How to move off Patreon without losing patrons

Moving off Patreon is not like moving files. Your posts can come with you, and so can your tiers. Your patrons cannot be carried anywhere: each of them pays Patreon, with a card Patreon holds, and only they can decide to pay you somewhere else.

That is why the creators who move well do it gradually. They build the new home first, give patrons a way in that does not ask them to do anything risky, and only then ask anyone to change how they pay. This guide shows how, including one rule about patron data that most switching guides leave out.

What can move, and what can’t

No platform can move a patron’s card from Patreon. Memberful’s import asks members to add a payment method; Substack brings patrons in with free access until they subscribe again; Fourthwall’s Patreon import leaves patron lists out entirely. Anyone promising a one-click move of your paying patrons is promising something the payment system does not allow.

First, read Patreon’s rules on patron data

Getting your member list out of Patreon is not the hard part. The Relationship manager can download it as a CSV, with names, tiers, pledge amounts and email addresses, unless a fan chose not to share theirs.

What you may do with that list is another matter. Every creator agrees to Patreon’s Creator Privacy Promise, a data processing agreement. Under it, Patreon is the data controller and you are a processor. You may use member data only to provide your membership on Patreon, “not for Creator’s own purposes”, and the agreement says that if you leave Patreon’s platform, you “will securely destroy personal data” and “will have no further rights to process Member Data”.

We are not lawyers, and this is not legal advice. But the plain reading is that importing your Patreon export into a new mailing list, to move patrons elsewhere, is not what that data was given to you for. Read the agreement yourself before you do it.

The safer route works anyway. Tell patrons where you are going on Patreon itself and on your public channels, and let them come to the new site and sign up themselves. Then the relationship on your site starts with their own consent.

Two ways to move patrons

Ask everyone to rejoin. Open memberships on your own site, announce a date, and ask patrons to cancel on Patreon and join you there. It is simple and clean. It also asks every patron to do two things at once, on your schedule, and some of them will not get round to it.

Build a bridge first. Patreon’s official API lets other websites offer “Log in with Patreon” or “Link your Patreon account”, and read which of your tiers a patron is currently entitled to. A site that does this can give linked patrons the matching access while they keep paying on Patreon. Nothing about their billing changes until they choose. Later, when they trust the new home, they move their billing over.

The bridge takes a little more setting up, but it removes the cliff edge. Nobody loses access on a deadline, and patrons move when it suits them.

Doing it on Drate

Drate is built for the bridge. Here is what it does, step by step.

On your side

1. Connect Patreon. In Drate, connect your Patreon creator account and choose your Patreon page.
2. Match your tiers. Create your memberships on Drate, then match each Patreon tier to one of them. Keep the same prices to start with.
3. Turn on ongoing sync. Linked patrons’ access then follows Patreon by itself when they upgrade, downgrade or cancel there.
4. Bring your posts. Drate can copy your Patreon posts in as drafts, with their text, pictures, original dates and which memberships can read them. Attachments, uploaded video and polls do not come through Patreon’s API, so add those yourself. Nothing is published until you publish it.
5. Publish and share the link. Drate gives you a member account link to send to patrons.

On your patrons’ side

1. They sign in and link Patreon. On your site, a patron signs in and links their Patreon account. You can also offer “Continue with Patreon” as a sign-in method. Linking does not cancel or change their Patreon membership.
2. They get the matching membership. Drate checks their current Patreon tier and gives them the membership you matched it to, straight away.
3. They move billing when they are ready. A linked patron can choose to continue on your site. Their first payment there starts after their verified Patreon period ends, so they are not charged twice for the same time. They then cancel on Patreon themselves; Drate cannot do that for them.

A few patrons cannot move their billing automatically, and Drate tells them why: gifted or free-trial access, a Patreon tier whose price no longer matches the membership you matched it to, an annual Patreon pledge with no matching yearly membership, or a pledge where Patreon gives no exact paid-through date. They keep their linked access, and can ask you to sort it out.

Members pay through your own Stripe account. Drate’s Free plan takes 5% of membership sales; Pro is $12 a month and takes 0%. Stripe’s processing applies on both.

A gradual plan

Every audience is different, so treat these as stages rather than dates.

1. Build the new home

Set up your site, your domain and your memberships before you tell anyone. Mirror your Patreon tiers and prices so that moving is a like-for-like choice, not a new decision. Bring your best posts over so the site does not look empty on the first visit.

2. Open the bridge

Connect Patreon, match your tiers and turn on sync. Link a test account of your own if you can, to see exactly what a patron sees.

