In this guide, we’ll go over key membership details to help you decide if annual membership is right for you.
Not all creators have annual memberships available. If a creator has yearly plans, they’ll be listed in the tier descriptions and on the checkout page.
Starting an annual membership (not yet a member)
- Log in to your Patreon account and find the creator’s page you want to join
- Click the link for the annual discount directly below the Join button for the tier. You can compare the creator’s monthly and annual options on the checkout page before you confirm
- Review your billing method and auto-renewal details in the Summary section of the checkout page – you may want to print or screenshot the page for your records
- Click on the Confirm button to start your membership. You’ll pay for the year in full immediately.
Your payment instantly unlocks your access to the creator’s back catalogue of content for your tier, and you’ll be set for the next year!
Switching from monthly to annual billing
- Click the Manage Memberships button (pencil icon) in the left navigation
- Click the Edit button next to your membership
- The checkout page should be familiar – directly under the page header, you can toggle between monthly or annual membership to compare the cost
- Select the annual price button and click the Update button. Please note that you’ll pay for the entire year up front
When is my next payment?
You have a whole year! The exact renewal date will depend on the creator’s billing model. If you’re not sure, you can consult your auto-renewal details for your membership on your Membership tab.
- If the creator uses subscription billing, members will be charged upon signup and yearly on their join date on UTC
- Example: You join a creator’s page with an annual membership on 18 Nov 2022, and pay $19.20 for the year. On 18 Nov 2023, your annual membership auto-renews, and you pay $19.20. Your annual membership will auto-renew on 18 Nov each year thereafter
- If a creator uses charge upfront billing, then members are charged when they join and yearly on the first of the month on PT, a year after the initial join date, and on that date every year until cancelled
- Example: You join a creator’s page with an annual membership on 18 Nov 2022, and pay $19.20 for the year. On 1 Dec 2023, your annual membership auto-renews, and you pay $19.20. Your annual membership will auto-renew on the 1st of December each year thereafter
What happens to my annual membership if the creator pauses their page?
When your creator pauses billing, your annual membership extends by one month.
For example, say you have an annual subscription set to end on 1 November 2025. If your creator pauses their billing cycle on August 2025, your membership will extend by 1 month, and it will now end on 1 December 2025.
Is my membership monthly or annual?
The Active memberships page lists your payment schedules. Depending on how you signed up, your membership may be listed as:
- Per year: you’re an annual member!
- Per month: you pay monthly
- Per creation: you pay on the first of each month on a per-post billing structure
Making changes to an annual membership
If you’re using the Patreon app, this help article will guide you through that: Updating your membership via the Patreon app
Increasing your membership will take effect immediately since you pay upfront.
How to upgrade your annual membership
- Click the Manage Memberships button (pencil icon) in the left navigation
- Click the Edit button for the membership you would like to change
- Click the Edit button in the Summary section
- Select your new tier at an annual level – there’s currently no way to switch to a monthly plan from annual terms
- Review the details on the checkout page and click the Update button
When you increase your annual membership, pro-rated credit from what you’ve already paid is applied to the new amount, and you pay the remaining cost for upgrading. When you make changes to an annual membership, it extends your year term from that date.
Examples:
- If you paid for a $120 tier and upgrade in the same month to a $140 tier, you pay $20 for the difference between the two.
- If you paid $120 in April and upgrade in June to a $140 tier, only $100 from your initial payment is left, so you’ll pay $40 to upgrade.
In both of the above examples, your membership auto-renews in a year and you pay your new membership amount of $140 in full.
Decreasing your annual membership
At the moment, there’s no way to decrease your annual membership tier. You can, however, lower your tier level after your year membership has ended with a slight workaround.
You can cancel your membership near the end of your year term and then rejoin at a lower-tier option once the year term has passed.
Examples:
- If the creator uses subscription billing: You start your annual membership on 12 July 2020. This means your yearly membership is set to expire on 11 July 2021, and renews on 12 July 2021. You can cancel your membership near the expiry date and rejoin after 12 July 2021, at any membership tier you’d like.
