Patreon vs Stripe: Revenue, Profit and Business Model
Patreon reported $179M of revenue in FY2025 and — of net income. Stripe reported $6.8B of revenue in FY2025 and — of net income.
Latest financial snapshot
Financial summary
Patreon
Patreon is private and does not report revenue. Research firm Sacra estimates revenue of about $179 million for 2025, up 28% from 2024. Creators passed $10 billion in cumulative earnings in August 2025, up from $3.5 billion around 2021, and Patreon reported 25 million paid memberships at that time. Funding milestones include a $90 million Series E at a $1.2 billion valuation in September 2020 and a $155 million Series F led by Tiger Global at $4 billion in April 2021. Cost cuts followed: about 80 jobs (roughly 17% of staff) in September 2022 and 93 jobs (about 20%) in July 2026.
Stripe
Stripe does not publish audited financials. Reported figures put net revenue (after card network and bank costs) at about $5.1 billion in 2024 and $6.8 billion in 2025, roughly 33% growth, while total volume rose from $1.4 trillion to $1.9 trillion. Stripe has said it is robustly profitable. Its private valuation fell to $50 billion in a 2023 funding round, recovered to $91.5 billion in a 2025 tender, and reached $159 billion in a February 2026 tender offer.
Revenue and profit by year
Patreon
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $179M | — | 0.0% | — | Source |
Stripe
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $6.8B | — | 0.0% | +33.3% | Source |
| FY2024 | $5.1B | — | 0.0% | — | Source |
Where the revenue comes from
Patreon
- Platform fees on memberships
Majority (not disclosed)
10% standard fee (5%, 8% or 11% on legacy plans) on paid membership revenue.
- Platform fees on shop sales
Not disclosed
The same platform fee applied to one-off digital product sales.
- Payment processing and currency conversion
Not disclosed
Processing and conversion fees charged on fan payments.
Stripe
- Payment processing fees
- Connect platform fees
- Billing and invoicing
- Tax automation
- Fraud prevention through Radar
- Issuing and Treasury
- Terminal and in-person payments
- Stablecoin and money movement infrastructure
Business model and strategy
Patreon
How it makes money
Patreon makes money by keeping a share of every payment fans make to creators. Creators who published a page after August 4, 2025 pay a flat 10% platform fee; older pages stay on legacy 5% (Lite), 8% (Pro) or 11% (Premium) plans. Payment processing fees (around 2.9% plus $0.30 per US card payment on standard transactions) and currency conversion charges are passed through to creators.
Growth strategy
Patreon is widening its funnel beyond paid memberships. Free memberships let creators collect fans directly; the shop sells one-off digital products; native video, private podcast feeds and community chats keep members engaged. A single 10% standard fee for new creators from August 2025 simplified pricing.
Competitive advantage
Patreon is format-agnostic: podcasters, video creators, musicians, writers, game developers and illustrators all use the same membership, shop and community tools. Switching costs are high because moving to another platform means asking every paying member to re-subscribe.
Stripe
How it makes money
Stripe earns most of its money from fees on payments it processes, typically a percentage plus a fixed fee per card transaction, with negotiated rates for large enterprises.
Growth strategy
Stripe is growing by selling more products to existing users and by moving up-market to large enterprises, while building for new payment flows. In 2025 it shipped more than 350 product updates, expanded stablecoin accounts and payouts, and launched agentic commerce tools with OpenAI.
Competitive advantage
Stripe's edge is breadth plus developer adoption. A business can start with a simple payments integration and add billing, tax, fraud, payouts, cards and stablecoin rails without switching vendors. That integration depth raises switching costs, and Stripe's data across $1.9 trillion of annual volume feeds products such as Radar and payment optimization.
Questions about Patreon vs Stripe
Which company has higher revenue — Patreon, Inc. or Stripe, Inc.?
Patreon, Inc. reported $179.0M (FY2025), while Stripe, Inc. reported $6.8B (FY2025). By last reported revenue, Stripe, Inc. is the larger business, with Patreon, Inc. reporting a smaller revenue base.
Which is more financially efficient — Patreon, Inc. or Stripe, Inc.?
Patreon, Inc. generates $484k / employee in revenue per employee, while Stripe, Inc. generates $756k / employee. Stripe, Inc. shows higher revenue efficiency per headcount, though this reflects business model differences — capital-light software companies routinely outperform labour-intensive manufacturers on this metric.
How do Patreon, Inc. and Stripe, Inc. make money?
Patreon, Inc. and Stripe, Inc. generate revenue in fundamentally different ways. Patreon, Inc.: Patreon makes money by keeping a share of every payment fans make to creators. Stripe, Inc.: Stripe earns most of its money from fees on payments it processes, typically a percentage plus a fixed fee per card transaction, with negotiated rates for large enterprises.
Is Patreon, Inc. bigger than Stripe, Inc.?
By last reported revenue, Stripe, Inc. ($6.8B (FY2025)) is the larger company compared to Patreon, Inc. ($179.0M (FY2025)). Revenue scale is one dimension of size — market capitalisation, employee count, and geographic reach are also relevant depending on the context.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the Patreon vs Stripe overview