Sync an Existing Feed to Patreon

You can automatically sync podcast episodes from your existing host to Patreon. This is useful if you publish free episodes elsewhere and paid ones on Patreon—syncing lets you show all your episodes in one place. Visitors can sample your work before subscribing, and members can access everything easily.

Looking to move your full back catalog to Patreon in one go instead? That's a one-time import — see Migrating audio from an external host.

Key Things to Know

• Your podcast stays hosted and distributed through your hosting platform
• This is an ongoing sync, not a one-time migration. Once you sync your podcast, Patreon will continuously check for new episodes on your original hosting platform
• New episodes will automatically sync to Patreon. You can choose whether they're published right away or saved as drafts in your Library for review before publishing
• Only audio posts will be synced — video posts in your RSS feed won't be imported

Syncing vs. importing: Syncing keeps an ongoing connection to your host, so new episodes keep flowing into Patreon automatically. Importing is a one-time move of your existing episodes. Both start from the same place on your podcast — this article covers syncing; for a one-time import, see Migrating audio from an external host.

How to sync your podcast

💡 Tip: Use the desktop web experience for setup.

1. Click on Your account → Settings → Podcast and audio, then either:
   • Click + New podcast to create one — after filling in your details and clicking Continue, you'll see Bring your public episodes to Patreon. Click Continue to sync (or Not now to start fresh — you can set up syncing later)
   • Or open an existing podcast and select the Import & sync card. The first time, you'll be asked "I would like to…" — choose Sync my podcast (choosing Import my podcast instead starts a one-time import)
2. On the Find your podcast screen, search for your public show by typing its name, or paste your RSS feed URL
   • Please note that only audio posts will be imported
   • Most hosting platforms provide your RSS feed under Settings, Sharing, or Distribution — it's usually the same feed your listeners use on Spotify and other apps
3. Patreon will verify that you own the show. Select your podcast and click Continue
4. Choose your Sync settings (you can adjust these later, and change access for individual episodes):
   • After syncing episodes… choose Save as draft in Library (review before publishing) or Publish automatically
   • Who can access these episodes? — for example, Paid members only. You can change this for each episode before publishing
   • Send notifications — members are notified based on their notification settings. This doesn't apply to the episodes synced during initial setup
5. Once you're done, your episodes will start syncing

Make sure you have RSS feed enabled for your members so your episodes appear in their RSS apps. If you're using Patreon RSS, you can also turn on the Spotify integration and enable Synced Feeds, which lets members listen to your paid episodes on Spotify and gives non-members the option to join your Patreon to unlock your exclusive episodes.

Once you start syncing, any episodes you've already published will be synced first. You can track the progress in your Library. When syncing is complete, you'll receive both a notification and an email confirmation. From then on, you'll get a notification and an email each time a synced episode is successfully published or added to your drafts.

Manage and publish your synced episodes

Your podcast's episodes appear on its page under Episodes, split into Published and Drafts tabs. You can also track progress in your Library. If you're syncing a large number of episodes, it may take a few minutes to start — refresh the page once it's complete to view your synced episodes.

You can take several actions—like updating access settings, editing titles, and publishing episodes—depending on the sync option you selected:

If you chose Save as drafts in Library:

Episodes will appear in the Drafts tab. From here you can:

• Click on a draft to review its details and confirm everything synced correctly
• Edit who can see your episodes by selecting multiple episodes and clicking Edit access
• Click Publish to publish selected episodes when you're ready

If you chose Publish automatically:

Episodes will appear in the Posts tab once published and will be available to your fans on Patreon. From here, you can:

• Click on an episode to check details like the title, access settings, or pricing (if applicable)
• Edit who can see your episodes by selecting multiple episodes and clicking Edit access
• Move episodes to a different podcast or season by selecting them and clicking Edit

If you want to update things like audio or description, make changes to those episodes on the original platform—those updates will be synced to Patreon automatically.

Published episodes keep their original publish dates, so they'll appear in the correct order for your fans. Whether fans receive notifications depends on your notification settings.

Update your sync settings

You can update your sync settings at any time. This is useful if you want to change how episodes are handled, adjust who gets access, or pause syncing.

1. Click on Your account → Settings → Podcast and audio
2. Open the podcast you synced and go to its Import & sync settings

From your Sync settings, you can:

• Switch between Publish synced episodes immediately and Save synced episodes as drafts and publish manually
• Update who can access these episodes (for example, Paid members only). You can change this for each episode before publishing
• Choose whether to send notifications when new episodes are published
• Sync now to manually trigger a sync — changes sync automatically every hour, but this pulls updates right away
• Pause syncing to temporarily stop importing new episodes, or Stop syncing to end it altogether

Changes made here will apply to all existing and future synced episodes. Want to make changes to individual episodes? You can always edit them directly in your Library.

FAQ

• Syncing keeps your podcast connected to your original host. New episodes are automatically brought into Patreon as you publish them, and any changes you make are reflected on Patreon.

  Importing is a one-time move of your existing back catalog. It's ideal if you want to bring over past episodes in one go and start publishing directly on Patreon moving forward. Learn more about migrating audio from an external host.

• Yes, you can pause syncing in your Podcast and audio settings at any time.
  • No new episodes will be imported from your podcast host
  • Already-synced episodes will remain in your Library and won't be affected
  • You can still edit, publish, or manage any previously synced episodes as usual
  • Syncing will resume where it left off if you decide to turn it back on later
  • Edits made to episodes on your external host while syncing is paused won't appear on Patreon
• No, we do not import analytics or listener data from your existing platform. Metrics such as total listens, geographic audience distribution, and other insights will start fresh on Patreon.
• Yes, you can set access permissions for synced episodes just like any other post on Patreon. You can choose which membership tiers have access, allowing you to control who can listen.
• No, you have control over this. When publishing a free episode, you can choose to hide it from paying members to avoid cluttering their feeds. This helps ensure your paid content stays front and center for subscribers.
• Yes. When you sync your free episodes to Patreon, members can receive a combined feed that includes both free and paid episodes. By default, anyone already subscribed to your paid feed will automatically receive this unified feed—no extra setup required.