Insidr vs Patreon for musicians

Patreon gives fans a feed. Insidr gives them your music.

Patreon is a strong membership platform for every kind of creator. Insidr is built around one thing: listening to your music. Here’s an honest comparison, fees included.

Start earning — it’s free See the comparison

At a glance

Insidr vs Patreon side by side

FeatureInsidrPatreon
Built for Musicians. Everything is organised around listening to your music. Creators of every kind: writers, podcasters, video makers, visual artists and musicians.
Format A music app: your artist page, a library of released and unreleased tracks, and behind-the-scenes posts. A membership page of posts (text, images, video and audio), with chats, live events and a shop.
Audio Your catalogue plays in a dedicated music player. Native iOS and Android apps that keep playing in the background, with lock-screen controls. Fans can subscribe to several artists in one app. Audio posts play in the app, with offline downloads and a private RSS feed for podcast apps. Fans can download your audio files unless you switch that off for every post.
Uploading music From the artist dashboard, or ask an AI assistant such as Claude to upload tracks and cover art through the Insidr MCP. New tracks stay private until you publish them. Upload audio to posts on the web or in the app.
Platform fee 20%. 10% for creators who joined after 4 August 2025. Some older plans pay 5–11%.
Payment fees Card processing of 2.9% + 20p. Subscriptions bought in the iOS app go through the App Store, which takes its commission before paying Insidr. 3.4% + £0.35 per payment for GBP payouts on the 10% plan, plus 2.5% for currency conversion. For iOS app purchases, Apple takes up to 30%, and by default fans pay about 43% more.
Fan data See every subscriber, their interest and join date, and export your fan data. You can export member emails, but Patreon’s Creator Privacy Promise only lets you use them to deliver your Patreon membership.

Which is right for you?

An honest recommendation

Choose Patreon if…

  • Your membership is mostly writing, video or podcasts.
  • You want several membership tiers with different rewards.
  • You want to sell one-off products alongside memberships.
  • The lowest platform fee is your top priority.
  • You want fans to download your audio files.

Choose Insidr if…

  • Fans subscribe mainly to listen to your music.
  • You’d rather run one simple subscription than manage tiers.
  • You want released and unreleased tracks in one music library, not spread across posts.
  • You want to see which tracks each fan plays and finishes.
  • You want fan data you can export and use outside the platform.
  • You might want a custom branded app later.

Where Insidr is different

Built for listening, not scrolling.

01

A library, not a feed

Your tracks sit in a music library under your artist page. A fan who joins today can play last year’s demo as easily as this week’s. On a post-based feed, older audio tends to scroll out of view.

02

Listening data for every track

See streams, listeners and average completion for each track, so you know what your most engaged fans actually play.

03

Fan data you can take with you

Export your subscribers, their interest and their join date. Your relationship with your fans shouldn’t depend on one platform’s rules.

The fees, honestly

Patreon costs less. Here’s what the difference buys.

Take 100 fans paying £4.99 a month by card, in GBP. On Patreon’s 10% plan, you keep about £397 a month, before a payout fee of £0.50 or more. On Insidr, you keep £371.62, as shown in our earnings calculator. That’s about 25p less per fan each month.

Both figures are for card payments. On both platforms, subscriptions bought in the iOS app go through Apple, which takes its commission first.

The difference pays for a subscription built around listening: a music library instead of a feed, per-track listening insights, and fan data you can export. Whether that’s worth it depends on why your fans subscribe. If they mainly come for the music, a better listening experience is what they’re paying for.

Moving from Patreon

Switching without losing your fans

Patreon memberships and billing can’t be transferred to another platform, so each member joins Insidr themselves. Plan the move so they have a reason to.

  1. Set up your Insidr artist profile

    Upload your music and have something new ready for day one: a demo, an alternate version or a first listen.

  2. Decide what goes where

    You could move your music to Insidr and keep Patreon for other content, run both for a while, or move completely.

  3. Tell your members

    Announce it in a Patreon post and on your own channels. Before you email exported member addresses, check Patreon’s Creator Privacy Promise.

  4. Give people time

    Tell members when Patreon billing will stop, so nobody pays twice.

A real artist. A real result.

£11,786 paid to one independent artist.

Read the full case study

A custom Insidr subscription app generated £15,013 in about 14 months, with 235 paying subscribers and 1,556 fans in the app. Results are specific to that artist and period.

FAQ

Insidr vs Patreon, answered.

Still unsure? Meet the founders or get in touch.

Can I import my Patreon subscribers to Insidr?

Not directly. Patreon handles its members’ billing, so memberships can’t be moved to another platform, and each fan has to join Insidr themselves. You can export member emails from Patreon, but its Creator Privacy Promise limits their use to your Patreon membership, so announce the move through Patreon posts and your own channels.

Is Insidr cheaper than Patreon?

No. Insidr’s platform fee is 20%. Creators who joined Patreon after 4 August 2025 pay 10%, plus processing of 3.4% + £0.35 per GBP payment. With 100 fans paying £4.99 by card, that’s about £397 a month on Patreon and £371.62 on Insidr. You’re paying for a music-first listening experience and fan data you can export.

Is Patreon good for musicians?

It can be, especially if your membership mixes music with writing, video or podcasts. Patreon has a page for music creators and supports audio posts with offline listening. Insidr suits musicians whose fans mainly subscribe to listen.

Can I use Patreon and Insidr together?

Yes. Some artists keep Patreon for non-music content and use Insidr as the home for their released and unreleased music. Make it clear what each membership includes, so fans don’t feel they’re paying twice for the same thing.

Can fans download my music on Patreon?

By default, yes. Patreon members can download audio files from audio posts. You can turn downloads off, but only for all your audio at once, not post by post.

How quickly does Patreon pay out?

After you start a payout, funds usually arrive within 1 to 5 days, though checks can take up to 10 business days. Money from iOS app purchases can be pending for up to 75 days.

Does Insidr have membership tiers like Patreon?

No. Insidr keeps it simple: one subscription per artist, billed monthly or yearly at prices you set. There are no tiers to design, fill with rewards or keep up to date. Every subscriber gets your whole Insidr catalogue.

What audio formats can I upload to Insidr?

Through the Insidr MCP you can upload MP3, WAV, FLAC, M4A, AAC and OGG files up to 100 MB, plus JPEG, PNG or WebP cover art. You can also upload from the artist dashboard. Only upload recordings you have the rights to share.