Patreon is launching new on-platform discovery features designed to help creators grow their audiences directly within its ecosystem, CEO Jack Conte announced in a video update to the platform’s creator community. The initiative represents a strategic pivot for the company, which has traditionally focused on facilitating payments between creators and fans whose relationships were built elsewhere.

New Discovery Ecosystem Enters Testing Phase

The suite of new features, currently in testing with several hundred creators, includes an updated home feed, new post types designed for discovery, and enhanced recommendation systems. These tools aim to address what Conte describes as a significant “pain point” for creators: the need to promote their work on social media platforms to attract new subscribers.

“Unlike social platforms built to capture fans’ attention for advertiser dollars, our new discovery experience is designed to help creators thrive independently of social media platforms that don’t prioritize their businesses,” the company stated in its announcement.

Early testing shows promising results, with participating creators reportedly seeing a 50% month-over-month growth in memberships during the beta period. The full rollout of these features is scheduled for 2026, though Patreon has opened a waitlist for creators interested in early access.

Quips: Lightweight Content for Broader Reach

Central to the discovery strategy is “Quips,” a new post type allowing creators to share short, free content with both existing members and potential fans across the Patreon network. Available exclusively through the Patreon mobile app, Quips can include text, images, or videos up to two minutes in length.

“Quips are lightweight, public posts that appear in the home feed for existing and potential fans. They’re perfect for sharing quick updates, behind-the-scenes content, or snippets from your paid work,” according to Patreon’s documentation.

Unlike standard posts, Quips are always public by default and designed specifically for discoverability. The company recommends creators use Quips for commentary on topics in their niche, behind-the-scenes glimpses of their creative process, quick tutorials, or previews of paid content.

Collaboration Tools for Cross-Promotion

The update also introduces “Collaboration Posts,” allowing creators to co-author content and reach each other’s audiences. Available only on the web version of Patreon, these posts appear on both collaborators’ feeds with both names in the byline.

“Collaboration posts are made to help you grow your audience on Patreon seamlessly by introducing yourself to an entirely new set of fans,” the company explains. A host creator can invite collaborators by selecting their Patreon profiles from a dropdown menu, although during the early access phase, collaborations are limited to creators who have access to the feature and can only be created for public, non-monetized content.

When added as a collaborator, creators receive a notification and can control whether to notify their members about the post. They also retain the ability to remove themselves from a collaboration if needed.

Enhanced Recommendation System

Building on last year’s launch of creator recommendations, Patreon is enhancing how creators can discover and be discovered on the platform. The updated recommendation system combines editorial curation, human recommendations, and algorithmic suggestions.

Creators can recommend other creators to their members through a dedicated “Recommendations” tab on their profile. These recommendations appear on the Creator Home page and are shown to both free and paid members, as well as in post-checkout flows and email notifications.

“We promote content from creators that fans already follow, followed by a thoughtful mix of editorial, human, and algorithmic recommendations,” Patreon stated. “Fans will now see new creators they might love based on real audience overlaps and creator-to-creator connections.”

Platform and Market Context

This update reflects Patreon’s ongoing development from a payment facilitator to a comprehensive creator platform. The company recently announced it had surpassed $10 billion in creator payments since its founding in 2013, with more than $2 billion now flowing to creators annually on the platform.

Patreon supports over 25 million paid memberships and 300,000 creators, plus an additional 100 million free memberships. In 2023, the company expanded beyond paid subscriptions to allow creators to offer free memberships, resulting in more than 700,000 members converting from free tiers to paid monthly.

According to a recent Epidemic Sound report, 95% of full-time and part-time creators now engage audiences through direct-to-fan models, with 27% relying on fan subscriptions via platforms like Patreon for revenue. The same report notes that 29% of creators surveyed highlight platform diversification as a strategy to manage platform volatility.

Checkout Our Latest Podcast