Are you seeking for a Patreon substitute to supplement your YouTube and other social media income?
Patreon is a well-known crowdfunding site that allows content producers to make money from their work. Fans may support their favourite artist or creative by subscribing and paying a monthly subscription. However, due to costs and censorship concerns, Patreon may not be the best option for everyone.
We’ll go through the finest Patreon alternatives in this article so you may monetize your audience.
What’s the Point of a Patreon Alternative?
Patreon is a platform that allows vloggers, musicians, authors, journalists, podcasters, and other content producers to earn a steady income from their work, but it has numerous major flaws.
First, with over 6 million monthly active users on Patreon, it’s difficult to build your own brand. You’ll be up against other artists in your industry, and making your work discoverable for new people might be difficult. Not to mention, the tools you have to advertise your material are restricted.
Then there’s the censoring problem. For persons in certain niches, Patreon’s content limitations might be stringent, as political content providers have experienced in the past. As a result, their fan base shrank significantly.
Finally, Patreon’s fee might be a deal breaker for certain content providers. For example, depending on the price tier you’re enrolled to, it charges a flat 5 percent, 8 percent, or 12 percent on your monthly revenue on Patreon on top of the payment processing cost.
Another tax on creators’ profits is just unnecessary.
This is why many power users are moving away from Patreon in favour of WordPress, which is more powerful and provides you complete control.
Let’s take a look at why you should utilise WordPress instead of Patreon.
What Makes WordPress a Good Patreon Alternative?
WordPress is a popular website builder that powers over 43% of all websites on the internet and is completely free to use. You may believe that building a website from the ground up is difficult and time-consuming, but this is no longer the case.
Using a drag and drop website builder like SeedProd, which requires no coding, you can quickly construct a WordPress website of any sort.
WordPress has over 59,000 free plugins that you can use to increase your revenue, increase your traffic, gain more followers, and establish an email subscriber list that will never be taken away.
Another advantage of utilising WordPress versus Patreon is that you have more control over your material. You won’t be affected by service changes, and you won’t have to worry about losing your audience due to content limitations.
You can even provide numerous payment choices on your site using WordPress and generate money online without having to worry about paying Patreon a share of your revenue.
To build a WordPress website, you’ll need the following items:
A name for a website. This will be your online store’s address (e.g. wpbeginner.com).
A WordPress hosting account is necessary. This is where you’ll save the files for your website.
An SSL certificate is a digital signature. This enables you to receive payments online in a safe manner.
Web hosting is typically $7.99 per month, a domain name is $14.99 per year, and an SSL certificate is $69.99 per year.
When you’re just starting out, this might be a significant investment.
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Let’s take a look at several WordPress plugins and technologies that may be used as Patreon alternatives.
1- MemberPress
MemberPress is the greatest WordPress membership plugin, and it’s really simple to use. It allows you to set up a membership website and regulate who has access to your premium content.
Because the plugin allows you to build up various membership levels and restrict access to any premium content based on the user’s membership level, it’s a wonderful alternative to Patreon. You may also utilise the plugin to make a WordPress video membership site.
A robust course builder is included as well. MemberPress allows you to develop and sell online courses. They also have a content drip system, which allows members to access content after completing a course or being a member for a set amount of time.
Another benefit of utilising MemberPress is that it interacts sea
mlessly with prominent payment providers like as Stripe and PayPal, as well as many of the leading email marketing platforms
- Digital Downloads Made Simple.
- Easy Digital Downloads is a WordPress eCommerce plugin that allows you to sell digital items.Easy Digital Downloads is the ideal Patreon alternative for artists, musicians, writers, developers, and other content creators that offer digital items like as music, ebooks, PDF files, films, premium software licences, and more.You may easily manage and sell files using the plugin. It offers a built-in shopping cart system that makes purchasing your digital items simple for users.You may also use the WordPress dashboard to watch your clients’ download activity and generate reports to assess how well your downloads are performing.
Easy Digital Downloads also has a free version that you can install in WordPress. You may also utilise SiteGround’s EDD hosting, which comes pre-installed with WordPress and EDD.
WooCommerce is the third option.
WooCommerce is one of the top eCommerce plugins on the market, and it can help you quickly set up an online store.
You may sell both digital and physical things using WooCommerce. It’s ideal for content providers who wish to offer their audience products. It also contains an inventory management tool that allows you to keep track of how many items are available for purchase.
There are also several WooCommerce plugins and extensions available to aid in the expansion of your website. Many WooCommerce website templates are also available, allowing you to create an online store exactly as you want it.
You may even use a drag-and-drop builder like SeedProd to create a custom WordPress theme.
WooCommerce also works with well-known payment processors like Stripe and PayPal. Aside from that, the plugin comes with a wealth of documentation, community forums, and support to assist you.
WP Simple Pay is number four.
The best Stripe payment plugin for WordPress is WP Simple Pay. You may monetize your site as a content provider by utilising the plugin to add a payment button, and there’s no need to set up a shopping cart.
Simply include a payment option on your website to allow your admirers to contribute to your cause. You may take credit card payments, Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH payments, iDEAL, and more with the plugin.
You may even set up several subscriptions for regular contributions, similar to Patreon but with a lot less money.
WP Simple Pay also assists with contribution collection. You may also create discount coupon coupons, let people subscribe or pay one-time, provide free trials, and more.
Note that the WP Simple Pay plugin is also available in a free version that you may utilise.
5 –Blubrry
Blubrry is one of the most popular WordPress podcast hosting providers. For podcasters who desire greater control over their material, it’s a great Patreon option.
Blubrry allows you to quickly establish a podcast website. Another benefit is that you can simply publish your podcast on prominent platforms such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazin Music, TuneIn, iHeart Radio, Pandora, and others.
Blubrry includes the PowerPress podcast plugin, which allows you to manage your podcast files in WordPress. Blubrry also has a strong podcasting community, and you can easily locate forums where you may learn from other successful podcasters.
6-WP Crowdfunding is number.
WP Crowdfunding is a strong WordPress fundraising plugin that you can use to establish a fundraising site similar to GoFundMe or Kickstarter as a Patreon alternative.
The WooCommerce-based plugin allows you to raise funding for your creative project. Its built-in wallet system makes it simple to keep track of all the money you’ve raised.
Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.net, Skrill, and other payment methods are all simply integrated with WP Crowdfunding. The plugin is extremely simple to use and has a user interface that is suitable for beginners.
Which of the Patreon alternatives is the best?
After thoroughly assessing all of the popular Patreon alternatives, we feel MemberPress is the best Patreon alternative. It allows you to limit premium material, sell courses, and has a lot of other capabilities.
Easy Digital Downloads comes in second place.
You may also utilise WP Basic Pay or their free version if you merely want to take simple one-time or regular payments from subscribers.
We hope this guide has assisted you in determining the best Patreon alternative for monetizing your audience. You might also be interested in our recommendations on how to pick the best blogging platform and the most compelling reasons to use WordPress.
