The Patreon Per-Creation Migration Checklist: What to Do Before November 1, 2026

The two dates that matter

• September 30, 2026: the last day to request 1:1 migration help from Patreon support. Per-creation accounts can't self-migrate, so this window is the only way to pick your own settings.
• November 1, 2026: the hard deadline. Anyone still on per-creation gets auto-migrated to subscription billing with a multiplier Patreon chooses.

Everything in this checklist works backwards from those two dates. As of publication you have about six weeks to the first one, and that's the one that preserves your options.

Step 1: pull your numbers (about 30 minutes)

Before you can pick a path, you need your member list and three numbers. All of them come from your own Patreon dashboard.

1. Export your member list. Open the Relationship Manager and download the CSV of active members, emails included. Do this today, whatever else you decide. That list is the one asset that survives any platform change, and it disappears if your account ever does.
2. Write down your per-post price. The number each member pays when you publish a paid post.
3. Count your paid posts in each of the last three months. The highest of those three counts is the default multiplier Patreon will use. Your per-post price times that multiplier is the monthly price Patreon will assign your tier. (The mechanics are covered in detail in the multiplier section of our earlier guide.)
4. Count your quiet months over the past year. Months where you published no paid post, so members paid nothing. This number tells you how the flat subscription will actually feel to your members.

Worked example (illustrative, excluding payment processing): you charge $5 per post and published 0, 2, and 1 paid posts over the last three months. Your default multiplier is 2, so your migrated tier defaults to $10 per month. In the quiet month your members paid $0. After migration, that $0 month becomes a $10 month for every new member. If five of your last twelve months were quiet, that gap is the honest size of the change you're about to explain to your audience.

Step 2: pick your path

There are three real options. Your numbers from step 1 tell you which one fits.

Path A: stay on Patreon, migrate deliberately

The right call if you publish on a near-monthly cadence and your members already hit their monthly max most months. For you the billing outcome barely changes, so the job is just to control the settings.

• Open the 1:1 migration request with Patreon support before September 30.
• Choose your multiplier deliberately. A multiplier of 1 keeps the gentlest sticker price but underprices you if you post often. The maximum preserves your average revenue but risks churn from members doing the math.
• After migration, don't touch tier prices casually. Repricing can remove the grandfathered monthly max your existing members keep, unless you apply the change only to new members.
• Budget for some churn anyway. Members who were paying only in your busy months will notice the change.

Path B: move to a platform that still bills per-creation

The right call if pay-when-I-deliver is the promise your membership was built on. Be aware the shortlist is genuinely short: most membership platforms are subscription-only, so "leave Patreon" usually means "give up the model" unless you choose specifically for it. Folloverse is one of the platforms that kept it, and we cover where we fit further down.

Whatever candidate you look at, verify four things:

• Billing actually triggers per paid post, with a monthly cap fans can rely on, not a subscription with a per-post label.
• You choose free or paid per post, so updates and announcements stay free.
• The fees, stated plainly, including payment processing.
• Payouts work for your country and your bank.

And be realistic about the real cost of moving: every member has to sign up again on the new platform. Nobody migrates your pledges for you. That's why the sane version of this path is a transition, not a hard cutover: keep your Patreon alive through the migration (a multiplier of 1 makes it a gentle legacy plan), build the new home, and give members a concrete reason to move, like the next release landing there first.

Path C: reshape the membership instead

The right call if you ship once or twice a year and don't want to move your audience anywhere. If a flat monthly price would feel wrong at any multiplier, change the shape of the offer instead:

• Accept monthly billing at a multiplier of 1, and lean into smaller, steadier updates so the recurring charge feels earned.
• Or make the membership free and charge per release: sell each drop as an individual purchase rather than a recurring plan.
• Or wind the paid membership down entirely and keep the relationship on a free newsletter until you find a model that fits.

Step 3: tell your members before Patreon does

This is the highest-leverage step on the list. Members who feel informed stay; members who discover a billing change on their bank statement leave. Send the announcement as soon as you've picked your path, and no later than a month before their billing actually changes. Email plus a public post, in your own voice, not Patreon's template.

Include, concretely:

• The exact date their billing changes.
• The new amount, or that nothing changes for them if their cap is grandfathered.
• A plain acknowledgment that the change isn't your choice.
• If you're moving: where you're going, a direct link, and the reason to follow you there now rather than someday.
• An invitation to reply with questions.

The full per-creation migration checklist, by date

This week

• Export your member list from the Relationship Manager.
• Pull your three numbers (step 1) and note your default multiplier.
• Pick your path: stay, move, or reshape.

Before September 30, 2026

• Staying: open the 1:1 migration request with Patreon support and choose your multiplier.
• Moving: set up the new home, verify billing and payouts end-to-end, and soft-launch it to your members.

Before November 1, 2026

• Send the member announcement, email and public post.
• Staying: confirm your migration settings actually applied.
• Moving: decide what your Patreon becomes, a multiplier-1 legacy plan or a paused page pointing to the new home.

After November 1, 2026

• Watch the first billing cycle and answer member questions quickly.
• Expect some churn, and read it as members correcting their spend, not as a verdict on your work.
• If you reprice later, apply changes to new members only, or you lose the grandfathered caps.

Where Folloverse fits, honestly

Folloverse is our platform, and this is the part of the article where most blogs pretend to be neutral. We'd rather be direct.

We built Folloverse around per-creation billing. Fans are billed when you publish a paid post, with a monthly cap so nobody overpays in a busy month, and every post is free or paid at your choice. It's a first-class model here, not a legacy one being wound down. The platform fee is a flat 6%, and 0% for your first 3 months, against Patreon's 10%. You're paid by Folloverse directly as the merchant of record. If you want the full mechanics, they're in our complete guide to per-creation billing.

And the honest note: we are new, and we are small. You won't find thousands of creators here yet. What you will find is a platform whose core billing model is the one Patreon just deprecated, built because we think pay-when-I-deliver is worth keeping alive. If per-creation is the reason you're leaving, that's exactly the creator we built this for.

Frequently asked questions

What happens if I do nothing before November 1, 2026?

Patreon auto-migrates your account to subscription billing using its default multiplier. Your existing members keep their old monthly max, but new members pay the full monthly tier price, and the change is permanent. You don't get to negotiate the settings after the fact.

What should I do before September 30, 2026?

Decide whether you're staying on Patreon. If you are, request 1:1 migration help from Patreon support before September 30, 2026. That's the last day to start the process, and it's the only way to choose your own multiplier instead of accepting the default.

How do I export my member list from Patreon?

In your creator dashboard, open the Relationship Manager and download the CSV of your active members. It includes their emails. Do this first, whatever path you choose: the list is the one asset that survives any platform change.

Can I run Patreon and another platform at the same time?

Yes. Nothing stops you from running both. A common transition is to migrate your Patreon to monthly billing at a gentle multiplier for existing members, while pointing new members at your new home.

Do my existing members keep their monthly cap after migration?

On Patreon, yes: existing members are grandfathered at their old monthly max. But if you reprice your tiers later, you can lose that protection unless you apply the change only to new members.

Which platforms still offer per-creation billing?

Very few. Most membership platforms are subscription-only. Folloverse offers per-creation billing as a first-class model, with a monthly cap fans never exceed and a free-or-paid choice on every post.