Buttondown vs. Patreon

Patreon is one of the biggest creator-focused companies, with an emphasis on the creator economy. Since they came on the scene in 2013, creators have been drawn to their mission of complete ownership and control of their income and future. Over 250,000 creators use their service and currently, Patreon has more than 8,000 active members. They allow creators to establish both free & paid memberships, which means that creators can curate their fan base and strengthen their community through free and exclusive content.

Over the years, Patreon has grown, developing a wide range of features to help entrepreneurs and creators create strong connections with their subscriber base, driving growth.

Patreon’s membership payment is broken down into two tiers: Pro and Premium. Unlike other platforms like ours, the price you pay is determined by your monetary intake. The Pro tier will run you 8% of your monthly income while the Premium will run you 12%. Their commerce tool is a separate payment. If you want to sell your work using their service, they keep 5% of every transaction plus payment processing, currency conversion, payout fees, and applicable taxes. You also end up paying more for your own success. That means in practice, you're paying anywhere between 13% & 17% for each paid subscriber. It may look like a lot because it is.

That is, of course, assuming you sign up today. What they don't like to talk about is how their pricing tiers keep changing, and how it often takes you having to hunt down arcane support documents to figure out how much you'll owe them based on when you signed up.

The offerings at Patreon are as broad as their client base, which ranges from game developers to podcasters. Some of their notable offerings include:

• Multimedia publishing
• Analytics and insights
• Native video and preview
• Engagement tools
• Monthly and annual memberships
• Membership Tiers
• Unlimited products, no listing fees
• Secure payment providers

Buttondown has several of these offerings already, including analytics, monthly & annual memberships, and various membership tiers. We also provide more features at a significantly lower rate:

• Unlike Patreon, you keep 100% of the money earned with paid memberships. There’s no fine print. You did all the work, so you should keep all the earnings!
• Our paid tiers are a flat rate, and they aren't contingent on how many paying customers you have. They start at a low cost of $9/mo for up to 1,000 subscribers. Subscriber bases that reach up to 20,000 cost $139/mo.
• Our integrations keep expanding by the day, letting you incorporate your email as part of your larger marketing stack.
• We allow you to automate your email, welcoming new subscribers and teaching them everything you know.

On top of that, Patreon might end up charging either you or your subscribers an additional 30% if they sign up through Patreon's iOS app, in order to remain compliant with Apple's policies. On the one hand, we have no iOS app. On the other, that may benefit you here.

In short, Patreon might charge you for features that don’t necessarily serve you – and no matter what, Patreon charges you a lot, up to an order of magnitude more than we do. If you're more interested in keeping your hard-earned money, premium analytics, or automating your email, Buttondown is by far the better option.