Are you a creator frustrated with the high fees and limited control over your content and branding on Patreon? Or feeling like you’ve outgrown the platform and want to grow your business beyond Patreon?
We get it, and we’re here to take the risk and overwhelm out of the picture for you. We’ll tell you exactly which platform to choose based on your unique situation. There’s something in this list for all types of creators with clear, actionable advice to help you make the most of your content and creative skills no matter what your goals are.
| Platform | Best for |
|---|---|
| Fan Funding | |
| Ko-fi | Fan funded support with low fees |
| Buy Me A Coffee | Creator support, prioritizing ease and engagement |
| Kickstarter | Funding big ideas and projects |
| Creator eCommerce | |
| Gumroad | Selling digital products |
| Sellfy | Selling physical merch and digital products |
| Memberships | |
| Memberspace | Adding membership functionality to your site |
| Uscreen | Launching your independent membership business |
| Podia | Selling courses and online learning memberships |
| Online Communities | |
| Mighty Networks | Building engaged creator communities |
A Note on our recommendations
We believe in radical transparency, so let’s address this upfront:
Yes, we’re a Patreon-alternative platform ourselves, which might make you wonder about the objectivity of our recommendations.
That’s a fair concern!
Here’s our position: our mission is to help creators and their fans prosper through meaningful connection – and that doesn’t begin and end with our service. It’s woven into everything we do, including this guide, because your success is our success.
That’s why we’ve taken a methodical, evidence-based approach to our recommendations, drawing from:
- In-depth reviews from industry experts and trusted tech publications
- Direct interviews with creators who have used multiple platforms
- Survey data from creators about their platform experiences across different business types
- Our decade-plus of industry expertise working with successful creators
We don’t believe in generic “best to worst” rankings because each platform excels at something specific. Sometimes Uscreen will be the right fit, and sometimes it won’t be – we’ll be direct about that. Because proper user-product matches create thriving creators, and that’s what ultimately matters.
Is Patreon right for you?
Patreon is an established, fan-funded platform for creators to be supported financially by their fans. It’s free to use and doesn’t involve any technical effort to set up and maintain – leaving you to focus on creating.
Patreon is a great option for creators who want to start with monetizing their content. It’s used by all types of creators, from artists and musicians to podcasters and video creators, and it’s designed for your most dedicated fans to support your work through a monthly membership.
Patreon is a good choice if you want to start earning money directly from your fans without any upfront, or monthly fees, with access to a potential audience of 8 million members who support creators on the platform.
However, the platform does have its drawbacks:
Low earnings: The pricing model on Patreon revolves around relying on your biggest fans to support your work which doesn’t leave room to grow your business and start seeing them as paying customers that you can bring value to. The average income for a creator on Patreon is between $315- $1575 per month.
High fees: While it’s free to get started, Patreon takes a cut of your earnings: 8% if you’re on the Pro plan and 12% for Premium, in addition to charges for payment processing, currency conversion, payout fees and applicable taxes. So the more money you make on Patreon, the more they take from that income.
Patreon users share their views on this:
One of my Patrons unsubscribed because she’s disgusted with all those goddam fees, and she’d rather I, the artist, get all of the money I make. I wish Patreon would charge less fees. Another friend won’t use Patreon for god knows why reasons.
Linda S. Multi-media Artist
Apparently if you join now, you’re given payment options that make you lose more money than if you joined when I did. If I were new, that would make me consider another service, perhaps like Payhip, which I can run myself.
They got rid of the Goals tier, which I thought was helpful for motivating patrons (but that’s okay)
Jen F. Comics Writer
Limited customization and user experience: On Patreon, you don’t have complete ownership of your page as it’s hosted on their website and there’s limited flexibility to customize your offering. Here’s an example of a Patreon page from Gilmore to Say:
Users need to sign up with Patreon to become a member and download the Patreon app for mobile access, so it feels similar to paying for something like a YouTube membership rather than a creator-owned experience.
Limited engagement with members: Because you don’t have ownership over your audience on Patreon, it can be difficult to build a real connection with your members and offer more than just exclusive access to your work. Artist Kelsey Rodriguez shared in a YouTube video that “It’s very difficult for patrons to have conversations with you and each other.”
She talks about her experience with Patreon on her YouTube channel and why she left the platform for Discord:
Patreon might be right for you if you want to build a paying audience from your existing fanbase with little effort. But, if you want room to grow beyond that, or you’re already on Patreon and want to offer more value and earn real revenue, then there are better options out there for you to consider.
