Is Cardel an alternative to Medium or Patreon?

Cardel is a home for your craft: a site of your own with a blog, newsletter, shop, community, and one inbox. It can replace Medium or Patreon when you want your work, audience, and sales in one place. The feature list on this page shows where Medium and Patreon are marked.

Can I use Cardel with Medium or Patreon?

Yes. Cardel pages can link out to other products, so you can keep Medium or Patreon for what it does best and bring the rest of your work to Cardel.

How much does Cardel cost compared with Medium and Patreon?

You don't pay for Cardel until you publish. Choose Starter, Pro, or Studio when your site goes live. Medium and Patreon set their own prices, so check their pricing pages on this page for current plans.

How do I switch from Medium or Patreon to Cardel?

Start with Build Your Site, set up your home, and bring your work over at your own pace. You do not have to move everything on day one.

Compare

MediumvsPatreon

Medium gives writers a built-in readership and Partner Program earnings without a site. Patreon lets fans fund you monthly for members-only posts, chats, and shop items.

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How Medium and Patreon compare

Medium is where a good essay can find readers on its own. The editor is calm, publications curate, the algorithm and topics surface work to members, and the Partner Program pays writers from member reading time. You bring words; Medium brings the audience and the distribution.

Patreon turned fans into patrons. Membership tiers, members-only posts, community chats, a shop for one-off items, and native podcast and video delivery give creators steady income from the people who care most. It is the default word for creator memberships, and the tools have grown up with it.

Where they are different

Medium

Medium owns the reader relationship.
Medium is one publication format.
Medium claps and responses stay on Medium.

Patreon

Patreon lives at patreon.com/yourname and gates most content.
Patreon takes a percentage of membership revenue.
Patreon messages patrons in-app.

Choose Medium when you want readers and modest earnings without owning a site or a list.

Choose Patreon when recurring fan support with tiers and members-only perks is the model.

Compare features

What's on Medium and Patreon

A check means that capability is available. Medium and Patreon are marked only when the offer is comparable, not the same product.

Public content

Blog
Medium: Included
Patreon: Not included
Reader engagement
Medium: Included
Patreon: Not included

Audience and email

Audience
Medium: Not included
Patreon: Included
Marketing emails
Medium: Not included
Patreon: Included

Commerce

Shop payments
Medium: Not included
Patreon: Included

Team

Admin users
Medium: Included
Patreon: Included
Per-admin permissions
Medium: Included
Patreon: Included

Feature comparison for Medium and Patreon
Feature	Medium	Patreon
Public content
Blog	Included	Not included
Reader engagement	Included	Not included
Audience and email
Audience	Not included	Included
Marketing emails	Not included	Included
Commerce
Shop payments	Not included	Included
Team
Admin users	Included	Included
Per-admin permissions	Included	Included

* Note: This table does not capture every feature of Medium or Patreon, and is not intended as a comprehensive list. We keep this page current, but Medium or Patreon may add or remove features that are not shown here.