Patreon for podcasters: fees, feeds and limits

On a new Patreon page, Patreon takes 10% of what your listeners pay. Card fees come on top. And when a new member joins in Patreon’s iPhone app, Apple can take 30% of the price.

For that, Patreon gives your show members-only episodes, a private feed for every member and a link to Spotify. This guide covers how each piece works, what it costs and where it falls short. Every fact about Patreon comes from its own help center, pricing page and posts, checked on October 12, 2026.

The short answer

On a $5 membership paid by US card, you keep about $4.06. A hundred members at $5 a month cost you $94.50 in fees every month, before payout fees. Pages published on or before August 4, 2025 keep their old rate of 5%, 8% or 11%, as long as the page is never unpublished.

That’s the short version of the money. Patreon fees in 2026 walks through every fee, and the Patreon fee calculator runs your own numbers. The rest of this guide is about what you get for it.

How a podcast works on Patreon

You set up a show in Patreon’s podcast settings. Each show gets its own feed, and you can run more than one.

Episodes are posts. You upload an audio or video file and turn on Add to podcast. If you upload video, Patreon pulls the audio out for the feed. Each episode has its own audience: everyone, all members, paid members only or the tiers you pick.

Members can listen in three places:

• On Patreon, on the web and in Patreon’s app.
• In their podcast app, through a private feed.
• On Spotify, if you turn on Patreon’s Spotify link.

Patreon can host your free show too. Its public feed sends free episodes to Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other apps. Read the fine print before you move a show there:

• No dynamic ad insertion. Patreon says it “is not supported at this time.” If you sell ads that get inserted into episodes, that’s a problem.
• The redirect is permanent. You move your feed by setting a 301 redirect at your old host, and Patreon warns: “Setting up a 301 redirect is permanent.”
• Your stats stay behind. Patreon says it doesn’t import “analytics or listener data” from your old host. Your numbers start from zero.

You can also keep your host and have Patreon import your back catalog or keep syncing new episodes from your feed. Only audio comes across. Video episodes in your feed aren’t imported.

How Patreon’s private feeds work

A private feed is a normal podcast feed with a secret code in its address. Every member gets their own.

• Where members find it. In their welcome email, behind the podcast icon on your page, and in Patreon’s app under Add to podcast app.
• What’s in it. The episodes their tier can access. Audio added as an attachment, SoundCloud links and digital products in your shop stay out of the feed.
• When they stop paying. Their feed stops updating. Patreon notes they “may still see previously cached content in their podcast app.”
• If a link gets shared. Patreon watches how many devices and apps use each link. A link that looks shared is reset, so everyone else using it loses access. If it happens again, that member can’t comment or send messages for 7 days.
• No password. Patreon “does not support passwords as a second security layer on the RSS feed.”

Not every app takes a private feed. Patreon lists Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts and Castro among the apps that work. It says TuneIn, Castbox and Amazon Music don’t support the sign-in a private feed needs, and that Spotify doesn’t support private feeds at all.

One more setting to check: members can download your audio files by default. You can switch downloads off, but only for every audio post at once, past and future, not one post at a time.

Spotify

Spotify can’t read private feeds, so Patreon built a separate link.

• Members link accounts. A member connects their Patreon account inside Spotify, and the episodes their tier includes play there.
• It’s a second show. Patreon creates a new Spotify show for your members-only episodes. If you already have a free show on Spotify, Spotify’s Synced Feeds can merge the two, unless that show is hosted on Spotify for Creators. You set it up and manage it on the Spotify for Creators website.
• What Spotify gets. Turning it on sends Spotify your show’s details, all your existing episodes with the text of their posts, and every episode you add to the podcast after that.
• Several shows. If you run more than one show, the combined feed Patreon builds for members isn’t supported in Spotify yet.

When a member cancels, Spotify follows Patreon. On subscription billing, they keep access until the end of the period they paid for.

What listeners see

On your Patreon page. On November 16, 2026, every Patreon page moves to Patreon’s new design, and there isn’t a way back. Visitors land on a Home tab of shelves you arrange, with a podcast icon under your profile photo. Patreon says your tiers “aren’t shown on the main page.” Fans find them under membership options instead. Why creators are leaving Patreon covers the redesign.

