Whether you want to upgrade, downgrade, or cancel; we’re here to help you make changes to your membership.
In this guide, we’ll review the following:
- Changing your tier
- Increasing your payment amount (not joining a higher tier)
- Canceling
- Frequently asked questions
How to switch your membership tier
You can change your membership tier whenever you like. To switch tiers, follow the steps below:
- While logged in to your patron profile, click the Settings link from the left sidebar navigation
- Click the Active memberships link from the menu bar
- Locate the creator and click the Edit link
- Click the Edit button in the SUMMARY section of the payment page
- Click the Join button for the tier you’d like to switch to
- Review your new tier and payment details and click the Update button to confirm. If your creator requests your address for potential physical benefits, you can add or remove your address after the updated page.
Switching your tier on the Patreon app
- Tap on your profile image at the top left corner of your device
- Tap on My memberships
- Locate the creator and tap on the pencil icon
- Scroll down to the SUMMARY of the checkout page and click on Edit under your tier
- Tap on the Join button for the tier you’d like to switch to
- Tap the Update button to finalize your changes
How to increase your payment amount (not upgrading tier)
If you want to give your creator more, but don’t necessarily want to join a higher tier, you can increase the Pay what you want section of the checkout page to do so.
Follow the steps below to manually increase your pledge amount:
- While logged in to your patron profile, click the Settings link from the left sidebar navigation
- Click the Active memberships link from the menubar
- Locate the creator and click the Edit link
- Click into the Choose what you pay field
- Enter a new payment amount that is equal to or higher than the minimum cost of your current tier
- Click the Update button
Increasing your payment amount on the Patreon app
- Tap on your profile image at the top left corner of your device
- Tap on My memberships
- Locate the creator and tap on the pencil icon
- Tap into the Choose what you pay field and enter a new payment amount that is equal to or higher than the minimum cost of your current tier
- Tap the Update button to finalize your changes
How to cancel
If you have a declined or pending bill on your account, canceling your recurring membership will not remove these bills. We recommend that you review your Billing History page before canceling to see if we’ll process any payments for you upon canceling.
Here are the steps to cancel membership on Patreon on Desktop:
- While logged in to your patron profile, click the Settings link from the left sidebar navigation
- Click the Active memberships link from the menubar
- Locate the creator and click the Edit link
- Click the Edit or Cancel Membership button
- Select the option to cancel and click the Cancel your membership button to confirm
Canceling a membership on the app
- Tap on your profile image at the top left corner of your device
- Tap on My memberships
- Locate the creator and tap on the pencil icon
- Tap the Edit or Cancel Membership link on the checkout page
- Select the option to cancel and tap Cancel your membership to confirm
Frequently asked questions
How will Patreon charges appear on my statement?
The names of creators you support will not be included in your statement. Your payment will be processed as Patreon and listed as one of the following line items:
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Credit card |
PayPal |
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If my payment declines, can I just cancel it?
If the creator uses monthly charge upfront billing, then, yes, you can cancel if your payment declines, and we will not retry your payment. This is because charge upfront payments are for the preceding month.
If the creator uses per creation or monthly (non-charge upfront) billing, we will retry your payment even if you cancel or decrease your membership. If your membership is active on the 1st of the month, you can expect your payment to process.
What happens when I cancel my membership?
| Creator's billing model | What happens when you cancel? |
| Subscription billing |
If you cancel, you retain your original membership access up to the next billing date, which is determined by your join date. You are not billed on the next billing date and lose membership access. If you rejoin before your original access has ended, you’ll keep your original bill date. If you cancel and rejoin after your original access has ended, you’ll be treated as a new patron and your new join date will be your monthly billing date. |
| Monthly charge upfront |
If you cancel before the 1st of the month, you’ll retain your original membership access until the next 1st of the month. When the 1st of the month comes, you won’t be charged and you’ll lose your membership access. Canceling on or after the 1st of the month will result in a charge for that month. Your membership will end on the following 1st. You can rejoin at the same tier level and experience no billing changes. If you rejoin after your original access has ended, you’ll be treated as a new patron, and you’ll pay in full when you join and monthly on the 1st after that. |
| Monthly (non-charge upfront) |
If you cancel before the 1st of the month, you won’t be billed and will lose membership access as soon as you cancel. You can rejoin at any point and will be treated as a new patron. |
| Per creation | When you cancel, we’ll process any pending bills on your account. Please check your Billing history for pending bills before canceling. |
| Annual membership | Similar to charge upfront billing and subscription billing, when you cancel an annual membership, you’ll retain access until your next bill date. On your next bill date you won’t be charged and will lose membership access. |
Please note that if you cancel your membership after a creator has opted in to subscription billing and you rejoin later, your membership will be on our subscription billing model.
What happens if I upgrade?
| Creator's billing method | What happens when you upgrade? |
| Subscription billing | When you upgrade, your billing date does not change. You’ll be charged the outstanding amount to upgrade and will instantly unlock access to the higher membership. You’ll then pay your upgraded membership amount on your next bill date. |
| Monthly charge upfront |
When you upgrade, payments already made for the month are credited toward the upgrade, and you pay the difference. You’ll pay your higher membership amount on the 1st of the month. |
| Monthly (non-charge upfront) |
You’ll immediately unlock access to the higher membership. There’s no charge to upgrade. You’ll be charged your upgraded amount on the 1st of the month. |
| Per creation |
You instantly unlock access to the higher membership. Your higher pledge applies to future paid posts made up to your monthly max. We won’t exceed your monthly limit, so you may not be billed for additional paid posts. If you want to ensure a creator gets your increased amount, you may want to increase your monthly limit. |
| Annual membership |
When you upgrade, a pro-rated amount of what you already paid is credited, and you pay the remaining upgrade cost. When you update an annual membership, it extends your term for a year from that date. |
What happens if I downgrade?
| Creator's billing method | What happens when you downgrade? |
| Subscription billing | Downgrading will not change your billing date. You’ll retain your original membership access until your next billing date. On your next billing date, your membership access will be scaled back and you’ll pay your downgraded tier amount. |
| Monthly charge upfront |
Downgrading your membership does not affect the current month’s membership access. Since you’ve already paid for the month upfront, downgrading affects your membership renewal on the upcoming first of the month. We recommend downgrading closer to the end of the month for a smooth transition. |
| Monthly (non-charge upfront) | If you decrease your membership, your access is instantly limited to the new (lower) tier that you've subscribed to. |
| Per creation |
Decreasing your membership will not change the amount of any pending bills already posted to your Billing history. Your lower amount will be applied to future paid posts if your monthly limit has not already been met. |
| Annual membership |
At the moment, there’s no way to downgrade your annual membership tier. You can, however, join a lower tier after your year membership has ended with a slight workaround. You can cancel your membership near the end of your year term and then re-pledge at a lower-tier option once the year has passed. |
I think I was overcharged — how can I check?
If you believe that you’ve been overcharged, the first thing to do is check your payment statement with your Billing history on Patreon. Going through a few months of billing months may help you confirm where the additional amount is coming from — declining bills that process later can be alarming if you don’t know what it’s for.
If you have separate charges on your payment statement that don’t add up, you may have more than one account triggering charges. Please log out and then use password reset. You can enter other email addresses you own outside of your known account. If you get the message that we’ve sent you a password reset link on one of your other emails, you also have an account with that email address.