💳 Save money on credit card processing with one of our top 5 picks for 2024
If Patreon is no longer working for you, these crowdfunding solutions offer similar products to help you manage donations and keep your fan base motivated and engaged.
WRITTEN & RESEARCHED BY
Editor & Senior Staff Writer
Last updated onUpdated
REVIEWED BY
Lead Staff Writer
For podcasters, YouTubers, writers, journalists, artists, comedians, and other creatives, Patreon has provided a convenient way to monetize everything from physical products to podcasts and memberships.
While Patreon is one of the more popular crowdfunding platforms, it isn’t built for every creator. If you want lower fees, more funding options, faster funding, or better customer service, it’s time to seek an alternative platform. This post offers several Patreon alternatives that may fulfill your fundraising needs.
Learn More About Our Top Picks
| Company | Best For | Next StepsBest For |
|---|---|---|
Podia
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Buy Me A Coffee
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Kickstarter
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Indiegogo
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Memberful
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| Show More Options | ||
Liberapay
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Ko-fi
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Gumroad
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| Show Fewer Options |
Read more below to learn why we chose these options.
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When comparing alternatives to Patreon, you’ll need to decide what factors are most important. Is it the option to continuously accept donations and raise funds? Or would you prefer low platform fees? Each of these Patreon alternatives offers something a bit different.
| Platform Fees | Processing Fees | |
|---|---|---|
| Podia | 0% to 10% | 2.9% + $0.30 |
| Buy Me A Coffee | 5% | None |
| Kickstarter | 5% | 3%-5% |
| Indiegogo | 5% | 3% + $0.20 |
| Memberful | $49/month + transaction fees | 2.9% + $0.30 |
| Liberapay | None | 3%-5% |
| Ko-fi | 0%-5% | 3% to 5% |
| Gumroad | 10% | Not disclosed |
Pros
Cons
Through Podia, you can create a free website, create an email marketing campaign, or create a custom blog. If you want to peddle your online courses or digital downloads, you're in luck because Podia offers these features, too.
You can create and sell your online courses all from the Podia platform. You can also pre-sell courses, create waiting lists, or create bundles. If you're selling digital downloads, Podia makes it possible to create your website, add your content, and start selling in just minutes.
Buy Me A Coffee |
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Pros
Cons
Buy Me A Coffee provides creators with a simple platform for connecting with their supporters. Through your Buy Me A Coffee page, you can accept donations or sell monthly or yearly memberships. With Shop, you can also sell products like eBooks, art commissions, or one-on-one phone calls.
Supporters have multiple ways to pay, and you can cash out instantly without 30-day delays. You can also get paid directly through your bank account. Buy Me A Coffee makes it easy for your supporters to pay with just a few clicks, with no signups required.
Get Started With Buy Me A Coffee
Pros
Cons
Kickstarter crowdfunding campaigns do not operate on Patreon's recurring subscription-like model. However, if you're a creator whose focus is on putting out a few works per year -- as opposed to a continuous stream of content -- Kickstarter may work for you. You can always launch a new Kickstarter campaign after your old one runs its course.
Kickstarter vets crowdfunders fairly strenuously, so not everyone gets in. It's a more exclusive platform than most of its rewards crowdfunding peers, which is a factor to consider if you're a small-time creator. However, Kickstarter has competitive fees, makes it easy to launch a campaign, and is one of the most popular crowdfunding platforms -- upping the odds that your project will get seen.
Pros
Cons
Like Kickstarter, Indiegogo crowdfunding campaigns are not continuous and have concrete start dates and end dates. Unlike Kickstarter, however, Indiegogo gives you the option of launching a Patreon-like continuous crowdfunding campaign after succeeding with your initial campaign. This service is called Indiegogo InDemand, and you can use it if you've already run a successful crowdfunding campaign with any platform -- not just Indiegogo.
Indiegogo doesn't prescreen the campaigners who sign up to crowdfund, making it a less exclusive platform for creatives. Indiegogo also gives you the choice of whether you want your campaign to be all-or-nothing or keep-whatever-you-raise in its structure. With the latter, you won't be left empty-handed if your campaign fails to reach its funding goal.
Memberful |
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Pros
Cons
Memberful is a decidedly different way to make money from your work. It's not a crowdfunding platform, but rather a plugin you install on your website through which people sign up for subscriptions to receive exclusive content. And if you don't have a website? Memberful has that covered, offering a membership website that you can set up and have online in just a few minutes.
You can set up the application to accept subscriptions for different lengths of time (monthly, yearly, etc.) and for different subscription plans that give access to varying levels of content.
Liberapay |
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Pros
Cons
Liberapay describes itself as a recurrent donations platform, which naturally invites comparisons with Patreon. Unlike Patreon, however, Liberapay is open-source and collects no platform fees from what you raise. Only payment processing fees will be taken out of what you earn. Stripe and PayPal are your payment processing options.
Liberapay is strictly for donations. Therefore, transactions cannot be linked to rewards or product offers. As such, more commercially-oriented campaigns may struggle to gain traction with Liberapay. However, if you want to collect recurring donations on an open-source platform free of many of Patreon's content restrictions, Liberapay is definitely worth a look.
Ko-fi |
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Pros
Cons
Ko-fi is unique in that it offers an all-in-one platform for launching a crowdfunding campaign, receiving donations, offering memberships, selling physical and digital products, or providing commissions and personalized services.
This free platform has a load of features that help you connect with fans and followers, including membership tiers, audio and video clips to share your creative journey, rewards, messaging, and an online shop for selling your digital and physical content and products.
Gumroad |
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Pros
Cons
Whether you're selling memberships, online courses, or physical products, Gumroad offers a flexible way to connect with your fanbase, make sales, and grow your presence.
Through this platform, you can sell nearly anything with few restrictions. You can earn money through your free Gumroad profile or right through your own website. Additionally, you can choose between one-time, recurring, and fixed-length payments, or customers can opt to pay whatever they want.
We spend hours researching and evaluating each crowdfunding platform that we review at Merchant Maverick, placing emphasis on key characteristics to generate our product ratings.
When rating crowdfunding platforms, we use a rubric that looks at terms and fees, project qualifications, application process, sales and advertising transparency, customer service, and user reviews. We weigh each section differently to calculate the total star rating.
Each section is further broken down into granular, weighted subsections, in which we look at specific attributes, such as campaign durations, supported project types, time to funding, application processing times, and platform fees. Learn more about how we rate crowdfunding platforms.
Here’s a crowdfunding solution that ensures you won’t have to pay a platform fee to anybody. You can just directly solicit donations from those who enjoy your work.
Adding a donation button to your website is an easy, hassle-free way to raise funds. If you opt to go this route, there are a number of options available, including:
These payment providers allow people to make recurring payments, so your fans can sign up to support you on a continuing basis (just as with Patreon). You won’t be getting any of the extra crowdfunding services you’d get with Patreon (reward distribution, patron management, analytics, etc.), so this funding solution will require more of your time and energy than Patreon does.
Then again, you’ll get more of every pledge made to you. If you have an existing fanbase motivated to pay up for your content and the ability to manage everything manually, this may be a crowdfunding route worth exploring.
Monetizing your work online has long been challenging. Thankfully, platforms such as Patreon and its various competitors have arisen to plug this market gap and help creators make money from the very people who consume and enjoy their content.
No Patreon alternative is right for everybody, so check out these platforms (check out other ones too if you want!) to determine which funding model makes sense for your particular needs.
Now go forth, create, and get paid!
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