April 9th, 2021 | Updated on April 25th, 2023
Presently, Patreon is the most popular software for those who want to monetize their audience. Patreon is used by all types of creative people. Musicians, video-makers, podcasters use this platform to share their work.
Although this subscription crowdfunding platform has many attractive features, but it is not without fault.
Let’s Talks About The Best Features Of Patreon:
- It has social media integration
- It helps you find out if any creators that you follow on YouTube or Twitter have a Patreon.
- You can charge per completed work, instead of a monthly fee.
- It provides a convenient means of monetizing output that was previously unavailable
- The creator base has grown very diverse
Why People Are Searching For The Best Patreon Alternatives
- Patreon’s search function isn’t very good.
- Patreon does not give you money, you have to earn it through your community on the platform
- There are some content restrictions as well. For example, adult content creators are finding it tough to earn using this platform
- Alienated by the Content restriction policies and low discoverability, many people are switching to other platforms.
What Is Similar To Patreon?
When it comes to monetizing the audience, Patreon is one of the best platforms. However, it is not the only platform for creators to earn revenue from their creative works. There are many other platforms which are as good as or even better than Patreon. Tribe, Ko-fi, Heights, Kindful , Liberpay, Kindful are similar to Patreon.
Is Ko-Fi Better Than Patreon?
Both platforms let creators monetize their audiences and earn revenues. Patreon and Ko-fi, both give better earning opportunities than what one gets from Google ads on YouTube. Every type of creators including artists, streamers, bloggers can offer their services to their communities directly.
- Patreon’s subscription model for creators is well-known. You provide exclusive content to your fans, and they pledge a monthly amount to access it.
- On Patreon, you will be under pressure to publish new content every month. No such pressure on Ko-fi. It allows you to decide the frequency of your content.
- Unlike Patreon, Ko-fi does not levy a charge on donations. However, both charge processing fees.
- Patreon charge 5–12% of the funds received by the creator.
- Creators on Ko-fi can start for free with 0% taken from donations
- On Patreon, you get paid either monthly or manually, while on Ko-fi you get paid instantly.
- Unlike Patreon, Ko-fi is not supported by Venture Captialists. It is still an independent platform
- Creators can use Ko-fi’s free service to direct fans to their page to leave a tip.
- Ko-fi gives you the freedom to why you want, when you want.
- On platforms like Patreon, you have to wait until the end of the month or build up a minimum balance before withdrawing funds. Creators get paid immediately from their fans on Ko-fi
Is SubscribeStar Better Than Patreon?
Unlike Patreon, SubscribeStar allows creators to have access to all features for one price. However, SubscribeStar doesn’t have many premium features. Patreon’s Merch for Memberships and Dedicated Partner Manager are good for those who have a huge following on social media.
With Patron Relationship Manager, you can easily discover who are your current patrons. This tool makes all the information of your current patrons visible to you. There are many filter options to choose from to search your current patrons.
- Patreon Messages system allows active members to send a message directly to you.
- SubscribeStar also has a similar feature that allows subscribers to send a message to you.
- Apart from WordPress integration, there are various other apps you can integrate with Patreon as well. This icludes Acast, Discord, Bonjoro, BackerKit, Crwodcasr, Format and more.
- SubscribeStar does not provide as many tools and integrations as Patreon. However, SubscribeStar also provided analytics section, that is pretty good to see details of your tiers and the sources of the amount collected.
- You can get paid on Patreon via Stripe, PayPal and Payoneer.
- For Patreon creators who live outside the United States, you can use Payoneer.
- SubscribeStar is not supported by PayPal. You can only withdraw from your bank account via wire or ACH.
- SubscribeStar is cheaper than Patreon, but the latter has better features. Not only does Patreon take less time to pay, it also pays more frequently.
Is Patreon Better Than PayPal?
Developed by a musician, Patreon is a popular platform for creators to earn subscription payments for their content. PayPal is one of the largest fintech companies whose payment-related services are not confined to subscriptions and donations.
- Both PayPal and Patreon support bloggers, vloggers and app creators. Both can be integrated with WordPress, Android and iOS.
- Patreon has a simple user interface. All popular platforms are listed in its app directory. Patreon allows you to receive money from your patrons everywhere without any difficulties.
- PayPal also offers pre-built plugins and apps for WordPress and other websites. Its plug-ins can be integrated with MailChimp as well.
- Both have apps available for Android and iOS platforms.
However, one thing you must remember is that Patreon allows you only to collect subscription payments. It does not process the payment. For this, you need PayPal or a similar payment processor. You can’t withdraw your money from your bank without using either PayPal or Stripe.
With PayPal, you can withdraw money from Patreon via direct bank deposits. Patreon gives you two options to process your payment. One is PayPal, and another is Stripe.
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10 Patreon Alternatives For Fundraising
Although this subscription crowdfunding platform has many attractive features, but it is not without fault. Have a look at 10 Patreon alteratives:
1. Mobile Cause
It is built exclusively for nonprofits to help create more meaningful connections with their donors. It takes undraising and donor engagement programs to the next level with online giving and text-to-donate, virtual events, event fundraising, peer-to-peer campaigns, engagement, mobile messaging and reporting & analytics.
