This article includes a list of questions we expect creators to have about migrating to subscription billing. To learn more about these changes, visit our guide on how to migrate and the rollout of iOS in-app purchases.
Click on a question below to view the answer:
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A: For most, switching your billing model will not affect your existing members. If you’re on a first-of-the-month billing model, your existing members will continue to be billed on the first of the month for as long as their membership is active. If you are on a per-creation billing model, your existing members will be billed a consistent, set price on the first of the month once you migrate. After migrating to subscription billing, your new members will be billed on the date that they sign up and then monthly on that same date.
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A: Your payout schedule will not change. For all billing models, you can pay out your account balance as soon as funds are settled or auto-payout on the 5th.
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A: Navigate to your Billing and payouts settings to find out. Under “Billing schedule” you’ll see more details on your model. Creators on subscription billing should see “Members are charged on the day they join your membership, and then monthly on that same date.”
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A: Apple’s in-app purchase system only supports creators on subscription billing. Creators that remain on other billing model once Apple’s in-app purchase system rolls out will not be able to sell new memberships in the iOS app and will have to switch to subscription billing by November 2025.
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A: Yes. Apple’s in-app purchase system only supports Patreon’s subscription billing model. Apple has made clear that if creators on Patreon continue to use unsupported billing models or disable transactions in the iOS app, we will be at risk of having the entire app removed from their App Store. Learn more about iOS in-app purchases and the migration to subscription billing.
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A: If you are a first-of-the-month billing creator, you can switch to subscription billing in your settings or wait to be automatically migrated in November 2024. Switching to subscription billing is a one-time change, you can not switch back to your old billing model. If you are a per-creation billing creator, you will get 1-1 support from our Product Support team to help you migrate to subscription billing. You can start the migration process by requesting support in your settings.
To learn more about the process of migrating from per-creation to subscription billing, read our Help Center article.
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A: If you’re on first-of-the-month billing and choose to be automatically migrated to subscription billing, Patreon will reach out to you before the automatic migration to provide more clarity on when you can expect the change. Other creators, those on per-creation or on first-of-the-month billing that want to delay their migration, can migrate to subscription billing any time before November 2025.
Migrating from per-creation to subscription billing
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A: A multiplier helps determine how to price your monthly tiers when migrating from a per-creation billing model to subscription billing. The multiplier is determined by your paid post history, and is applied to the per-creation price to create equivalent monthly tier prices your existing members will be billed monthly. We take the maximum amount of paid posts you’ve made over the past three months, and this will be your potential multiplier.
We use this approach to ensure that your existing members are billed a fair monthly equivalent to what they are used to when you are charged per creation so we don’t give them sticker shock. If your members specified a maximum number of paid posts, we will honor this cap post-migration.
Learn more about how the multiplier works.
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A: You can choose to apply our suggested multiplier or any whole number that is less than what we suggested. Please note that you have to apply the same multiplier to all your tiers. If you would like to change your tier prices after migrating to subscription billing, you can do so by following the steps in this help center article.
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A: We will honor existing members’ monthly maximum amounts, so your existing members will never pay more than their maximum. If this amount is lower than the new tier price, they will remain in their tier while paying up to their maximum, which may be lower than your new tier price.
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A: In order to successfully migrate your existing members to subscription billing, we will apply the multiplier to all your tiers to complete the migration and set them on a monthly schedule. Once the migration is complete, you can reprice and customize your tiers! Follow these steps here.
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A: Your existing paid members will be billed their monthly membership amount on the 1st of the next month. New members who sign up after migration is completed will be billed the monthly cost immediately.
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A: We have a template that you can use! You can find it in this article.