Patreon vs Skool: which one should hold your paying members?

Patreon is built around a creator and their output. A patron picks a tier, pays monthly, and receives posts, videos, audio or downloads in return. The relationship runs mostly one way: creator to fan. Patreon's real strength is that the audience is already there. Many fans have an account and a saved card, which lowers the friction of joining, and the platform is simple enough that a creator can launch a membership in an afternoon.

Skool is built around a group. Members join a community with a feed, a classroom of courses and a calendar, and they spend time talking to each other as much as to you. Its real strengths are simplicity and gamification: points for posting and replying, levels that can open up content, and a leaderboard that gives members a reason to come back. Skool is not trying to help strangers find you. You bring the audience; it keeps them engaged.

So the comparison is not really about features. It is about what your members believe they are buying: access to you, or a place to learn with other people.

Prices verified June 2, 2026. Patreon takes 10% of your income for all creators who joined since August 2025, with no cap, plus payment processing, currency conversion and payout fees on top. Some older creators keep grandfathered legacy plans between 5% and 12%. There is no monthly subscription.

Skool has two plans. Hobby is $9 a month with a 10% transaction fee plus $0.30 per transaction. Pro is $99 a month with 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction, which covers card processing; any single sale above $899 is charged 3.9% instead, which works out as a 1% platform fee on that sale. For a normal monthly membership, the platform line on Skool Pro is a flat $99.

At $1,000 a month in member revenue, Patreon's platform fee is $100 before its processing and payout fees. Skool Pro is $99 plus processing of about $39 if your members pay $30 a month (2.9% of $1,000 plus $0.30 on about 33 payments). The platform lines are almost identical here, which is why about $990 a month is the break-even point. Math example, not a customer outcome.

At $5,000 a month, Patreon takes $500 before processing. Skool Pro is still $99 plus processing of about $195 at $30 memberships. The platform-fee difference is roughly $400 a month, or close to $4,800 a year. Math example, not a customer outcome.

At $20,000 a month, Patreon takes $2,000 before processing. Skool Pro is still $99 plus processing. The gap on the platform line is about $1,900 a month, more than $22,000 a year, and it keeps widening because Patreon's percentage never caps. Math example, not a customer outcome.

Skool Hobby is the cheapest option while you are small, because its 10% plus $0.30 already includes card processing. At $1,000 a month with $30 memberships it comes to about $119 all-in, against about $138 on Skool Pro and $100 plus processing and payout fees on Patreon. Above about $1,270 a month in sales, Pro becomes cheaper than Hobby, so plan to switch once you pass it. Math example, not a customer outcome.

Courses: Skool has a classroom with modules and lessons, and you can drip content by level. It has no native quizzes and no certificates. Patreon has no course product. You can post videos in order or organize them into collections, but there is no lesson structure, no progress tracking and no completion.

Community: Skool's feed is the center of the product. Members post, reply and react, and the community feels alive when it works. Patreon has posts and comments, but the conversation is mostly members responding to you, not to each other.

Events: neither does events properly. Skool has a calendar where you can list a call with a link, shown in each member's timezone, but no RSVPs or ticketing. Patreon has no events product, so creators usually paste a link to a call into a post.

Gamification: Skool wins clearly. Points, levels and the leaderboard are among the best implementations in the category. Patreon has none.

Be honest about this before you move. Patreon's discovery and its stored payment details are worth something. A fan who already has a Patreon account can join in two clicks. On Skool, every member creates a new account and enters a card, and some patrons will not make that step. Plan for a share of members not following you, and set your expectations by testing with your most engaged patrons first.

You also lose the mental model. Patrons on Patreon are used to supporting you. Members of a Skool community expect to participate. If your audience wants to watch rather than join in, a community platform can feel empty, and an empty feed is worse than a quiet Patreon page.

Answer two questions. First: do my members mostly consume what I make, or do they mostly learn and talk to each other? Second: do I earn more than about $1,000 a month? If your members consume and you earn less than that, stay on Patreon. If your members learn and talk, or you earn well above $1,000, the move pays for itself in fees within a few months, as long as you keep most of your members through the switch.

A simple test: run one live call or a two-week challenge for your top patrons in a free community space. If they show up and talk to each other, you have a community. If they wait for you to post, you have an audience, and Patreon is built for audiences.

Pick Patreon if you are a podcaster, artist, writer or video creator whose members pay to support your work and receive bonus content, if discovery matters to you, and if your monthly income is modest enough that 10% is a small number.

Pick Skool if you are a coach or educator whose members pay to learn a skill and stay for the people, if you want gamification to drive daily engagement, and if your income is large enough that a flat $99 beats a percentage. Accept that you will need another tool for quizzes, certificates or events with RSVPs.

HiveLearn is for the creator moving off Patreon who wants more than Skool's classroom. Courses, community, events and payments in one place: a full LMS with quizzes in six question types and verifiable certificates, a feed with threaded discussions, events with RSVPs, paid tickets and reminders, and points, levels and leaderboards. The Switch to HiveLearn wizard imports a Patreon export and can send imported members a reactivation email; concierge migration is included on Pro and above.

Starter is $0 a month with a 6% revenue share, so there is no monthly fee until you monetize. Growth is $39 a month with 4%, rev share capped at $2,000/month; Pro is $99 with 2%, capped at $3,000/month; Scale is $249 with 1%, capped at $4,000/month. Stripe processing (2.9% + $0.30) is charged on top. Growth, Pro and Scale come with a 14-day free trial, no credit card. If your members are fans rather than learners, Patreon's discovery is a better fit than any of these, and that is fine.