Patreon and Substack take almost the same share of your money. On 100 US card payments of $10, a new Patreon creator keeps about $841 and a Substack writer keeps about $834, a gap of $7. So the choice comes down to what you make. Substack is a newsletter with a reader network attached, and Patreon is a membership page for any kind of work. For writers we think Substack wins on discovery and ownership. For video makers, artists and anyone selling downloads, Patreon does more.
How much do Patreon and Substack take?
Patreon and Substack both take 10% from new creators, and both pass on card fees of 2.9% + $0.30 per US payment. Substack writers also pay Stripe’s 0.7% Billing fee on recurring payments, which is why Substack comes out slightly behind.
Patreon’s 10% applies to every page published after August 4, 2025. Creators who published earlier keep legacy rates of 5%, 8% or 11% for as long as the page stays published, and on 5% or 8% Patreon is clearly the cheaper of the two. Substack has one rate with no cap and no plan to upgrade to.
The table below is arithmetic on published fees as of October 2026. It assumes $10 monthly payments from US cards, Patreon’s standard 10% plan and one $0.25 Patreon bank payout a month.
| Monthly revenue | Patreon keeps | Substack keeps | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| $300 | $252 | $250 | $2 more on Patreon |
| $1,000 | $841 | $834 | $7 more on Patreon |
| $5,000 | $4,205 | $4,170 | $35 more on Patreon |
That gap is too small to decide on. iPhone sales matter more. Apple takes 30% of in-app purchases on both platforms, falling to 15% after a subscriber’s first year, and both raise in-app prices by default to cover the cut. Patreon holds iOS money for up to 75 days. Substack pays in-app earnings up to 45 days after the end of the month. US fans on either platform can pay on the web and skip Apple entirely.
Price floors differ too. Substack’s minimum is $5 a month or $30 a year. Patreon allows cheaper tiers, though its flat $0.30 per payment eats a large share of a $1 to $3 tier.
Who owns the audience on Patreon and Substack?
Substack gives you more control over paying readers, because web subscriptions run through a Stripe account in your name. Patreon processes payments itself and keeps members’ saved cards.
That difference shows up when you leave. A Substack writer can export the list as a CSV and keep web subscriptions billing in Stripe. A Patreon creator can export member emails, paid and free, as a CSV, but Memberful’s migration guide says it cannot move cards out of Patreon, so every member has to subscribe again somewhere new.
Substack has its own lock-in. Its exports leave out names, iOS in-app subscribers cannot be transferred because Apple holds that billing, and newsletters still send from a substack.com address even after you pay $50 for a custom domain. Writers who want full ownership should read Substack vs Ghost, and membership creators should read Patreon vs Memberful.
Which platform helps new fans find you?
Substack does far more for discovery. Notes puts your posts, restacks and comments in a feed on the web and in the Substack app, and recommendations pass new subscribers between publications, with a dashboard showing how many each one brought in.
Patreon lists discovery among its features, but we score it 4 out of 10 against Substack’s 7. Plan to bring your own fans to Patreon from YouTube, a podcast or social media. If you are starting from zero readers, Substack is the one with a network built in.
What features differ between Patreon and Substack?
Patreon sells more kinds of things. Substack focuses on paid subscriptions to writing and podcasts, and builds its other tools around getting readers to subscribe.
Patreon’s 10% covers:
- Paid tiers billed monthly or yearly, plus free memberships that need only a name and email
- A shop for digital products, single posts and collections priced from $3 to $5,000
- Ticketed livestreams
- Video hosting, up to 100 hours of uploads a month once you have a paying fan
- Chats, polls and comments
Substack’s paid options are monthly, annual and founding member plans. Around them it adds growth tools, including Boost, which can offer engaged free readers 20% off a paid plan, and Substack-funded gift subscriptions at some publications in the US, Canada and Australia.
Payouts work differently. Patreon lets you withdraw once every 24 hours, with a $0.25 fee per US bank transfer, or pays the full balance automatically on the 5th of each month. Substack’s web revenue moves through Stripe on a daily or weekly schedule and usually reaches your bank within 48 hours.
Each platform has a 2026 change to plan around. From December 1, 2026, Substack calculates, collects and remits sales tax and VAT on subscriptions at no extra cost. Patreon creators still on per-creation or first-of-the-month billing must move to subscription billing by November 1, 2026, or Patreon switches them and pauses billing until they confirm new prices.
Which should you choose?
Choose Substack if you write, and Patreon if members pay for anything else. Fees are a near tie, so decide on format and on where your audience will come from. Our guide to starting a paid newsletter and best platforms for writers go further on the newsletter side, and best membership platforms covers the rest.
- Pick Patreon if your work is video, art or downloads and you want tiers, a shop and livestream tickets on one page.
- Pick Patreon if you are on a legacy 5% or 8% plan, which Substack cannot match on fees.
- Pick Patreon if you want tiers under $5 a month, which Substack does not allow.
- Pick Substack if you write a newsletter and need help finding readers through Notes and recommendations.
- Pick Substack if you want paying web subscribers billed through your own Stripe account, so they can follow you to another platform.