YouTube Membership Fee Calculator — Free

Last updated: October 23, 2026

Quick answer: YouTube takes 30% of channel membership revenue and you keep 70% — on the web. A $4.99 tier pays you $3.49 per member per month, and $24.99 pays $17.49. But members who join inside the iOS app pass through Apple's 30% commission first, then YouTube's 30% split, so you keep only 70% × 70% = 49%: $2.45 on that same $4.99 tier. This free YouTube membership fee calculator prices your real mix: enter up to three tier prices and member counts, set the share of members who join on iOS, and it shows the gross, YouTube's cut, your net per tier, the iOS drag, marked-up iOS prices that restore your 70%, and monthly and annual net — plus a Patreon side-by-side at the new-creator rate (10% + 2.9% + $0.30 per payment), so you can see which platform actually pays more at your tier prices. Everything runs in your browser; your numbers never leave your device.

Tier 1 price ($/month)

Tier 1 members

Tier 2 price ($/month)

Tier 2 members

Tier 3 price ($/month)

Tier 3 members

Share of members who join on iOS (%) — Apple takes 30% before YouTube's split

Rates for 2026: YouTube keeps 30% of membership revenue and the creator keeps 70% on web joins; memberships bought inside the iOS app pass through Apple's 30% commission first, so the creator keeps 70% × 70% = 49% of the list price. Marked-up iOS prices divide the list price by 0.70 (+42.86%) so the creator still nets 70% of list. Patreon comparison uses the new-creator rate from August 4, 2025: 10% platform fee + 2.9% + $0.30 per member payment; legacy creators on Pro (8%) or Lite (5%) keep more, and switching plans can reset legacy rates. Channel memberships require YouTube Partner Program membership and 1,000+ subscribers; US tier prices run $0.99–$499.99 on a fixed ladder, and a tier's price can change only once every 12 months. Taxes and any MCN share are not modelled here.

✓ Free forever · ✓ No signup · ✓ Tool inputs stay in your browser — never sent to our servers.

How to Use the YouTube Membership Fee Calculator

Enter your tier prices and member counts — up to three tiers. Leave a tier at 0 members if you don't run it. The defaults (500 × $4.99, 150 × $9.99, 40 × $24.99) are a realistic mid-size channel mix, not a promise.
Set the share of members who join on iOS (default 30%). This is the number most calculators skip, and it is the one that moves your net: every iOS member pays you 49% of list instead of 70% unless you mark the price up.
Press Calculate membership revenue. Read the per-tier rows first — gross, YouTube's cut, your net — then the totals: monthly gross, total platform fees, your net with iOS members absorbing the fee, and your net if iOS prices are marked up.
Check the marked-up iOS prices per tier: $4.99 becomes $7.13, $9.99 becomes $14.27, $24.99 becomes $35.70. That +42.86% is what fully offsets Apple's 30% — raising the price by 30% would still leave you short.
Compare the Patreon line at the bottom: same members, same prices, Patreon's 10% + 2.9% + $0.30. At low tier prices the $0.30 per payment bites; at higher tiers Patreon keeps clearly more. Price your tiers from the comparison, not from either platform's headline rate.

Why Use Our YouTube Membership Fee Calculator?

Three tiers, priced as a real channel — most membership calculators take one price and one member count. This one takes three tier prices × three member counts, because a channel's money lives in the mix: 500 members at $4.99 and 40 at $24.99 behave nothing alike.
The iOS drag, priced honestly — iOS joins are not a footnote: at a 30% iOS share, a $4,993.10 monthly gross nets $3,180.61 (63.7% kept) instead of the $3,495.17 (70%) the headline split suggests. The calculator shows both numbers so the gap is visible, not hidden.
Marked-up iOS prices that actually restore your 70% — dividing by 0.70 (+42.86%) is the correct offset for a 30% store commission; a +30% markup would still leave you at 63.7% of list on iOS joins. Per-tier marked-up prices are shown next to each tier.
Patreon side-by-side on the same members — the same 690 members at the default mix net $4,143.80 on Patreon's new-creator rate versus $3,180.61 on YouTube with iOS absorption — a $963.19/month gap that reverses only on the cheapest tiers joined on the web, where Patreon's $0.30 per payment outweighs its lower percentage.
Monthly and annual net, not just a monthly headline — $3,180.61/month is $38,167.32/year with iOS absorption, and $3,495.17/month is $41,942.04/year marked up. Annualising makes the iOS decision a four-figure decision, which is what it is.
100% in your browser — your tier prices and member counts never leave your device; no signup, no account.

