Patreon

Long-term owners

I would highly recommend their patreon to make sure they can do another 10 years

Sep 2026 · comment

What hackers pick instead

• WatsiPeople recommend Watsi for funding medical care for patients in need, with small donations going far and a long track record. Critics note it refused BBB evaluation.29recommend
• GitHub SponsorsLets people sponsor open source developers directly, with no fees for donors or recipients. Critics mainly cite heavy administrative overhead and fear Microsoft could raise its cut.10recommend
• Ko-fiLets creators take donations, memberships and shop sales, free for single donations, with a small cut on recurring ones.8recommend
• Buy Me a CoffeeCreators use it to collect one-off tips and support from fans, and people find it easy to use on both sides. Some say supporter conversion is low compared with other ways to get feedback.7recommend

Every quote

The 40 most detailed of 94 comments. Each links to the original.

1. That's a meaningful hit to creator economics for something that's closer to "patronage" than a typical in-app digital good.

   Mixed · Jan 2026 · in “Apple to Soon Take Up to 30% Cut from All Patreon Creators in iOS App”

2. due to (lousy, imperfect) platforms such as Patreon and the internet you can get enough patronage to support yourself

   Mixed · Jul 2026 · in “I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore”

3. I donate to Patreon for folks like Benn Jordan, whom I feel does work that’s important and beneficial for society.

   Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Web Browsers have stopped blocking pop-ups”

4. I support several content creators, both technical and nontechnical, with small monthly payments there.

   Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “How I block all online ads”

5. We have the technology for this. Platforms like Kickstarter, Patreon, GitHub Sponsors all enable this.

   Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Japanese game devs face font dilemma as license increases from $380 to $20k”

6. With Patreon or Fanbox you know what you will pay every month and don't get hit by a surprise

   Recommends · Aug 2026

7. The creators I follow make way more money off me on Patreon than Google would ever pay them

   Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “Firefox is now the last major browser that still supports uBlock Origin”

8. I get to see stuff from my favorite creatives weeks (sometimes months) early, and ad-free.

   Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Apple to Soon Take Up to 30% Cut from All Patreon Creators in iOS App”

9. It allows you to download Patreon-exclusive videos for e.g. viewing it on a flight

   Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Apple to Soon Take Up to 30% Cut from All Patreon Creators in iOS App”

10. subscribe to the podcasts Patreon and they'll provide you a custom RSS with no ads

    Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “The Final Straw: Why Companies Replace Once-Beloved Technology Brands”

11. I would highly recommend their patreon to make sure they can do another 10 years

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Dwarf Fortress is getting the mother of all magic updates”

12. supporting artists I like on Patreon, bandcamp, buying directly from them

    Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “Sony erases digital content from libraries; reminded we don't own what we buy”

13. Patreon's fees are near-universally held to be reasonable and fair

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Apple to Soon Take Up to 30% Cut from All Patreon Creators in iOS App”

14. support your podcast creators on Patreon and get ad free RSS feeds

    Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “Now Google says it might use your Gmail and Google Photos data to target ads”

15. Patreon handles 1-2$ monthly payments no problem and always has.

    Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “Personal blogs are back, should niche blogs be next?”

16. Patreon has been running very successfully for over a decade

    Recommends · Feb 2026 · in “I Now Assume That All Ads on Apple News Are Scams”

17. If you're making entertainment, I think Patreon is awesome.

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “The long wait is over, Ganymede has arrived”

18. Patreon is not a great way to pay the bills for all but the most famous and popular people on it.

    Criticizes · Jul 2026 · in “The End of an Era”

19. Patreon doesn't give creators an option of "Just don't accept donations for us from Apple users"

    Criticizes · Jan 2026 · in “Apple to Soon Take Up to 30% Cut from All Patreon Creators in iOS App”

20. I wonder if Patreon's 10% fee is commensurate with the negligible value that they provide?

    Criticizes · Jan 2026 · in “Apple to Soon Take Up to 30% Cut from All Patreon Creators in iOS App”

21. For the price of paying Apple, Patreon should be able to develop a web app instead.

    Criticizes · Jan 2026 · in “Apple to Soon Take Up to 30% Cut from All Patreon Creators in iOS App”

22. Patreon only works for famous people making products that are free to copy.

    Criticizes · Jul 2026 · in “I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore”

23. What does Patreon offer that makes them worth giving up 30% of my revenue?

    Criticizes · Jan 2026 · in “Apple to Soon Take Up to 30% Cut from All Patreon Creators in iOS App”

24. I have a patreon account with about 22 subscriptions from 1-50 dollars, because what they create enhances my life.

    Recommends · Feb 2026 · in “I Now Assume That All Ads on Apple News Are Scams”

25. I can literally use Patreon to do this (accept money to provide benefits on my website while being anonymous)

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Ask HN: Are there any merchant of records that don't dox you?”

26. Pretty cool what sort of things that Patreon/Youtube/etc enable people to make a living doing nowadays.

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Online Book: Exploring Mathematics with Python”

27. I often use patreon, make donations, buy products/merch, etc, to support YouTube creators.

    Recommends · Feb 2026 · in “Did YouTube change how it handles uBlock?”

28. YouTube and Patreon have done wonders for rebooting the modern research gentleman field.

    Recommends · May 2026 · in “MIT: 20% drop in incoming graduate students”

29. This is the best model IMO as it supports creators directly and not the advertisers.

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “How I block all online ads”

30. whose notifications are perfectly fine, configurable with appropriate granularity

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Apple to Soon Take Up to 30% Cut from All Patreon Creators in iOS App”

31. that's been a fairly successful standard model for independent content creators

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “A Possible Future for Damn Interesting”

32. Patreon has memberships, chatting and a shop (which you can also use for tips)

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Show HN: Tpylo All-in-one creator support platform”

33. I feel much better about supporting smaller groups of folks still making media

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Netflix raising prices for a second time in a year”

34. Patreon/merch is way more effective in supporting your favorite authors.

    Recommends · Feb 2026 · in “NewPipe: YouTube client without vertical videos and algorithmic feed”

35. I know plenty of Patreon or Substack supported individual journalists

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Local Journalism Is How Democracy Shows Up Close to Home”

36. Notifications? Video and audio playback? Really not rocket science.

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Apple to Soon Take Up to 30% Cut from All Patreon Creators in iOS App”

37. Sometimes you have to pay a couple bucks on Patreon to get access.

    Mixed · Mar 2026 · in “Ask HN: How to Be Alone?”

38. please consider Ben's Patreon where he will post Part 3 next week

    Recommends · May 2026 · in “Bricks and Minifigs Stole a Man's $200k Lego Collection”

39. The fact that Substack and Patreon almost work is more important

    Mixed · Apr 2026 · in “LinkedIn Is Illegally Searching Your Computer”

40. It seems a lot of people are doing amazing things with Patreon.

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “EU Council forces Chat Control via fast-track”