To estimate what you will actually take home from Patreon, multiply the paid members you expect in each tier by that tier's price, add any one-time sales, then subtract the platform fee, the processing charge on every payment, Apple's fee on in-app sales, currency conversion, refunds and failed payments, and the payout fee, before setting aside tax. This worksheet runs those steps in order using your own prices and member counts, so the answer reflects your page rather than an average.
The rates referenced below come from Patreon's help centre as of 1 October 2026. Our breakdown of Patreon fees for creators explains each one in detail and flags where Patreon's own pages disagree; this page is only about putting them together.
Why a worksheet beats an earnings calculator
Most online Patreon calculators begin with your follower count and an assumed conversion rate, then multiply by a typical pledge. Every one of those inputs is a guess about strangers. A worksheet starts from things you control or can look up: what each tier costs, how many people are in it now or could plausibly join, how they pay and where they live.
Patreon itself warns against reading too much into the headline figures on your page. Its article on the numbers listed on your Patreon calls the earnings figure and paid member count approximations that move as members come and go and as failed payments are retried during the month, and points to the Earnings dashboard and Payouts reports as the reliable record of what was processed. Use those reports to check your worksheet, not the number under your page heading.
What to collect before you start
- Each tier's price in your payout currency, from the tier editor.
- Paid members per tier, from Relationship Manager for an existing page, or your own planning estimate for a new one.
- Your platform plan from Plan details: standard or a legacy rate.
- How members pay: card, PayPal inside or outside the US, or Apple in-app purchase. Relationship Manager shows which members joined through iOS.
- Which members pay in a currency other than your payout currency.
- Refunds and chargebacks from the last few months, in the paid member transaction history CSV.
- Your payout method and how often you withdraw.
- The set-aside rate for tax that you have agreed with your accountant.
The net income worksheet
Work one month at a time. Fill in a copy of lines 1 to 3 for every tier, then carry the totals down. Where a line uses a Patreon rate, the Source column names the page to read it from, because rates differ by plan and currency.
| Line | Item | How to calculate | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tier price | The web price, in your payout currency | Your tier editor |
| 2 | Paid members in the tier | Split into web or Android payers and iOS in-app payers | Relationship Manager |
| 3 | Tier gross | Line 1 multiplied by line 2, using the higher in-app price for iOS payers if Patreon raises it for you | Your own figures |
| 4 | Total gross | All tier grosses plus expected one-time sales | Your own figures |
| 5 | Platform fee | Line 4 times your plan rate: 10% on the standard plan, or your legacy rate | Creator fees overview |
| 6 | Tax on the platform fee | Line 5 times your local VAT, GST or sales tax rate, if Patreon charges it to you | Taxes on creator fees |
| 7 | Processing | For each web payment: the percentage times the price, plus the fixed amount; on the standard plan in USD by card that is 2.9% + $0.30. Sum for all web payers | Standard plan article |
| 8 | Apple App Store fee | For each iOS in-app payment: 30% of the in-app price, or 15% once that member has a year of continuous in-app billing | iOS in-app purchases |
| 9 | Currency conversion | 2.5% of payments made in a currency other than your payout currency | Creator fees overview |
| 10 | Refunds and chargebacks | Your recent monthly average from the transaction CSV, or a cautious allowance for a new page. Refunds come out of your balance, and Patreon lets you refund a member's three most recent payments within 90 days of processing | Subscription Billing FAQ |
| 11 | Failed payments | Members whose payment is still failing; access is revoked while Patreon retries, and after roughly 30 days of failed retries they become free members | Subscription Billing FAQ |
| 12 | Payout fees | Fee per withdrawal times withdrawals per month, for example $0.25 by US direct deposit or 1% capped at $20 by PayPal in USD | Creator fees overview |
| 13 | Net before tax | Line 4 minus lines 5 to 12 | Your own figures |
| 14 | Tax set-aside | Line 13 times the rate your accountant recommends | Your adviser |
| 15 | Spendable income | Line 13 minus line 14 | Your own figures |
Two notes on the formulas. The platform fee is calculated on the payment amount excluding sales tax, according to the Creator fees overview, so leave any sales tax collected from members out of line 4. And Patreon does not add its own processing fee to iOS in-app purchases, which is why line 7 covers web and Android payers only while line 8 covers in-app payers.
