Apple's Patreon deadline is October 31. A $10 patron nets $6 to $10.72.

Patreon creators must leave legacy billing by October 31. The bigger cost is where fans pay: a $10 patron leaves $8.41 on the web and $6 in the iOS app.

The Editors · Money · 7 min read · Oct 6, 2026

By the numbers

Oct 31last day for Patreon creators to leave legacy billing, 11:59 pm Pacific

4%share of Patreon creators still on legacy billing in January

30%Apple's cut of a new membership bought in the iOS app, 15% after a year

$8.41what a creator keeps from a $10 patron who pays on the web

$6.00what the same creator keeps from a $10 patron who pays in the iOS app, fee absorbed

Patreon creators have until 11:59 pm Pacific on October 31, 2026 to move off legacy billing. Apple set November 1 as the deadline for every creator to switch to subscription billing, the only model its in-app purchase system supports, and Patreon will move anyone who hasn't switched by then. TechCrunch put the share of creators still on legacy billing at 4% in January.

The deadline touches few creators. The fee behind it touches everyone, and what it costs you depends on where each fan pays. On a $10 tier under Patreon's standard 10% platform fee, a fan who pays on the web leaves you about $8.41. A fan who joins inside the iPhone app, with Apple's fee absorbed, leaves you $6.00 in the first year. With Patreon's default iOS markup, that same fan pays about $14.29 and leaves you $8.57, and after a year, when Apple's cut halves, $10.72.

So the decision before October 31 comes down to which door your fans walk through, and who pays for the iPhone one.

What changes on November 1

Patreon used to offer two billing models besides monthly subscriptions. Per-creation billing charged members for each post, up to a monthly cap. First-of-the-month billing charged everyone on the first, with the backlog unlocked on joining. Apple's in-app purchase system supports neither, and Apple has now made subscription billing the only option for memberships sold in the iOS app.

This is the third deadline for the same rule. Patreon first planned the move for November 2024, then gave creators until November 2025, then paused it in May 2025 after the Epic v. Apple ruling. Patreon called Apple's reinstated mandate "the third such change from Apple in the past 18 months".

If you're in the 4%, the switch changes when your fans are charged and how your income arrives: a monthly subscription per fan instead of per post or on the first. If you're already on subscription billing, nothing changes on November 1.

What Apple takes, and when

Apple charges 30% on new memberships bought in the Patreon iOS app, and that cut has applied since November 2024. It drops to 15% once a subscription has run for a year. Patreon's help pages say it passes that lower fee on to the creator once a member's subscription passes one year.

Memberships bought on the web or on Android carry no Apple fee. Neither do memberships that existed before the fee started.

Patreon gives creators two settings for the app. The default raises iOS prices so the creator's take holds level; the other keeps one price everywhere and the creator absorbs Apple's cut. Recovering a 30% cut takes a markup of 1 / (1 − 0.30), which is about 43%. A $10 tier shows up near $14.29 in the app.

What a $10 patron is worth, door by door

The figures below use Patreon's standard 10% platform fee for pages launched after August 4, 2025, and 2.9% plus $0.30 card processing on web payments over $3. On iOS purchases Patreon skips its own processing fee, while its platform fee applies to the full price the fan pays. That last point comes from two independent fee guides; we couldn't read a worked example on Patreon's own pages, which block scripted reads.

$6$7.5$8.41$8.57$10.72

View as table

What a creator keeps from one $10 patron, per month
label	What a creator keeps from one $10 patron, per month
iOS app, fee absorbed, year one	$6
iOS app, fee absorbed, after a year	$7.5
Web checkout	$8.41
iOS app, default markup, year one	$8.57
iOS app, default markup, after a year	$10.72

Source: Market Anarchy math on Patreon, Apple and fee-guide rates, October 2026

The arithmetic, line by line:

Web: $10 minus $1.00 platform fee minus $0.59 processing leaves $8.41.
iOS, absorbed, year one: $10 minus $3.00 to Apple minus $1.00 to Patreon leaves $6.00.
iOS, absorbed, after a year: $10 minus $1.50 to Apple minus $1.00 leaves $7.50.
iOS, default markup, year one: $14.29 minus $4.29 to Apple minus $1.43 to Patreon leaves $8.57.
iOS, default markup, after a year: $14.29 minus $2.14 to Apple minus $1.43 leaves $10.72.

Over twelve months, an absorbed iPhone patron brings in $72.00 against $100.92 from a web patron. That's $28.92 a year per fan, and it's the number to weigh before you pick a setting.

The default markup flips the result after a year. Patreon's help page describes the fee saving going to the creator; it says nothing about a lower price for the member. On those terms, a long-standing iPhone patron on the default setting pays $4.29 a month more than a web patron and becomes the most valuable fan you have.

The exits: US fans and the web

The cheapest door depends on where your fans live.

In the US, fans signing up in the iOS app can choose Patreon's mobile web checkout instead of Apple's purchase flow, and those payments carry no App Store fee. Patreon added the link in May 2025, using App Store rules loosened by the Epic v. Apple ruling.

Outside the US, a fan who joins inside the iOS app goes through Apple's in-app purchase, with its fee. The way around it is the browser: a fan who joins on patreon.com pays no Apple fee and can still read in the app.

Our read

This part is opinion, built on the figures above.

If most of your fans are in the US, the setting matters less than the link. Point fans at web checkout and most of the Apple question goes away.

If many of your fans are abroad, the default markup protects your income and costs your fans 43% more in the app. Keeping one price is kinder to fans and costs you $2.41 a month per iPhone patron in year one, against the web. Either way, a sentence telling fans to join on the web is worth more than the setting.

If you're in the 4% on per-creation billing, the switch changes how fans experience the page. A fan paying $1 per post, capped at four posts a month, becomes a monthly subscriber at a fixed price. Set that price yourself before October 31; on November 1 Patreon makes the choice for you.

What could change this: Patreon counts three rule changes from Apple in 18 months, and the US web exception rests on the Epic v. Apple ruling. The numbers above hold for October 2026.

Creators weighing Patreon against other paid platforms can compare what YouTube pays creators in 2026 and what X pays, where the platform sets the price and the fan pays nothing.