To raise Patreon prices, open the tier from your Membership tab, choose Edit price, enter the new monthly amount and decide whether it applies to new members only or to everyone. Patreon's guide to adjusting tier prices limits a single rise to $20 above the current price, emails the existing members it affects and bills their renewals at the old price for 31 days. A bigger increase, a page still on legacy billing or a tier with a free trial switched on needs the slower route: a new tier at the higher price, with the old one phased out.
This guide is about repricing tiers that already have members. If you are still deciding what each rung should offer, the Patreon tier ladder worksheet comes first. If your page has not yet moved to subscription billing, work through the subscription billing switch checklist before anything here, because the quick repricing tool depends on that billing model.
Which repricing route fits your tier
Patreon offers two ways to charge more, and the right one depends on your billing model, the size of the rise and what is attached to the tier. Work down the table and stop at the first row that describes your situation.
| Your situation | Route | What current members experience | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subscription billing, and the rise fits under Patreon's cap | Repricing tool, applied to all members | An email from Patreon, then renewals at the old amount until the price lock ends | Repricing guide |
| You want people already in the tier to keep today's price | Repricing tool, applied to new members only | No change to their bill and no email from Patreon | Repricing guide |
| The new price sits more than $20 above the old one | Build a replacement tier and unpublish the old one | They stay put on the old tier until they switch or cancel | Price-increase best practices |
| Your page still bills on the first of the month or per creation | Replacement tier now, or move to subscription billing and then reprice | Billing follows your current model until the switch | Tier editing guide |
| A free trial is switched on for the tier | The tool cannot reprice it yet, so use a replacement tier, or switch the trial off and confirm the price field unlocks | Anyone partway through a trial finishes it either way | Tier editing guide; Free Trials FAQ |
| Merch items are attached to the tier | Remove the merch, change the price, then add the merch back | Whatever the matching row above says | Repricing guide |
| Some members joined through the iOS app | No route reaches them | They keep their original price, because Apple does not support Patreon's repricing tools | Repricing guide |
The legacy-billing row is temporary for most pages: a banner on the repricing guide says every creator still on legacy billing must move to subscription billing by 1 November 2026. If you are coming from per-creation billing, let the migration settle before you touch prices; the billing switch checklist linked above explains the per-creation quirks.
When members actually start paying more
The repricing tool charges nobody extra on the day you save. Under the price lock described in Patreon's repricing guide, the tier is fixed for 31 days: newcomers pay the higher price straight away, renewals inside the window stay at the old price, and you can still edit benefits, titles and descriptions while it runs. Only after the window closes can you change that tier's price again.
In the worked example in the same guide, a tier repriced on 3 September still bills a monthly member at the old price on 5 September and at the new price from 5 October. Annual members are measured the same way against their renewal date, according to the repricing guide: a renewal inside the window keeps the old price, a later one is charged the new price, and Patreon sends annual members an extra payment reminder two weeks before they renew.
Patreon's annual memberships overview adds that annual members are locked into their price when they join. Read next to the repricing guide, the likeliest meaning is that the year already paid for is safe and the following renewal obeys the price-lock rules. If annual members carry a large part of your income, confirm that reading with Patreon support before you announce dates.
iOS members sit outside all of this. They keep the price they joined at, so after a rise one tier can hold members on two prices. To see how much of your income that group represents, use the earnings breakdown that Patreon's insights guide describes, which separates purchases made in the iOS app from web and Android. The repricing guide also advises against changing one tier's price in consecutive months, warning that repeated changes can lead to more cancellations.
New members only, or everyone?
The repricing pop-up asks who the new price applies to. Neither answer is automatically kinder or smarter; each suits a different reason for the rise.
| Option | Fits when | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| New members only | The higher price reflects value aimed at future joiners, or you once told early members their rate would hold | Current members get no email, so tell them yourself before they notice the public price and assume something was hidden |
| All members | Your costs or workload grew for everyone, and the tier now delivers more than when most people joined | Patreon's notice is generic, so your own post has to carry the reason; iOS members still stay where they are |
One tool cannot soften a rise for people already in the tier: the Discounts FAQ says membership discounts only work for new paid members. An annual plan can help if your page qualifies. The annual overview lists a page launched at least three months ago with at least $200 a month in earnings over the previous three months, and offering yearly billing before a rise gives committed members a way to pay for a year at today's rate.
Whichever option you pick, explain it. Patreon's repricing guide says creators who post or message members about what the new price adds are more likely to keep them, and its automatic email only tells members that creators adjust prices for costs or changed circumstances.
The new-tier route for bigger increases
When the repricing tool is not available, the price-increase best practices describe a replacement tier. It is slower because members must move themselves, so allow weeks rather than days.
- Sound members out first if you are unsure; the best-practices article suggests a poll or survey, and a heads-up roughly a month before the next billing cycle.
- Create the replacement tier from your Membership tab. A name and a price are enough to save it, and unpublishing it straight away stops anyone joining before it is ready.
- Give it your back catalogue. Posts open to all members or to paid members reach a new tier automatically; posts restricted to selected tiers do not, so add the new tier to them through bulk editing in your Library, which works on desktop only.
- Publish the new tier and post your announcement on the same day.
