Patreon is a monetization platform where creators of all stripes (podcasters, YouTubers, musicians, game developers, etc.) can run subscription services for their audiences. It’s common, for example, for podcasters to offer Patreon-exclusive bonus episodes for listeners or for game developers to offer Patreon-exclusive downloadable content for players, in exchange for a monthly fee. The company makes its money by charging creators a small percentage of their profits. As of 2022, Patreon has more than 250,000 creators that use the platform and more than 8 million patrons worldwide.

Patreon was founded in 2013 by Jack Conte and Sam Yam to attempt to fill the monetization gap that many creators experience—wherein millions of likes may only translate to hundreds of dollars, even for full-time content creators. Patreon has since become ...