Fourthwall vs Patreon (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Patreon grades higher than Fourthwall: 3.0 against 2.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Fourthwall grades higher on value for money. Patreon grades higher on the free plan, features and ease of use. They get the same grade on platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Fourthwall
Creator shop with merch, digital products and memberships
Free plan · from $15/mo
Patreon
Paid memberships, a shop and community for creators and their fans
Free
Which one is for you
Pick Fourthwall if
- Fits if you are a creator who sells merch to a following and wants memberships beside it
- Works for streamers who want a free shop to start
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want to run courses or a community, as the listing shows a shop
- Watch out: fees of 5% on digital products on the free plan, 5% on memberships, and 2.9% + $0.30 on US card payments
- Watch out: catalog products carry a flat per-item fee taken from your selling price
- Tight if you stay free: the 5 GB limit on digital products and the 5% fee
Pick Patreon if
- Fits if you're a podcaster, video maker or artist funded by monthly members
- Works for creators who want payments, fraud and most sales tax handled, for 10% of earnings
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you earn a lot, as 10% of every dollar goes to Patreon with no plan to lower it
- Watch out: processing, currency conversion and payout fees come on top of the 10%
- Not for you if you want buyers paying on your own site, since they need a Patreon account
- Not for you if you want a desktop app, as it's web, iPhone and Android only
How we grade them
| 2.8GPAFourthwallGood | 3.0GPAPatreonVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AFree, or $15 a month for Pro, which is under 60% of the $29 cheaper quarter of courses and communities tools. Fees apply on sales. | DGraded against its own alternatives, fan-support platforms. Patreon keeps 10% of what you earn, so $1,000 a month costs $100, with processing and payout fees on top (not counted). That's double Ko-fi's and Buy Me a Coffee's 5%, and in this category's dearest tenth. |
| Free plan and trial | BThe free plan lets you design and sell products, offer memberships and run promotions. Digital products are capped at 5 GB with a 5% fee. | AStarting a Patreon is free, with no monthly fee and nothing held back. You only pay a share once you earn, and the value grade counts that. |
| Features | CCustom products, a shop builder, digital products, memberships and promotions. It is a merch shop with memberships, not a course or community platform. | BMember tiers, free trials, a shop for downloads, native video, livestreams, podcasts with Spotify, newsletters and group chats, more than its alternatives list. Not an A, because buyers need a Patreon account to purchase anything. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. You build a shop and set up products, which is setup work. | A4.9 from about 580,000 App Store ratings, the highest here. Getting started is free, and Patreon takes care of payments, chargebacks and most taxes for you. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, iOS and Android, with YouTube, Instagram and TikTok connections. No desktop app. | BWeb, iPhone and Android, with Discord, Spotify, YouTube, Vimeo, Zapier, ConvertKit, WordPress and Crowdcast. No desktop app, which an A needs. |
| Best for | a creator shop with merch and memberships | memberships funded by fans |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Fourthwall and Patreon. How we grade
Where they differ
- Fourthwall also covers online store, merchant of record and print on demand.
- Patreon also covers paid newsletters.
In commonFree planWebiOSAndroidCommunityDigital downloads
At a glance
| Fourthwall | Patreon | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free |
| Starts at | $15 per month for Pro | Free |
| Free plan | Design and sell products, offer memberships, run promotions; 5% fee and 5 GB limit on digital products. | Starting a Patreon is free. Patreon keeps 10% of the income creators earn, plus payment processing, currency conversion and payout fees and applicable taxes. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Fourthwall | Patreon |
| Price read from | fourthwall.com | patreon.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Fourthwall
- Fees: 5% on digital products on the free plan, 5% on memberships, and 2.9% + $0.30 on US card payments, with other rates for PayPal and other methods.
- Products from the catalog carry a flat per-item fee taken from your selling price.
- The Pro plan saves $48 a year when paid yearly, compared with monthly.
Patreon
- Patreon keeps 10% of creator income, and payment processing, currency conversion and payout fees come on top.
- Buyers need a Patreon account to purchase products, so fans pay inside Patreon rather than on your own site.
- The pricing page lists a single rate, 10% of earnings, with no monthly plan that lowers it.
Key features
Fourthwall
- Custom products
- Designs products from a catalog that includes apparel, mugs and jewelry, with the company handling manufacturing and shipping.
- Shop builder
- Builds a branded shop with themes and a custom domain.
- Digital products
- Sells files with hosting and delivery handled for you.
- Memberships
- Offers members-only video, images, polls, Discord access and private RSS feeds.
- Promotions
- Runs discounts, promo codes and free giveaways.
- Social shopping
- Shows products on YouTube Merch Shelf, Instagram and Facebook Shopping, and TikTok Shopping.
Patreon
- Memberships
- Membership tiers billed monthly or annually, one-time payments, free trials, discounts and sales, with member analytics.
- Shop for digital products
- Sell video, audio, images, downloadable files and collections one at a time, with no listing fee, or make them free for members.
- Posts, video and newsletters
- Publish audio, images and rich text, host video natively, livestream, and send posts as email newsletters.
- Podcasts
- Import and sync podcasts, run several shows, distribute episodes by RSS, and use the Spotify integration with synced feeds.
- Community
- Group chats, direct messages and comments for members, with exportable email lists and Discord integration.
- Payments handled by Patreon
- Patreon processes payments, handles chargebacks, disputes and fraud, collects and remits most taxes, and supports 16+ currencies.
Plans
Fourthwall
Free$0
No monthly fee. 5% flat fee on digital products (5 GB limit) and on memberships, plus 2.9% + $0.30 card processing on US cards.
Pro$15
per month
$120 of shop credit a year, a free .store domain, unlimited team members, no fee on digital products and 100 GB of storage.
Patreon
Patreon$0
No monthly fee. Patreon keeps 10% of what creators earn from memberships and shop sales, plus processing, currency conversion and payout fees.
Ways to pay less
Fourthwall
- Annual discount
Save $48 a year on Pro
The pricing page says paying yearly for Pro saves $48 compared with paying monthly.
Patreon
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Fourthwall or Patreon?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Patreon is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $15 a month for Fourthwall. Fourthwall starts at $15 per month for Pro, and Patreon is free.
Which has a free plan, Fourthwall or Patreon?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Fourthwall and Patreon have a free plan.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.