Kohortly vs Patreon
Patreon is for fans. Kohortly is for learners.
Patreon lets artists, podcasters and creators earn monthly support from fans in return for posts and perks. Kohortly is built for organisations that teach: courses, cohorts, live sessions, attendance, fees and certificates.
The short answer
Choose Patreon if
- You are an artist, podcaster or creator earning support from fans.
- Your members want posts and perks, not a course or cohort.
- You want fans to find you through Patreon.
Choose Kohortly if
- You teach, train or coach people through a programme.
- You need courses with progress, live sessions and attendance.
- Learners pay by bank transfer, M-Pesa, UPI, Pix, cash or through an employer.
- You don't want to give 10% of every payment to the platform.
Patreon and Kohortly at a glance
- Price
- Patreon: Free to start
- Kohortly: From $49 a month ($41 billed yearly). Every feature on every plan, 0% on what learners pay.
- Fee on payments
- Patreon: 10% platform fee, plus about 2.9% + $0.30 processing
- Kohortly: 0%
- Best for
- Patreon: Creators earning from fans
- Kohortly: Organisations that teach
- Courses
- Patreon: Collections of posts
- Kohortly: Full courses with progress and quizzes
Feature by feature
| Feature | Kohortly | Patreon |
|---|---|---|
| Community feed, categories and polls | Posts to members | |
| Courses, lessons and progress | Collections | |
| Points, levels and leaderboards | ||
| Live sessions | Live rooms in the browser, with breakout groups and recording | Livestreams |
| Admissions | Application forms with a review queue | |
| Cohorts | Intakes with seats, dates and class times | |
| Attendance | Online and in person, with QR check-in | |
| Certificates | Issued on completion, with a public check page | |
| Small groups | Squads inside each cohort | |
| Impact reporting | Impact reports and follow-up surveys | Earnings stats |
| Payments made outside a card checkout | Bank transfer, M-Pesa, UPI, Pix, card and cash recorded, with receipts and balances | Card and PayPal only |
| One payer for many learners | An employer or sponsor pays for several learners | |
| WhatsApp and SMS | WhatsApp and SMS reminders and announcements | |
| Email broadcasts and automatic sequences | Post emails | |
| Phone app | Installable web app under your own name and logo, plus the Kohortly phone app | Patreon app |
| Web address | kohortly.com/yourname, or your own domain | patreon.com/yourname |
| Developer access | Public API, MCP server and CLI | Basic API |
| Fee on what learners pay | 0% | 10% plus processing |
Patreon details as of November 2026, from Patreon pricing and published reviews. Prices and fees change, so check Patreon's site before you decide.
What Patreon really costs
The plan price is only part of the bill. Here is what each platform costs a month when 200 learners each pay $50 ($10,000 a month), on the cheapest plan that can sell memberships, billed yearly where offered: the plan, the platform's fee, and card processing where it is charged separately.
| Platform | Monthly cost | How it adds up |
|---|---|---|
| Skool Pro | $372 | $82 plan (yearly) + 2.9% Skool fee |
| SchoolMaker | $386 | $36 plan (yearly) + 0% + Stripe |
| Thinkific | $386 | $36 plan (yearly) + 0% + Stripe |
| LearnWorlds Pro Trainer | $429 | $79 plan (yearly) + 0% + Stripe |
| Podia Shaker | $434 | $84 plan (yearly) + 0% + Stripe (Mover adds 5%) |
| Kajabi Basic | $493 | $143 plan (yearly) + 0% + Kajabi Payments |
| Mighty Networks Launch | $629 | $79 plan (yearly) + 2% + Stripe |
| Whop | $630 | $0 plan + 3% community fee + 2.7% + $0.30 |
| Circle Professional | $639 | $89 plan (yearly) + 2% + Stripe |
| Disco | $749 | $399 Create plan (yearly, up to 250 active members) + 0% + Stripe |
| Teachable | $889 | $39 plan + 5% Teachable fee + card processing |
| Skool Hobby | $1,008 | $7.50 plan (yearly) + 10% Skool fee |
| Maven | $1,350 | $0 to list + 10% of each sale + Stripe |
| Patreon | $1,350 | 10% platform fee + 2.9% + $0.30 |
| Discord | $1,600 | 10% fee + about 6% desktop processing |
| Udemy | $6,300 | Free to publish; Udemy keeps 63% of marketplace sales |
| Kohortly | $56–$406 | Starter billed yearly ($41) plus 100 more learners ($15), and 0% on learner payments. $406 if all 200 pay by card through your own provider; $56 when they pay by bank transfer or mobile money. |
Worked from each vendor's published prices in November 2026. Fees change and card rates vary by country, so check before you decide.
Cohorts, not just a membership
Patreon is a membership with tiers: fans pay monthly and see posts for their tier. There are no cohorts, admissions or class times. Kohortly starts from the programme: you open an intake with a start date, seats and class times, people apply, your team admits them, and they move through the cohort together until graduation.
Every learner has a record that follows them: which intake they joined, which sessions they attended, what they paid and which certificate they earned. When a funder or board asks how the last cohort went, the answer is already there.
If you only need an open membership that anyone can join with a card, Patreon may be all you need. If you admit people into programmes that start and finish, that structure is what Kohortly is for.
Getting paid the way your learners pay
Patreon keeps 10% of what members pay, plus about 2.9% + $0.30 processing per payment. Many of the organisations we work with are paid by bank transfer, mobile money such as M-Pesa, UPI or Pix, a company cheque, a card on their own machine (Visa, Mastercard, American Express) or cash at the first session, often in instalments.
Kohortly records each payment against the learner's fee account, issues a receipt, shows the balance and reminds people before an instalment is due, by email, WhatsApp or SMS. Nothing is taken from what your learners pay: Kohortly charges 0%.
When an employer pays for ten staff, one payer covers all ten seats and gets one invoice, while each learner still has their own place in the cohort.
Attendance and certificates that prove the work
Patreon has no attendance or certificates, because it isn't built for courses people complete. In Kohortly, people who join a live session are marked present automatically, and for in-person days staff can tick a register or learners can scan a QR code at the door, even on a weak connection.
Completion rules can require attendance as well as lessons. When a learner finishes, their certificate is issued with a public check page, so an employer can confirm it is genuine.
Where Patreon is the better choice
No platform suits everyone. Patreon does these things better than Kohortly:
- Fan discovery and a familiar brand that fans already trust with their card.
- Very easy to start, with no monthly fee.
- Suited to artists, podcasters and video creators who publish regularly.
Moving from Patreon to Kohortly
- Request a community. We set it up with your name, logo and colours, at kohortly.com/yourname or on your own domain.
- Import your members from a CSV export, with their names, emails and phone numbers.
- Recreate your programmes and courses. Lesson videos can be uploaded or embedded, and we can help with the move when we agree your plan.
- Invite members to sign in. Their history starts in Kohortly from the next intake.
Questions
Is Kohortly a Patreon alternative?+
For educators and training organisations, yes. Patreon is a fan membership; Kohortly is built for teaching, with courses, cohorts, live sessions, attendance, fees and certificates.
What does Patreon charge?+
Patreon keeps 10% of member payments plus about 2.9% + $0.30 processing. Kohortly charges 0% on what learners pay; you pay one plan by invoice.
Other comparisons
Bring your next cohort to Kohortly
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