Check out our article on ‘Is Patreon Worth It?’ to look at the pros and cons in more detail. Or head to our FAQs section to get your common Patreon questions answered.
Onto the Patreon alternatives…
Want to start with fan-funded platforms? Start here
Selling your own merch or digital products? Explore e-commerce platforms
Starting or growing a membership? See our top picks for membership platforms
Just want community? We’ve got you covered for that too
Alternative fan-funded platforms
In this section, we break down three popular Patreon alternatives that offer a similar fan-funded monetization model: Ko-fi, Buy Me A Coffee and Kickstarter 👇
Ko-fi
Best for: Fan-funded artists, podcasters, video creators and writers who want to earn flexible and one-off donations from their audience.
Trustpilot rating: 4.6 stars
Overview
Ko-fi is similar to Patreon in that you create your page on their site, and it gives your fans a way to support you directly but it offers more flexibility and lower fees. Fans can give one-off donations or pay you a monthly membership fee, and you can sell digital products or your services as a freelancer on the platform.
Ko-fi doesn’t take a cut for one-off donations, but charges a 5% fee for all other purchases (memberships, product sales or commissions). It’s free to get started, so you don’t pay anything unless you’re earning – the same as Patreon.
Reasons to buy
Ko-fi offers more flexibility than Patreon, with lower fees and instant payouts. The one-off donations is a huge plus because it’s something you can’t do on Patreon, and many Ko-fi users praise this feature for earning directly from their fans.
You can set your own prices for membership tiers and products, offering suggested amounts for donations to make it quick and easy for fans to tip you. You can also embed Ko-fi on your website, and integrate with YouTube and Twitch so your followers can tip you directly from there.
Positive customer service is another pro for Ko-fi, they have a 4.7 star rating on Trustpilot and a lot of their recent reviews focus on customer support:
Having used other services and getting no response when contacting support with questions/issues, it’s extremely refreshing to reach out to Ko-fi support with a question and receive a friendly and helpful response within a couple hours! Makes me feel heard as a creator on their site and these sort of details really make a huge impact on trust and loyalty. Really enjoying their services, the lower fees, the instant PayPal payment of sales, and just the vibe.
Ko-fi user
Reasons to avoid
You’ll have limited customization options with Ko-fi. It’s designed to monetize what you’re already doing, not give you the tools to build your own fully functional membership, streaming service or online community.
While Ko-fi doesn’t charge a fee for donations, it does take 5% for memberships, product sales and commissions. While it’s lower than Patreon’s fee, you’ll still have that percentage taken off your earnings.
Ko-fi also doesn’t currently offer an app. They have a post on their blog dated 5 years ago promising an app in the future, but recent comments from users suggest there hasn’t been any more updates since then.
How easy is it to migrate to Ko-fi?
It’s very easy to set up a Ko-fi page, you just need to create an account and follow the steps to get started. You followers can reach your page with one tap from your social media accounts, all you need to do is connect them.
What you can expect from Ko-fi
Here’s an example of a Ko-fi page from Marc makes comics:
It gives multiple different membership tiers for his audience to subscribe to, or they have the option to contribute via one-off donations:
.
If you’re looking for a Patreon Alternative that has more flexibility for making money with lower fees, then Ko-fi is a great option. But, if you want to grow beyond fan-led support and generate reliable, recurring revenue, a membership platform will be a better option.
Pricing
0% fee on one-off donations or tips. 5% fee on memberships or other purchases.
Buy Me a Coffee
Best for: Individual creators, including YouTubers, podcasters, musicians and writers, who want to monetize by donation.
Trustpilot rating: 3.8 stars
Overview
Buy Me A Coffee is similar to Ko-fi, in that it supports all types of creators to make money from their fans and followers. It offers a way for creators to accept one-off donations for ‘the price of a coffee’ and they have the option to set up tiered memberships, create a shop to sell digital and physical products (which include work for hire).
It doesn’t cost anything to get started, and the platform only charges a 5% transaction fee so you don’t pay anything unless you’re making money; which makes it an attractive option for getting started (and a cheaper alternative to Patreon).
Reasons to buy
There are a few areas where Buy Me A Coffee wins over Ko-fi. Firstly, it has a built-in email marketing tool that’s free for all users, which also means you have ownership over your contact list in the platform. It offers a mobile app (which has a 4.4 star rating in the app store), making it more user-friendly and easy for your supporters to access.
