How do the creator fees for Apple Podcasts Subscriptions, Spotify Paid Subscriptions and Patreon stack up for podcasters?

Last month, both Apple and Spotify revealed plans for their upcoming podcast subscription models. Both Apple’s Podcasts Subscriptions and Spotify’s Paid Subscriptions work in a similar way to Patreon, allowing creators to sign up and offer exclusive content in exchange for monthly payments. How do these three services’ fees stack up against each other?

These numbers are minus any taxes or tranaction fees, as these vary by region. As Apple and Spotify’s platforms are yet to be publicly available, numbers may change prior to release. We’ll have to wait until these platforms launch until we can truely compare the features of each.

Following are the platform fees/cuts.

Apple Podcasts Subscriptions
  • $19.99 (US) per year, plus
  • 30% for the first year
  • 15% for following years

Example of earning $1000 per year:

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Spotify Paid Subscriptions
  • 0% until 2023
  • 5% from 2023

Example of earning $1000 per year:

Image Credit: RouteNote
Patreon
  • 5% for Lite plan
  • 8% for Pro plan
  • 12% for Premium plan

Example of earning $1000 per year:

Image Credit: RouteNote