It provides many great resources to help you maximize your fundraising efforts.
It offers a full suite of online and mobile fundraising solutions to help you maximize your fundraising results with MobileCause. Whether you’re new to online fundraising or a MobileCause customer looking to improve your fundraising strategy, we have services for all your fundraising and donor engagement needs.
Its digital fundraising experts can help you with:
- Campaign creation and setup
- Event strategy
- Promotion and marketing
- Brand and communication strategy
- Online and mobile giving strategies
2. EveryAction
Built and supported by nonprofit experts, its tools allow nonprofits of all sizes to optimize their interactions with their supporters and prospects, leading to the best outcomes.
- Create beautiful emails with integrated one-click donations and unmatched deliverability rates.
- Mobile-optimized, multi-step donation pages — built for one-click giving and secondary ask sequencing.
- Create, manage, run, and report on online and offline fundraising events with ease.
- Run multi-channel telemarketing, digital ad, or direct mail campaigns to maximize your organization’s fundraising efforts.
3. Heights
Heights helps students engage with your online course content and each other. It is designed to impart a sense of discovery that enables your students to translate their new knowledge into action.
It empowers entrepreneurs who want to monetize their expertise.
Heights has everything you need to launch a brilliant online course. Landing page creation and payment processing are all built-in.
Heights is everything you need to start your online school:
- Payment processing
- Content management
- White-label branding
- Outstanding support
- Student analytics
- World class hosting
- Customizable landing page
- Lead tracking support
4. Tribe
It helps you create a stand-alone or integrated community website. With this, you can enable your users to connect and discuss under your brand. Users can follow, ask questions, start discussions, upvote, comment and share content.
You can make your community private so the content would only be accessible to logged-in users. Additionally, you can make the registration by invitation, so only invited members can sign up.
Tribe app store offers a valuable set of extentions and direct integration with popular third-party tools that can significantly improve the functionality of your community. The popular apps include SEO Boost, Virtual Currency, Google Analytics, Zapier, Webhooks, Facebook Messenger.
5. Ko-Fi
Create your Ko-fi page and start accepting donations in just 60 seconds. Grow your income by opening your free Ko-fi Shop, offering subscriptions or selling commissions and services.
Ko-fi is the original, fun and friendly way to receive donations and messages of support from fans of what you do!
Use it as a tip jar, let fans contribute towards your goal and even receive donation alerts while you stream.
- Open your Ko-fi Shop and add your first digital or physical product in just 60 seconds.
- No listing fees, no website to set up, just share your link and start making sales.
- Let fans subscribe to you directly and build a regular income from your creative work.
- Reward your subscribers with exclusive content like posts, images and videos.
- 0% platform fees. Donations go directly to your PayPal or Stripe account.
- Add your Ko-fi button to any WordPress widget area, page or post.
6. Anchor
Anchor Sponsorships allows you to earn money from your podcast with no minimum audience size. All ads are read by you, and you decide when and where to include them in your show. All podcasters will be paired with Anchor as their first campaign.
It works with a growing, handpicked group of brands and advertising agencies to match them with relevant podcasts to sponsor.
There’s no limit to the number of sponsors your podcast can get matched with, and you can currently have up to 3 sponsorships segments per episode.
7. Subscribestar
8. Liberapay
Liberapay’s recurrent donations system is designed to provide a stable crowdfunded basic income to creators, enabling them to keep doing great work that benefits everyone.
- Set up a donation: Find someone you want to give money to, then choose an amount, a period (weekly, monthly, or yearly), and a renewal method (manual or automatic).
- Fund your donation: On Liberapay, donations are funded in advance. You have control over when and how much you pay. Sending more money at once usually results in a lower percentage of transaction fees.
- Keep your donation funded: We will notify you whenever a donation needs to be renewed. If you’ve opted for automatic renewals, then we will attempt to debit your card or bank account as agreed.
9. Salsa Engage
Best-in-class digital engagement platform, purpose-built with everything you need to communicate, advocate, and fund your cause!
Product Features:
- Online Fundraising
- Multi-Channel Advocacy
- Email & Marketing Automation
- Dynamic Ask Arrays
- Automated Text Messaging
- Workflow Management
- Peer to Peer Campaigns & Events
10. Kindful
Kindful is built to connect the tools you use. You’ll see email performance metrics alongside accounting details, showing you a clearer picture of which constituents need some nurturing and which are ready to give. And a flexible, open API means a developer can connect custom apps, so you can see everything in one place.
- With this, you can easily create beautiful online fundraising campaigns and add them to your website, social media, or email marketing campaigns.
- Kindful’s online donation pages are easy to set up and simple to fill out, and they automatically sync to your database.
- Its quick button and pop-up options keep donors on your website longer, resulting in a better experience and more donations.
