How to make money from a podcast without ads

Ads pay by the thousand downloads. Most podcasts don’t get thousands. Half the shows hosted on Buzzsprout get 27 downloads or fewer in an episode’s first week.

That doesn’t mean a small show can’t earn. It means the money has to come from listeners, not sponsors. A few dozen people who love your show can pay you directly, every month.

Here’s how podcasts do it, what each way really takes, and what each one costs.

The short answer

Listeners pay you for something extra, or for something you make.

You don’t have to pick one. Start with a membership: it’s the one that pays every month.

How many listeners you need

Fewer than you’d think. Buzzsprout, a podcast host, publishes how many downloads its shows get. In September 2026, an episode’s first seven days looked like this:

• 27 downloads for the median show
• 96 to make the top 25%
• 412 to make the top 10%
• 4,586 to make the top 1%

So if your episodes get 100 downloads in a week, you’re ahead of three quarters of shows on Buzzsprout.

Direct support is simple math: listeners, times the share who pay, times the price. Here’s an example, not a rule. Say 1,000 people listen most weeks, and 2 in every 100 join at $5 a month. That’s 20 members and $100 a month. Your share could be higher or lower. The people who pay are the ones who’ve heard every episode.

Some platforms set a floor. Spotify’s paid subscriptions need at least 2 published episodes and 100 Spotify listeners in the last 30 days before you can set them up. A membership on your own website has no minimum.

Whatever you sell, ask for it in the show. One sentence at the end of every episode: what members get, what it costs and where to join.

Memberships: what listeners pay for

A membership is a monthly or yearly price for something extra. These are the extras that fit a podcast:

• Bonus episodes. Episodes only members hear. The easiest perk to explain.
• Early or ad-free episodes. Members hear them first, or without the ads if you run any.
• The back catalog. Keep new episodes free and put the archive behind the membership.
• Extended cuts. The full conversation, before the edit.
• A community. A place where members talk to you and to each other.
• Calls and Q&As. A monthly call-in where members ask the questions.

Keep it simple. One tier is easiest to sell. Name what members get, not the tier: “a bonus episode every Friday” says more than “Gold”. Only promise what you can keep doing for a year.

Watch the card fees on small prices. Stripe charges 2.9% + 30¢ for a US card payment. On a $5 membership, that fixed 30¢ is 6% of the price before anything else. A yearly plan pays the 30¢ once instead of twelve times, so offer yearly billing from day one.

One-time support is worth adding too. Some listeners won’t subscribe, but will pay once to say thanks.

Bonus episodes and private feeds

If you want members to hear bonus episodes in their podcast app, you need a private feed.

How a private feed works

Every podcast has an RSS feed: a web address that podcast apps check for new episodes. A private feed works the same way, with one difference. Every member gets their own address, with a secret code in it.

• The member adds their link to their app. In Apple Podcasts on iPhone, that’s Follow a Show by URL in the Library.
• When they stop paying, their link stops working. Nobody else’s does.
• Shared links are the weak spot. Patreon, for example, says it watches how many devices use each link and automatically resets any link that looks shared.
• Not every app takes private links. Patreon’s help center and Transistor’s own guide both say Spotify doesn’t support private podcast feeds.

Where private feeds come from

• Your podcast host. Some hosts sell private feeds. Transistor includes 50 private subscribers on its $19 a month plan, 500 on its $49 plan and 3,000 on its $99 plan. It runs the feed, not the payments: its own guide says to charge through PayPal, or connect a payment tool with Zapier to add and remove listeners.
• Apple Podcasts Subscriptions. You pay $19.99 a year in the US to join Apple’s program. Apple’s words: “You receive 70% of the subscription price at each billing cycle, minus applicable taxes.” That rises to 85% once a subscriber has paid for a year.
• Spotify. Until October 19, 2026, Spotify takes a 5.5% processing fee from each subscription payment. From October 20, Podcast Subscriptions become Memberships, with a 10% platform fee that includes processing. Subscribers hear audio and video on Spotify, and audio only in other apps.
• Patreon. Creators who launched after August 4, 2025 pay 10%, plus 2.9% + $0.30 for each card payment. Members get a private feed with the audio and video posts you add to a podcast.
• Supercast. $0.59 per subscriber a month, plus Stripe’s fees.

Or skip the feed

You don’t need a feed to sell bonus episodes. Post them on your own website as members-only posts. Members sign in and listen there.

The trade-off is real: members can’t hear those episodes in their podcast app next to everything else. In return, there are no feed links to leak, and video, show notes and downloads all live in the same place.

Live shows

There are two kinds, and they take very different work.

• In person. You record in front of an audience, at a bar, a theater or a festival. It takes a venue, tickets, travel, and enough listeners in one city to fill the room. If your host’s stats show where listeners live, check them before you book. A small room you fill beats a big room half empty.
• Online. You record live on a stream for members, then sell the replay. No venue, no travel, and listeners anywhere can come.

Either way, one show takes weeks of promotion for one night of income. Sell the recording afterwards as a one-time pass, so people who missed it still pay. And a live show is a good night to ask people to join your membership.

Merch

Podcast merch sells on in-jokes. A catchphrase, a running bit, the name of a recurring segment. Fans buy it because it means something to them, and strangers don’t get it.

You don’t need a garage full of boxes. With print-on-demand, a printer makes and ships each item when someone orders it. You pay nothing up front. You set the price and keep the difference between it and the printer’s cost. Ordering in bulk usually costs less per shirt, but you pay first and guess the sizes.

What it takes: one design people get, a photo of it, and a mention in the episode. Start with one or two items. Bring them to live shows.

Coaching and consulting

If your show teaches something (business, fitness, money, a craft, a game), some listeners will pay for your time. They already trust you. They’ve heard you think out loud for hours.

• Coaching. One-to-one calls. Use a booking link from a tool like Calendly or Cal.com, so people pick a time without emailing back and forth. Take payment before the call, not after.
• Consulting. If businesses listen, offer a workshop or a session for their team.

What it takes: your hours. It doesn’t scale like a membership, but it’s the fastest to start. You could offer one call this week.

Courses

You’ve probably taught the same ideas across dozens of episodes. A course puts them in order, with worksheets or examples. Sell it once, or include it in your top tier.

What it takes: weeks of work up front, then updates. Build it after you know what listeners ask most. Your inbox and your call-ins will tell you.

What each route costs

The same example for each: 100 members paying $5 a month, so $500 a month. Fees include the platform’s cut, its price, and card processing of 2.9% + 30¢ a payment wherever it’s charged separately.

Stripe Billing’s 0.7% ($3.50 here) is included for Supercast and Drate, which both run on your own Stripe account. Apple’s cut drops to 15% after each member’s first year. Spotify takes its 10% after taxes.

At $5 a month, the 30¢ card fee does a lot of the damage. Percentage cuts also grow with your price, and flat prices don’t. For the same 100 members at $10 a month, Spotify’s 10% is $100 and Drate Pro is $78.

Where Drate fits

First, what Drate doesn’t do: it doesn’t host podcast feeds. Keep your podcast host and the apps your listeners already use.

Drate is the home around the show, on your own domain:

• Memberships, monthly, yearly or as a one-time pass
• Members-only bonus episodes and videos that play right on your site (MP3, M4A, MP4 or WebM, up to 500 MB each), plus posts and downloads
• A private community feed, and messages from members in your inbox
• A coaching page with your Calendly or Cal.com calendar, and courses

Members pay through your own Stripe account. Free takes 5% of membership sales. Pro is $12 a month ($10 billed yearly), takes nothing, and adds your own branded iOS and Android app. Stripe’s card processing applies on both.

It won’t find you listeners. That part is still the show.

Already on Patreon? Connect it, and your patrons get access to your site when they sign in. See what a show looks like on Drate for podcasts, and read how to sell memberships on your own website for every piece you need, whichever tool you pick.

Questions

How do podcasts make money without ads?

Listeners pay the show directly. The usual ways are memberships with bonus episodes, one-time support, live shows, merch, and selling what you know through coaching or a course. You can mix them. A membership is the place to start, because it pays every month.

How many listeners do you need to monetize a podcast?

There's no fixed number for direct support. Half the shows on Buzzsprout get 27 downloads or fewer in an episode's first week, and 96 puts an episode in the top quarter. As an example, 1,000 regular listeners with 2 in 100 paying $5 a month is $100 a month. Spotify's paid subscriptions need 100 Spotify listeners in the last 30 days before you can turn them on.

How do I start a paid podcast?

You need a private feed and a way to take payment. Some podcast hosts sell private feeds, but you connect payments yourself. Apple Podcasts Subscriptions, Spotify, Patreon and Supercast bundle both, each with its own fee. Or skip the feed and post members-only episodes on your own website.

How do I sell podcast merch without buying stock?

Use print-on-demand. A printer makes and ships each item when someone orders it, so you pay nothing up front and keep the difference between your price and the printer's cost. Start with one design built on an inside joke from the show, and mention it in your episodes.

Sources

Checked on October 6, 2026. Prices and terms change, so check the latest before you decide.

1. Buzzsprout: Podcast statisticsbuzzsprout.com
2. Apple Podcasts for Creators: Subscription launch checklistpodcasters.apple.com
3. Apple Podcasts for Creators: Availability of Apple Podcasts featurespodcasters.apple.com
4. Apple Support: Find podcasts on iPhonesupport.apple.com
5. Spotify for Creators: Setting up Subscriptionssupport.spotify.com
6. Spotify for Creators: Fee schedule and cashing outsupport.spotify.com
7. Patreon: Creator fees overviewsupport.patreon.com
8. Patreon: Enable audio RSS feeds for my memberssupport.patreon.com
9. Patreon: Which podcast apps will my custom audio RSS link work with?support.patreon.com
10. Patreon: RSS feed security and protectionsupport.patreon.com
11. Transistor: Pricingtransistor.fm
12. Transistor: Private podcaststransistor.fm
13. Transistor: How to create a paid private podcasttransistor.fm
14. Supercast: Pricingsupercast.com
15. Stripe: Pricingstripe.com
16. Stripe: Billing pricingstripe.com