Sub price, PPV, customs, discounts, raises — most advice is either "charge more, queen" or someone selling you a course. This is the version I wish someone had handed me: what each price actually signals, and how to test instead of guess.
One reframe before any numbers: your subscription price is a filter, not your income. For most creators the sub is what gets someone in the door and sets the tone; the actual money is messages, PPV and customs. Once you see it that way, half the pricing anxiety disappears — you're not putting a price tag on yourself, you're setting the entry rules for your shop.
This decision matters more than the exact dollar amount, because it decides where your money comes from.
| Free page | Paid page | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Cold traffic from Reddit, TikTok, IG — strangers who need to warm up | Warm traffic that already wants you — an existing audience, loyal regulars |
| Money comes from | PPV, tips, customs — the sell happens in the DMs | The sub itself, plus everything a paid page also sells |
| The catch | Lots of followers who never spend a cent; your DM game carries everything | The paywall kills conversion on cold traffic — people won't pay to preview you |
If you're promoting on Reddit or running the TikTok/Instagram funnel, a free page almost always converts that traffic better. The grown-up version many creators arrive at later is both: free page as the funnel, paid page as the inner circle for people who want everything without asking.
Fans read your price before they read your bio. Rough translation table:
| Price band | What it says to a fan |
|---|---|
| Free | "Come in, look around" — the sell happens later, in messages |
| $3–$5 | Teaser page: cheap entry, expect PPV inside. Nobody respects it less — it's a known model |
| $8–$12 | The standard band. Real content on the feed, still room to sell more on top |
| $15+ | A promise. Only holds if the niche is specific or the audience already loves you — otherwise it just suppresses subs |
Two habits beat any perfect number. First, pick a band and test it for a month — resubscribe rate and DM spend tell you more than any Reddit thread. Second, don't copy the price of a creator whose traffic looks nothing like yours; a girl with 400k Instagram followers and a girl growing from zero on Reddit are running different businesses at the same price point.
Fans don't leave over a fair price. They leave when the page doesn't match what the price promised.
PPV is where underpricing quietly costs the most — and where overpromising quietly kills pages. The rules that hold up:
The classic mistake is pricing a custom like PPV — per minute of finished video. Price it like freelance work instead, because that's what it is:
The formula
(Total production time × your hourly rate) + extras. Total time means setup, outfit, filming, redos and editing — a "10 minute video" is often two hours of work. Your hourly rate is what your experience deserves, not minimum wage. Extras: exclusivity (he's the only one who gets it), his name used, anything outside your usual content — each adds real money or it's a no.
And the safety half, because customs are where the chargeback scam lives: payment lands before production starts, big orders get delivered in stages, and the agreement (price, scope, deadline) lives in screenshots. A buyer who resists all three just told you everything.
Discounts work when they have a reason. A birthday sale, a milestone, a holiday — fans accept a story. A page that's permanently "90% off" teaches everyone the real price is the discounted one, and trains spenders to wait you out. Occasional and loud beats constant and desperate.
Raising prices is allowed. The move that keeps regulars happy: announce it, give existing subs notice, and let loyalty lock the old rate for a while ("price goes up for new subs next week — you're grandfathered"). Framed like that, a raise reads as growth, and your regulars feel like insiders instead of victims.
The advice trap
Be suspicious of anyone whose pricing advice ends in you buying something — a course, a "mentorship", a management pitch. The people with the least reason to lie to you about pricing are other creators comparing real numbers with nothing to sell. That's the whole reason the Circle exists.
Pricing questions get honest answers inside the Circle — from creators who'll tell you what they actually charge, not what a course wants you to believe. Free, private, every member verified by hand.
Join the communityKeep going: promote for free · chargebacks explained · earnings calculator
Creator Circle