Common Use Cases

A gaming channel with 690 members across three tiers: 500 members at $4.99, 150 at $9.99, 40 at $24.99, with 30% joining on iOS: gross is $4,993.10/month, platform fees total $1,812.49, and you net $3,180.61/month — $38,167.32/year. Mark iOS prices up by 42.86% and the same members net $3,495.17/month, or $41,942.04/year: the markup decision alone is worth $3,774.72 a year at this size.
Deciding whether to push members to Patreon: Run the same 690 members through the Patreon line: $4,143.80/month net at the new-creator rate, $963.19/month more than YouTube with iOS absorption. If your audience already finds you through YouTube and joins there, the funnel may still favour YouTube — but the fee gap is the price of that funnel, and it should be priced as a marketing cost, not ignored.
Setting a new top tier: A $49.99 top tier pays $34.99 on the web and $24.50 on iOS unmarked, or $71.41 marked up to preserve $34.99. Before launching it, check the Patreon line at that price: Patreon keeps 12.9% + $0.30 = $6.75 on $49.99, so a $49.99 member is worth $43.24 on Patreon versus $34.99 on YouTube web. Price the tier from the net, not the sticker.

YouTube Membership Fee Calculator vs Alternatives

The membership income calculator at youtube.emtiaztools.com: A clean single-scenario calculator: one price, one member count, one platform fee, with the 30% cut stated and Patreon's 5–12% range noted. What it cannot do: three tiers at once, the iOS 49% case, marked-up iOS prices, or a Patreon side-by-side computed on your members. Use it to sanity-check one tier; use this page for the channel's real mix.
The YouTube membership calculator at streamweasels.com: The oldest dedicated option in the results (about 650 days stale), with three fixed tiers ($4.99/$9.99/$24.99) and the 70/30 split. Its tier prices are fixed, it has no iOS handling, no annual projection, and no Patreon comparison. It answers 'what do the standard tiers pay'; this page answers 'what does my mix pay, and what does the other platform pay'.
The per-fan calculator at callculator.cc: A different question entirely: revenue per fan across your whole audience, with refund rate and tracked fan base. Useful for comparing monetisation efficiency between channels or periods. It does not price tier mixes, iOS joins, or platform alternatives — pair it with this page if you want both the per-fan view and the per-member net.

Emtiaztools will check one tier's 30% cut, and streamweasels will price the three standard tiers on the web. For the number a channel actually plans on — the tier mix, the iOS drag, the marked-up prices that restore your 70%, the annual net, and the Patreon side-by-side on the same members — this page gives the whole picture in one calculation, free and private.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does YouTube take from channel memberships?

YouTube keeps 30% and the creator keeps 70% of membership revenue on web joins: $4.99 pays $3.49, $9.99 pays $6.99, $24.99 pays $17.49. YouTube absorbs payment processing, so there is no separate card fee on top. Creators represented by a multi-channel network may receive less than 70% after the network's share.

Why do iOS members pay me less?

Because Apple's 30% commission comes out first: a membership bought inside the iOS app passes through Apple's cut, and YouTube's 30% split is then calculated on the remaining 70%. You keep 70% × 70% = 49% of the list price — $2.45 on a $4.99 tier, $12.25 on a $24.99 tier. Android and web joins are not affected this way. To keep 70% of list on iOS joins, the price must be marked up by 1 ÷ (1 − 30%) = 42.86%, not 30%.

Is YouTube membership better than Patreon?

On rate alone, no — except at the cheapest tiers. Patreon's new-creator rate is 10% + 2.9% + $0.30 per payment, roughly 13–14% at typical prices, against YouTube's 30% (51% effective loss on iOS joins). At the default mix (500 × $4.99, 150 × $9.99, 40 × $24.99), Patreon nets $4,143.80/month versus YouTube's $3,180.61 with iOS absorption. YouTube wins only where Patreon's $0.30 per payment dominates — the $0.99 tier joined on the web — and where its discovery funnel brings members Patreon never would. Compare on your actual tier mix, not the headline rates.

What do I need to enable channel memberships?

YouTube Partner Program membership and at least 1,000 subscribers, plus policy compliance. In the US, tier prices run on a fixed ladder from $0.99 to $499.99 per month, and a tier's price can change only once every 12 months — existing members keep the rate they joined at, so price changes reach new members only. Deleting a tier removes and refunds every member at that tier.

Do memberships pay better than ads?

Per dollar of fan spending, yes: you keep 70% of a membership dollar versus 55% of an ad dollar (45% to YouTube on long-form watch-page ads, 45% of the Shorts pool). The bigger difference is stability — membership income recurs monthly from the same people, while ad income swings with views, seasonality, and advertiser demand. That is why the calculator annualises: recurring revenue is a planning number, not a monthly headline.