Websites · Alternative
A Patreon alternative: paid memberships on your own website
Patreon is free to start and keeps 10% of what you earn, plus payment processing, currency conversion and payout fees, while handling payments, chargebacks and most taxes. OneCraft writes your own membership website with tiers and members-only posts, paid through your own Stripe account for a monthly plan and a 0.5% to 2% platform fee.
Updated , competitor details checked . Patreon is a trademark of its owner. OneCraft is an unrelated product and claims no affiliation with or endorsement by it.
Indunil Asanka · Co-founder
2 min read · Published
The short verdict
Patreon is the better pick for a creator who wants payments, chargebacks, fraud and most taxes handled, native video and livestreaming, a mobile app fans already use and creator-first discovery, in exchange for 10% of income. OneCraft suits a creator with an established audience who wants memberships on their own website and domain, with members and posts in their own database and a smaller platform fee.
| Feature | Patreon | OneCraft |
|---|---|---|
| Fee | 10% of the income you earn, plus payment processing, currency conversion and payout fees, and applicable taxes checked 2026-10-21 | Stripe Checkout as a direct charge on your own connected Stripe account; platform fee Starter 2%, Pro 1%, Pro+ 0.5%, Stripe fees on top; the free plan cannot take payments |
| Monthly price | Free to start; you only pay when you start earning checked 2026-10-21 | Free $0 with 100 credits a month (about 3 AI projects), Starter $8 with 500, Pro $25 with 1,500, Pro+ $125 with 7,500 |
| Billing | Monthly and annual subscriptions, membership tiers, one-time payments checked 2026-10-21 | One-off orders, subscriptions from a plans table and the Stripe billing portal, with prices read from the site's own database |
| Payment risk | Handles chargebacks, disputes and fraud; no need to set up Stripe checked 2026-10-21 | A direct charge on your own connected Stripe account; a webhook marks each order paid or refunded |
| Payment methods | PayPal, Apple Pay, Venmo, Sofort and more; 16+ currencies checked 2026-10-21 | Stripe only: no PayPal and no cash on delivery flow |
| Content | Audio, images and rich text editing; native video and livestreaming checked 2026-10-21 | 65 capability guides the agent builds from scratch into the site's own database, nothing pre-made |
| Newsletters | Email newsletters and exportable email lists checked 2026-10-21 | An admin can send a newsletter to confirmed subscribers, at most 500 per send and 5 sends an hour, from OneCraft's address with the site's name |
| Community | Chats, DMs and comments checked 2026-10-21 | Comments and a community feed are among the capability guides the agent builds from |
| Your own domain | A creator page on Patreon checked 2026-10-21 | Custom domains: Free 0, Starter 1, Pro 5, Pro+ no cap, verified with a TXT record and a CNAME, with a managed certificate |
Where Patreon is better
Payments risk taken off you
Patreon handles chargebacks, disputes, fraud and most tax collection. On OneCraft the payments run on your own Stripe account, so disputes are yours to answer.
Video and live
Patreon hosts video natively and runs livestreams. OneCraft does not list video hosting or streaming.
More ways to pay
Patreon takes PayPal, Apple Pay, Venmo and Sofort in 16+ currencies. OneCraft takes payments through Stripe Checkout only.
An app fans already have
Members can follow you in Patreon's own mobile app. A OneCraft app is your own, which members must install.
Where OneCraft is different
A fee that shrinks
OneCraft keeps 2% on Starter, 1% on Pro and 0.5% on Pro+, plus Stripe's fees, against Patreon's 10% plus its processing and payout fees.
Members on your own site
Tiers, members-only posts and downloads sit on your website at your own domain, and members sign in with email or Google.
Data you hold
Members and posts live in the site's own Supabase database with row level security, and the code and schema download with the site.
The fee at different sizes
With 200 members paying $10 a month, Patreon keeps $200 plus its processing and payout fees. On OneCraft Pro the plan is $25 a month and the platform fee 1%, $20, with Stripe's card fees on top. With 20 members the picture flips, since OneCraft's plan is a fixed cost. Patreon's model suits creators who are still growing; a site of your own suits those with a steady base.
Who carries the payment risk
Patreon's pricing page is clear that it takes on chargebacks, disputes and fraud. A OneCraft membership runs as Stripe subscriptions on your own connected Stripe account, so refunds and disputes are handled in your Stripe dashboard and members change their card in the Stripe billing portal.
Building the membership
From a brief naming the tiers and what each unlocks, the agent writes a plans table, Stripe subscriptions, members-only pages guarded by row level security, and an admin area to post updates. Each tier's access is checked by the agent as an anonymous visitor and as a signed in member before generation finishes.
Who should stay with Patreon
Stay with Patreon if you want payments, disputes and tax handled for you, need video and livestreaming, or get members from Patreon's discovery. Move if your members already know where to find you, and a 10% cut costs more each month than a plan and a small platform fee.
Questions people ask
Can I move my Patreon members to my own site?
Patreon says its email lists are exportable, so you can invite members to join on your site. Their Patreon payments do not transfer; each member signs up again through your site's Stripe checkout. Give them a launch window, since members paying on both platforms at once is easy to miss.
Can members comment and talk to each other?
Comments and a community feed are among the 65 capability guides, so the agent can build a members area with posts and comments. Ask for the moderation rules you want, and the admin area can list posts and comments for review.
Can I send a newsletter to members?
Yes. An admin can send a newsletter to confirmed subscribers who have not unsubscribed, at most 500 per send and 5 sends an hour, from OneCraft's address with your site's name and an unsubscribe link. Members who unsubscribe are left out of later sends.
Can I give some posts away free?
Yes. Row level security decides which rows each visitor can read, so public posts, signed in posts and paid tier posts can sit side by side. Ask the agent which posts are free when you write the brief. The agent checks each rule as an anonymous visitor and as a signed in member.
Is there a free plan to test with?
The free plan has 100 credits a month to generate and preview a membership site. Publishing and taking payments need a paid plan, and a hosted database comes with every plan, or you can connect your own Supabase account.
Try the website side of OneCraft
The button opens the generator with a starting prompt already filled in. Change the wording to match your own work before you run it.
Create a website with OneCraftMore comparisons
- A Memberful alternative: a members area written as codeA Memberful alternative where the members area is written as code: $49 plus 4.9% fees, WordPress and Discord links, tiers, newsletters and price compared.
- A Substack alternative: a paid newsletter site you ownA Substack alternative for a paid newsletter site you own: 10% fee, network discovery, sending, subscribers, custom domain and price compared with sources.
- A Mighty Networks alternative: a members feed on your own siteA Mighty Networks alternative: a members feed, groups, events and courses on your own site, with plan prices, fees, live streaming and branded apps compared.
- A Kajabi alternative for courses on a site you own the code ofA Kajabi alternative for courses and memberships: plan prices, payment fees, video hosting, community and email compared, with each claim linked and dated.
What the module actually does, feature by feature: the AI website builder page, and the websites maker page.
Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked .