The Traffic dashboard can help you better understand where your visits are coming from and how often they occur, all presented in a visual graph format. You can view traffic data for the past 24 hours, the last 7 days, the previous 30 days, or you can add a custom range. Hover over points on the graph to see detailed Information about specific timeframes and gain insights into traffic spikes or trends. Please note that this data is displayed in GMT/UTC.
Here are the key terms you'll encounter on the Traffic dashboard and their definitions:
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Total visits | Shows the total number of visits by members and non-members across your creator surfaces (post page, creator page, and shop page). |
| Public visits | Shows the total number of visits from non-members and free members. This is useful for you to understand how external promotions are bringing in new users and contributing to your membership growth. |
| Overall | The graph offers a general overview of your Patreon's traffic without going into specific traffic sources. |
| Sources |
The graph provides a detailed breakdown of your traffic sources, offering insights into the specific platforms that contribute the most to your overall traffic volume. Traffic sources include Patreon, X, Facebook, Instagram, and many more. When checking Sources from Total visitors, you might notice that the Patreon percentage is significantly higher. This is because Total visitors include members and non-members, and this is likely why you might see elevated traffic from Patreon. Within sources, you might also see Direct traffic: This is defined as the traffic that has arrived on your website with no source or data, e.g., a user typing in the URL directly or using Incognito mode. |
Note that visits are different from visitors. A single visitor can view a page multiple times, so a single visit does not equal a single visitor.
To explore your other dashboards, see our main guide on Insights dashboards.
Traffic Source
The Traffic Source section helps you track where your new members are coming from. It includes both free member traffic and non-member traffic — Paid members are not included in this section.
You can check by different source types, such as social media, search, or direct links, to see which platforms are driving the most sign-ups — and check whether a recent promotion you ran helped boost membership.
The report breaks down traffic into two key areas: a list of your Top sources and the number of Visits each source generated.
Below are the main Traffic Sources and their definitions. Note that specific sources, such as common search engines and websites, are not listed here but may still appear in your dashboard.
| Source | Definition |
|---|---|
| Direct | Captures visitors who enter your Patreon URL directly into their browser. It also includes traffic from unknown sources due to users' privacy settings |
| Others | Traffic from less commonly used search engines and websites |
| Patreon | Traffic that originates from within Patreon, such as recommendations from other creators, browsing the Explore page, or navigating within the site |
Want to put your data to work? Check out "Cheat Codes: How Working Class History uses insights to grow" on Patreon for Creators. Currently, Patreon for Creators is only available in English.