Patreon launched in 2013 with a mission to help creatives monetize their content.
Within 18 months, 125,000 “patrons” were using the platform to make recurring payments to creators. And total monthly payments hit the $1 million landmark.
Patreon has continued to grow and now boasts more than 8 million active patrons. The platform supports a network of more than 240 thousand creators.
On this page, you’ll find the latest statistics on Patreon’s growth to date.
First, here’s a quick overview of what you’re about to read:
- Patreon Stats (Highlights)
- Supporters on Patreon
- Creators on Patreon
- Lifetime Creator Earnings on Patreon
- Annual Creator Earnings on Patreon
- Monthly Creator Earnings on Patreon
- Most Popular Creators on Patreon
- Most Lucrative Categories on Patreon
- Patreon Revenue
- Patreon Funding
- Patreon Valuation
- Patreon Employees
Patreon Stats (Highlights)
- Patreon hosts over 8 million patrons.
- More than 240,000 creators are supported by at least 1 patron.
- Creators on Patreon have made over $3.5 billion to date.
- Patreon has raised a total funding of $412.1 million.
Supporters on Patreon
Patreon hosts more than 8 million monthly active supporters, known as patrons. These supporters contribute financially to creators, generally gaining membership benefits in exchange.
Around 2 million new patrons have joined the platform since 2020.
Here’s an overview of the recent growth in the number of patrons:
| Year | Number of patrons |
|---|---|
| 2017 | 2 million |
| 2018 | 3 million |
| 2019 | 4 million |
| 2020 | 6 million |
| 2021 | 7 million |
| 2022 | 8 million |
Sources: Patreon 1, Patreon 2, Patreon 3, Fast Company, TechCrunch
Creators on Patreon
According to company data, Patreon hosts more than 250,000 creators.
Based on Graphtreon data, 242,878 creators have at least one patron as of February 2024. That’s an increase of 17.74% since February 2023.
The number of paid Patreon creators has increased 3.53x since February 2018. In this time, 174,145 new participants have joined the platform.
In the last two years alone, Patreon has registered 106,550 new creators (43.87% of the existing base).
Here’s a table showing the growth in the number of Patreon creators since February 2017:
| Date | Number of Patreon creators (with at least 1 patron) |
|---|---|
| February 2017 | 25,646 |
| August 2017 | 35,723 |
| February 2018 | 46,193 |
| August 2018 | 57,443 |
| February 2019 | 68,733 |
| August 2019 | 86,170 |
| February 2020 | 98,725 |
| August 2020 | 117,564 |
| February 2021 | 136,328 |
| August 2021 | 153,908 |
| February 2022 | 172,176 |
| August 2022 | 188,945 |
| February 2023 | 206,278 |
| August 2023 | 226,739 |
| February 2024 | 242,878 |
Sources: Patreon, Graphtreon
Lifetime Creator Earnings on Patreon
According to the latest company update, creators were paid $3.5 billion in earnings on Patreon (as of December 2021). That’s up from $2 billion of all-time creator earnings reported in November 2020.
Source: The Information
Annual Creator Earnings on Patreon
According to company data, creators on Patreon made a combined total of $800 million in 2020 (Patreon switched to reporting all-time creator earnings since then).
Overall creator earnings on the platform have increased by 60% since 2019.
Here’s a table showing collective creator earnings on Patreon since 2017:
| Year | Amount |
|---|---|
| 2017 | $150 million |
| 2018 | $300 million |
| 2019 | $500 million |
| 2020 | $800 million |
Sources: Patreon, TechCrunch
Monthly Creator Earnings on Patreon
Creators on Patreon earned a total of $23.6 million (excluding creators with hidden earnings; actual earnings may vary significantly) in January 2024. Monthly payouts have decreased by 2.4% over the last year, down from $24.18 million in January 2023.
Here’s a table with estimated monthly payments to Patreon creators since January 2019:
| Date | Monthly payouts (excluding hidden earnings) |
|---|---|
| January 2019 | $12.44 million |
| July 2019 | $12.25 million |
| January 2020 | $12.77 million |
| July 2020 | $18.56 million |
| January 2021 | $21.2 million |
| July 2021 | $23.16 million |
| January 2022 | $24.16 million |
| July 2022 | $24.47 million |
| January 2023 | $24.18 million |
| July 2023 | $24.09 million |
| January 2024 | $23.6 million |
Source: Graphtreon
Most Popular Creators on Patreon
Currently, only 26 creators on Patreon receive sponsorship from more than 20,000 patrons each.
The top creator (ranked by number of paid members) on Patreon is Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast, a comedy podcast; 84,278 patrons sponsor the show.
