Patreon has purchased Memberful, a white label company that enables indie creators, educators, and publishers to build their own membership websites. Memberful creates these platforms for roughly 500 customers, including top podcast network Gimlet Media and business newsletter Stratechery.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed — though Patreon’s continued consolidation of the space arrives as tech giants YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch increasingly wade into the membership space with subscription features of their own. Patreon acquired ecommerce startup Kit in order to build a merch service for creators in June. While Patreon and Memberful’s missions overlap, there is an important distinction: Patreon enables creators to foster subscription services on its own platform, while Memberful creates standalone, self-branded membership programs on the web.
In addition to website building, Memberful also provides customer service capabilities and allows for the integration of third-party tools like WordPress and MailChimp. Patreon differs in that it provides a sense of community with other creators, it says, and also handles all payment processing, chargebacks, refunds, and fraud prevention. Memberful enables creators to process payments on their own.
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Memberful will remain an independent entity post-acquisiton, and the user experience will not change, Patreon says — though Memberful’s current product roadmap will roll out at a faster pace. Patreon’s pricing tiers will also remain unchanged.
“Patreon is building a world class membership platform for creators who want independence,” product VP Wyatt Jenkins wrote in a company blog post. “Creators who are serious about their long-term creative career want to own the relationship with their fans, not relinquish control to platforms with ulterior motives to please advertisers. Together with Memberful, we are building technology that will empower creators to take control of their careers.”
