How do you choose between a membership platform and a donation page?
Start with what your supporters receive. If fans pay for locked posts, a newsletter or a tier, you need a membership platform, and Steady, Ghost, Writizzy, Petje.af and Ko-fi cover that ground. If fans give because they value the work, a donation page is enough.
Liberapay and Donably sit on the donation side. Liberapay's FAQ says gifts must not be tied to a contract, which rules out rewards entirely. Donably describes no tiers or gated content on the pages we read, so it replaces only the payment part of a larger platform.
A mixed model is possible. Ko-fi puts tips, memberships, commissions and shop sales on one page, which suits artists whose income arrives in several shapes instead of one monthly pledge.
What do European creator platforms cost compared with a percentage fee?
The fee models fall into four groups. Steady charges a revenue share on membership income and no monthly fee. Patronite states a 6.5% service fee plus VAT, with payment operators adding their own, for example Tpay at 0.8% and PayPal at 2.9% plus PLN 1.35.
Ghost(Pro) starts at about $9 a month with no revenue share, and a self-hosted Ghost install is free. Writizzy offers a free plan with 100 subscribers, Starter at EUR 9 a month and Premium from EUR 20 a month. Sellfy asks $29, $79 or $159 a month, with yearly sales caps.
Liberapay and Donably state no cut of their own. In every case a payment processor still charges on top, which Liberapay's FAQ puts at about 3% for Stripe and 5% for PayPal on average. Run one real month of income through each model before deciding.
Ko-fi and Contribee are the gaps. Ko-fi's terms say fees are listed on the site and we could not read them, and Contribee's pages showed no fee table at all.
Which jurisdiction governs a European creator platform?
Check the court clause before the price list. Petje.af's creator terms apply Dutch law and name the court of Arrondissement Den Haag. Contribee's terms apply Lithuanian law, and Sellfy's terms the law of Lithuania. Patronite is a registered Polish company with KRS and NIP numbers in its terms.
The British platforms are a separate case. Ko-fi's terms give the English courts exclusive jurisdiction, Payhip Limited is registered in England and Wales, and Ghost is run by a foundation in London. The UK is outside the EU, and for personal data the EU recognises it through an adequacy decision.
Donably mixes the two: a UK company registered at Companies House, a Hungarian payment provider and terms that name courts in Budapest and Szekesfehervar. Read those clauses once, because a payment dispute with your supporters will follow them.
Can you leave Patreon or another US platform without losing members?
Not without effort. A fan's subscription is an agreement with the platform they paid, so none of these European tools can import it. Members must subscribe again, and a card or SEPA mandate has to be entered for each of them.
Plan a parallel period. Keep the old page live, announce the new one through your posts and newsletter, and move the most active members first. Ghost and Writizzy reduce the next move, since Ghost is open source and Writizzy states that content can be exported and imported.
Discovery will not follow you. Steady states that every member is one you found yourself, and Ghost has no recommendation network. The European alternatives to Patreon are a good place to compare options before you commit.
When should you stay on your current platform?
Stay when a large share of your income arrives through the platform's own discovery. None of the tools here runs a marketplace that sends fans to new creators, so leaving trades reach for control.
Stay, too, when your audience pays with methods only the larger platform supports well, or when you need features these tools do not list. Writizzy has no fan chat or mobile app on the pages we read, and Donably describes no tiers.
A middle route works for many creators: open a Liberapay or Ghost page for supporters who want a European option, and keep the old page for everyone else until the numbers justify closing it.
How do payment methods affect which platform you pick?
Payment habits differ by country, and a recurring payment form asking for card details converts worse in some markets. Steady offers SEPA direct debit and other methods German-speaking readers expect. Patronite supports BLIK, bank transfer and card payments for a Polish audience.
Most others hand payments to a provider. Writizzy uses your own Stripe account, Ghost connects your own Stripe account, Liberapay pays out to your own Stripe or PayPal account and Petje.af lets you link a provider of your choice. Donably uses Barion Payment Zrt, and Payhip takes PayPal or Stripe.
The consequence is setup work. With these tools you open and verify the payment account yourself, and its fees and payout rules apply as well.
