Substack and Patreon both keep 10% of what a new creator earns, while beehiiv keeps 0% of paid subscriptions and charges a flat monthly fee instead. Stripe's card fees of 2.9% plus 30 cents apply on top of all three, and Substack adds a 0.7% Stripe Billing charge on recurring payments. Memberful charges $49 a month plus 4.9%. Beehiiv becomes cheaper than Substack once a paid newsletter earns roughly $490 to $590 a month.
Part of EPR's Creator Economy coverage. Originally published and updated November 5, 2026. Fees checked against creator-platform pricing pages as reported in October 2026. For platform-by-platform payout splits, see how creators get paid.
How do Substack, Patreon, beehiiv and Memberful fees compare?
Substack, Patreon, beehiiv and Memberful charge for different things: Substack and Patreon take a share of revenue, beehiiv sells a plan, and Memberful combines a plan with a smaller percentage. The table lists each platform's headline fee for a creator starting now, drawing on Eden's 2026 platform comparison, Lilach Bullock's fee review and Creatorflow's October 2026 check of the pricing pages.
| Platform | Starting cost | Cut of paid subscriptions | Processing fees on top |
|---|
| Substack | Free | 10% | Stripe 2.9% + $0.30 per card payment, plus 0.7% Stripe Billing on recurring payments |
| Patreon | Free | 10% for creators who started after August 4, 2025 | 2.9% + $0.30 on cards with a U.S. payout, plus currency and payout fees |
| beehiiv | Free up to 2,500 subscribers, with no paid subscriptions; paid plans from about $49 to $59 a month | 0% on paid plans | Stripe 2.9% + $0.30 per card payment |
| Memberful | $49 a month (Standard), with a free trial | 4.9% transaction fee | Stripe 2.9% + $0.30 per card payment; Stripe is the only payment option |
Beehiiv raised prices on October 1, 2026, according to Eden's blog, which reported that its Lite plan at 10,000 subscribers went from $109 to $139 a month. Older comparisons that quote $42 to $43 a month for beehiiv's Scale plan are out of date. Memberful's Standard plan was verified at $49 a month plus 4.9% on its pricing page on August 3, 2026, according to Foundry's Memberful review, and some older listings of $25 and $100 tiers no longer match.
At $1,000 a month in paid subscriptions, Substack and Patreon each keep $100 in platform fees while beehiiv's plan costs about $59, and the gap widens as revenue grows. The table counts platform fees only and leaves out Stripe's processing, which applies to all of them.
| Monthly paid revenue | Substack platform fee | Patreon platform fee | beehiiv plan cost | Memberful fee ($49 + 4.9%) |
|---|
| $1,000 | $100 | $100 | About $59 (Lite, annual figures vary) | $98 |
| $5,000 | $500 | $500 | About $59 to $139, by list size | $294 |
| $10,000 | $1,000 | $1,000 | About $59 to $139, by list size | $539 |
Cartmango's calculation puts the full deduction on a $10 Substack subscription at about $1.66 once Stripe's card and billing fees are included, which leaves the creator $8.34. Creators who price below $10 a month lose a larger share because the 30-cent fixed charge weighs more.
Substack is the strongest of the three for built-in discovery, and beehiiv is the strongest for growth tools you control. Substack says its app now brings in over 30% of paid subscriptions, according to Eden's review, and its network of recommendations lets writers send readers to each other. Beehiiv offers a website, an ad network, a referral program and recommendations, while Patreon is built around fans supporting a creator inside a community.
EPR's Substack Citation Index ranks which independent newsletters AI engines cite most, and the Substack platform profile covers how writers such as Bari Weiss, Casey Newton and Lenny Rachitsky moved onto the platform.
Where does Memberful fit?
Memberful fits creators who already run their own website and want a membership layer rather than a new home. It costs $49 a month plus a 4.9% transaction fee, and Stripe's card fees apply on top, which Raklet's review put at an effective cost of roughly 8% per sale. Foundry's Memberful review worked one example: 500 members paying $20 a month is $10,000 gross, and listed Memberful and Stripe costs come to about $979, leaving about $9,021.
