Ask HN: Paid app to free and Patreon? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Paid app to free and Patreon?

#31

Post by humanetech » Fri, Nov 02, 2018, 1:30 PM UTC

conta wrote: post #9

I have an open-source app called stretchly ( https://github.com/hovancik/stretchly ) and I allow people to support it via paypal or patreon. I ask people to support me by becoming my patron on Patreon as Menu item. Right now it brings me 11$/month ( https://www.patreon.com/hovancik ) and it goes up and down. I could do better by engaging more with people, I guess (in past some people donated when I fixed their issue…

Nice project, conta! I just added it to awesome-humane-tech [0] in the Health section.

[0] https://github.com/engagingspaces/awesome-humane-tech

Re: Ask HN: Paid app to free and Patreon?

#32

Post by dharmab » Fri, Nov 02, 2018, 1:38 PM UTC

dangoor wrote: post #30

drieddust wrote: post #29

Derek Banas produces high quality educational videos[1] and he is not able to meet a modest goal of $500 per month on Patreon[2]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwRXb5dUK4cvsHbx-rGzSgw [2] https://www.patreon.com/derekbanas This is just one data point but seems like when people have an option of not to pay, they won't pay.

Meanwhile, CGP Grey gets $19k+ every time he posts a video (though that's become pretty rare!) https://www.patreon.com/cgpgrey (Edit: I should note that I'm sure that Patreon has the same sort of long tail that everything else does... unless one is doing something unique and notable and gets discovered, Patreon is likely to produce little revenue, just like other revenue sources)

Grey also has other revenue streams- Ad revenue from YouTube, YouTube Red, podcast sponsorships, a merch store and some sort of office job related to media consulting. He's not all-in on Patreon.

Re: Ask HN: Paid app to free and Patreon?

#33

Post by jowsie » Fri, Nov 02, 2018, 1:38 PM UTC

drieddust wrote: post #29

Derek Banas produces high quality educational videos[1] and he is not able to meet a modest goal of $500 per month on Patreon[2]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwRXb5dUK4cvsHbx-rGzSgw [2] https://www.patreon.com/derekbanas This is just one data point but seems like when people have an option of not to pay, they won't pay.

Whereas AvE has been so successful on Patreon that he just bought a 5 axis CNC Mill[1]. He does let you watch the videos a week early if you're a Patron though.

Another YouTuber in the same kind of section, This Old Tony, announced he'd start a Patreon a week or so ago, and is already over 1000 Patrons[2]. He is offering no benefit other than supporting the videos he was already making.

These are just the 2 more recent ones that come to mind, but there are a lot of YouTubers making a living from Patreon without sacrificing what the 'non-paying' viewers get.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4c4BqhhJW4

[2] https://www.patreon.com/thisoldtony

Re: Ask HN: Paid app to free and Patreon?

#34

Post by rofo1 » Fri, Nov 02, 2018, 1:38 PM UTC

jesterjester wrote: post #5

I wonder if there is an app that handles the "VC" side like gofundme but for software startup funding? Patreon takes a huge chunk of money, so might not be ideal for this.

Patreon takes 5% according to https://support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles/204606125-How-...

I don't think 5% is unreasonable for what they offer. It seems fitting.

Re: Ask HN: Paid app to free and Patreon?

#35

Post by nprz » Fri, Nov 02, 2018, 1:41 PM UTC

I'm always confused why a dev would use Patreon. Wouldn't it be a fairly simple task to set up your own website/blog with a donation feature and keep 100% of the donations?

Re: Ask HN: Paid app to free and Patreon?

#36

Post by JeremyBanks » Fri, Nov 02, 2018, 1:45 PM UTC

nprz wrote: post #35

I'm always confused why a dev would use Patreon. Wouldn't it be a fairly simple task to set up your own website/blog with a donation feature and keep 100% of the donations?

I don’t donate to those. Almost nobody does. I donate when it’s through a trusted service like Patreon. Many creators have observed this when they moved over.

Re: Ask HN: Paid app to free and Patreon?

#37

Post by chime » Fri, Nov 02, 2018, 1:47 PM UTC

nprz wrote: post #35

I'm always confused why a dev would use Patreon. Wouldn't it be a fairly simple task to set up your own website/blog with a donation feature and keep 100% of the donations?

Network effect. I already have a Patreon account hooked up with my payment info. I subscribe to 10-12 different people I like. Adding one more is trivial. Signing up for a whole new service with payment info for a single content creator is a lot of commitment.

Re: Ask HN: Paid app to free and Patreon?

#38

Post by m11a » Fri, Nov 02, 2018, 1:51 PM UTC

chime wrote: post #37

nprz wrote: post #35

I'm always confused why a dev would use Patreon. Wouldn't it be a fairly simple task to set up your own website/blog with a donation feature and keep 100% of the donations?

Network effect. I already have a Patreon account hooked up with my payment info. I subscribe to 10-12 different people I like. Adding one more is trivial. Signing up for a whole new service with payment info for a single content creator is a lot of commitment.

What about if you use PayPal or something, and it isn't a website?

You're linked to say, www.chime.com/subscribe, which sets up a payment on PayPal via the API and redirects the user to authorise under the hood. You login with your PayPal account (same as entering Patreon credentials on Patreon), confirm, and you're redirected to a simple thanks page.

You can then manage your subscription via PayPal, as you can with all others, and it's one less interface, even. Instead of managing Patreon vs. non-Patreon, you're managing everything from PayPal.

Additionally, it's likely that anyone using Pateron also has a PayPal account.

Such a software is, of course, trivial to make, and could be open-sourced. Here, you keep 100% of income (- tax etc.)

Re: Ask HN: Paid app to free and Patreon?

#39

Post by madshiva » Fri, Nov 02, 2018, 1:58 PM UTC

vbsteven wrote: post #15

ohadron wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Evan You makes 180k/year just from Patreon, excluding additional gigs such as speaking at conferences. ( https://www.patreon.com/evanyou/overview ) Some more about his business model: https://blog.patreon.com/vue-js-creator-evan-you

Yes, and it took him 2 years as the developer of one of the biggest JS frameworks with thousands of users to reach that level. And even then, over 80% of his Patreon comes from 3 backers at 2000/mo and 18 backers at 500/mo. I assume those are all companies. The revenue he has from individual users is peanuts.

And I don't understand why a bunch of guy that show computer with no basket and many stickers can sell things.

Re: Ask HN: Paid app to free and Patreon?

#40

Post by walterbell » Fri, Nov 02, 2018, 2:15 PM UTC

jowsie wrote: post #33

drieddust wrote: post #29

Derek Banas produces high quality educational videos[1] and he is not able to meet a modest goal of $500 per month on Patreon[2]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwRXb5dUK4cvsHbx-rGzSgw [2] https://www.patreon.com/derekbanas This is just one data point but seems like when people have an option of not to pay, they won't pay.

Whereas AvE has been so successful on Patreon that he just bought a 5 axis CNC Mill[1]. He does let you watch the videos a week early if you're a Patron though. Another YouTuber in the same kind of section, This Old Tony, announced he'd start a Patreon a week or so ago, and is already over 1000 Patrons[2]. He is offering no benefit other than supporting the videos he was already making. These are just the 2 more rece…

How do people manage access control for videos? Self-hosting for patrons then public on youtube?