Patreon Fee Calculator
Patreon's 10% platform fee is only half the story: payment processing on each pledge takes the rest. Enter your membership price and patron count to see your real payout.
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Patreon platform fee 10%
New creators pay a flat 10% platform fee plus payment processing of 2.9% + $0.30 on every pledge, whatever its size (US cards and US PayPal).
Fee Breakdown
Last Updated: Fees verified for 2026
How Patreon fees work in 2026
Patreon simplified its pricing on August 4, 2025: new creators all pay a single 10% platform fee, instead of choosing between the old tiered plans (Lite, Pro and Premium, which ran from 5% up to around 11–12%). But the platform fee is never the whole bill. Payment processing is charged on every individual pledge, and it's where small memberships quietly bleed.
- • Platform fee: 10% of gross pledges for new creators (those who joined before Aug 4, 2025 keep older legacy rates of 5%, 8% or ~11–12%).
- • Processing: 2.9% + $0.30 on every pledge, whatever its size (per Patreon's creator fees overview; the micropayment rate is for legacy plans only).
- • Currency conversion: ~2.5% when a patron pays in a different currency than your payout.
Worked example: 100 patrons at $5/month
- • Gross pledges: $500.00
- • Platform fee (10%): $50.00
- • Payment processing (2.9% + $0.30 × 100 pledges): $44.50
- • You keep: $405.50 (an effective cost of 18.9%)
- A $1 pledge is far harsher: after processing (2.9% + $0.30) and the 10% cut, you keep 57¢ on the dollar, versus 81¢ on a $5 pledge. The fixed per-pledge fee is what bleeds small tiers.
Per-pledge fees punish small tiers. Processing is charged once per pledge, so $1 and $2 tiers lose a huge share to the fixed fee. Annual billing, which collapses twelve charges into one, is the single biggest lever a creator has on processing cost.
What you keep at different pledge sizes
Patreon's cost isn't a flat percentage: the fixed $0.30 processing fee means your take-home share changes with the size of each pledge. Bigger tiers are far more fee-efficient than a pile of small ones:
| Pledge / patron | Platform (10%) | Processing | You keep | Kept % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $1 | $0.10 | $0.33 | $0.57 | 57.1% |
| $3 | $0.30 | $0.39 | $2.31 | 77.1% |
| $5 | $0.50 | $0.44 | $4.06 | 81.1% |
| $10 | $1.00 | $0.59 | $8.41 | 84.1% |
| $25 | $2.50 | $1.03 | $21.48 | 85.9% |
| $50 | $5.00 | $1.75 | $43.25 | 86.5% |
The kept share climbs steadily with the pledge, because the fixed $0.30 in every processing charge matters less the bigger the pledge, so the same gross revenue is worth more to you from a few large tiers than from many small ones.
Ways to keep more of your Patreon income
- • Offer annual memberships. Processing is charged per transaction, so billing once a year instead of monthly turns twelve $0.30 fees into one.
- • Mind the fixed fee on small tiers. Every pledge pays the fixed $0.30, so processing takes 32.9% of a $1 pledge, 12.9% of a $3 one and 5.9% of a $10 one. Tiny $1 and $2 tiers lose the most of all.
- • Mind the FX if you're outside the US. The 2.5% conversion plus a marked-up payout comes on top of the 10% platform fee, so compare payout routes.
- • Legacy creators: stay published. Grandfathered rates (5%, 8% or ~11–12%) survive only while your page stays live; unpublishing drops you to the standard 10%.
Selling courses alongside your membership? The Teachable vs Thinkific vs Kajabi calculator prices every plan of the three course platforms on your own sales.
The payout step most creators forget
After the platform fee and processing, your balance still has to reach your bank, and for creators outside the US that's another cost. Patreon adds ~2.5% when a patron pays in a foreign currency, and your payout method can mark up the exchange rate a second time on the way out. That stacked FX is our specialty. See what actually lands with the PayPal, Payoneer and Wise calculators.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Patreon take from creators?
For creators who started after August 2025, Patreon charges a flat 10% platform fee plus payment processing of 2.9% + $0.30 on every pledge, whatever its size. On 100 patrons paying $5 each, that is $50.00 platform fee and $44.50 processing, so you keep $405.50 of $500, an effective cost of 18.9%.
What happened to Patreon’s Lite, Pro and Premium plans?
Patreon retired its tiered plans for new creators on August 4, 2025, and now charges everyone who joins a single 10% platform fee. Creators who had a page before that date keep their older legacy rate (Lite at 5%, Pro at 8%, and the top Premium tier around 11–12%), but only while the page stays published; unpublish for any reason and you move to the standard 10%.
Why do small pledges lose more to fees?
Processing has a fixed part, so it eats a bigger share of a small pledge: 32.9% of a $1 pledge against 4.1% of a $25 one. On Patreon’s standard 10% plan the same 2.9% + $0.30 applies to every payment, regardless of amount, so there is no cheaper rate for small pledges: a $3 pledge loses 12.9% to processing and a $5 one 8.9%. The cheaper micropayment rate for pledges of $3 or less belongs to the legacy plans only.
Does Patreon charge a currency conversion fee?
Yes. If a patron pays in a different currency than your payout currency, Patreon adds about 2.5%, and your payout method (PayPal, bank or Payoneer) may mark up the exchange rate again when the balance reaches your account. For creators outside the US, that stacked FX cost comes on top of the platform fee.
How can creators keep more of their Patreon income?
Encourage annual pledges (one processing charge instead of twelve), keep in mind that the fixed $0.30 per pledge takes its biggest share of the cheapest tiers, and cash out through a payout service you have compared rather than accepting a marked-up conversion. The platform fee is fixed at 10%, so the real savings are in processing and payout FX.
Does annual billing on Patreon save on fees?
Yes, on processing. Patreon charges payment processing per transaction, so an annual pledge is billed once instead of twelve times. On a $5/month tier collected annually ($60), processing is $2.04 for the year, versus $5.34 across twelve monthly charges, a saving of $3.30 per patron. The 10% platform fee is identical either way; only the per-transaction processing changes.
What payment processing does Patreon charge on top of the platform fee?
Patreon’s standard processing is 2.9% + $0.30 per successful charge for US cards and US PayPal, on every pledge whatever its size (only legacy plans have a separate micropayment rate). That sits on top of the 10% platform fee, and an extra 2.5% currency conversion applies when a patron pays in a currency other than your payout currency.