balance reaches $100. Its ownership score is 2 of 10, so use YouTube to grow the show and a membership platform to hold your paying fans.
Is Patreon good for paid podcast episodes?
Patreon is the easiest way to sell bonus episodes if you want nothing to build. Patreon takes 10% from creators who published after August 4, 2025, plus 2.9% + $0.30 per payment, which leaves about $841 of $1,000.
Spotify Open Access lets Patreon members listen to their paid episodes inside Spotify, with Patreon handling the billing. Free memberships let listeners follow you on Patreon before they pay, and you can withdraw earnings once every 24 hours.
Two costs need watching. The flat $0.30 takes a bigger share of small tiers, and inside Patreon’s iOS app Apple takes 30%, which Patreon covers by default with in-app prices about 43% higher than on the web.
Should podcasters use Fourthwall for memberships and merch?
Fourthwall suits a show that wants paid episodes and merch under its own brand. Memberships cost 5% plus processing, which leaves $891 of $1,000, and can include members-only audio and video, private RSS feeds and Discord channel access.
Fourthwall prints and ships merch from its catalog with no fee beyond each product’s listed base cost, and it connects to YouTube’s merch shelf. Members get a branded mobile web app that installs from the browser, so no Apple or Google fee applies.
The cost is cash flow. Fourthwall pays once a month with a $25 minimum, and a new shop’s first payout waits for a manual site review.
Who should use Memberful for a podcast?
Memberful is for an established show with its own website that earns more than about $1,000 a month from listeners. Each member gets a private, secure copy of your RSS feed to add to Spotify or the podcast app they already use.
Memberful costs $49 a month plus 4.9% of each payment, with Stripe’s 2.9% + $0.30 on top, which leaves about $843 of $1,000. By our arithmetic it beats Patreon’s standard plan above about $956 a month. Members pay into your own Stripe account, and you can export them as CSV and leave whenever you like. There is no PayPal option and no discovery.
What about Apple Podcasts Subscriptions?
Apple Podcasts Subscriptions is not a platform we review, so here are Apple’s published terms. The Apple Podcasters Program costs $19.99 a year in the US, and Apple pays creators 70% of the subscription price in the first year and 85% after one year of paid service.
As arithmetic on those terms, $1,000 of first-year subscriptions leaves $700 before the annual fee, against $900 on Spotify Memberships and $891 on Fourthwall. Apple’s 30% first-year cut matches YouTube’s cut on memberships and is three times Spotify’s 10%.
How to choose a platform for your podcast
We think every show needs two things, a host that pays for audience and a way for fans to pay directly. Pick one of each rather than spreading listeners across several membership platforms.
- If you need a host, use Spotify for Creators and apply to the Partner Program once you pass 2,000 hours and 1,000 audience members in 30 days.
- If you record video, publish on YouTube too, and apply to the Partner Program before February 1, 2027 if you are near 4,000 watch hours.
- If you want paid bonus episodes with the least setup, start on Patreon.
- If you sell merch as well as memberships, Fourthwall keeps more at 5% and prints the merch for you.
- If you run your own site and earn more than about $1,000 a month from listeners, Memberful keeps the billing and the member list in your hands.
Small-ticket tiers lose the most to fixed fees. As arithmetic on published fees, a $3 tier on Patreon’s standard plan nets $2.31, so $5 or more is a safer floor. For a wider view, see how creators make money and our best membership platforms.