Your thoughts on Patreon vs other platforms
Edit: thank you to everyone for your input and thoughts! It helps so much. I don't think I'll make any changes at the moment, but it's always good to check and hear from you. I really appreciate it ☺️
Hello! I have a little question for you all and would genuinely love your thoughts 💜
I received a comment mentioning that the Patreon app can be frustrating to use. I personally only use Patreon on desktop, so I don't have much experience with the app side of things, but I really want the experience to be as simple and user friendly as possible for you.
So I wanted to ask...
Are you happy with Patreon, or would you prefer another platform?
I've been considering alternatives like Ko-fi, but there are pros and cons on both sides.
Pros of staying on Patreon:
• Everyone is already here
• Patreon is widely known and used
• I can upload videos directly here
• Most other reactors use Patreon
• It's very easy for me to manage on desktop
Possible downsides:
• Patreon fees are higher than Kofi
• Some people are unhappy with the Patreon app experience
• If I moved platforms, some people may not follow over
• Ko-fi doesn't allow direct video uploads, so I would need to upload reactions elsewhere first
I have also considered YouTube Memberships, but personally I'm not a huge fan of how member only videos clutter a channel page. I prefer keeping the main channel cleaner and easier to browse.
Another option could be running both Patreon and Ko-fi together so people can choose whichever platform they prefer.
I genuinely rely a lot on your support here to help me continue making reactions and content full time so your feedback really matters to me. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below 💜 Thank you!!
Comments (14)
You should do whatever makes the most sense for you, but I will just say that I'm unlikely to sign up for another platform to follow you if you left Patreon. Not trying to be mean or anything. That's just the truth.
Thank you! Yeah, I don't think I'll be changing anything at this stage. I didn't want to delete the post as there's some interesting comments here but I added an edit to the top instead 😊
I don't have a smartphone, only a flip-phone, so can't install any apps on it. I access all YT content thru my laptop only, so Patreon is the only thing I would use.
Just stay
I’m in favor of staying on Patreon. Not really familiar with Ko-Fi, but I subscribe to a number of people on Patreon (though I had to reduce due to finances), and as Foolproof said, it’s handy having everyone in one place, so it’s easy to switch between, and I can have all in a unified location.
Is Patreon a little janky sometimes? Yes, absolutely. Are there things I wish they would do different? Sure. Is it awful or unusable? No, far from it. Most importantly, I think at this point it's the best, most popular platform for stuff like this. Most everyone knows about Patreon and how to use it. I don't feel like YT subscriptions ever really took off like they thought it would, but maybe that's just me. Maintaining your own website or some such just seems like a pain in the ass. Plus Patreon let's me use PayPal which I find to be the most convenient. If it were up to me, which of course it's not, J, this is your show, I would just leave everything the way it is. That seems easiest and most convenient to me.
Hey you, it's me again. I know you remember me. :P I personally find the Patreon app works fine on my phone and I mostly use it on desktop too, so I don't think there's a need to change unless you do.
I mostly use Patreon on my laptop and it works fine there , the app works pretty ok for me too so i don't have any problems in that matter I hope you stay on Patreon though like you said it is very well known and works fine most of the time , Patreon is not perfect but i'm sure other platforms have their own downsides and issues too
Stay on Patreon! But, of course, as always, do what's best for you.
My vote would be Patreon + another platform BUT ONLY if it doesn't lead to too much extra work on your end. You are already so busy with your YouTube channels & Patreon and the last thing I would want is for you to struggle or burn out. The lower fees on other platforms is a definite positive for you so that's something to think about for sure. At the end of the day though wherever you decide you & your content will reside I'll of course be there.
While the Patreon App can get frustrating at times, it's such a better experience than other similar ones. Especially how seamlessly it's tied into YouTube for me (being able to see your post in Patreon, click the video, then have it open in my YouTube app is so helpful) I guess the big thing for me would be that I have other similar creators that I'm Patrons of. Having you all in a single app has been great, especially for seeing all of your uploads. In the YouTube App you all kinda get lost in the ever changing recommend feed for me. Having your videos in my Patreon feed helps me actually see your posts. It feels like you've built a great Patreon Community so far and it would be a shame to completely switch platforms and start over. Maybe start another platform as an option for folks that don't enjoy the Patreon App? You could always have a Patreon page AND a Kofi page...
That's something I didn't think of! If someone is subscribed to a few Patreon pages, they are all handy in the one place. And maybe that might be the same with Kofi as well... but again, I don't have experience with the Kofi app so maybe it's just as bad or worse 😶 As long as it's not too much extra work, it could actually be really nice to have two places and to have that option 💜
Honestly, I don't have a problem with the app. I voted for both, but maybe use Ko-Fi for people who want to make one-off donations? I have to raise the point I always raise--this seems like a lot of work for you with little real benefit. I know I voted for both, but I don't know if juggling two platforms is a great idea. That said, if you don't run your Ko-Fi like Patreon, just keeping it as a side-thing, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. We just want you to not stress yourself out any more than absolutely necessary. 🙂 🏳️🌈🖖💚💜
Thank you, DG 💜I could anticipate your thoughts before reading your reply haha. I also don't want any extra work, so I probably would have one place be the dominant one and the other more as a side place like you mentioned. To save some time, I could always upload the full reactions to another YouTube channel as unlisted and share them that way on Patreon and Ko-Fi - so no more uploading direct to Patreon. They would need to be a bit more heavily blurred than I normally do here as YouTube's copyright system is a clever beast. Just thinking for now... the cogs are in motion but they do need a little grease from time to time 😅💜