You could have your page set up in a matter of minutes and there’s no technical setup involved. It’s a low-effort start with no upfront investment, making it suitable for just about anyone in the creator space.
The platform charges a flat 5% transaction fee, which is the only cut they take and there’s no monthly fee. This means creators keep 95% of their earnings on Buy Me A Coffee, making it a good contender as a Patreon alternative.
You’ll also have access to analytics to track the performance of your page and earnings, plus 27/7 live support and instant payouts when you receive donations or recurring membership payments.
I’ve been using Buy Me A Coffee for just a few weeks, adding a simple footer to my free newsletters, and I’m genuinely blown away by the response! Not only have people generously supported me, but they’ve left the most heartwarming comments that completely made my day. It’s sparked conversations I never expected, and subscribers who were silent before are now interacting regularly. This platform has really brought my community to life in a whole new way. Highly recommend it for creators looking to connect with their audience on a deeper level!
Buy Me A Coffee user
Reasons to avoid
The mentality of ‘tipping’ and the wording of donating for the price of a coffee, doesn’t encourage users to donate more than this so it can be difficult to grow your business to be your main source of income.
You’ve also got the same limitations as Ko-fi and Patreon if you wanted to customize or grow beyond what the platform offers.
Some users report slow responses from Buy Me A Coffee’s customer support:
I have sent 3 emails to BMC support because I wanted to disconnect Stripe and deposit directly into my bank which I only just learned you can do, however I have not heard back from anyone at Buy Me A Coffee.
Currently I am reluctant to withdraw to Stripe because I don’t like Stripe but I want to disconnect Stripe from BMC and no replies to any of my emails!
Buy Me A Coffee user
How easy is it to migrate to Buy Me a Coffee?
It’s free to use the platform, and you can get your page set up in minutes. The donation model makes it easy to share your page with fans who want to support you.
What you can expect from Buy Me a Coffee
You can expect a similar experience to Ko-fi. Your success is all down to the strength of your following.
For example, Karolyns Kakes shares how she made over $9,000 in the first 8 months of setting up a Buy Me a Coffee page through a mixture of donations, one-off purchases of PDF downloads and membership subscriptions:
Pricing
Buy Me A Coffee is free to use. They charge a 5% transaction fee when supporters make a payment, so you keep 95% of your earnings and there’s no monthly fee.
Kickstarter
Best for: Entrepreneurs seeking one-time project funding (perfect for indie filmmakers, game developers and book publishers)
G2 rating: 3.8 stars
Overview
Kickstarter is a popular crowdfunding platform that creators and small organizations use to fund projects. Backing a project on Kickstarter helps provide the artist with the means to produce their work, and in return supporters receive a reward. This is usually tiered based on the amount they pledge (say you backed a comic book publication, then the obvious reward would be a copy of the book)
Reasons to buy
It’s free to set up a project on Kickstarter and it’s a solid option if you have a specific project in the works and you need funding to bring it to life. It’s a way of sourcing a large amount of money in a relatively short space of time to realize your goals.
While you have a set goal to reach in your funding efforts, it is possible to raise more than that, so you’re not limited to earning a set amount (provided your project reaches the minimum goal) – your backers can be as generous as they like!
A successfully backed Kickstarter project is also useful to have under your belt for future collaborations or pitching to traditional media publishers because you can prove there’s already an interested audience for your work.
Reasons to avoid
The downside to Kickstarter is the way it operates on an ‘all-or-nothing’ basis. This means, if you don’t reach your funding goal then donors won’t be charged for their pledge and you won’t get any funding.
You also have a limited time frame (between one and 60 days) and cannot change the funding goal once your campaign is live.
Kickstarter is not suitable for long-term and consistent income. Once a Kickstarter campaign is over, you would need to have another way to monetize after this date if you wanted to generate income from your project (and it takes 2-3 weeks to receive your funds).
It’s also important to point out the recent trend of negative reviews on Trustpilot from end-users who have backed projects, which has brought down the platform’s Trustpilot rating to 1.2 stars due to concerns about scam projects.
Interesting innovations and new products “for grabs”, but … Because it’s crowdfunding, there’s a risk of you not getting anything. That shouldn’t be too much of a problem, BUT: Kickstarter therefore attracts many scam “creators” that take your money and then disappear. Due to the nature and terms of Kickstarter, this means you lose your money and Kickstarter takes 5% of your money just because they are the platform for the campaign. They will not take any responsibility if a creator falls silent after the project has been funded. They just stick to some standard replies, telling you to contact the creator (HOW?) and basically tell you it’s your problem.