3. Tell patrons, and give them a reason

Announce it on Patreon and wherever else your audience follows you. Say what changes (where your work lives), what does not (their membership and price), and what you would like them to do (link their account). Give them something only the new home has: your own domain, a community space, downloads, courses, merch.

4. Make the site the home

Decide where full posts live. If your site is now the home, post there and put a short note on Patreon pointing to it, so patrons who have not linked yet know where to look. Send new fans to your site rather than to Patreon.

5. Move billing, gently

Once patrons are using the site, invite them to move their billing. Remind them they will not be charged twice and that they will need to cancel on Patreon. Some will move in a week; some will take months. With a bridge, that is fine.

6. Decide what to do with Patreon

You do not have to close Patreon at all. If you do, know what each option does:

• Pausing billing stops charging members for a month at a time.
• Unpublishing pauses memberships made on the web, on Android, and on iOS before Apple’s in-app purchases arrived. Memberships bought through iOS in-app purchase are cancelled, without automatic refunds. If your page is on a legacy fee plan, publishing it again moves you to the standard 10%.
• Deleting your account cannot be undone, and can take up to 30 days.

Things that catch creators out

• iPhone patrons. Memberships bought in Patreon’s iOS app are billed by Apple and are cancelled outright if you unpublish. Give these patrons extra time, and a direct invitation to link their account.
• Annual patrons. They have paid for the year. Let their term run; on Drate, moving their billing waits until their paid period ends anyway.
• Changing prices mid-move. A price change turns “move your membership” into “decide whether to pay more”. Keep prices the same until the move is done.
• Leaving patrons in the dark. Patrons who miss the announcement still expect posts on Patreon. Keep a note there for as long as anyone is still paying.
• Tax. On your own site, with your own Stripe account, you are the seller, so sales tax and VAT are yours to handle where they apply.

A message you can send

Adapt this to your own voice:

I’m moving my work to my own website, at yourname.com. Your Patreon membership doesn’t change today, and you don’t need to do anything you’re not comfortable with.

If you link your Patreon account on the new site, you’ll get the same access there straight away, plus everything new I’m adding. When you’re ready, you can move your membership to the site itself. Your first payment there starts when your current Patreon period ends, so you won’t pay twice, and then you can cancel on Patreon.

Thank you for supporting me here. I’d love you to come with me.

Questions

Can I export my patrons' emails from Patreon?

Patreon's Relationship manager can download your member list as a CSV, including email addresses unless a fan chose not to share theirs. But Patreon's Creator Privacy Promise says you may use that data only to provide your Patreon membership, not for your own purposes, and that you should destroy it if you leave. Read it before you put patrons on a new mailing list.

Will my patrons have to pay twice?

Not if you move them gradually. With a bridge, patrons keep paying on Patreon and get access on your site by linking their Patreon account. On Drate, when a patron moves their billing, their first payment on your site starts after their paid Patreon period ends. They do need to cancel on Patreon themselves.

What happens to patrons who joined on iPhone?

Memberships bought in Patreon's iOS app are billed through Apple. Patreon says that if you unpublish your page, those memberships are cancelled without automatic refunds, while web and Android memberships are paused. Give iPhone patrons time to move before you close anything.

Should I delete my Patreon page when I move?

Not at first. Keep it running while patrons move, and decide later. Unpublishing pauses most memberships and moves a legacy page to the standard 10% fee if you ever publish it again, and deleting your account cannot be undone.

Can I bring my Patreon posts with me?

Yes. You can copy them by hand, and several platforms help. Drate copies Patreon posts in as drafts with their text, pictures, dates and audience; attachments, uploaded video and polls need adding yourself. Fourthwall offers an assisted import, and Substack asks you to copy posts by hand.

Sources

Checked on October 5, 2026. Prices and terms change, so check the latest before you decide.

1. Patreon: How to use your Relationship managersupport.patreon.com
2. Patreon: Data Processing Agreement, Creator Privacy Promisesupport.patreon.com
3. Patreon: Pricingpatreon.com
4. Patreon: Stop accepting new members by unpublishing your pagesupport.patreon.com
5. Patreon: How to pause billing for your memberssupport.patreon.com
6. Patreon: How to erase your Patreon accountsupport.patreon.com
7. Patreon: Creator fees overviewsupport.patreon.com
8. Patreon API documentationdocs.patreon.com
9. Memberful: Importing members not using Stripememberful.com
10. Substack: Moving from Patreonsupport.substack.com
11. Fourthwall: Importing content from Patreonhelp.fourthwall.com