Gifting complimentary memberships to fans is a great way to expand your community, thank loyal fans who aren’t yet members, entice fans to try out Patreon before committing or thank collaborators. This feature is available for all creators who are on subscription billing.
This article covers how creators can gift complimentary memberships to fans. For resources on how fans can gift memberships to other fans, see this article.
Key things to know about gifting
- Existing members can redeem gifted memberships without disrupting their current subscription
- Gifting is currently available to all creators who are on subscription billing
- You can gift between 1–12 months of membership to up to 1,000 people per link (or any lower cap you set). If you offer annual memberships, gifts of one year of membership will be at the discounted annual membership price
- You can gift published tiers with no tier limits
- Fans can redeem their gift on desktop or mobile web. Mobile app redemption is not yet available
Gifted membership scenarios
Use the toggles below to explore common scenarios and see how gifted memberships affect access and billing:
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Let’s say someone who is already a member of a creator in their entry-level tier is gifted a membership to the same creator, at the same tier. In this case, the gift will apply as soon as it’s redeemed and the paid period is paused.
For example:
- Original billing date: 15th of every month.
- Gift redemption date: 25th.
- Gift coverage period: 25th to the 25th of the following month.
- Remaining paid access: 20 days left on the original subscription when the gift was redeemed, which runs immediately after the gift period has ended.
- Next billing cycle: Starts after the remaining 20 days are finished (on the 15th).
- Specific access period (gift + remaining days): Paid access runs from the 25th (end of gift) to the 14th (the day before the original billing date).
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Someone who is already a member of a creator in their entry-level tier is gifted a membership to the same creator at the higher tier. In this case, the gift will apply as soon as it’s redeemed, granting access to the high-tier benefits immediately and pausing the paid period.
For example:
- Original billing date: 15th of every month
- Gift redemption date: 25th
- Gift coverage period: 25th to the 25th of the following month
- Remaining paid access: If the member doesn’t upgrade, they will drop back to their prior tier when the gift period ends and will still have 20 days of paid access left on the original subscription when the gift was redeemed, which runs immediately after the gift period has ended.
- Next billing cycle: Starts after the remaining 20 days are finished (on the 15th).
- Specific access period (gift + remaining days): Paid access runs from the 25th (end of gift) to the 14th (the day before the original billing date).
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Someone who is already a member of a creator at the middle-tier is gifted a membership to the same creator at a lower tier. In this case, the gift will apply as soon as it’s redeemed, granting access to the tier benefits immediately and pausing the paid period.
For example:
- Original billing date: 15th of every month
- Gift redemption date: 25th
- Gift coverage period: 25th to the 25th of the following month
- Remaining paid access: If the member doesn’t upgrade, they will revert to their prior tier when the gift period ends and will still have 20 days of paid access left on the original subscription when the gift was redeemed, which runs immediately after the gift period ends.
- Next billing cycle: Starts after the remaining 20 days are finished (on the 15th).
- Specific access period (gift + remaining days): Paid access runs from the 25th (end of gift) to the 14th (the day before the original billing date).
- When a member cancels a gift before the gifting period ends, they lose access right away. If a paid membership exists, billing resumes immediately, using the remaining days of paid access from the original subscription when the gift was redeemed.
- You can only have one gifted membership per tier at a time. If you try to redeem a second gift for the same creator, regardless of tier, you’ll receive an error message. You can either wait for the current gift to expire or cancel it in Membership Settings.
Please note: merchandise rewards are not earned through gifted memberships. Only memberships with an attached payment to the member account are currently eligible to earn Patreon merchandise rewards. This rule also applies to regular merchandise items: a member will not begin earning merchandise rewards until their account has made its own payment.
How gifting works
As a creator, you can gift between 1–12 months of membership. Gifts can be redeemed by new fans, free members, cancelled members or existing paid members. Each gift link can be redeemed by up to 1,000 fans or fewer, depending on the limit you set.
Who can create a gift?