So the platform is only a platform, not protecting the people who actually fund the platform with the 5% Kickstarter takes and lets any creator do whatever they want and run off with your money.
Nathan V., SEO Specialist
How easy is it to migrate to Kickstarter?
In a technical sense, it’s easy to set up a Kickstarter page and begin a funding campaign. Getting users to your page is going to rely on you to promote it and share with your audience on social media to make sure it gets attention.
The crucial part to get right is the planning stage, so you can nail down the messaging and story behind your project to make it compelling, and give supporters a reason to back it.
Kickstarter has plenty of resources in their creator handbook to help set you up for success, including guidance on how to set the right funding goal to budget for the platform fees.
What you can expect from Kickstarter
Kickstarter is all-or-nothing by nature, so there’s no guarantee that your project will be funded, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be successful on the platform. Just take this novel writing e-book and course as an example:
The original goal was £407 ($500) and they’ve raised a whopping £36,148 ($44,312)!
Pricing
Kickstarter charges a 5% fee for funded projects, plus a payment processing fee of 3-5%. They don’t charge any fees for projects that don’t reach their funding goals.
Creator eCommerce platforms
These are platforms that give you the freedom to sell your own products directly to your audience, both physical goods and digital products. Read on for a breakdown of Gumroad and Sellfy and how they support creators to sell to their audience.
Gumroad
Best for: Creators selling digital and physical products and art, including skills for hire.
G2 rating: 4.2 stars
Overview
Gumroad is an e-commerce platform that enables creators to sell digital products directly to their audience with minimal effort. It supports a wide range of products and services, making it a versatile way to earn passive income without any technical set up or ongoing subscription fees.
Reasons to buy
Gumroad is free to set up and use, you only pay when you make money through a flat fee so it’s accessible for anyone, even if you’re just starting out.
You can sell a wide variety of products without the need for a membership, or having to maintain a website or community – it’s as simple as it gets.
You’ll also get built-in analytics, basic marketing functionality and support for international payment processors.
Here’s what their users have to say:
It’s ridiculously easy to set up in minutes. In your account, you click on “New Product” and follow along. Gumroad delivers digital products like pdfs or audios straight for download or directs them to your membership/course site right to your customer’s inbox.
Just connect your payment gateways and you’re off!
Embedding the products into your website is also very easy, loads well and the customer UI and experience is a smooth, seamless process that beats other platforms.
Best for small casual solopreneurs/freelancers/hobbyists that sell low-volume digital products, like 30 sales of a $20 product.
Also for those who don’t exactly like marketing their goods, as Gumroad allows your product to be displayed in their marketplace called Gumroad Discover.
Cherlyn C., Online Coach
Reasons to avoid
The fees are higher on Gumroad than Ko-fi and Buy Me A Coffee. They charge 10% (plus a $0.50 transaction fee) for transactions made via direct link to your profile or listing, but if people buy through Gumroad’s marketplace, they take a 30% cut – which makes it substantially more expensive than Patreon.
There isn’t much option for customization on Gumroad, which is another drawback. As you can see from the example below it’s a very basic page listing, with little room to showcase your branding and who you are.
Recent reviews on Trustpilot suggest that Gumroad has limited customer service support from their AI assistant – which has caused a lot of frustration. High fees and low earnings are another complaint from sellers:
Their 10% flat fee is too much of a cut. This is not including the fees Stripe/Paypal take away. So if you have a $50 product, you’d get less than $45. Comparing this to platforms like Snappy Checkout, which is just $0.50 per transaction. Or a professional selling platform like Paykickstart, where if you sold 10 products at $100, you’d have made back the subscription fee compared to Gumroad.
As in, you can continue selling and technically pay no more fees to Paykickstart on their Starter tier, up to $10k/mth, while you still have to pay that 10% to Gumroad.
Gumroad also does not have any order bumps or upsells as of March 2023, so it’s not possible to build a sales funnel. If you plan to earn more than $1000, it doesn’t make financial sense to use Gumroad.
Cherlyn C., Online Coach
How easy is it to migrate to Gumroad?
To start on Gumroad, it’s just a case of clicking the ‘start selling’ button on their website and following the steps. They don’t have links to resources for sellers on their website but there are creators online sharing how the process works, like the below video:
What you can expect from Gumroad
You can expect a quick and easy way to sell digital products (including courses, downloads and packaged services) for a one-off fee, without needing to maintain a presence on the platform or a connection with your customers.
