fee receipts · 2026-06-04

Patreon tier pricing in 2026: what creators actually keep

Patreon tier prices look straightforward on the settings page. What you keep after platform fees, Stripe processing, and — after November 1, 2026 — Apple's 30% iOS billing cut is a different number. This page shows the exact receipts at the four most common price points.

TL;DR

On the Patreon Pro plan (8%), a $15 web-subscriber pledge leaves you with $13.06. The same $15 pledge from an iOS-billed patron after November 2026 leaves you with $8.56 — a 34% drop with no change to the listed price. The math gets worse at lower price points because the Stripe per-transaction fee is flat.

Fee structure in 2026

Every Patreon tier pledge passes through three fee layers:

  1. Patreon platform fee: 12% (Lite), 10% (Premium), or 8% (Pro). The receipts below use Pro (8%), the most common plan for mid-tier creators.
  2. Stripe processing: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. This is the payment processor fee — it applies regardless of Patreon plan and regardless of web vs iOS billing.
  3. Apple IAP (iOS-billed subscribers only, from November 1, 2026): 30% of the pledge amount, deducted before Patreon's and Stripe's cuts.

The receipt: web subscribers

What you keep · Patreon Pro (8%) · web-billed patron

$5 tier: −$0.40 Patreon, −$0.44 Stripe$4.16 kept (83%)
$10 tier: −$0.80 Patreon, −$0.59 Stripe$8.61 kept (86%)
$15 tier: −$1.20 Patreon, −$0.74 Stripe$13.06 kept (87%)
$25 tier: −$2.00 Patreon, −$1.03 Stripe$21.97 kept (88%)

The receipt: iOS-billed subscribers (from November 1, 2026)

What you keep · Patreon Pro (8%) · iOS-billed patron · post-Nov 2026

$5 tier: −$1.50 Apple, −$0.40 Patreon, −$0.44 Stripe$2.66 kept (53%)
$10 tier: −$3.00 Apple, −$0.80 Patreon, −$0.59 Stripe$5.61 kept (56%)
$15 tier: −$4.50 Apple, −$1.20 Patreon, −$0.74 Stripe$8.56 kept (57%)
$25 tier: −$7.50 Apple, −$2.00 Patreon, −$1.03 Stripe$14.47 kept (58%)

You lose 30–35% more from an iOS-billed patron than a web-billed patron at the same listed price.

How to avoid the iOS cut

Patreon added a web-only billing toggle to creator settings in response to the Apple IAP policy. When enabled, new iOS subscribers see a prompt directing them to subscribe on the web. Existing iOS-billed subscriptions are not retroactively moved — they continue on iOS billing until the patron cancels and re-subscribes on the web.

A web-only membership platform — one that has no iOS app subscription surface — avoids the problem structurally. KeepTier's subscription pages are web-only Stripe Checkout: the Apple IAP billing layer doesn't exist, so there's no toggle to enable and no retroactive conversion problem.

CALCULATE YOUR GAP

Paste your Patreon revenue and iOS audience share into the calculator — it outputs your exact November fee delta.

Open the calculator →

Related questions

What is the minimum Patreon tier price?

Patreon's minimum tier price is $1. However, after Patreon's 8% cut and Stripe's flat $0.30 + 2.9%, a $1 pledge leaves the creator with roughly $0.62. The $0.30 Stripe per-transaction fee makes sub-$5 price points economically poor for the creator — you're collecting administrative overhead costs more than revenue at $1–$3.

Does changing Patreon tier prices affect existing patrons?

No. Existing patrons are grandfathered at their original pledge price when you edit a tier. Patreon does not push price increases to active pledges. To bring existing patrons to a new price, you need to communicate the change directly and ask them to update voluntarily.

How does Patreon tier pricing compare to KeepTier?

On Patreon Pro, you pay 8% of every pledge. KeepTier charges a flat $9/mo platform fee and 0% of each patron's payment — only Stripe's standard processing applies. At $1,000/mo in patron revenue, Patreon's 8% costs $80/mo; KeepTier costs $9/mo. The break-even is around $113/mo in total patron revenue.

Further reading

Fee calculations use Patreon Pro (8%) and Stripe standard US rate (2.9% + $0.30) as of 2026-06-04. Apple IAP fee of 30% applies to Patreon iOS subscriptions from November 1, 2026.