Steady review
A flexible creator paywall with useful publishing tools and a significant commission.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Steady is a membership and publishing platform for independent media makers, publishers, and creators. It supports online magazines, blogs, podcasts, newsletters, videos, communities, and online courses. Creators can publish on Steady or add membership features to external websites through paywalls, embedded checkout, member login, newsletters, and signup embeds. Recurring monthly and annual memberships, gated content, payment handling, payouts, and membership analytics make it suited to creators building paid media businesses across their own sites and channels.
The pricing structure is straightforward. The Free plan costs nothing to use and includes membership and publishing tools. Once creators earn, Steady charges a 10% commission, in addition to variable payment-provider fees and VAT. There is no fixed paid subscription tier listed, so the main cost scales with membership revenue rather than with a recurring platform plan. The platform also includes payment processing and payouts, while its published features cover exclusive podcast and video content, newsletters, and member communications.
Steady fits creators who want to combine a paywall with broader publishing tools and external-site integration. Its web and API availability, along with WordPress, Spotify, and Discord integrations, supports a media-focused ecosystem. The trade-off is platform breadth and cost: a 10% commission can reduce value as earnings grow, and new projects do not get custom domains. Creators who need a lower transaction burden, custom-domain support, or a narrower paywall tool should consider another option; Steady is a better match for independent media creators who value memberships, publishing, and community features together.
Steady pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Embedded checkout and member login for external websites
- Recurring memberships, paywalls, newsletters, and media publishing
- Discord integration plus membership analytics and traffic tracking
- Where it doesn't
- 10% Steady commission applies once creators earn
- Variable payment-provider fees and VAT are additional
- Custom domains are unavailable for new projects
Steady fact sheet, pricing and score →
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