For example, here’s what Videolancer’s profile looks like:
When you click into individual products, there’s more information and space to add detail but the overall layout isn’t customizable:
Pricing
Gumroad charges 10% plus a $0.50 transaction fee for every purchase made by direct links sent to your customers.
For customers who purchase your product through the Gumroad marketplace they charge a 30% fee.
Sellfy
Best for: Artists and creators selling digital downloads and print-on-demand merchandise from their own online store.
G2 rating: 3.9 stars
Overview
Sellfy is another great Patreon alternative that lets you sell stuff online.
With Sellfy, you can sell digital goods, physical products, and subscriptions in one place. You can also manage how your products look on Google, use Facebook Messenger, and add a Facebook Pixel to your store right from the dashboard.
Overall, it’s a good platform for artists who want to sell their work in various ways. You can also tap into Sellfy’s email marketing, upsell, and cart abandonment tools to increase sales in your store.
Reasons to buy
Unlike Patreon, Sellfy provides extensive ecommerce functionality, including print-on-demand services and instant payouts.
Its easy-to-use platform supports email marketing, upselling, and cart abandonment tools, making it a robust alternative for creators looking to manage their entire store in one place.
You also get access to an affiliate program where advocates for your product can promote it online, expanding your reach beyond your own network.
Here’s what existing customers are saying about Sellfy:
Sellfy has helped us setup an efficient compact online store catering exactly to our needs at the right price. The 14 day trial period helps you understand the product well. We have used the analytics feature the most where we easily understand the target customer stats and also our revenue from them. Best thing about sellfy is we just have to pay our subscription fee which is inclusive of hosting charges and after this , zero maintainance is required.
Reasons to avoid
You can’t interact with your customers on Sellfy. It’s purely a transactional site so it’s not best suited for memberships. This is a drawback if you’re already offering this on Patreon and want to keep connecting with your audience.
Sellfy charges a monthly fee, instead of taking a percentage from what you make so it’s more of an upfront commitment in comparison to Gumroad and Patreon.
Some users mention the limitations of attracting customers and being unable to sell courses:
Sellfy isn’t as well known as Shopify so it makes it hard to attract customers. Plus, it’s not an LMS so I can’t sell digital courses directly through it.
Jade, E-learning professional
How easy is it to migrate to Sellfy?
It’s dead easy to get started on Sellfy, you can set yourself up in minutes with an online store.
What you can expect from Sellfy
You can expect a more professional set up with Sellfy in comparison to Gumroad.
Here are some case studies of successful creators using Sellfy to sell online:
Tobias Friedrich: Underwater photographer
Matthew Coombes: card game designer
Ashley Renee: Digital content creator and food vlogger
Pricing
Sellfy provides straightforward pricing with no transaction fees:
- Starter: $22/month, billed yearly at $264.
- Business: $59/month, billed yearly at $708.
- Premium: $119/month, billed yearly at $1,428
Membership platforms
If you’re ready to launch or grow a membership, these platforms are designed to do just that. Here we look at Memberspace, Uscreen and Podia and their different strengths and use cases.
Memberspace
Best for: Creators who want to add a membership to their existing website
G2 rating: 4.7 stars
Overview
Memberspace is a plugin that allows you to turn any website into a membership. It works by giving you a snippet of code to add to your existing website and put selected pages behind a paywall, turning them into a library of content for paying members.
It works with a wide range of popular website platforms, including WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, Notion, Weebly and custom HTML sites too.
Reasons to buy
If you already have a website that you’ve invested time and resources into, then this is a no-brainer if you want to add a membership to your site. For a plug-in, it offers a lot of versatility and gives you flexible options to monetize your content and add membership tiers.
It doesn’t require any technical expertise, so it’s a great alternative to hiring a developer and saves a lot of time if you want to get up and running with your membership quickly. You’ve still got all the customizability of your existing website platform, which gives you more control over the look and feel of it in comparison to using a membership platform to build your site.
Pricing starts at $39 per month, plus transaction fees, which makes it a low-cost option if you want to try out the membership model without forking out too much upfront.
Not just a paywall for content – membership sales and more!
Really easy to implement on an existing site with no coding knowledge required. Membership sales, communication and account management in one easy interface.
Reporting is a bit limited but this has improved significantly with the new dashboard.
Bob, Verified user
Reasons to avoid
To use Memberspace, you need to have an existing website already up and running, and continue to maintain it yourself. While there’s customer support available for the plugin, if you experience problems on your main website platform, you’ll need to address those separately – and consider the additional ongoing costs and effort of running your site plus a membership business.
