Two platforms. One prize: the subscription revenue of the creator economy's most loyal and highest-value audiences. Patreon and Substack have been circling each other competitively since 2021, but 2026 is shaping up to be the year the competition becomes genuinely existential for one of them.
New data from subscription analytics firm Puck, shared exclusively with SocialSeconds, shows Substack's top 500 creators averaging $840,000 in annual subscription revenue — a figure that has grown 67% year-over-year. Patreon's top 500 creators average $620,000, with 28% growth over the same period. The gap, which barely existed two years ago, is now substantial and accelerating.
The Discovery Advantage
The key differentiator, according to most creators we spoke to, is discovery. Substack's recommendation engine — which allows established creators to recommend new voices to their subscriber bases — has become the most effective new-creator growth tool in the subscription content space. Creators who receive a Substack recommendation from an account with 100K+ subscribers report an average of 4,200 new subscribers within 48 hours.
"Patreon is a payment processor dressed up as a community," one creator with 190K Substack subscribers told us bluntly. "Substack actually tries to grow your audience. Patreon assumes you already have one."
Average annual revenue for Substack's top 500 creators