- You are using subscription billing. Visit your Billing settings to check your billing type
- If you create 18+ content, you’ll have to complete Age Verification. Learn more about the Age Verification process here
- You have a published paid tier that doesn’t have limited spots
Creating a gift
To create a gift as a Creator, follow the steps below on your profile while using a desktop. Ensure you're on your creator profile by clicking your profile picture in the bottom-left corner and selecting it.
- Click on the Promotions page from the left menu
- Click on the Gifts tab from the top menu
- Click on the Add a gift button if it’s the first time you’re creating a gift, or click on the +Add button at the top right of the page if you have existing gifts
- Enter the following fields:
- Title: Name your campaign for your own reference. This isn’t shown publicly
- Tier: Decide which tier you’d like to gift. (Note that unpublished tiers and tiers with limited spots are currently unavailable to gift)
- Length: Choose between 1–12 months
- Redemption limits: Up to 1,000 people can claim a gift for each link
- Start/end date: You must have a start date, which can be scheduled in the future. The end date is optional. If you choose to set one, the gift can no longer be redeemed after your specified date
- After you create the gift link, you can share it by selecting the copy icon in the table view of all gifts or clicking on the three dots … and selecting Share gift link
Managing gifts
Editing gifts
You can edit existing gifts at any time by navigating to your Gifts tab, clicking on the three dots ... and selecting Edit.
If your gift link has not gone live yet, you can edit the following fields:
- Title
- Length
- How many people can claim
- Personalised message
- Promotion start and end date
If your gift link is already active, you can edit the following fields:
- Title
- Personalised message
- Promotion end date
- To immediately end a gift redemption period, just edit the end date to a date in the past.
Seeing fans who have redeemed a gift
Under the Gift tab in your Promotions page, you can see who redeemed a gift and when their gift period expires.
You can find more information in your Audience Relationship manager, where you can see the following details:
- Which members have redeemed a gift and are actively in their gifted membership period. To see this, select the Gifted by you filter. Members who are actively in a gifted membership will also have a gift box icon next to their Current Tier.
- A member’s history of gift redemption even if they’ve upgraded to a paid membership or have cancelled. To see this, click on their profile from your Relationship manager.
Insights about gift redemption
You can find insights about gift redemption under the Gift tab in your Promotions page. Click on a gift link to see the number of redemptions and the number of gifted members who stayed on as paying members after their gift period ended.
In your Insights section, gifted members will be counted as paid members for the duration of their gift period.
How fans can redeem your gift
Fans can follow the gift link you share to redeem your gift. If they don’t have an account yet, they’ll be prompted to sign up before redeeming their gift. At redemption, they can opt out of staying connected as a free member after their gift period ends.
Fans who are redeeming a gift from creators of 18+ content must confirm they are over 18 years of age to access the page.
About fan-purchased gifts
In addition to gifting memberships directly, creators may also receive gifted memberships purchased by fans. Fans can choose to:
- Gift access to someone they personally know (friends and family) or
- Gift a membership for you to share with members of your community (currently in Beta with a small group of creators)
If your creator page is included in the Community gifting Beta, fans will see the option to purchase a community gift directly from your page (at patreon.com/[creatorURL]/gift). You’ll receive an email notification when a community gift is purchased, and you’ll be able to share those gifted memberships with your audience in any way you choose, such as via posts, direct messages or social media.
Key things to know:
- These gifts are non-renewable and valid for 90 days from the date of purchase
- Creators can distribute community gifts at their discretion. You can find your community gifts in your Gift tab within Promotions. There will be a community gifts table with gift links displayed
- Fans can purchase multiple community gift links for redemption
- Creators can see who purchased a community gift, but recipients will only see the gifter’s name if it was shared publicly
This feature is currently available only to a small group of creators. If you’re part of the beta, this gifting option is automatically available on your creator page.
