How to switch from Patreon to Heartbeat
Members, tiers and content, step by step.
Updated
Patreon processes your members’ payments itself, so there are no subscriptions to carry across. Your paying members re-subscribe through a Heartbeat offer, and a promo code can make sure nobody pays twice for the same month.
What you can take is your list. Patreon exports your members’ email addresses, except for fans who turned off email sharing. Patreon’s rules forbid leading members from Patreon to other websites, so you announce the move by email and on your own channels, not in Patreon posts or messages (Patreon’s policy).
What moves
| What | How it moves |
|---|---|
| Member emails | CSV export from Creator studio > Audience. Fans who turned off email sharing aren’t in it. |
| Paying members | Re-subscribe through your Heartbeat offer. A promo code can cover the month they already paid. |
| Tiers | Become offers, or the tiers of one multi-tier offer. |
| Posts and collections | Not imported. Pulse rebuilds your best ones as courses and documents. |
| Videos | Upload your original files or embed them. |
| Chats and Discord roles | Become channels and access groups. |
Before you start
Step by step
Create your Heartbeat community
Start building, then connect payments, which sets up the Heartbeat Stripe account your members will move into. Leave Patreon running while you set up. Nothing on this page changes anything there until you cancel.
Turn your tiers into offers
Create an offer for each Patreon tier, or one multi-tier offer if members move between levels. Add a free tier if you have free members. Keep the same prices so the move feels like a change of address, not a price change. Pulse can create the offers from a description of your tiers.
Rebuild your best content
Make a channel for each chat space and an access group for each tier with its own content. Then hand Pulse your most-read posts and collections and ask it to turn them into a course or documents. Upload your original video files or embed them (video embeds).
Export your members
In Patreon, go to Creator studio > Audience to open the Relationship manager. Filter to the members you want (for example Paid and Active), pick the columns, and download the CSV (Patreon’s guide). Fans share their email with creators by default but can turn it off, so a few rows may have no address (Patreon’s guide).
Cover the month they already paid
Your members have already paid Patreon for the current period. Create a promo code that discounts their first payment and add it to the signup link, so the move doesn’t cost anyone twice.
Create your signup link
Go to Settings > People > Sign Up Links and create the link your members will use. Attach a free access group, or an offer if they pay to join. Anyone who signs up through it lands in the right place.
Email your members
Email your exported list from your own email tool: why you’re moving, what members get, the signup link, and the date your Patreon closes. Share it on your public social accounts too. Don’t post the link on Patreon or send it in Patreon messages. Patreon’s off-platform policy prohibits leading people from Patreon to other websites and asking for their contact details (Patreon’s policy). Patreon does recommend a public post saying your page is closing and when, which also reaches fans who hid their email.
Unpublish your Patreon page
When your members have moved, withdraw your remaining balance and download your payout history. Then go to Settings > Plan details, scroll down and choose Unpublish your creator page. Memberships pause, new members can’t join, and your work stays in your account (Patreon’s guide). Unpublish rather than delete: deleting erases everything and can’t be undone.
Sources
What we checked about Patreon, where, and when. Heartbeat steps come from our Help Center and the product itself.
| Claim | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| Fans pay Patreon, which processes the payments and pays creators out of a Patreon balance | support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles/15458893135501-How-payments-reach-you | October 7, 2026 |
| Member emails export as a CSV from Creator studio > Audience (Relationship manager) | support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles/34784011795469-Exporting-your-audience-s-emails-from-Patreon | October 7, 2026 |
| Email sharing with creators is on by default and fans can turn it off | support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles/36648022799117-Fan-email-sharing-with-creators | October 7, 2026 |
| Leading people from Patreon to third-party websites and requesting contact details are prohibited | support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles/35092255980173-Guidance-around-our-off-Patreon-activity-policy | October 7, 2026 |
| Unpublishing pauses web and Android memberships, cancels iOS in-app ones without automatic refunds, keeps existing work; Patreon recommends a public post and notifying annual members first | support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles/115004487843-Stop-accepting-new-members-by-unpublishing-your-page | October 7, 2026 |
| Members cancel from Settings > Memberships | support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles/360005502572-Canceling-a-paid-membership | October 7, 2026 |
Can I move my Patreon subscriptions without members re-subscribing?
No. Patreon processes the payments and holds the payment details, so there is nothing to import. Members join your Heartbeat offer through your signup link. Most creators keep the same prices and add a promo code for the first payment.
Will my members be charged twice?
Not if you cover the overlap and close Patreon on time. A promo code on the first payment covers the month they already paid Patreon, and unpublishing your page pauses everyone still billed there. Members can also cancel their own Patreon membership from their Patreon settings.
What about members who hid their email?
They won’t be in your export. A public post on Patreon saying your page is closing and when, plus your announcements on social media, is how they hear about it.
What about annual members?
Patreon recommends telling members on annual plans before you unpublish. Give them the months they have left with a promo code that lasts that many months, so they don’t pay again for time they already bought.
Can I bring my Patreon posts?
Not automatically. Pick the posts and collections members still come back to and have Pulse rebuild them as a course or documents. Unpublishing your Patreon page keeps your existing work in your account, so you can copy from it later.
Does Heartbeat charge for the migration?
No. The subscription importer and migration support are free on every plan. On the Scale plan, a dedicated onboarding rep runs the whole migration with you.