YouTube channel memberships let viewers pay you every month in return for perks such as loyalty badges, custom emoji and members-only videos, posts and live streams. To offer them, your channel needs to be in the YouTube Partner Program at the fan funding level, you must be at least 18 and live in a country where memberships are available, and you must accept the Commerce Product Module, under which YouTube's earnings overview says it pays you 70% of net membership revenue.
This guide takes the setup decisions in order: whether you are eligible, how many levels to create and at what prices, which perks are allowed, and how members-only content, trials and gifting work. It ends with the rules on refunds and paused mode, and it includes a level planner that puts each level's monthly production cost beside its price, because YouTube's help pages are clear that delivering perks is your job, not YouTube's.
Eligibility checklist
Work through these before you look for the Memberships tab, which only appears in the Earn section of YouTube Studio once your channel qualifies.
- Channel thresholds. YouTube's earning page lists 500 subscribers, 3 public uploads in the last 90 days, and either 3,000 qualified watch hours on long-form videos in the last 365 days or 3 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days. Those lower thresholds apply where YouTube runs the expanded Partner Program, listed on its expanded program overview; elsewhere, memberships sit in the higher tier.
- Age. You must be at least 18, per the earning page.
- Location. You live in a country on the memberships availability list, which includes Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States among many others.
- Terms. You have accepted the Commerce Product Module, and so has your multi-channel network if you belong to one.
- Audience setting. The channel is not set as made for kids and does not have a significant number of videos set that way.
- Ineligible videos. The channel has no significant number of them; YouTube counts videos set as made for kids and videos with music claims as ineligible.
- Music channels. Channels under an SRAV music contract are not eligible at present.
- Timing. Allow for a review after you are accepted into the program; YouTube's turn-on page says activation can take up to 2 days.
Our YouTube monetization requirements guide explains the two tiers in more depth, and our map of YouTube revenue streams shows where memberships sit next to ads, Supers and Shopping.
Levels and pricing rules
You can create up to 6 levels, each with 1 to 5 perks, and higher levels automatically include every perk from the levels below, according to YouTube's levels and perks page. YouTube reviews new levels and perks against its policies before they go live, which the same page says takes about a day. Removing a level later is drastic: every member at that level is removed, loses access at once and is refunded their last month's payment.
Prices come from a fixed list for each country rather than any amount you type. The US price list runs from USD $0.99 to USD $499.99, and the same page notes that pricing updates have been rolling out gradually since May 2025, so check your own country's page before you settle on numbers. YouTube's pricing tips say you can change level prices for new members once every 12 months from your last update, while existing members stay at the price they joined at. Choose your first prices with that lock-in in mind.
YouTube's two sets of advice differ slightly on how many levels to start with. The help center tips suggest 1 to 3, while the YouTube for Creators memberships page recommends two or three and advises setting levels above the lowest price point. Both point the same way: start small and add levels once you know what members value.
Perks you can offer, and the ones you cannot
The levels and perks page lists the perk types: loyalty badges, members-only posts, custom emoji, members-first videos that go public later, members-only live chat, members-only live streams, member milestone chats, the member recognition shelf, and members-only Shorts and videos. A few run on their own once switched on. Per the same page, the recognition shelf turns on once you have 8 or more members, milestone chats let members in at least their second consecutive month send one highlighted message a month during live streams or Premieres, and your custom emoji allowance starts at 4 slots and grows as membership grows.
Some perks are banned outright. YouTube's memberships policies do not allow:
- downloads of content, including music, that is available on YouTube;
- in-person one-to-one meetings;
- anything given to some members chosen at random, including contests, lotteries and sweepstakes;
- perks marketed or directed to children, or perks that encourage children to ask their parents to join.
Members-only videos must be fully original and free of copyright claims, including claims from music partners, and members-only Shorts cannot use third-party music, even tracks from the Shorts music library, according to the levels and perks page. That page also contains a small inconsistency: it says there are 8 different loyalty badges, then lists nine durations from new members to 5 years, while the YouTube for Creators page speaks of up to nine custom badges. Plan artwork for every listed duration; the help page says empty slots are filled with your highest custom badge or the default one.
