Creator subscription fees compared (2026): what each platform takes from $100
Fee pages are where marketing goes to hide. This page tries to be the opposite: plain numbers, a dated verification line, and worked examples. If any number below is wrong, that's a bug — tell us and we'll fix it with a correction.
The headline numbers
Peopoli takes 10% plus standard card processing — and that's it. Payouts go to your own Stripe account via Stripe Connect. Here's the field, as of October 2026:
| Platform | Typical take | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Peopoli | 10% + card processing | Direct to your Stripe account |
| Patreon | ~8–12% + processing | Plus per-payout fees |
| Substack | 10% + processing | Payments only |
| OnlyFans | 20% | |
| YouTube | ~30% | Partnership default |
What 10% means on a $5 tier
Say a fan subscribes to a $5/month tier. Card processing on a $5 micro-charge is proportionally the worst case — call it $0.33–0.43 depending on the processor and region. Peopoli's 10% is $0.50. Roughly $4.10–4.20 of the fan's $5.00 lands in your Stripe account. On Patreon, the platform fee on that same $5 is $0.40–0.60 at the 8–12% rates, plus processing, plus whatever your payout method charges — the totals land close, which is exactly why the rest of the package matters.
What $100 of monthly earnings looks like
Scale the example: on $100/month across your tiers, a 10% fee leaves $90 before processing (roughly $86–88 after). A 20% take leaves $80. A 30% take leaves $70. Over a year, the gap between a 10% and a 30% platform is $240 — on earnings of $1,200. That's the entire argument for watching this line item.
The fee is the least interesting difference
Fees are comparable; architecture isn't. Two things matter more than a few points of take-rate:
- Whether the paywall can leak. Peopoli strips subscriber-only content server-side — the locked body never ships to a non-subscriber. On many platforms, “subscriber-only” is a client-side overlay.
- Whether your audience is a graph you own. On Peopoli, followers, subscribers and content are one account's graph, and your public profile at me.peopoli.com/@yourname aggregates all of it for everyone you meet off-platform.
Verification notes
Competitor percentages are the platforms' published rates as of October 2026; processing is quoted as pass-through everywhere, because it is. We re-verify annually and date the update. Peopoli's own terms: 10% platform fee, card processing pass-through, payouts via Stripe Connect to your account, free plan available with no trial clock.
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