Best practices for increasing your tier prices

If you have Subscription billing, you can raise your tier price by up to $20 more than the original price directly from your Membership tab — it only takes a few clicks.

If you want to raise a tier's price beyond that $20 limit and you already have members on it, you'll need to create a new tier with the updated price and phase out the old one. This guide helps you plan that switch so it goes smoothly for you and your members.

Looking to rethink your tiers or pricing? Check out how one creator's tier "glow up" doubled their earnings on Patreon for Creators. Currently, Patreon for Creators is only available in English.

Communicate changes with your members

A smooth transition starts with clear communication. A few tips for letting your members know about an upcoming price change:

• Give them a heads-up about a month before the next billing cycle, right after the current month's payments have processed
• Announce it anywhere your members are likely to see it. Making a post is a reliable way to make sure everyone has access to the information
• Consider running a poll or a survey to get their input. It's a good way to involve members and gauge how they feel about the change
• Explain why you're making the change and how it benefits them. Share a clear timeline for when the old tier goes away and the new one opens up

Here's a quick template for letting members know about a new tier price and guiding them to switch:

Hi lovely members,

I'm so excited to announce my new [NEW TIER] tier. It'll be available to join starting March 1st. [FORMER TIER] will stop accepting new members on March 10th and will be deleted entirely on March 25th, so be sure to pick a new tier before then.

Special offer alert. [Optional]

Join [NEW TIER] by March 25th and get a limited edition sticker!

If you're still in [FORMER TIER] when it's deleted, you'll still be my member, but you'll show up as No tier and won't have the same access as you do now.

Here's how to pick a new tier: How to change your tier. Questions? Drop them in the comments.

Create your new tier

Once you've gathered member feedback, you're ready to build the new tier at the updated price.

1. On Desktop, select Creator studio from the left navigation
2. On your page, click your Membership tab
3. Scroll down and click + Add tier
4. Click Save. A tier name and price are all you need to save it, you can fill in the rest later
5. Once it's saved, hide the tier from your page: click Edit tier, scroll down, and click Unpublish. This keeps members from joining before it's ready

Pro tip: add a Special offer to give members a reason to join before your deadline.

Set one up from Edit page > Offers. More on how they work:

• Setting up a Special offer
• Special offers handbook

You can only run one special offer at a time, and it's not available with per-creation billing.

Give your new tier access to posts

Before you publish a new tier, make sure it has access to everything you've already posted. Right now, adding back-catalog access for a new tier is a manual step. If your posts are set to All members or Paid members only, any new tier automatically gets access, no extra work needed.

If you've set post access to Selected tiers, you'll need to add your new tier to those posts yourself so members don't lose access to anything. Bulk editing lets you update many posts at once.

Bulk editing is currently only available on desktop.

To update access to your posts:

1. On Desktop, select Creator studio from the left navigation
2. Click your Library
3. You'll land on the Posts tab, where you'll find your published posts and drops
4. Use the filter or search box to find specific posts. You can also sort by Title, Publish date, Last edited date, or Price (for posts sold as a one-time purchase)
5. Check the posts you want to edit
6. Click Edit
7. Select Edit access
8. Choose the tier you want to grant access to
9. Click Update
10. You'll see a message noting this replaces the existing settings. Click Confirm and update to apply the change

We've also put together a full guide: Bulk editing your posts 

Unpublish the old tier

We recommend unpublishing any tier you're phasing out. Unpublished tiers disappear from your tier options, so no new members can join, while existing members see no change. They can stay in it until they switch tiers or cancel.

You can still post specifically for members in an unpublished tier, which is a good way to nudge them toward switching.

Once your new tier is ready, here's how to unpublish the old one:

1. On Desktop, select Creator studio from the left navigation
2. On your page, click your Membership tab
3. Find the tier and click Edit next to it
4. Scroll to the bottom and click More
5. Select Unpublish tier, then confirm

Unpublishing removes the tier from your page so no new members can join, but it stays active for anyone already subscribed, gifted a subscription, or on a free trial, and you can republish it anytime. You'll know it worked when you see Unpublished at [DATE] next to that tier.

Tiers can stay unpublished indefinitely, so we recommend waiting until everyone has switched or canceled before deleting one. If members are slow to move, a friendly reminder through a post or a private message usually helps.

To check which tier a member is in, search their email or profile name. You can also point them to How to change your tier.

Delete the tier

We advise against deleting a tier that still has members on it. Unpublish it instead.

Before you delete a tier:

• Once it's deleted, it can't be recovered
• Members who haven't switched out will keep paying the old tier's price. They won't have a tier, and since they aren't Custom pledge members either, they won't show up under No tier. Find them in your Relationship manager using the All tiers filter
• Deleting a tier doesn't cancel a member's payment. To stop future payments, members need to cancel their membership
• If you offer annual memberships and this tier has active annual members, unpublish it instead so no new members can join. They've already paid for the year

To delete a tier:

1. On Desktop, select Creator studio from the left navigation
2. On your page, click your Membership tab
3. Find the tier and click Edit next to it
4. Scroll to the bottom and click More
5. Select Delete, then confirm. This can't be undone, so double-check your list before you do