This article will cover all fees that a creator will encounter when using Patreon. From our Platform Fee to Payout Fees through third parties. If you have any questions on how much it costs to use Patreon, this is the place to be.
There are four different fees on Patreon. They are explained in detail below:
1. Platform fee
The Platform Fee is a percentage of successfully-processed membership payments. This means that we only make money if the creator is making money. The percentage is calculated on payments processed, excluding any sales tax (i.e. VAT, GST, etc.) added to your patron’s payments. The percentage amount depends on the creator plan you are on.
You can visit your creator account settings to review your current creator platform plan and the percentage deducted from your earnings for this plan. Learn more about our plans here: Creator platform pricing plans.
2. Payment processing fees
This is the cost of moving funds from your patrons to your creator balance. Payment-processing fees cover the cost of processing payments from your patrons including recurring billing, recovering declined payments, and fighting fraud.
Your processing fees reported by month can be viewed on your Earnings Dashboard page and are listed as the "Payment-Processing Fees". You can view your processing rates on your creator account settings.
Your payment-processing fees will vary based on your tier amounts (results in the pledge amounts charged) and your patrons’ method of payment (i.e. credit card or PayPal). These are factors that reduce or increase that effective rate. To learn more about our supported currencies' processing rates, please visit this Help Centre article on Patreon's supported currencies.
Value-Added Tax (VAT) can increase your payment processing fees. Patreon is legally required to collect VAT from European Union (EU) patrons. This is a tax charged on top of your tier amount if the patron is located in an EU country. Payment processors charge fees on the transaction amount, which includes tax if Patreon collected VAT. While you as the creator don’t have to worry about collecting VAT from your EU patrons, it can affect your effective payment processing rate.
Learn more about the VAT collection.
3. Payout fees
The charge for moving funds from your creator balance to your bank, PayPal or Payoneer account. This fee is not listed in the fee breakdown within your creator earnings dashboard. This is taken once you transfer funds out of your Patreon account and toward your bank account.
To learn about these fees, please visit this help centre article: Payout fees information and Payout fees information (Non-US creator)
Note: Creators based in the US Virgin Islands or any other US territory or possession – with the exception of Puerto Rico – are not supported by our ACH direct-deposit partner. Creators in the US Virgin Islands or any other US territory other than Puerto Rico will need to use PayPal to pay out.
4. Conversion fees
Patrons have the option to pay for their membership in the currency they prefer. Patreon charges creators a 2.5% currency conversion fee on all patron payments made in a currency other than the creator's payout currency. This fee is reversed on any payments that are refunded to patrons.
All fees will be calculated based on the creator's payout currency.
Learn more about how tier prices are converted, and additional details on currency conversion in this tier conversion help article.