Usable now
Visitors can start support or membership checkout from the support flow when tiers are available.
All Fanful features
Paid access
Paid fan access that can connect to media, support, and future benefits.
Fanful memberships are already represented through tiers, subscription checkout, account state, and entitlement-aware media access. The product still needs clearer publisher entitlement controls before every membership benefit is self-serve across creators.
Status
ShippedAvailable in the current Laurel/Fanful stack.
Fan value
Fans can understand their membership state from their account rather than relying only on a payment receipt.
Creator value
Creators can connect recurring support to the rest of their fan operation.
Current state
What is grounded today.
These claims come from the current production stack, feature docs, route handlers, and shipped screenshots. Anything still immature stays in the boundary list.
- Visitors can start support or membership checkout from the support flow when tiers are available.
- Stripe Checkout uses subscription mode for memberships when credentials are configured.
- D1 membership rows keep account entitlement checks fast instead of querying Stripe on every media request.
- /account shows a listener's best membership state by user id or email.
- Member and patron media gates use the centralized membership entitlement helper.
Fans
Why fans notice it
- Fans can understand their membership state from their account rather than relying only on a payment receipt.
- Member access can unlock protected media through the same site identity used for listening and purchases.
- Membership can sit beside shop, lessons, live, and email instead of becoming a separate patron destination.
Creators
What artists can operate
- Creators can connect recurring support to the rest of their fan operation.
- Membership rows and entitlement helpers give the platform a stable base for future benefit mapping.
- Admin-visible membership state can later feed support, analytics, and audience segmentation.
Evidence
Proof points in the current stack
Payments flow
docs/features/payments.md documents membership checkout, Stripe subscription mode, webhook reconciliation, and account membership state.
Media gates
The payments notes and /api/media route use centralized membership entitlement checks for member and patron media.
Native contract
docs/design/android-support-surface-notes.md and docs/design/ios-support-catalog-notes.md document native support and membership catalog behavior.
Boundaries
What this page should not overpromise
- Membership benefits should not be over-sold until admin entitlement controls make each benefit explicit.
- App Store review builds may need conservative gates around paid digital goods and subscriber-only access.
- Live checkout depends on Stripe credentials and webhook secrets being configured in the Worker environment.
Pricing notes
- Membership payments are fan payments, so the Fanful platform fee and payment-processing fees both matter.
- Memberships can increase media, email, analytics, and support usage depending on what benefits the creator offers.
Next paths