Patreon vs Substack: Which for Paid Creators (2026)

Head to Head: Pricing

Both platforms take a percentage of your earnings, plus payment processing fees.

Patreon offers three plan tiers (check current pricing on their site): Lite (5% of earnings), Pro (8% of earnings), and Premium (12% of earnings). Higher-tier plans include more features like merchandise tools, analytics, and priority support. Most active creators use Pro. Payment processing is additional (typically 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction for US-based payments).

Substack takes 10% of paid subscription revenue, flat. No plan tiers. No monthly subscription. Payment processing is included in Substack's cut. If you are using Substack's free features (free newsletter), there is no charge at all.

Effective take-home comparison on $10/month subscriber:

• Patreon Pro (8%): keeps $9.20 minus payment processing (approximately $8.87)
• Substack (10%): keeps $9.00 (processing included in the 10%)

The cost difference per subscriber is small: roughly $0.13 per $10 subscriber per month. At 100 subscribers paying $10/month, that is $13/month difference. At that scale, feature fit matters more than fee difference.

Head to Head: Features

Features current as of 2026. Check each platform for current capabilities.

Where Both Fall Short

Patreon and Substack share one significant gap: neither can host a paid live video call.

Patreon lets you post a Zoom link as a patron-exclusive post. Substack has a live audio and chat feature for paid subscribers. But in both cases, the live interaction is either a passive watch (Zoom webinar link posted in a patron feed) or text-based (Substack live chat). There is no booking flow, no payment per session, no scheduled calendar availability, and no automatic recording.

For creators who want to offer live access as a premium tier or a standalone paid offer, both platforms require a workaround: post a Zoom link separately, collect payment through a separate processor, and manually manage who has access.

That friction costs bookings. A patron who sees "book a 30-minute call with me" in a Patreon post, follows a link to a Calendly page, then another link to a payment page, and another link to a Zoom confirmation is going through four steps to book something that should take one.

For how to add paid office hours to a newsletter specifically, the monetize newsletter with paid office hours guide covers the integration in detail.

The Live-Video Third Option

Talkspresso is designed to sit alongside, not replace, membership and newsletter platforms. Most creators who add Talkspresso keep Patreon or Substack for their subscription revenue and use Talkspresso for live session booking.

What Talkspresso adds that neither Patreon nor Substack has:

• Built-in HD video. Live 1:1 calls and group sessions without a separate Zoom subscription.
• Booking with payment at checkout. Clients pick a time, pay, and confirm. No external payment link needed.
• Automatic recording. Every session captured automatically. Share replays or sell access.
• Intake forms. Pre-session questions fire at booking so you know who is coming and why.
• Group sessions. Paid group video events with per-seat pricing, up to 500 participants.
• 10% fee. Free plan charges 10% per session, 0% on Pro at $29.95/month.

How creators typically combine the platforms:

• Patreon + Talkspresso: Patreon handles monthly patron subscriptions. Talkspresso handles paid 1:1 calls and group workshops. Patrons at higher tiers get a discount code for Talkspresso bookings.
• Substack + Talkspresso: Substack handles the paid newsletter. Talkspresso handles paid live office hours or reader Q&A sessions. The Substack post includes the Talkspresso booking link.

For how this works specifically on the Substack side, see the Substack alternative for paid video guide. For the Patreon side, the Patreon alternative for writers guide covers the live session add-on in the writing niche.

Which Should You Pick

Use this framework to make the decision:

Pick Patreon if:

• Your primary content is video, audio, art, or a mix of formats
• You want tiered memberships with different access levels for different patron amounts
• Your audience is already on Patreon or you want integration with creator tools like YouTube and Discord
• You sell physical or digital products as patron rewards

Pick Substack if:

• Your primary content is long-form writing, newsletters, or essays
• You want to build an audience through network discovery (Substack's recommendation engine is a real growth lever for writers)
• You want a simple, clean platform that does not require setup complexity
• You want the ability to start free and add paid subscriptions later without migrating platforms

Add Talkspresso if:

• Your audience wants live access to you (calls, workshops, Q&As)
• You want to offer a premium tier that includes live sessions alongside content
• You want to turn recordings of live sessions into digital products
• You want to charge per session rather than per month

Pick all three if:

• You are a creator with a newsletter (Substack), tiered patron supporters (Patreon), and live access as a premium offer (Talkspresso). This is the full creator monetization stack and each platform does one thing better than the others.

Pricing the Live Call Add-On

For creators who decide to add paid live calls alongside Patreon or Substack, pricing the live session requires a different framework than subscription tiers.

Subscriptions are priced on perceived ongoing value: $10/month for newsletter access, $25/month for patron bonus content. Live calls are priced on the scarcity of your time and the specificity of what you deliver in the session.

A creator who charges $10/month on Substack and $20/month on Patreon might charge $75 to $150 for a live 45-minute session, because the session is a different product: real-time, personalized, limited in availability. Patrons who pay monthly for content are not automatically priced out of live calls. They are a warm audience who already value what you do and will pay more for direct access.

Common pricing patterns that work alongside subscriptions:

• Monthly patron Q&A session: free or discounted for top-tier patrons, open booking at full price for non-patrons
• Private 1:1 session: $75 to $200 per session, available to anyone through a public booking link
• Group workshop: $25 to $75 per seat, promoted to the newsletter list or patron community first

The live session offer does not compete with the subscription. It is the next level up for the audience member who wants more than content. Many Patreon and Substack creators find that their highest-tier patrons are the first to book paid calls, and that paid call clients often become their longest-retained subscribers.

The Bottom Line

Patreon and Substack are both mature, reliable platforms for creator monetization. The choice between them is not which is better overall, but which fits your content format and audience better.

Patreon is the better choice for multi-format creators with tiered membership needs. Substack is the better choice for writers building an audience through newsletter distribution and network discovery.

Both share the same limitation: neither hosts paid live video calls. If live access to you is part of your offer, adding a booking platform like Talkspresso alongside either Patreon or Substack fills that gap without disrupting your existing subscription revenue.

Your audience already wants to hear from you directly. Give them a way to book it.

Life Coaching Expert