Three scenarios, not one forecast
A single projection invites wishful thinking. Run the worksheet three times with different member counts and keep the rates identical, so the only thing that changes is the assumption you are least sure of.
| Scenario | How to choose the member counts | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Cautious | Today's paid members minus everyone who has cancelled but still has access, with no new joiners | Fixed costs such as rent, software and contractors |
| Expected | Today's members plus the joiners you have actually averaged recently, minus your usual cancellations | Your normal monthly budget |
| Stretch | The expected case plus a launch or promotion you have scheduled, sized from your own past campaigns | Deciding whether a new benefit or hire is affordable if things go well |
For a page that has not launched, you have no history to borrow from, so treat the cautious column as the only one you budget against. If you are deciding tier prices at the same time, build the ladder first with the Patreon tier ideas worksheet, then bring the prices here.
Lines creators tend to forget
- The fixed part of processing. Because a flat amount is charged on every web payment, it takes a larger share of a cheap tier than of an expensive one. Compare lines 7 and 1 for your lowest tier.
- The payout fee. Patreon notes that it is not included in the fee breakdown on your earnings dashboard, so a dashboard-only check misses it.
- Tax charged on Patreon's fees, which applies in some countries unless you have given Patreon a valid VAT or GST number.
- Currency. A page priced in one currency with members paying in another pays conversion on those payments, even if every tier price is unchanged.
- Plan changes. A legacy-plan page that is unpublished and later republished moves to the standard plan, so line 5 changes.
- Onward transfer costs. PayPal and Payoneer can charge again when you move money to your bank, outside Patreon's figures.
Earned is not the same as paid out
The worksheet estimates what a month earns, not when the money reaches you. Under subscription billing, new members renew on their own dates, so your balance builds through the month instead of arriving on the 1st, and Patreon's Subscription Billing FAQ says funds can be withdrawn once settled or paid out automatically on the 5th.
In-app iOS sales are slower still. Patreon's switching FAQ says Apple can take up to 75 days after the transaction to pay Patreon, so those purchases can show as pending in your balance for that long. If you budget against monthly cash, shift the in-app share of each month forward by up to that window. Payout methods, minimums and what holds a first payout are covered in our guide to how Patreon creators get paid.
Setting aside tax
Line 14 is deliberately blank because the right figure depends on your country, your other income, whether you trade through a company and which expenses you can claim. Patreon's fees, equipment and contractors may reduce taxable income, while sales tax or VAT owed on your own sales is a separate obligation again. Agree a set-aside rate with a registered tax agent or accountant, move that amount into a separate account each time a payout lands, and revisit it after your first full year. Our creator tax and deductions guide covers the general questions to bring to that conversation.
Reconcile against Patreon's reports each month
- Download the Earnings breakdown by month report and the paid member transaction history CSV from the Documents tab, as described in Patreon's Creator fees FAQ.
- Compare actual gross with line 4 and actual fees with lines 5 to 9.
- Record refunds and failed payments as they really happened, and replace your allowance in lines 10 and 11 with that history.
- Add the payout fees from your payout records, since the dashboard leaves them out.
- Note any gap larger than you expected and trace it to one line before changing anything.
- Roll the corrected figures into next month's worksheet.
If you run more than one platform, keeping the same line structure across them makes comparisons honest; the payout forecast worksheet written for another subscription platform follows a similar pattern.
Limits of this worksheet
This is a planning tool, not a prediction. It cannot tell you how many people will join or stay, and it is only as good as the member counts you enter. The rates it references are Patreon's published figures on 1 October 2026; plans, processing tables and Apple's terms change, and some of Patreon's own pages disagree on details. The worksheet also leaves out income tax rules, sales tax collected from members and banking costs outside Patreon.
Use it to compare options and spot the lines that move your result most, check it against your real reports every month, and get qualified financial or tax advice before making commitments based on it.