How to Create a Patreon Alternative on WordPress

The creator economy is booming with $156.37 billion in 2024 and projected to reach $528.39 billion by 2030. Many creators rely on platforms like Patreon to monetize their content, but fees and limited control often push them to seek alternatives.

Creating a Patreon alternative on WordPress lets you own your platform, keep more of your earnings, and build deeper connections with your audience. WordPress powers over 43% of the web and, combined with plugins like FluentCommunity, it offers an all-in-one solution for fan subscriptions, exclusive content, and community engagement.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to set up a professional, fully customizable fansite on WordPress that rivals Patreon, giving you freedom, flexibility, and direct access to your supporters.

Why should you build your fan subscription site on WordPress?

A fan subscription site lets your most loyal supporters sign up for exclusive content, interact with you, and become part of a private community, all while you earn recurring income. With FluentCommunity for WordPress, you can create this space directly on your website. That means you:

• Keep full control over your content and audience
• Avoid hefty platform fees from sites like Patreon
• Customize everything to match your brand and style

Your WordPress-powered fan community could include:

• Members-only posts, videos, and podcasts
• Private discussion spaces where fans connect
• Live chats and Q&As
• Courses or tutorials related to your expertise

Public platforms might bring visibility, but they also limit your ownership. With FluentCommunity, your entire community lives on your site, powered by WordPress, secured by you, and built to grow with your audience.

How to start a fansite like Patreon in WordPress

Creating a dedicated fansite that mirrors the style and functionality of Patreon is a compelling way to connect with supporters, monetize your content, and build a vibrant community.

WordPress offers a versatile foundation, and FluentCommunity takes it a step further by integrating all the features you need. With user-friendly settings, flexible membership options, and smooth payment opportunities, FluentCommunity lets beginners launch a successful fansite. Whether you’re a blogger, artist, or educator, the possibilities for engagement are endless.

Firstly, you need to set up your WordPress website. Pick a reliable hosting provider and follow their instructions to install WordPress.

Once your site is live, you can focus on making it look professional by selecting a theme that resonates with your brand. Many themes offer built-in customization options, so you can experiment with colors, layouts, and fonts. This step is crucial for creating a welcoming environment where your future members will feel at home.

Next, install the FluentCommunity plugin. Visit the Plugins menu in your WordPress dashboard, click “Add New,” and type “FluentCommunity” into the search bar. After installing and activating the plugin, you can explore its configuration settings in the dashboard.

FluentCommunity centralizes the process of setting up user registrations and subscription tiers in Portal Settings. As seen “Login/Signup Form Type” and “Login / Registration URLs areas shown in the screenshot, you can create multiple membership levels and customize the benefits to each tier, or, if you prefer, keep a single tier to simplify the user experience.

This flexibility effectively replicates Patreon’s structure, letting you offer exclusive perks or behind-the-scenes content to different groups of supporters. By enabling user registration via FluentCommunity’s Signup Form, you simplify the path for new members to join, ensuring an accessible and engaging fansite.

After setting up the portal, start curating exclusive content for each level. You might offer behind-the-scenes videos, high-resolution artwork, early access to blog posts, or bonus podcasts. 

You can customize the content restrictions with FluentCommunity. So that only paid members can view certain posts or pages.

Space Privacy Settings: FluentCommunity lets you configure spaces (i.e., groups or areas within your community) with different visibility levels, Public, Private, and Secret. You can control who sees and accesses content in each space.

Monetization of Private Spaces or Courses: You can monetize these private spaces or courses, enabling you to charge users for access.

Member Management & Access: The plugin allows you to manage members based on space privacy. For Private spaces, users can request access, and admins approve it. Secret spaces require direct invitation

Furthermore, FluentCommunity is packed with robust community-building tools. You can enable private forums, group discussions, or even direct messaging among members. Besides, it offers:

Direct messaging: Built-in private messaging helps members to send private messages to one another.

Activity feeds and posts: Members can post updates, comment, react, and engage in discussion threads through a dynamic feed.

Moderation and role control: Administrators and moderators can manage content, approve users, assign roles, and moderate discussions to ensure respectful and constructive interactions.

Engagement tools: Leaderboards, polls, surveys, hashtags, mentions, notifications, and reactions all help build interactivity and a sense of belonging.

This collaborative environment transforms your fansite into a vibrant community where supporters can connect with you and one another. You can moderate these spaces easily, confirming that the conversation remains respectful and constructive. By offering exclusive ways for fans to interact, you build loyalty and a sense of belonging, which can be crucial in maintaining long-term subscriptions.

In addition, if you want to set up a reliable payment gateway. FluentCommunity integrates with  Fluent Forms and Paymattic, which collects payments with Stripe and PayPal smoothly.

Implementing a smooth subscription process builds trust and encourages more people to join. You can customize payment intervals, offering monthly or yearly plans to suit different preferences. Make sure to display clear pricing details so potential supporters know exactly what they get and when payments will occur.

Once your fansite is operational, consider marketing strategies to spread the word. Social media platforms are a great place to share teasers of exclusive content and invite followers to join. Creating a dedicated email list can also help you maintain direct contact with your fans, reminding them about new releases or offering special deals. 

One more amazing fact is that FluentCommunity is integrated with FluentCRM, which allows you to set up automated email campaigns and workflows targeted by member activity or “tiers,” such as space memberships or course enrollments. Triggers like joining a space or completing a course can initiate tailored automated sequences or campaigns.

Using this integration, you can nurture connections via automated touchpoints like welcome messages, milestone celebrations, or re-engagement reminders based on community actions. This helps reinforce relationships and retention.

In short, starting a fansite like Patreon in WordPress with FluentCommunity is not just possible, it’s surprisingly simple. Install WordPress, activate FluentCommunity, set up your payment forms, and start posting your exclusive content within a short time, and you’ll have your own branded fan platform that you own and control.

Conclusion

Building a Patreon alternative on WordPress with tools like FluentCommunity lets creators take full control of their content, audience, and revenue. By owning your platform, you avoid high fees and platform restrictions while customizing the experience to match your unique brand.

With flexible membership options, seamless payment integrations, and powerful community-building features, WordPress offers everything you need to nurture a loyal fanbase and grow your income sustainably. Whether you’re just starting or ready to upgrade from existing platforms, creating your fansite puts you in the driver’s seat, connecting directly with supporters and building lasting relationships. So, take advantage of WordPress and FluentCommunity today to transform your creative passion into a thriving, independent business.