Patreon is overhauling the algorithm behind its creator discovery feed, moving away from a system that recommended creators based on audience overlap and toward one that compares individual posts to each other. The change, outlined by CEO Jack Conte in a new roadmap, is designed to correct a bias in the platform’s recommendations that favored creators who already had large followings.

Under the previous system, Patreon’s discovery tools worked by finding creators similar to ones a fan already supported. Conte wrote that this approach “tended to favor larger creators by definition,” since the comparison ran creator-to-creator rather than post-to-post. The reworked algorithm instead evaluates a post’s topic, style, craft and themes independent of who made it or how many members that creator has.

The update responds to a problem Patreon says shows up clearly in its own data: while the platform’s broader discovery push, including a Home feed, public posts and short-form Quips, has delivered 1.5 million new free and paid members to creators monthly, and pushed new memberships originating from the feed up fivefold since an April launch, smaller creators have not benefited from the gains at the same rate. “The lack of discovery you’re seeing right now is not your fault. It’s ours,” Conte wrote, addressing smaller creators directly. Separately, Patreon said creators who publish free public posts, used as an on-ramp to paid membership, grow their paid memberships 25% to 30% more than similar creators who don’t.

The algorithm change is part of a wider roadmap of more than 30 features Patreon is testing or building, including Niches, topic-based community spaces the company compares to subreddits, and expanded livestreaming and payments tools. Conte cautioned that not everything on the list will ship in its current form, since the rollout depends on creator and fan feedback as features move through testing.

The recommendation overhaul lands a month after Patreon cut 20% of its staff in July, a reduction Conte attributed in part to AI reshaping how the company operates internally, while maintaining that the cuts were not driven by a belief that “AI replaces humans.” The discovery changes are being framed as a counterpoint to that tension: Conte has positioned the roadmap broadly as an attempt to build what he calls a healthier alternative to feed-driven social media, arguing in the post that “the current version of the web is a failed promise for creators and fandoms.”

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