Here’s a ranking of the 20 most popular creators on Patreon:
| Creator | Paid Members on Patreon (Monthly Earnings If Available) |
|---|---|
| Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast | 84,278 |
| Ilja Jusupov aka x4fab | 53,002 ($47,771) |
| Chapo Trap House | 42,168 ($177,831) |
| If Books Could Kill | 41,060 |
| Peter Boese | 40,614 |
| Dungeons and Daddies | 34,950 |
| the yard | 32,673 ($213,477) |
| Not Another D&D Podcast | 32,279 |
| DarkCookie | 29,913 |
| Worlds Beyond Number | 29,363 |
| The Basem*nt Yard | 29,115 |
| TrueAnon Podcast | 27,189 ($111,403) |
| Crime In Sports / Small Town Murder | 26,806 |
| The Fantasy Footballers | 26,612 |
| Have A Word Pod | 25,718 |
| ShxtsNGigs Podcast | 25,585 |
| Jenny Nicholson | 24,860 |
| MxR | 24,826 |
| ContraPoints | 23,215 |
| Cold Ones | 21,430 ($85,914) |
Source: Graphtreon
Most Lucrative Categories on Patreon
Collectively, video producers make the most money on Patreon. Monthly earnings from video content add up to an estimated $5.65 million, followed by podcast creators with $3.51 million in monthly earnings (excluding profiles with hidden earrings).
Here’s a breakdown of total monthly creator earnings by category (as of February 2024):
| Category | Monthly Creator Payouts (Excludes Hidden Earnings) |
|---|---|
| Video | $5.65 million |
| Podcasts | $3.51 million |
| Adult Games | $2.12 million |
| Games | $1.92 million |
| Music | $900.33 thousand |
| Adult Video | $671.22 thousand |
| Adult Animation | $641.89 thousand |
| Comics | $467.86 thousand |
Source: Graphtreon
Patreon Revenue
Patreon makes money by taking a cut of all creator earnings generated through the platform. Patreon currently takes between 8% and 12% of creator earnings (plus a payment processing fee), depending on the product plan chosen by the creator.
Patreon generated an estimated revenue of $75-180 million in 2022.
That’s up from a revenue range between $60 million to $144 million in 2021.
| Year | Estimated revenue |
|---|---|
| 2017 | $12-15 million |
| 2018 | $30 million |
| 2019 | $50 million |
| 2021 | $60-144 million |
| 2022 | $75-180 million |
Sources: The Information, Contrary Research, TechCrunch
Patreon Funding
Patreon has completed 10 funding rounds so far, raising a combined total of $412.1 million.
59.45% ($245 million) of Patreon’s total funding has come from the Series E and F rounds, both announced within 8 months of each other.
Here’s a breakdown of Patreon funding activity since 2013:
| Funding round, Date | Amount |
|---|---|
| Seed, August 2013 | $2.1 million |
| Series A, June 2014 | $15 million |
| Series B, January 2016 | $30 million |
| Series C, September 2017 | $59.4 million |
| Series D, July 2019 | $60 million |
| Series E, September 2020 | $90 million |
| Series F, April 2021 | $155 million |
Source: CB Insights
Patreon Valuation
Patreon’s valuation reportedly stands at $1.5 billion (that’s 70% drop from last public valuation of $4 billion in 2021).
As of the Series F funding round in April 2021, Patreon’s post-money valuation is $4 billion (up from $1.2 billion in September 2020).
Here’s an overview of the growth in Patreon’s post-money valuation since 2013:
| Funding round, Date | Post-Money Valuation |
|---|---|
| Seed, August 2013 | $7.99 million |
| Series A, June 2014 | $50.63 million |
| Series B, January 2016 | $148.38 million |
| Series C, September 2017 | $450 million |
| Series D, July 2019 | $660 million |
| Series E, September 2020 | $1.2 billion |
| Series F, April 2021 | $4 billion |
| Internal Valuation | $1.5 billion |
Sources: Crunchbase, Business Insider
Patreon Employees
Patreon has around 400 employees. The company has 3 offices in the US, including New York, San Francisco, Seattle.
According to Comparably estimates, the average annual compensation at Patreon is $149,622. Patreon employees on the H1-B visa receive a median base salary of $190,000.
Sources: Built in NYC, Patreon, Comparably, H1B Salary Database.
Conclusion
You’ve reached the end of my roundup of Patreon stats for 2024.
The membership platform has experienced strong user growth during pandemic but didn’t grow much over the past year, even showing some decline.
Yet, it remains a relevant company in the creator economy with more creators switching to the membership model.
