Paid memberships for writers, free

Get paid for your writing, with no platform fee

Share some posts free, keep the rest for paying members, and get paid monthly or yearly through your own PayPal or Stripe account. Payly takes no cut.

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How can I charge readers for my writing without a platform taking a cut?

Publish some posts free so readers can judge your work, then keep the rest, or the full archive, for members who pay monthly or yearly. Pick a tool that bills readers on schedule straight to your own PayPal or Stripe account, and check that it adds no fee of its own. With Payly, you choose who reads each post, and Payly takes no platform fee.

Why Payly

Free posts sell the rest

A free post shows its first lines on your Posts page. A members-only post shows its title, date and cover, and none of its words, so readers see what they are missing.

Built for text

A post has a title, a cover image and formatted text with headings, lists and links. Write it in your dashboard, then publish it now or schedule it for a date and time.

Readers help choose what comes next

Add a poll with 2 to 10 choices to ask which topic or story to write next. Signed-in members vote once and comment, and your replies are marked Creator.

How a writer's membership works in Payly

You write the posts. PayPal or Stripe collects each payment.

Start from the Writer template

In Your sites, click New, choose Creator memberships, then Writer. You get a Reader level for free posts and a Member level for every post, the full archive, comments and polls.
Write your first post

Click Posts, then New post. Add a title, a cover image and your text. Choose Everyone, All members or Paid members only, then publish it or schedule it.
Connect payments and publish

Connect PayPal or Stripe and your own free Cloudflare account, then publish your page once. After that, new posts go live on their own, with no republish of your page.

What you get

A Writer template with a Reader level and a Member level
Monthly prices, and yearly ones if you like
Posts with a title, a cover image, formatted text and links
Who reads each post: everyone, all members, paid members or a level and higher
Scheduled posts, with no republish of your page
Polls and comments, with one level of replies
A member list to download as CSV, and sign-in by emailed link or code

What it costs

Completely free - no paid plan, no transaction fees, no commission

PayPal and Stripe charge their standard processing fees, as they would on any platform.

How can this possibly be free?

Start from a template

Start from one of these and change anything you like, or start from scratch.

Writer

Free posts for everyone, and one paid level for the rest.

Honest answers

Does Payly email my posts to readers like a newsletter?

No. Members are not emailed when you post. They find new posts on your page. Your Members screen has a Download CSV button, with each member's name, email and level.

Can I post a whole chapter, a PDF or audio?

A post holds formatted text, links and one cover image, so a chapter or an essay fits. Audio, video and files inside a post are not supported. To share one, add a link to it.

What happens when a reader cancels?

They cancel from their account and keep reading until the end of the time they paid for. If you prefer, open Features in Settings, find When a subscription is cancelled and choose Access ends right away. Nothing is refunded.

Can I change who reads a post after it is live?

Yes. Open it from your Posts list, change Who can see this post and click Update. Each post has its own setting, so you can keep some free and lock others.

Is it really free?

Yes. There is no monthly fee, no transaction fee and no paid tier. PayPal and Stripe charge their standard processing fees on each payment, as they would on any platform. How can this possibly be free?