While there’s a lot of useful features with Memberspace, it doesn’t have built-in video hosting. So if you’re planning to launch a video membership site, you’ll have limited functionality.
There’s also a big jump in price from the professional tier, which is $39, and the premium option which prices at $199 per month.
While generally positively reviewed by users, there are mentions of limited features and a desire for more flexibility:
Limited features across the ‘member messages’ functionality. Our community of members is reading our member messages, we are seeing impact, and now it’s time to take things up a notch, ideally, we’ll uplift the look and feel to align with our brand. Patiently awaiting an upgrade to the look and feel optimisation features of member messages.
Verified G2 user
How easy is it to migrate to Memberspace?
Because you’re adding Memberspace to your existing site, there’s nothing to migrate or move over. What you will need to do is create the web pages that you want to put behind the membership paywall, and the essential pages like the sign up or pricing page, and anything that links off from that.
The Memberspace University has free resources available to help you set up your membership and they also host weekly live support sessions to help new and existing customers with their set up.
What you can expect from Memberspace
The end result of using the Memberspace plug in all depends on your individual website and how it’s structured and designed.
Here’s an example of a website using Memberspace from Little Owls Resources which focuses on downloadable and printable material for teachers and early years practitioners:
Check out more membership sites using Memberspace:
Pricing
Memberspace offer three pricing tiers and a 14 day free trial on the professional plan:
- Professional: $39 per month + 5% transaction fee for one website. 14 day free trial available
- Premium: $199 per month + 3% transaction fee for unlimited websites.
- Enterprise: Pricing on request + 1% transaction fee
Uscreen
Best for: video creators who want comprehensive control over their content and an all-in-one platform
G2 rating: 4.7 stars
Overview
Uscreen is an all-in-one membership business platform for video creators. It’s best suited for creators with an established brand and audience, who want to grow their business and launch a branded streaming service or video membership.
With Uscreen you can build your own Netflix-style video-on-demand (VOD) service with a customizable website, community space, and branded apps. You can monetize your content through subscriptions, rentals, ads, and one-time purchases, having complete control over your content and set up.
Reasons to buy
Uscreen is an all-in-one platform with more advanced features and gives you the tools to grow and scale your business to earn recurring revenue beyond what Patreon can offer.
It’s a video-first platform, and has all the functionality you need to run a video based service. You also offer a built-in community to connect directly with your members (and so they can interact with each other), offering more value and improving retention.
The platform also offers automated marketing functionality to attract, engage, and retain members. From lead generation to nurturing the audience and winning back customers, these tools help you manage every step without needing to be an expert.
Here’s what existing customers are saying about Uscreen:
We went from $30,000 a month to over $130,000+ a month with the Abundance+ launch with Uscreen. When I look at that number, I am absolutely blown away and honored because that means I’m bringing a lot of service into the world. That’s the measure of success.
Justin Rhodes, Founder of Abundance+
Read the case study to learn how they scaled their membership business from $30,000 to $100,000 per month by migrating to Uscreen.
Reasons to avoid
Uscreen is more expensive than the other platforms listed here and it offers a wide range of features which might be too much for creators at the beginning of their monetization journey.
While there are lots of educational creators using Uscreen, the platform isn’t built for courses so it doesn’t have the option to include interactive modules and downloadable PDFs like traditional course platforms.
How easy is it to migrate to Uscreen?
Uscreen has a dedicated migrations team which handles every step of the process, so there’s no stress involved in switching to Uscreen.
Check out our migration success stories to see the real life results from our customers.
What you can expect from Uscreen
Uscreen supports over 4,000 creators across the following niches:
- Fitness & yoga
- YouTubers and influencers
- Media companies
- Coaches & educators
- Event broadcasting
Abundance+ is a perfect example of how you can use Uscreen’s membership platform to offer an exclusive space for your community and monetize it successfully:
Founder Justin Rhodes was able to scale his membership business from $30,000 to $100,000 per month by migrating from his old tech stack to Uscreen. From wanting to create a Netflix-style show that his audience could enjoy while sitting down with their family and learn something new, to finally launching it (successfully!) Justin truly delivered on his audience’s needs.
The reason I launched the community is because that was a classic answer to a problem I experienced, where the solution wasn’t there. How can we create a community so people are less lonely and have friends in the same space, like-minded people? So, I was meeting a need I had, realizing others had that need, and just going to town, coming up with the solution.