- Unpublish the old tier rather than deleting it. Nobody new can join, current members keep their access and price, and you can still write posts for that tier alone to nudge people across.
- Send reminders by post or message. You cannot move anyone yourself; the tier editing guide is clear that only members can change their own tier.
- Delete the old tier only once it is empty, and never while annual members are still in it.
Tell switching members what to expect. Patreon's member guide to changing tiers says that on subscription billing an upgrade keeps the member's billing date and charges the outstanding amount at once, a move to a lower tier waits for the next billing date, memberships bought in the iOS app have to be edited in that app, and annual members cannot drop to a lower tier at all.
Patreon's articles disagree about stragglers. The sample message in the best-practices article tells members that anyone still in the old tier when it is deleted will show up as “No tier”. The deletion section of that same article, and the tier editing guide, say members of a deleted tier keep paying, lose posts restricted to selected tiers and do not appear under the No tier filter at all; you find them with the All tiers filter in Relationship manager instead. Write your notice from the second version and keep the old tier unpublished, not deleted, while anyone remains.
Price-change checklist
This works for either route. Tick each item before moving to the next phase.
Before you change anything
- Confirm your billing model under Billing and payouts in your settings.
- Write down the old price, the new price and the gap for every tier you plan to change. A gap above Patreon's cap means the replacement-tier route.
- Check each tier for attached merch, a live free trial and annual members; the Charge frequency filter in Relationship manager lists the annual ones.
- Find out how much of the tier pays through the iOS app, since that group keeps its current price.
- Export a Relationship manager CSV as your record of who paid what before the change.
- Choose between new members only and all members, and note your reason in one line.
- Rewrite the tier description so the extra value is visible before anyone is billed more.
- Draft your announcement from the templates below.
On the day
- Publish your announcement to the affected members first, because Patreon emails them as soon as you confirm the change.
- In the tier editor, open Monthly price, choose Edit price, enter the amount, pick who it applies to, then select Confirm update and Apply new price.
- Take a screenshot of the confirmation and diary the date the price lock ends.
During the price lock and after it
- Answer comments and point anyone who wants to spend less towards a cheaper tier.
- Read every cancellation reason that comes in while the lock runs; our guide to reducing Patreon churn shows how to log and group them.
- Leave that tier's price alone next month, as Patreon recommends.
- Once the first renewals have gone through at the new price, compare them with your CSV and update the Patreon income worksheet so your forecast reflects real payments.
Member announcement templates
Patreon's own email covers the dates, so your post can focus on the reason, the added value and a cheaper option. Keep it short, publish it to the members affected and replace everything in square brackets. The first version is for the repricing tool; the second is for a replacement tier.
Version A: same tier, new price
Title: [Tier name] is going up to [new price], and here is what that means for you
Hi everyone. From today, new members joining [tier name] pay [new price] a month rather than [old price]. You will get an email from Patreon about this as well.
Already a member? Your renewals until [date the price lock ends] stay at [old price]. After that you renew at [new price].
Why it is changing: [one honest sentence about costs, time or what each post now takes].
What the new price pays for: [the benefit that is new or bigger, and how often it arrives].
If it no longer suits your budget, [lower tier] at [its price] still includes [core benefit], and you can switch from your membership page whenever you like. If you joined through the Patreon app on an iPhone or iPad, Apple's rules keep you on your current price.
Thank you for being here. Questions are welcome in the comments.
Version B: a replacement tier
Title: [New tier] opens on [date], and [old tier] closes to new members
Hi everyone. On [date] I am opening [new tier] at [new price] a month. It includes everything in [old tier], plus [what is new].
[Old tier] stops taking new members on [date]. If you are in it, nothing changes yet: your price and access stay as they are until you choose to move.
To switch, open my page, go to your membership and pick [new tier]; Patreon shows exactly what you will be charged before you confirm. Joined in the iOS app? Make the switch there.
[Optional: anyone who moves by [date] gets [one-off bonus].]
I will keep [old tier] running until [date, or until everyone has moved], so there is no rush. Ask me anything below.
When a price rise is the wrong tool
A higher tier price is one way to earn more from the same page. Check these alternatives before committing:
- Your most engaged fans want more while everyone else is content: add a rung above the current tier instead, using the tier ideas worksheet.
- You have a finished extra, such as a course module or an archive bundle: sell it once through your Patreon Shop as a one-time purchase and leave tier prices untouched.
- Cancellations are already climbing: diagnose why before changing the price, because a rise during a retention problem makes the cause harder to read.
- Fees are the real squeeze: check whether the gap comes from your plan or payment mix first, using the Patreon fees breakdown.
- You run an OnlyFans page as well: its subscription pricing behaves differently, and the OnlyFans subscription price change checklist covers that side.
Limits of this guide
Everything here comes from Patreon's help centre as it read at publication, and the cap, the length of the price lock, the email behaviour and the free-trial restriction are all Patreon's to change. The reading of annual pricing above is an interpretation of two articles that do not quite agree, and the screens in your own account, or an answer from Patreon support, outrank any public article, ours included.
No checklist can tell you how your members will react to a particular price. The steps above make a rise clear and fair; they do not predict cancellations or income. Rules on subscription price changes also differ between countries, so if you sell memberships outside Patreon too, or are unsure about your obligations, get advice from a qualified professional where you live.