In Patreon’s iPhone app. Prices can be higher. Apple takes 30% of new memberships bought in the app, falling to 15% after a member’s first year. By default, Patreon raises your prices in the app by about 43% to cover it, so a $5 tier costs a fan about $7.14. Fans in the US can pick Patreon’s web checkout inside the app and pay $5. Fans anywhere else can’t.

The app has three more limits. Annual memberships aren’t supported there. Fans can’t set a custom amount when they edit their membership. And money from iPhone purchases can sit as pending for up to 75 days, because that’s how long Apple can take to pay.

In their podcast app. Your show, with your name and cover art, added by pasting their private link. In Apple Podcasts on iPhone, that’s Follow a Show by URL in the Library.

On Spotify. Members-only episodes show a padlock until the listener links a Patreon membership that includes them.

The November 1 billing change

If you charge listeners per episode, Patreon calls that per-creation billing. It ends on November 1, 2026, because Apple’s in-app purchases only work with subscription billing. Charging everyone on the 1st of the month ends for new members too: they’ll pay on the day they join.

If you charge per episode and haven’t switched:

• Your billing pauses in November. Members aren’t charged until you review your new prices, and Patreon says members “won’t be billed for the time your billing was paused.”
• Your price becomes monthly. Patreon multiplies your per-episode price by your recent number of paid posts. Its help pages disagree on how: one uses the highest monthly count from the last three months, another uses the average. Check the email Patreon sent you.
• Members’ limits stay. A member who capped their monthly spend pays no more than that cap, until they change their membership or you raise their tier’s price for existing members.
• There’s no going back. Patreon says the switch “can’t be reversed.”

Patreon asked per-creation creators to contact its Support team by October 15, 2026, for one-to-one help. Patreon’s billing change on November 1, explained covers every case.

Other limits to know

• File size. Audio uploads can be up to 2 GB a file, and attachments up to 5 GB.
• Video hours. Patreon Video caps you at 100 hours of uploads a month, livestreams included, as long as you’ve had a paying member in the last 90 days. Without one, it’s 100 hours in total.
• Video quality. You upload at 720p or 1080p, and a video can’t run longer than 12 hours.
• Drafts expire. Video files left in drafts are deleted after six months.
• Unpublishing. If you unpublish your page, memberships bought through Apple are cancelled, with no automatic refunds.
• A custom domain is still Patreon. You can connect one domain, and Patreon “still powers everything behind the scenes.” Links to your domain open in the browser, not in Patreon’s app.

What a podcast looks like on Drate

Drate gives you a home around the show, on your own domain and in your look:

• Members-only episodes on your site. Upload MP3 or M4A audio, or MP4 or WebM video, up to 500 MB a file. Episodes play right on the page, with your cover art.
• A public teaser. Add a short clip anyone can play. The full episode stays for members.
• Everything around the episodes. Posts and show notes, downloads up to 20 MB each, a members’ community feed, messages in your inbox, courses and Discord roles by membership.
• Memberships your way. Monthly, yearly or a fixed-length pass, paid into your own Stripe account.
• Your own app on Pro. Members get your own iOS and Android app, with your posts and your community. Episodes open on your website from the app.

Drate can host your audio episodes and their RSS feeds. In Settings → Website, open Podcast RSS, enable it and save the settings to your draft, then publish your website. Published MP3 or M4A audio uploads become episodes: public episodes appear in the public feed, and members can create a private link from their account page. Their private feed includes public episodes and only the member episodes their current access allows.

Members add their private link to a podcast app that accepts private RSS. They can reset the link if it is shared or revoke it when they want to stop using it. Membership access is checked when the feed or audio is requested; files already downloaded to a podcast app cannot be recalled. Podcast directory submission is a separate step, and videos stay on your site. You can also keep your existing podcast host for the free show.

What it costs

The same example as above: 100 members at $5 a month, or $500.

Stripe’s fee here is 2.9% + 30¢ for each US card payment, the same card fee Patreon charges. On these fees, Drate’s monthly price makes it cost more while you’re small: at $5 a month, Regular costs less than Patreon from 36 members, and Pro from 48.

