Patreon has announced an update to its pricing, combining its Pro and Premium plans into a single offering starting August 5. The new plan will charge 10 percent of creators’ earnings, instead of the current eight percent for Pro and 12 percent for Premium users. This will mean a price increase for many new users, although existing users will not see any increase, as will those who sign up before the change takes effect. And to get access to all the features of the old Premium tier, you’ll need an add-on that adds another three percent to the standard rate.
Currently, the more expensive Patreon Premium plan adds access to coaching and support staff, team accounts, and merchandise options. Starting in August, all of these features, except for merchandise, will be included in the new standard plan, which will cost 10 percent of creators’ earnings on the platform. An additional tariff plan will be available for merchandise, which will add three percent to the total tariff, so there will be two tariffs. As before, payment processing, currency conversion, and payout fees remain additional costs.
Existing Pro-level Patreon creators will continue to pay eight percent, as will anyone who opens a Pro-level creator page on or after August 4. The Pro plan will be updated to include all the same features as the new standard plan.
Authors who currently use the 12 percent Premium plan will be able to save money by switching to the 11 percent plan, which includes all of their current features. They’ll have the option to opt out of the merch add-on and switch to the eight percent plan, just like old Pro users.
Patreon’s last pricing update was due to the end of the five percent Lite tier in 2023; Pro and Premium prices were set back in 2019. Explaining this year’s increase, Patreon said in a statement that since 2019 it has “moved beyond just payments to include media hosting, community, and discovery,” and that the price increase is to “continue to invest in the platform on which creators build their businesses.”
Later this summer, Patreon will also update its video pricing, which remains in early access despite its 2022 launch. Patreon’s video tools started with 500 free lifetime hours for creators, which was then reduced to 100 hours, but soon eligible creators will receive 100 free hours of video per month.