Justin Rhodes, Founder of Abundance+
🏆Read the full success story here
Check out some of our other customer success stories:
Pricing
- Growth plan: $199 per month (plus subscriber fee)
- App essentials: $499 per month (plus subscriber fee)
- Build your own: Custom pricing – contact sales
Podia
Best for: Course creators seeking an all-in-one platform
G2 rating: 4.6 stars
Overview
Podia lets creators sell online courses, memberships, and digital downloads from one place. It’s a great Patreon alternative for creators and entrepreneurs who want a one-stop shop for their online business.
Unlike Patreon, Podia helps content creators manage email marketing, webinars, and other aspects of their business in one platform. Also, Podia’s interface is incredibly easy to use and provides a clean, minimalist experience that looks great.
Reasons to buy
Podia offers a range of possibilities to sell online products, courses, coaching and downloadable resources. You can build a website through the platform with built in email marketing to help you reach new customers and communicate with your existing ones.
The platform has other built in marketing tools from pre-sell promotions to discount codes and upsells, which helps you to engage people at every stage of the sales funnel.
There’s flexibility to bundle your content or services into packages, which you can sell as one-off courses or products, or for a monthly fee through a community membership. This is a useful way to try out different products or combinations to see what works for your audience.
Podia also offers a 30 day free trial, which is longer than the standard 7 or 14 days that most platforms offer, and the pricing plans start at $33 per month (plus transaction fees). This makes it easier to budget for than Patreon because it’s a fixed monthly fee, rather than a percentage cut like Patreon– which naturally increases the more money you make.
Easy to use. To build a site, a landing page, a course can go really fast. It looks good, clean and it’s also user-friendly for clients. I moved from a WordPress site because it’s easier with Podia, no need for updates or solving problems and, in the end, it isn’t that much more expensive (if it actually is).
Raquel D., Small business founder
Reasons to avoid
Podia isn’t designed for video-led memberships or streaming services, it doesn’t have the functionality to grow beyond hosting webinars and coaching sessions which is limiting for creators who want to offer video on demand as part of their membership.
It also doesn’t provide more advanced features like apps, or in depth analytics. It’s a basic range of features that Podia offers, which makes it an easy, low-cost option to get started with but may be limiting for creators growing their business and looking to scale their offering.
There also isn’t much difference between what you get with either pricing plan, with the exception of affiliate marketing which is only available with the top tier ‘Shaker’ plan. While the ‘Mover’ plan is cheaper up front, it charges 5% for transaction fees, while the $75 per month ‘Shaker’ plan has no transaction fees.
I love the affordability and convenience for starters. Creating a course and program is easy for me as one who is starting out. I just don’t like that Podia isn’t funnel-driven and the email automation isn’t working for my account. Also I can’t sell products. They’re are only options for digital downloads and services.
Verified G2 user
Check out our guide on Podia alternatives for a deeper dive
How easy is it to migrate to Podia?
Podia has a migrations team to handle the process for all paying customers. After you sign up for a plan, fill out a migration request and their team will handle the technical side of it for you. It’s free to use and you can migrate up to 20 products on the Mover plan, and 30 on the Shaker plan.
What you can expect from Podia
You can expect a low-cost, simple and easy to use platform with Podia. It’s ideal if you don’t need any advanced features or custom functionality, and you’re looking for a flexible way to sell educational products and courses.
Check out some examples of Podia in action below:
Pricing
Podia offers a 30 day free trial to get started and two pricing tiers:
- Mover: $33 per month + 5% transaction fees
- Shaker: $75 per month (no transaction fees)
Online community platforms
This section is for you if you want to build a branded community platform and that’s your sole focus. Last but not least, check out Mighty Networks below.
Mighty Networks
Best for: Community builders needing customizable branded spaces
G2 rating: 4.6 stars
Overview
With Mighty Networks, you can bring community, content, courses, and subscriptions together in one place, creating your own branded space independent of big social networks.
Mighty Networks is not just a funding platform. It’s also a community-building tool, which offers more customization and control to creators. You can build personalized courses, host exclusive communities, and integrate seamless payments.
Reasons to buy
Mighty Networks excels in community-building, integrating content, courses, and subscriptions in one customizable space. Unlike Patreon, it offers a higher level of personalization and control, allowing creators to build their own branded communities. With features like direct messaging, personalized courses, and built-in payments, Mighty Networks supports a variety of monetization models beyond just subscriptions and donations.