The arithmetic against the other platforms is straightforward. Memberful's $49 plus 4.9% costs less than a 10% platform fee once monthly revenue passes about $961, and it costs more than beehiiv's flat plan at every revenue level. It also has no discovery network, so a creator must bring their own audience, according to SchoolMaker's Patreon comparison. Memberful accepts only Stripe, per Raklet.
The right platform depends on what the creator sells, how large the list is and how much they want to own the customer relationship. The table maps the four to common creator types.
| Creator type | Best fit | Reason |
|---|
| Writer starting a free newsletter | Substack | Free plan with an unlimited list and no fee until paid subscriptions switch on |
| Writer with a paid list above about 500 subscribers | beehiiv | A flat plan costs less than 10% of revenue past roughly $490 to $590 a month |
| Artist, podcaster or video maker with a community | Patreon | Memberships, one-time purchases and video in one place |
| Publisher with an existing website and audience | Memberful | Adds memberships to a site the creator already owns, at $49 plus 4.9% |
| Newsletter publisher selling ads and sponsorships | beehiiv | Built-in ad network and referral tools |
The break-even point is simple arithmetic. A flat plan of $49 equals 10% of $490 in monthly revenue, and a $59 plan equals 10% of $590. Below that line, Substack's percentage fee costs less. Above it, the flat plan costs less every month.
What does a 200-subscriber paid newsletter keep on each platform?
A newsletter with 200 paid subscribers at $8 a month keeps about 83% of its $1,600 on Substack, about 83% on Patreon, about 85% on Memberful, and about 90% on beehiiv. The table is EPR's calculation using the published fee rates above, with beehiiv at a $59 monthly plan, and it ignores taxes, currency conversion and payout fees.
| Platform | Platform fee or plan | Stripe card fees | Creator keeps |
|---|
| Substack | $160 (10%) | $117.60, including the 0.7% billing fee | About $1,322 |
| Patreon | $160 (10%) | $106.40 | About $1,334 |
| beehiiv | $59 plan | $106.40 | About $1,435 |
| Memberful | $127.40 ($49 plus 4.9%) | $106.40 | About $1,366 |
The Stripe line is a large part of the cost on a low price point. Two hundred payments at 30 cents each is $60 before the percentage fees, which is why CheckThat's Substack pricing review warns that creators pricing below $10 a month see a higher effective deduction than the headline rate.
A creator's platform choice shapes what can be pitched, measured and cited. Substack gives writers a recognizable publication address and a recommendations network, which helps when pitching journalists who already read it. Beehiiv gives more control over a branded site and referral data. Patreon's fees changed in August 2025, so older advice that cites 5% to 12% tiers no longer describes new creators.
For communications teams advising a creator, EPR's reading is that moving platforms is a reputational event as well as a financial one, because readers must re-subscribe and some will not. That reading is analysis, not a platform statement. EPR's wider creator coverage is collected in the creator revenue split guide.
Other platforms sit between these options. According to Eden's comparison, Ghost takes 0% of paid subscriptions on its higher plans, Eden takes 5% (2% on its Max plan), and Kit takes 3.5% plus 30 cents. Each adds the same Stripe card fees, so the break-even logic above applies to them too.
A creator who decides to switch should move in four steps and set aside time for the paid-reader transfer.
- Export the subscriber list and confirm the new platform can import paid readers, since how existing subscriptions transfer depends on the platforms involved, according to Ecommerce Paradise's review.
- Run both platforms in parallel for one billing cycle so paid readers keep access.
- Tell readers the reason for the move and the date, in a single email.
- Recheck fees after the move, because beehiiv's October 2026 price change shows plan costs can rise.
The decision for a creator is to compute their own break-even from monthly paid revenue and to recheck the fee pages before committing.
