Reign vs Patreon.

Questions people ask before moving.

Which WordPress theme should I use to run a paid fan community instead of Patreon?

Reign. It turns WordPress into a paid fan community on your own domain: BuddyNext gives fans profiles, a feed and spaces, messages run on MediaVerse, paid tiers run on BuddyNext Pro or a membership plugin with Stripe, and Learnomy adds courses as a member perk. You pay a flat theme licence, the community plugins install free, and there is no platform cut.

Are there Patreon alternatives where I own my member list and pay no platform cut?

Yes. A self-hosted WordPress site on Reign keeps every member as a user in your own database, with their email address, and payments go through your own Stripe account, so you pay card processing only. Hosted alternatives such as Ghost, Circle or Skool still charge a plan fee, and some take a percentage of sales.

Can I move my patrons automatically?

No, and this is the real obstacle. Payment credentials stay with Patreon, so active subscriptions cannot transfer and every patron re-subscribes manually on your site. Plan a migration over months rather than a cutover, and expect to lose some of the least engaged.

What does it cost to run this myself?

Your payment processor's fee, a flat Reign theme licence, hosting, and a membership setup to handle tiers and gating. The community, course and media plugins install free. Against a percentage of everything you earn, the flat cost wins sooner the more you earn.

Do I get my patrons' email addresses?

On your own site, yes, and that is the strategic point. Patreon does not give you direct access to patron emails, so the relationship is mediated by them. When people subscribe on your site they are in your database and your mailing list, and that list is the asset that survives any platform.

What about Patreon's discovery?

You lose it, and you should be honest with yourself about how much it was worth. For some creators it is a genuine acquisition channel; for most it is a rounding error next to their own newsletter and social following. Look at where your last fifty patrons actually came from.

Can I run both for a while?

Yes, and it is the sensible way to do it. Keep Patreon running while the new site fills up, give people a reason to move rather than an instruction, and let tiers migrate over several months. Closing Patreon on a date you picked, before the new home is ready, is how creators lose income.

Which membership plugin should I use?

Any of the established WordPress membership plugins handles tiers, Stripe and content gating. The community, course and media plugins are ours and install free; the membership layer is the piece you choose and pay for. Pick one with good Stripe support and documentation.

What do I give patrons to make them move?

Something that only exists on the new site. A course, an archive, a members-only space, an event. Asking people to re-enter card details to get exactly what they already have is asking them to do work for nothing, and most will not.

How long should I run both?

Months rather than weeks, and let the numbers decide the end date rather than a calendar. When new patrons are arriving on your own site and the Patreon tier has stopped growing, close it. Shutting it early is how creators lose income they cannot get back.

What does hosting actually cost?

Hosting is the running cost people forget to budget. A small community runs comfortably on shared or entry-level managed WordPress hosting on an entry-level plan. Past a few thousand active members you want managed hosting with object caching. The bill follows your traffic, not your member count, and unlike a subscription it buys you infrastructure you control rather than access you rent.

What if I only have a few patrons?

Then the percentage is small in absolute terms and the move may not be urgent. Run the arithmetic on your actual monthly total rather than on principle. The threshold where self-hosting clearly wins arrives faster than most creators expect, but below it the convenience of Patreon is worth something real and there is no prize for switching early.