Patreon is where most creators start looking when they want fans to pay them directly. It works, but it is not the only option, and for ASMR it is not always the best fit. Here is how the main alternatives compare on the points that actually change your income.

What to compare, besides the headline fee

  • The platform fee, and whether it applies to every kind of sale.
  • Who pays the payment processing fee: you, or the buyer.
  • Which kinds of sale are supported: memberships, single paid videos, tips, custom requests.
  • What content is allowed, especially for audio that can be misread as suggestive.
  • Where payouts work, which is a different question from where fans can pay.

Patreon

Patreon is built around monthly memberships. Creators who joined after August 2025 pay a 10% platform fee on membership income, plus payment processing, currency conversion and payout fees. After all of those, many creators end up keeping somewhere around 80% to 85% of what fans pay.

It is strongest for creators with a large, established audience who want a well-known brand that fans already have accounts with. It is weaker for one-off sales, and its general-purpose design means ASMR is one category among thousands.

Ko-fi

Ko-fi started as a tip jar and grew into memberships, a shop and commissions. It charges 0% on one-off tips and 5% on memberships, shop sales, monthly tips and commissions on its free plan. The paid Gold plan removes that 5% for a fixed monthly fee, which only makes sense once your sales are steady. Payment processing is charged on top.

Ko-fi is simple and cheap for small creators, and many fans find tipping there easy. It offers fewer tools for organising an ASMR library, such as tiered access to specific videos.

YouTube channel memberships

Membership and Super Thanks keep your fans on YouTube, which is a real advantage: nobody has to create a new account. YouTube keeps 30% of the revenue, and app store fees can come off the top when fans pay inside the mobile apps. It opens at 500 subscribers.

The trade-off is control. Your paid content lives under the same rules, review systems and advertiser-friendly guidelines as the rest of your channel.

Adult subscription platforms

Some ASMR creators use platforms built for adult content because they allow more. These typically take around 20% of earnings. They also come with a reputation that can put off viewers and sponsors, and payment processing for adult platforms is more restrictive and expensive. For ASMR without nudity, that is a high price for rules you do not need.

ASMR-focused platforms

A platform built only for ASMR, such as VireliaVault, is designed around how ASMR audiences pay: memberships with tiers, single paid videos, tips and custom requests in one place. VireliaVault is 18+ without nudity, charges a 10% platform fee (lower during launch promotions), and adds the payment processing fee to the buyer's total rather than taking it from your share. Payouts currently work for creators in the EEA, the UK, Switzerland, Canada and the US.

The honest trade-off with any newer, specialised platform is audience size. Fans do not yet have accounts there, so you bring your audience with you from YouTube at the start.

How to choose

  • If your fans mainly want to say thank you, a tip jar is enough to begin.
  • If you have a large audience that already uses Patreon, the familiar brand may be worth the fee.
  • If you want to sell single videos and custom requests alongside memberships, choose a platform that supports all of them natively.
  • Check where payouts work before you build anything. Being able to accept payments is not the same as being able to receive them.

You do not have to pick only one. Many creators keep YouTube memberships for casual supporters and a separate platform for exclusive work. What matters is that your most loyal fans have a clear, easy way to pay you.