# Memberships

Status: Shipped

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.

## What is usable now

- 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.

## Fan value

- 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.

## Creator value

- 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 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

- 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.

## Related pages

- [All features](/features): Return to the Fanful feature catalog.
- [Pricing](/pricing): Review platform fees and plan capacity.
- [Support](/support): Open the current support and membership surface.
- [Markdown feature catalog](/features.md)
- [HTML feature page](/features/memberships)