Membership level planner
Fill in one column per level before you publish anything. The point is to see what each level costs you to run every month beside what it can bring in, using your own country's price list and your own hours.
| Planner line | Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name and price point | From your country's price list | ||
| New perks at this level, on top of lower levels | For example: badges, custom emoji, members-only posts | For example: members-first videos | For example: a members-only live stream |
| Production hours per month | |||
| Direct costs per month, such as editing, design or tools | |||
| Monthly cost: hours × your hourly value + direct costs | |||
| Net revenue per member | Before launch, price × 70% as a ceiling, since the share in the memberships analytics page applies after taxes and fees; after launch, memberships revenue ÷ active members | ||
| Break-even members: monthly cost ÷ net revenue per member | |||
| Policy check | No downloads of YouTube content, no one-to-one meetings in person, no random prizes, nothing aimed at children |
Read the break-even line as a floor, not a target. If a level only pays for itself with more members than you can realistically expect to join it, drop a perk or merge it into the level below. YouTube's memberships tips make the same point from the other direction, asking you to weigh how costly or time-consuming each perk is to deliver and to set a schedule you can keep. Once members join, our YouTube money calculator turns active members into a monthly forecast alongside your other streams.
Members-only content, trials and gifting
To publish for members, set a video's visibility to Members only, or to Members-only to public for an early-access window, and pick which levels can watch, as the levels and perks page describes. Non-members can still find members-only uploads and see their titles and thumbnails, which YouTube uses to show them how to join. For early access, the YouTube for Creators page suggests giving members a head start of 3 to 7 days.
Two settings change who joins and how. YouTube automatically offers eligible viewers a free one-month membership trial, one per viewer across all of YouTube, and you can switch it off in the Memberships tab, per the levels and perks page. Gifting runs during live streams and Premieres: you or your members can buy one-month memberships for other viewers, who must opt in to receive gifts through your channel's allow_gifts link, according to YouTube's promotion page. If you have a level priced below $5, the same promotion page says YouTube may give you promotional gift memberships each month to hand out in sets of 5; you earn nothing on them, they do not carry over, and brand accounts cannot use them yet.
Promotion is mostly links. Adding /join to your channel URL opens the membership window directly, and the promotion page suggests placing it in descriptions, cards, end screens, posts and your other social channels. An intro video plays for anyone who clicks Join; it must be published as unlisted, ads will not run on it, it cannot have copyright or music claims, and it cannot be set as made for kids. If you mention prices in it, remember they vary by platform and country.
Money, refunds and paused mode
YouTube pays 70% of membership revenue after applicable taxes and fees, currently covers transaction costs such as card fees, and warns that some networks take an extra share, according to its memberships analytics page. The money arrives with your other earnings through AdSense for YouTube, and our explainer on AdSense for YouTube payments covers thresholds and payment dates. When YouTube grants a member a refund, your share is deducted from your AdSense for YouTube balance.
Memberships enter paused mode if your channel is terminated, breaks monetization policies, loses monetization when switching content owners or is set as made for kids. In paused mode, the memberships guide says perks disappear, payments pause and the Join button vanishes; members who joined on the web are canceled after 120 days, and if you have not left paused mode within 120 days the program ends and members are refunded their last payment. Turning memberships off yourself is just as final, because YouTube's turn-off instructions say your levels, members and perks are not saved.
One deadline applies to older programs. If you turned on fan funding before 2023 under the Commerce Product Addendum, YouTube's changes page says you must accept the Commerce Product Module by January 31, 2027 or stop earning from those features from February 1, 2027. An older line on the monetization options page still says creators who signed the addendum do not need the new module; the newer changes page is the one to follow.
Limitations
Prices, availability lists and perk policies belong to YouTube and change; the price list, the trial program and the badge details above are as published on October 1, 2026. Your listed price is also not what every member pays, since YouTube prices memberships differently by country and platform. The planner runs on your own estimates of time and cost, and only you can make those honest.
YouTube's memberships analytics page also reminds creators that they are responsible for complying with all relevant laws and regulations. For questions about tax, consumer law or refunds where you live, speak to a qualified professional before you launch paid levels.