SubscribeStar vs Patreon: fees and adult content rules compared

Patreon and SubscribeStar are the two membership platforms adult creators compare most, and the comparison has changed. Patreon raised its fee for new creators to 10 per cent in August 2025. SubscribeStar has long been described as the cheaper option at 5 per cent, but its adult site’s pricing page listed a 10 per cent service fee when we read it on 18 October 2026. Its general site still listed 5.

This page compares the two on what creators pay, who pays the processing fees, and what adult content each allows. It is written for adult game developers and other adult creators choosing between them, or deciding whether to run both. Every figure comes from the platforms’ own pages as they stood on 18 October 2026. It is not financial advice.

Key points

• Patreon charges new creators 10%. That applies to pages published after 4 August 2025.
• Older Patreon creators keep their plan. Only while the page stays published.
• SubscribeStar.adult lists a 10% service fee. SubscribeStar.com lists 5%.
• Processing comes on top of both. SubscribeStar’s range is 3% plus 30 cents to 10% plus 40 cents.
• SubscribeStar creators can pass processing to subscribers. Patreon does not offer the same choice.
• Both allow adult content with limits. Both tightened their rules in 2025 and 2026.

The fees side by side

The figures are the ones each platform publishes. Effective rates vary with the payment method, the subscriber’s country and the size of the payment.

Patreon’s fees

The 10% platform fee

Patreon’s pricing page gives a single headline figure: 10 per cent “of the income you earn on Patreon”, plus payment processing, currency conversion, payout fees and taxes.

That standard plan applies to creators who published their page after 4 August 2025. The fee is calculated on the payment amount excluding sales tax.

Creators who published on or before that date keep their existing platform pricing, from the older Founders, Pro and Premium plans. There is a catch. Patreon says unpublishing a page, whether by the creator or by Patreon, moves the account to the 10 per cent plan. A creator who wants to keep a legacy rate must keep the page continuously published and use the pause tool instead.

Processing and other fees

Patreon’s creator fees overview lists processing on the standard plan at 2.9 per cent plus 30 cents for cards and Apple Pay, and 3.9 per cent plus 30 cents for PayPal and Venmo payments from outside the US. On the standard plan the same rates apply to every payment, whatever the amount. Older plans used a separate micropayment rate for small tiers.

The creator fees FAQ adds a 2.5 per cent fee when a member pays in a different currency from the creator’s payout currency. Payout fees depend on the method.

The Apple fee

Memberships bought in Patreon’s iPhone app now go through Apple’s in-app purchase system, which takes up to 30 per cent. Macworld reported that Patreon gave creators a tool to raise in-app prices to cover it, and that memberships bought on the Patreon website are not affected.

SubscribeStar’s fees

Two sites, two figures

SubscribeStar runs two sites: SubscribeStar.com for general creators and SubscribeStar.adult for adult creators. The adult site’s pages were branded “SubscribeStar.art” when we read them.

Both sites have a pricing page dated 1 September 2025. When we read them on 18 October 2026, they differed on one line.

• SubscribeStar.com: “Platform Service fee - 5%”.
• SubscribeStar.adult: “Platform Service fee - 10%”.

The adult site’s homepage fee calculator also showed a 10 per cent service fee, with an example transaction fee of 8 per cent plus 40 cents.

This contradicts much of what is written about SubscribeStar, including figures from its own help centre that this site quoted earlier this month in SubscribeStar card declined, which gave 5 per cent. We found no announcement explaining the difference or saying when it began. An adult creator should check the figure shown in their own dashboard before relying on either number.

Processing and who pays it

Both pricing pages give the same processing range: “from 3% + $0.30 to 10% + $0.40”, applied by third-party processors. They say the platform may adjust processing fees at its discretion without notice.

SubscribeStar’s distinctive feature is that the creator chooses a “transaction-fee model”, deciding whether the creator or the subscriber covers most of the processing cost. The pages add that the platform may change this setting for any subscription without notice, and that where processing fees change, the creator covers the difference.

For subscribers, the pages add that an international transaction fee of up to 3.5 per cent may apply to cards issued outside the US.

Other terms

The pages say creators with heavy API usage may pay an extra 3 to 5 per cent, and that the platform tries to freeze processing fees for existing subscriptions at the rate in force when each began. For declined payments and payment methods, see SubscribeStar card declined.

What it costs on a $10 membership

A worked example makes the difference concrete. It uses the published headline rates and ignores payout fees, currency conversion and taxes, which vary.

At the high end of SubscribeStar’s processing range, 10 per cent plus 40 cents, the processing on a $10 membership would be $1.40. A creator who passes processing to subscribers keeps more, but subscribers pay more at checkout.

The headline difference that used to favour SubscribeStar’s adult site has gone, on these figures. What separates the two now is the content rules and the audience.

The adult content rules

Patreon

Patreon allows adult content on pages marked Adult/18+. It revised its rules in a set of policy updates finalised on 16 March 2026. We cover the detail in does Patreon allow NSFW content. In short, adult content is allowed on pages marked Adult/18+, and some themes are banned everywhere, including in fiction.

SubscribeStar

SubscribeStar’s adult site exists for adult creators and approves each creator by hand. In March 2026 it changed its terms to ban several fictional themes, then said it would rework the wording because it was ambiguous, as Niche Gamer reported. SubscribeStar said the changes were for compliance with its payment partners.

The practical effect is that the gap between the two platforms on content is narrower than it was. SubscribeStar remains the more permissive of the two, but neither is a home for everything.

Which to choose

1. For reach, Patreon. It is better known, and more supporters already have accounts.
2. For adult-first tools, SubscribeStar.adult. It is built around adult creators and lets you pass processing to subscribers.
3. For lower platform fees, check the dashboard. On today’s published figures the adult site no longer beats Patreon’s 10 per cent.
4. If you are on an old Patreon plan, keep the page published. Unpublishing loses the legacy rate.
5. Consider running both. Many adult game developers do, so that a payment block on one does not stop all income.

For the wider picture, including the payment processors behind both, see payment processors and adult games and where adult games can be sold in 2026. For other options, see does Ko-fi allow NSFW content.

What is still unknown

• Why SubscribeStar’s two sites list different fees. We found no announcement.
• When the adult site’s 10% began. Both pages carry the same 1 September 2025 date.
• Patreon’s current payout fees. Its help pages we read do not list every method’s amount.

How this page was put together

Patreon’s fees come from its pricing page and three help centre articles. SubscribeStar’s fees come from the pricing pages of SubscribeStar.com and SubscribeStar.adult, read directly on 18 October 2026, and from the adult site’s homepage. The content rules come from Patreon’s March 2026 policy update and Niche Gamer’s report on SubscribeStar’s March 2026 terms. The worked example is our own arithmetic on the published rates.

The studio does not run a page on either platform, and nothing here is a first-hand account of a payout. To report an error, see the corrections standard.