Patreon’s had its time to shine, but many creators are getting tired of the platform’s high fees, weird account suspensions, and limited monetization options. Despite the marketing domination, there are many options aside from Patreon that target specific types of creators.
Creators are unique. No platform can serve all creators and their communities equally. Consider a platform tailored to the content, products, and services you offer your audience.
Here are 5 Patreon alternatives that might suit you better.

Buy Me a Coffee  

Buy Me a Coffee (BMAC) is a great direct alternative to Patreon for any creators who are primarily audience-supported. The best part of BMAC is the simplicity for you and your supporters. People don’t need an account to support you, which is nice because it makes the whole process frictionless. You can accept monthly or yearly memberships in different tiers or get one-off payments from anyone. One-off payments are still not accepted on Patreon, which gives BMAC a leg-up for small creators that don’t attract as many dedicated monthly supporters.

Your supporters can give to you using any of these three options:

  • Credit cards
  • Apple Pay
  • Google Pay

There’s also a section for perks or merch, but it’s best suited for digital services or products. Think of access to your Discord server or a collection of video transitions, not custom t-shirts or hoodies. BMAC charges fees as a percentage of your earnings, like Patreon. Their plan charges a flat rate of 5% for everyone, unlike Patreon, where you have to move up to 8-12% fees if you want to access all the site’s features.

Buy Me a Coffee is a solid option if you’re an artist, writer, streamer, podcaster, developer, musician, YouTuber, or anyone with direct audience-supported content. If you need more branding options, course creation, or a place to sell physical merch, there are better options than BMAC.

Podia

Podia is an excellent platform for creators working on larger digital content products, such as digital courses, ebooks, webinars, printables, coaching, or any exclusive digital content. There’s space for selling your digital products under your own branding and offering monthly memberships from your audience.

Your supporters can pay through:

  • Apple Pay
  • Google Pay
  • iDEAL
  • Credit/Debit cards
  • Paypal

Podia is a better platform to support all that under your own branding if you’ve got any exclusive or paid content. You’ll pay for that benefit, but the upside is you’ll be spending on a flat rate monthly instead of giving away a percentage of your income. Plans start at $39/month without a free option. There are no added transaction fees, only the standard fees from integrated payment processors (Paypal or Stripe in this case).

The more income you get from digital products, the more this platform makes sense for you. If your income is generated (or will be generated) from a mix of digital and physical products, the next one on this list might be a better option.

Sellfy

Sellfy is a platform for online creators to sell digital and physical products. Their standout feature is the ability to sell print-on-demand items, meaning you don’t need to maintain stock or deal with order fulfillment. Along with selling physical products, you can offer digital products through Sellfy, including memberships or exclusive access products.

Supporters paying for your products on Sellfy can pay via:

  • Credit/debit cards
  • Paypal
  • Apply Pay
  • Google Pay
  • Microsoft Pay
  • Local European payment systems (supported through Paypal but specific to different regions in Europe)

Sellfy is cheaper than Podia, starting at $19/month, but there are a few downsides. The main issue with Sellfy is the need for a built-in LMS. You can’t create your own courses on this platform, although you can still sell access to digital courses built or hosted elsewhere. It’s a great option when you want to offer different products, but maybe not if your primary income source is digital courses.

Ko-Fi

Ko-Fi (pronounced like “coffee”) is a donation-focused platform for creators with a smaller or newer audience. While the starting fee is 5% on all one-off or recurring donations, there’s an option to skip this fee for a flat rate of $6 per month. That’s a great deal if you’re consistently getting more than ~$120 per month from your supporters.

Supporters can donate to you using the following:

  • Credit/debit cards
  • Apple Pay
  • Google Pay
  • Paypal
  • Stripe

This is a good platform for smaller creators who need a more affordable way to accept one-time donations or a few recurring sponsorships. It doesn’t scale well if you want to offer a broader range of products or services. Still, it’s an effective platform for smaller audience-sponsored creators and artists.

Mighty Networks

Mighty Networks is a community-building platform that helps you connect directly with your audience. You can create an exclusive membership program that allows your supporters to access your Mighty Network community. It’s a step up from exclusive Discord servers, subreddits, or Facebook groups. Plans start at $39/month with no free options. There are no transaction fees on the income you earn through the platform.

Besides the communities, Mighty Networks is a platform for creating and selling digital courses. You can set it up so that people who pay for a course automatically get access to a specific community space to talk with others who’ve taken that course.

You can choose to make your community free or charge a membership fee of your choice. Payments go through Stripe, so you’ll need an account to use Mighty Networks. One unique thing about Mighty Networks is that you can also gate entry to communities based on NFT or specific crypto token ownership.


Don’t let any platform hold you back. Choose to work with a platform that allows you to earn online in whatever way you wish, giving room for your future growth.

What’s your favorite Patreon alternative? Let us know in the comments below!