- If the creator uses Charge upfront billing: You start your annual membership on 12 July 2020. This means your yearly membership is set to expire on 31 July 2021, and renews on 1 August 2021. You can cancel your membership near the expiry date and rejoin after 1 August 2021, at any membership tier you’d like
Can I switch from annual to monthly?
While you have an annual membership, you won’t be able to switch to a monthly membership. If you’d like to have a monthly membership, you can cancel the auto-renewal and then rejoin the creator’s page with a monthly option after the year has passed.
I cancelled and want to rejoin – will I have to pay again?
That depends! If you join, then cancel, and then rejoin all in the same month, you won’t be charged for those adjustments. If you join, then cancel at a later month and rejoin later on, you can expect to pay for extending your annual membership.
When you join or rejoin a creator’s annual membership, your year membership terms start from that date.
Example:
10 January 2021: Let’s say you join a creator’s annual membership for USD 20.16 for a year ($1.68/ month).
10 January 2021: You cancel because you only want a year of membership. Your year of membership will end on 31 January 2022 (If the creator uses Charge upfront billing) or on 9 January 2022 (If the creator uses subscription billing)
1 March 2021: You rejoin. You pay $5.04 ($20.16 - $15.12 from what you’ve already paid) immediately. This payment extends your membership terms, and your membership will renew on 1 April 2022 (If the creator uses charge upfront billing) or come 1 March 2022 (If the creator uses subscription billing)
Cancelling an annual membership
Cancelling will not affect your current membership term. After cancelling, you’ll still be an active member and have access until your year of membership ends.
How to cancel annual membership auto-renewal:
- Click the Manage Memberships button (pencil icon) in the left navigation
- Click the Edit button for the membership you’re cancelling
- Click the Edit or Cancel payment button directly under the update button
- Select the Cancel your payment option
- Click the Cancel your payment button to confirm
Will I be refunded after I cancel?
No. While cancelling turns off auto-renewal, you’ll still have a membership for the year you paid for. For that reason, Patreon won’t refund any amount of what you’ve already paid the creator.
Will I still earn merch if I cancel my annual membership?
If you have an Annual membership, you’ll be charged for one year of membership up front and will start earning your merch after 3 monthly billing periods have passed. Feel free to check the help centre article How to Claim my exclusive Patreon merch from a creator to learn more about merch cadences.
This will depend on the date of cancellation and your creator’s merch programme.
If your creator is offering a one-time merch item:
- If you cancel before 3 months have passed, this will interrupt your merch earning cycle
- If you cancel after the 3 months, this won’t affect any merch earnings because you met the required timeframe to receive your merch item
- Example: You join on 12 Dec and cancel on 15 Feb – you will still receive your merch item (3 months = 3 successful billings, in this case, Dec, Jan, Feb)
If your creator is on the loyalty programme (You receive merch every 3 months):
- You will need to be an active member for the whole year.
- Example: You start a membership on 12 Dec and cancel in April, you wouldn’t earn the merch item that would be due on 12 May – With an annual membership, you need to remain an active member for the duration of the year.
Annual membership refund policy
Patreon will not issue refunds for annual memberships, except under extraordinary circumstances, which are reviewed and granted at Patreon’s discretion. You are supporting a creator for their past and future work and getting access to content during your term. We cannot guarantee you will always like the quality or quantity of past or future work or that creators will have completed new work within the year, and these factors do not provide you with an automatic refund.
If for any reason you need to request a refund for your annual membership, you’ll need to contact your creator directly with that request. Here are our tips for requesting a refund from a creator: Recommendations for requesting a refund.
Creators can only refund charges within 90 days of the processing date. If a creator needs to issue a refund older than 90 days, they can do so outside Patreon (i.e. on PayPal or Venmo). This is true for both partial and full refunds.
Partial refunds
You may be able to get a prorated refund for the remaining months of your year term at our creator’s discretion. If the creator refunds a prorated amount of your term, you’ll lose access at the end of the month that the refund is issued. Reach out to your creator if you would like to request a prorated refund.
Full refunds
If a creator issues you a full refund for your annual membership, your access to the creator’s member-only content for your tier will be revoked.
You can request a partial or full refund from the creator you support. Please know that a refund of any type (partial or full) will result in a loss of access to the creator’s content.