The creator economy has been on an absolute tear ever since the pandemic, with platforms like Patreon and OnlyFans reaching millions of users across the globe and helping support a multi-billion dollar ecosystem on its own.
While some platforms, such as OnlyFans, predominantly cater to adult content creators and consumers, there have been several copycats in recent years that distinguished themselves by promoting only ‘Safe For Work’ content. One such platform that’s since gained a lot of momentum is Passes (previously known as Fanhouse). It prides itself on its ‘creator first’ ethos, being made ‘by creators, for creators.’
So, how exactly does this little-known yet powerful platform compare against the likes of Patreon? Keep reading to find out.
What is Passes?
At its core, Passes is like a concession stand for social media content creators, allowing them to monetize their massive fanbases across platforms by offering exclusive content, customized experiences, downloads, direct contacts, and more, often in return for a recurring subscription or a tip.
This caters to creators from all walks of life, whether it is gamers on Twitch, philosophers on Twitter, faceless channels on YouTube, or investment analysts on Substack.
It doesn’t matter if you have a few 100 followers or tens of thousands—if people are interested in what you have to say, chances are, they are willing to pay for more of it in a more intimate environment, such as a private group or community.
Passes is essentially a platform that makes it easy for anyone to set up such a community, with a range of different customizations and options to make the most of your fans and audiences.
While it’s not as popular as Patreon or OnlyFans, the fact that it stays clear of ‘NSFW Content’ makes it perfect for creators who don’t want to be associated with a platform known for its adult content.
What is Passes used for?
Passes allows creators and power users on social media platforms with over 100,000 fans to develop deeper relationships with their fans and audiences in more close-knit communities.
In some ways, it is like the gift store at a museum or a backstage pass at a music festival that allows you to enter restricted areas and interact with/take selfies with the artists. But it can also be so much more, especially for creators who put in the effort to create truly special experiences for paying fans.
Generally, social media platforms aren’t cut out for intimate one-on-one convos with top creators. Your YouTube video might get 100s or even 1,000s of comments, but for truly avid fans with substance to offer, a community on Passes (or something similar, like Whop) can be a great hangout, where they can communicate with you directly.
You can listen to their views, take their feedback, ask for suggestions, and so much more. Apart from this, creators can offer exclusive content available only to paying subscribers, creating additional value, and more incentives for users to subscribe.
The thing about Passes is that it makes all of this rather simple. You can set up your community with extensive functionality and customization options to truly make it your own rather seamlessly and without technical skills.
How do creators use passes?
Passes offers a powerful set of features that allow creators to seamlessly engage with their audiences, while also monetizing and generating revenue from various add-on services. Here’s a quick breakdown of each of them and how they work.
💵Premium memberships
Memberships remain central to Passes, allowing fans to gain access to the inner circle of their favorite creators, YouTube channels, and influencers for a small monthly fee.
This is quite similar to services such as Patreon, but Passes goes a step further with tiered memberships, lifetime memberships, limited edition offers, trials, promos, and more.
American artistic gymnast, Livvy Dunne (as seen above) is successfully using Passes to monetize her 10 million+ social media following by charging for access to exclusive content, along with the ability to send her direct messages and more.
📬Paid DMs
Passes allows creators to charge their fans for direct access to their inboxes. This is a fantastic option to let avid fans reach out without getting drowned under 100s of messages every day, while also offering a neat way to earn some money.
🛒Store/marketplace
Creators also have the option to sell products, services, and merchandise using Passes—another great monetization strategy. The platform makes it remarkably easy to set up and manage your stores, alongside extensive customization options.
🎥Livestreaming
You can connect with your fans via livestreams on the platform, which can either be offered for free, for a one-time fee, or a pay-per-minute plan. This is great for holding live coaching sessions, webinars, and workshops.
🤙One-on-one calls
The same can be done at a much more individual level, with one-on-one calls with a select few fans and members. This again can be done for free, on a flat-fee basis, or pay-per-minute.
This is a great way to offer coaching and mentorship programs for your fans, addressing their concerns and guiding them more personally.
👬Group chat
There are few better ways to build and engage with your community than via group chats where you can discuss your content, inform your fans about new ideas or products, and share common interests. The group chat option at Passes is surprisingly powerful, allowing for a seamless experience.
✅Other powerful features
Beyond these monetization options to unlock value from your large social media followings, Passes comes with a string of powerful features to help run your concession stand with a great deal of efficiency.
This includes:
- Screenshot-blocking technology built into the platform prevents your content from being stolen and ensures it is exclusively available to paying members.
- A powerful analytics solution allows you to track engagement on each and every post or message you send to fans.
- Scheduling features send out mass DMs with unique variables alongside queuing options, to keep content regularly stocked for your fans and followers.
