Patreon Alternative: Run Paid Memberships on Your Own Website

Looking for a Patreon alternative, or a Telegram alternative for your community? This video shows paid plans, members-only areas and a place to talk running together on one WordPress site you own.

Transcript

Looking for a Patreon alternative, or a Telegram alternative? Many creators use the two together. One to get paid, one to talk. Between them they give you three things. Supporters who pay each month, posts only supporters see, and a group to talk in. The trouble is where it all lives. Your supporters are spread across apps you do not own. The payment sits in one place, and the conversation in another. And your link to every supporter runs through a company that can change its rules. So the trade-off is this. Your supporters are on their list, not yours. They set the rules and the fees, and both can change. And you keep two separate tools in step by hand. Here are the same three things on one WordPress site you own. One login, one member list, one brand. One. A members-only area. Someone who has not joined yet sees that it is for members. Two. Paid plans. Your plans page, with the plans and prices you choose. Three. A place to talk. Your news goes out in an announcements group, where every member can find it, and in the other groups, supporters post, vote and reply to each other. It is a community, not a broadcast. Private messages are there too, on the same login as everything else. And a notification tells them when someone replies. You are not limited to one way of charging. A monthly or yearly plan for the whole community. One paid private room, with everything else left free. Or a single locked post or guide, sold on its own. You can also offer a free trial, or a coupon at launch. You set the plans, the prices, and what each plan unlocks. Payments go to your own Stripe or PayPal account. A welcome series emails every new supporter for you, over their first days. And the supporter list is yours. You can export it any day. Moving does not have to happen in one day. Set up your plans. Open the members area. Start posting there first. Then invite your supporters across, a few at a time. Side by side. Two apps and two logins, or one site and one login. Their brand on the page, or your brand and your domain. Supporters on their list, or on yours. And rules they set, or rules you set. Each new supporter you add on a rented platform is one more person you would have to ask to move. That list only gets longer. BuddyNext is the free community plugin for WordPress. Open a members area on your own site this week. Get BuddyNext. The link is below.