It offers advanced features including article posts, quizzes and polls, live cohorts, group chats and video hosting. There’s a lot more you can do with Mighty Networks in comparison to Podia, offering a feature-rich experience for community members. It also offers AI tools to help with content creation and community engagement.
It’s like being able to build a house with carte blanch in my decorating budget – do I want chat and a feed or just a feed? do I want to have a course with a community feel or just a DIY lessons and a video from me – or both? There is so much flexibility in this platform that platform is too “flat” a word to describe it.
Kelly P., Founder, Athena Village
Reasons to avoid
Mighty Networks is a feature-rich platform designed for active communities, so if you’re looking to sell one-off products or courses with minimal effort, this isn’t the option for you and might be overkill for creators and businesses looking for a simple membership solution.
You need to be on one of the higher tiered pricing plans to access the full range of features and experience the advanced functionality and benefits the platform has to offer.
Branded apps are also available but at a hefty price tag – starting at $2,000 per month (and a minimum 2 year term) which prices it much higher than Uscreen which is $499 per month for the app essentials package (plus subscriber fee). This makes it a very expensive option if you want to offer the full experience to your community members.
There are some areas that could be improved… first off, it was very difficult to get real time answers to questions and reach a human-being for urgent questions after signing up. Also, after the special offer expires, I do think the pricing is a bit steep considering my community plan does not have many features I am able to use (i.e. courses, adding pages and other buttons that I can see, but are greyed out).
Additionally, while the platform offers great features, the user interface could be more intuitive— some aspects like creating payment plans and automation features require a learning curve. Overall, it is a powerful tool for community-driven businesses and well worth considering if you’re looking to build an engaging community.
Jessica G., Business Co-founder
Check out our article on Mighty Networks Alternatives to help find the best solution for your community.
How easy is it to migrate to Mighty Networks?
Mighty Networks have an internal migrations team to help you move over to the platform. It’s done on a case by case basis, so they’ll tailor the migration plan to suit your community needs, based on the size of your current network and the amount of content you have.
However, it’s worth noting that this is only free for users on the most expensive pricing plan, which is the Mighty- pro plan. They offer migration options for Path-to-pro customers, and for anyone on the lower three plans you’ll need to rely on the self-service resources to guide you through the process yourself.
What you can expect from Mighty Networks
Mighty Networks is a powerful, complex platform that works well for large communities and businesses that are community-led.
Marsha Chadley, from the CLC Neighbourhood, shares how her community looks like from a member’s perspective in the video below:
Here are some successful community sites run by Mighty Networks:
Pricing
Mighty Networks offers a 14-day free trial to get started and five pricing tiers:
- The community plan: $41 per month
- The courses plan: $99 per month
- The business plan: $179 per month
- The path-to-pro plan: $360 per month
- Mighty-pro: $2,000+ per month
How to choose the best Patreon alternative platform for you
We’ve covered everything from fan-funded donations, to online stories and fully functional membership platforms in this post. There’s something for everyone in this list, and to choose the best Patreon alternative the right choice depends on where you’re at in your creator journey, and what you want to achieve in this next step.
Ask yourself the following questions to help you refine your goals and what’s realistic with the resources you have at your disposal:
- Do you have an established following and a defined niche or offering?
- Are you already monetizing your content?
- Are you looking to grow beyond what you’re currently doing?
If you answered yes, then define this further to decide what kind of content you want to offer to your audience. Are you looking to sell one off courses or digital products? Or are you planning to launch an on-demand video membership?
Next, consider your budget and how much time you have to dedicate to your creative endeavours. A free to use platform that offers flexible ways for people to pay you might be best if you can’t commit to a monthly fee. Crowdfunding is an alternative if you have a specific project in mind and need to source funding (and interested supporters).
Patreon alternatives: frequently asked questions answered
Yes, there are over 250,000 creators on Patreon including podcasters, video creators, artists, musicians, and game developers.
Yes, Patreon is free to use. You don’t pay a fee to use the platform, instead Patreon takes an 8-12% cut of the money you make.
Patreon isn’t going anywhere, but many creators are finding success using Patreon Alternatives that offer more flexibility and allow them to grow their businesses.
Creators need to follow Patreon’s community guidelines which prohibits:
Dangerous organizations or content that supports them
Harassment
Harmful acts
Hate speech
Illegal and regulated activities
Inauthentic behavior
Sexually gratifying works
Violent and graphic works
The downsides to Patreon are the high fees, lack of flexibility for monetization, low earnings, lack of ownership over your audience and brand and being unable to grow beyond the functionality on the Patreon site.