- A Smart Vault feature lets you repurpose and organize your content on the platform, getting the most mileage out of it.
What type of content is allowed on Passes?
Passes makes it a point to steer clear of any similarities with platforms like OnlyFans, and as such, maintains a strict ban on NSFW content. Aside from this, pretty much all other topics and niches under the sun are permitted on the site.
Still, NSFW content could be permitted in certain cases, provided it is not explicit, but there isn’t a lot of clarity on their moderation in this regard. Pretty much everything that is uploaded onto the platform is run through their nudity detection system.
When it comes to forms of content, the platform readily works with pretty much everything, from videos, courses, ebooks, and other types of downloads, to articles, podcasts, and webinars.
Understanding the Passes fee structure
One of the platform’s biggest selling points is its relatively low commission and fee structure, at just 10% plus $0.30 on each transaction. This is substantially lower compared to Fanfix at 20% and Patreon at 8% to 12% plus a few hidden charges.
Its fee structure was a tad more complicated when it was still called Fanhouse, where it was forced to levy a 50% surcharge on all transactions on its iOS app, after a failed attempt to push back at Apple’s notorious fees.
The platform, however, worked around this problem by asking users to avoid making payments via the iOS app and recommended going through its website instead, but not before the founder went on an infamous rant on Twitter, bringing much-needed attention to Apple’s exploitative business practices.
Since merging with Passes, however, there doesn’t seem to be an iOS app, either for fans or creators, which in hindsight, is certainly not a bad decision. So, like its predecessor, Passes continues to deliver 90% of fan payments directly to creators, maximizing value for the entire ecosystem.
Is it easy to make money with Passes?
Passes, like any other platform that helps creators, is essentially a tool that makes it easy to monetize social media audiences, with tons of features and options to unlock value from your landed base of fans, followers, and subscribers.
Making money with Passes is entirely possible, but of course, it all comes down to the quality of content you create and how well you engage and captivate your audience.
If you already have a sizable following, however, Passes or a similar platform can make it easy for you to monetize it by building a robust community, without needing any technical know-how or involving an extensive learning curve.
In some ways, a platform like Passes or Whop can be the difference between a side hustle earning you just a few hundred dollars a month and a fully fledged business generating a life-changing income.
Fanhouse acquisition & current status
Fanhouse used to be a separate platform for creators, which was recently acquired and absorbed right into the relatively new platform Passes. How this merger was handled caused a lot of confusion among fans and creators, but things have settled down now.
Since the merger with Passes, things have seemingly gotten a lot better for creators as well as the broader community, given the platform’s extensive features and endless resources. It comes with many functionalities that the Fanhouse platform missed and thus is a change for the better.
A great new addition with Passes is the in-built CRM solution that makes it easy for creators to build and maintain relationships with fans, while also contacting and tailoring content specifically to big spenders.
Where else can creators monetize their content?
Globally, there are now an estimated 50 million people who consider themselves content creators, and thus there have been a string of new platforms and services aimed at catering to this new breed of entrepreneurs.
Many of these are run-of-the-mill shops that aren’t entirely reliable for long-term associations, but there are a handful that stand out. In addition to Passes, here are a few platforms that we believe can truly add value to creators and fans.
Whop
Whop is a social ecommerce platform that's made massive strides within a relatively short period. Anyone can set up a whop right away and start offering exclusive content (like courses, videos, and pictures), paid community memberships, one-on-one calls, group chats, and a lot more.
This is in addition to its CRM features, user-friendly APIs, and innumerable apps, making it an undeniable heavy-hitter in the burgeoning creator ecosystem. You can have a paid community on Whop up and running in as little as a few minutes.
Unlike most other platforms, it offers a vibrant marketplace, which is a major source of targeted traffic for creators. With Whop's transaction fees as low as 3%, it offers incredible value for money.
Patreon
A well-established platform, Patreon offers a similar subscription-based model where fans can support creators monthly. It’s versatile, supporting a wide range of content types, from podcasts to visual art. Unlike Passes, however, Patreon charges 20% right off the top when fans subscribe or donate to their favorite creators.
Fanfix
A solid alternative to Passes, Fanfix similarly targets a younger audience while staying clear of adult and NSFW content. It also takes a fixed 20% of the creator’s earnings and comes with a $5 minimum for subscriptions.
Build a fan community with Whop
So there you have it, Passes has clearly done a great job at taking the fan community concept up a notch and is now a great contender against Patreon and FanFix for being a preferred platform for creators and influencers.
If you want to expand your reach and income, exploring other platforms can open up new opportunities. We've already mentioned Whop and how it rivals Passes in almost every way, giving you the freedom to create your unique community while giving your fans a seamless experience.
Whether you’re an artist, influencer, or simply someone with content to share, Whop provides the tools you need to engage with your community and turn your passion into profit.