Already on Patreon?

You don’t have to start over. Connect Patreon to Drate and match your tiers. Patrons who link their Patreon account get the same access on your site while they keep paying on Patreon. When they’re ready, they can move their billing, and their first payment on your site waits until their paid Patreon period ends.

Drate can copy your Patreon posts in as drafts, with their text and pictures. Audio and video you uploaded to Patreon don’t come across, so plan to upload your episodes again. Patreon private links do not transfer: members create a new Drate link and add it to their podcast app.

See what a show looks like on Drate for podcasts, and how switching works on our Patreon alternative page. For every other way to earn from listeners, read how to make money from a podcast without ads. When you’re ready to move, how to move off Patreon without losing patrons shows each step.

Questions

How much does Patreon take from podcasters?

Pages published after August 4, 2025 pay 10% of what they earn, plus 2.9% + $0.30 for each card payment, 2.5% when a listener pays in another currency, and a fee each time you cash out. On a $5 membership paid by US card, you keep about $4.06.

How do Patreon's private RSS feeds work?

Every member gets their own feed link with a secret code in it, for apps like Apple Podcasts and Overcast. It holds the episodes their tier can access. When a member stops paying, their feed stops updating, and Patreon resets any link that looks shared.

Can Patreon members listen on Spotify?

Yes, if you turn on Patreon's Spotify link. Spotify doesn't support private feeds, so members connect their Patreon account inside Spotify instead. Patreon creates a separate Spotify show for your members-only episodes and shares your episodes and their post text with Spotify.

Do I have to switch to subscription billing for my podcast?

Yes, if you charge per episode or on the 1st of the month. Every creator on Patreon has to use subscription billing by November 1, 2026. If you charge per episode and don't switch, Patreon pauses your billing and converts your prices, and billing stays paused until you review them.

Can I host my whole podcast on Patreon?

Patreon can host your free episodes too, with a public feed for Apple Podcasts and Spotify. It doesn't support dynamic ad insertion, the redirect from your old host is permanent, and your listener stats don't come with you.

Does Drate give members a private podcast feed?

Yes. Enable podcast RSS and publish your website, and published MP3 or M4A audio uploads become episodes. Public episodes have a public feed. Members can create a private link with public episodes and episodes their current membership allows, for podcast apps that accept private RSS. They can reset or revoke their link. You can keep an external host too; directory submission is separate.

Sources

Checked on October 12, 2026. Prices and terms change, so check the latest before you decide.

1. Patreon: Pricingpatreon.com
2. Patreon: Creator fees overviewsupport.patreon.com
3. Patreon: Set up a podcast on Patreonsupport.patreon.com
4. Patreon: Enable audio RSS feeds for my memberssupport.patreon.com
5. Patreon: RSS feed security and protectionsupport.patreon.com
6. Patreon: Which podcast apps will my custom audio RSS link work with?support.patreon.com
7. Patreon: Add my private RSS feed to the Apple Podcast appsupport.patreon.com
8. Patreon: Share your podcast on Spotifysupport.patreon.com
9. Patreon: Listen to Patreon exclusive audio on Spotifysupport.patreon.com
10. Patreon: Get started with Public RSS on Patreonsupport.patreon.com
11. Patreon: Sync an existing feed to Patreonsupport.patreon.com
12. Patreon: Share my audio files with memberssupport.patreon.com
13. Patreon: Control download links for audio postssupport.patreon.com
14. Patreon: Patreon Video overviewsupport.patreon.com
15. Patreon: How iOS in-app purchases work on Patreonsupport.patreon.com
16. Patreon: What to expect with iOS in-app purchasessupport.patreon.com
17. Patreon: Reminder: All creators must be on subscription billing by November 1patreon.com
18. Patreon: How to move from per-creation to subscription billingsupport.patreon.com
19. Patreon: iOS in-app purchases and switching to subscription billing FAQsupport.patreon.com
20. Patreon: Your updated creator pagesupport.patreon.com
21. Patreon: Connect a custom domain to your Patreonsupport.patreon.com
22. Stripe: Pricingstripe.com
23. Stripe: Billing pricingstripe.com