Fans can convert their gift into a paid membership
Fans can continue to receive access to paid benefits by converting their gift into a paid membership. They can do this any time during the gifted period by visiting Memberships, selecting Extend membership and adding their payment information to opt in to a paid membership. They won’t be charged until their gifted membership ends.
FAQ
- Existing members can now redeem gifted memberships without cancelling their current pledges. This applies when the gift is for the same or a higher tier than their current one. Their billing cycle will continue uninterrupted, and gifted access will apply automatically once redeemed. This makes gifting more seamless for both fans and creators.
- Fans can gift between 1–12 months of access to any of your non-limited tiers. If you offer annual memberships, gifts of 12 months automatically use your annual discount.
- When creating a gift, you can customise the following fields:
- Title: This helps you keep track of the gift internally and isn’t shown publicly.
- Tier: Decide which tier you want to gift. (Note: tiers with limited members are currently unavailable to gift).
- Length: Choose a time period between one month to one year.
- Cap claims: You can give up to 1,000 gifts per link.
- Personalised message
- Promotion start and end date: Your promotion must have a start date (which can be scheduled in the future). The end date is optional, and if it has passed, then the gift can no longer be redeemed.
- For gift links that are scheduled but not yet live: You can edit everything except the tier
- For gift links that are live: You can edit the title, personalised message and end date
- You can end a gift period early by editing the promotion end date to today or a date in the past.
- Yes. Fans must be logged in to purchase a gift. If they don’t have an account, they can create one during checkout.
- No. Gifting is available only for creators who use subscription billing.
- No. Purchasers cannot self-redeem a gift they purchased.
- No. Even if a fan buys multiple gifts in the same checkout:
- Each gift has its own redemption token
- A Patreon account can redeem each only once
- A single link cannot be reused to activate multiple gifts for the same account
- Yes. They can choose how many gifts they want to purchase, and a unique gift token is generated for each gift, even though there’s only one link generated.
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If the recipient already has a paid membership:
- Their existing paid plan is paused
- The gifted membership starts immediately
- When the gift ends, the member resumes their previous paid plan exactly where they left off (they don’t lose access time they’ve already paid for)
This applies whether the gift is for the same tier, a lower tier or a higher tier.
- Yes. Gifts must be redeemed within 90 days. Unredeemed gifts expire and are not refundable or exchangeable.
- Gift redemption does not change your billing schedule as a creator. You are still paid the value of the gifted membership.
- Yes. They receive reminders three days before the gift expires.
- You can view redemptions and insights at:
- Promotions > Gifts: Click on each gift link and view the sidebar to see the number of redemptions, the number of fans who have continued on as paid members after the gift ends, and a list of fans who have redeemed
- Audience > Relationship Manager: See a list of gifted fans by sorting the “Current tier” column and looking for the gift icon, or by filtering using the “Gifted by you” filter
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New, free, existing and cancelled members can redeem gifts.
Existing members can now redeem gifted memberships without cancelling their current pledges. This applies when the gift is for the same or a higher tier than their current one. Their billing cycle will continue uninterrupted, and gifted access will apply automatically once redeemed.
You can only have one gifted membership per tier at a time. If you try to redeem a second gift for the same creator, regardless of tier, you’ll receive an error message. You can either wait for the current gift to expire or cancel it in Membership Settings.
Fans can gift other fans (Fan2Fan), or creators can gift memberships directly to their audience (Creator2Fan).
Only members aged 18 and older can redeem gifts for 18+ creators.
Please note: merchandise rewards are not earned through gifted memberships. Only memberships with an attached payment to the member account are currently eligible to earn Patreon merchandise rewards. This rule also applies to regular merchandise items: a member will not begin earning merchandise rewards until their account has made its own payment.
- No. Gifted members do not currently appear in the Benefits tab. Only members with an active payment attached to their account will show up in your benefits tracking. Once a gifted member has converted to a paid membership, they will appear in the Benefits tab as normal.
- Currently, gifting a membership to a tier with Discord and Spotify benefits will grant access to these integrations. We are working on being able to expand these offerings in the future.