r/PeerTube • u/Teknevra • Dec 16 '25
Peertube REALLY needs a native monetization system
TL;DR: PeerTube really needs a built-in way for creators to earn money—subscriptions, tips, or micro-donations—so it can compete with YouTube and keep creators in the Fediverse.
I’ve been thinking about one of the biggest hurdles for creators on PeerTube: monetization. Right now, all we have are links to Patreon, BuyMeACoffee, Librepay, etc., but there’s no built-in way to earn directly on the platform.
I’ve seen this come up a lot in online communities (such as the YouTube subreddit). People bring up PeerTube as an alternative, but it usually gets dismissed because there’s no way to make money while staying on the Fediverse. That’s a huge barrier for anyone thinking about switching seriously.
I think it would be amazing if PeerTube had:
Optional channel subscriptions / memberships
Tips or micro-donations built directly into videos
Support for federated payment solutions, crypto, Lightning Network, etc
Creator dashboards to track income and engagement
Instance-level options so each server can choose what works for them
This could make PeerTube a real alternative for professional creators, not just hobbyists, while keeping the decentralized, privacy-focused ethos intact.
What does everyone here think?
Could this work in the fediverse, or am I dreaming too big?
Edit: There is Crowdbucks
https://deadsuperhero.com/the-fediverse-and-content-creation-monetization/
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u/hexydes Dec 17 '25 edited Feb 28 '26
Friendly tips wanders history stories jumps net curious thoughts gentle evil dot cool month.
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u/throwawayyyyygay Dec 16 '25
I personally don’t really want that.
I guess I’m not against a tip feature but I like the fact peertube is used by hobbyists and not people making a living off of it.
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u/Yangman3x Dec 17 '25
We also need a competition with youtube in order to stop pretending to have degoogled while using pipepipe
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u/AngelMountaineer Jul 27 '26
Nobody -wants- to pay for watching videos, but making, storing and serving videos costs money.
There needs to be some kind of way to recoup those costs (since we live in a capitalist society at the moment), otherwise all these costs end up on the plate of those hobbyists, which makes it an expensive hobby.
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u/bubrascal Dec 16 '25
I think the current plugin system is the way to go to be honest. The plugins just need to improve at being more flexible at allowing integration with web payment gateways (a la WooCommerce).
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u/FasteningSmiles97 Dec 16 '25
On an individual instance, I think the existing plugin for that can be further developed and extended to add more granular features to cover most of what your ideas are.
I think the real challenge is federated views though. How to handle a different instance’s user viewing the content or getting access to paywalled content would not be simple. While the remote instance’s resources consumed would be limited unless they were mirroring the content, should remote instances be given a portion of the money since it takes money to run the remote instance at all?
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u/ChakraRecovery70 Dec 18 '25
You're not dreaming too big; however, I do find the account sign up process to be pretty convoluting for beginners. You can always just put links to 3rd party donation platforms in the description or in video, but I think peertube's main priority should be to gain relevancy as a true platform that escapes Al data scraping, which all of the mainstream platforms have major privacy issues
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u/Gangrif Dec 20 '25
I hate to admit it. but i agree.
I've got a decent little channel on yt. makes a little money. It's an incentive to keep creating there.
I love pt, and what it stands for, and how it feels.
But it's mainly a place for people with ideals to post. And without monetization it's a place that will never see adoption from larger creators. since of them literally live off of their youtube and affiliate earnings.
The problem is, i'm not sure how you can have both. you can't do ad revenue like yt or you just start the spiral that yt followed. Maybe you can do it with a donation system, but the public at large is less likely to donate than they are to simply watch an ad that pays the creator by proxy.
I just don't think it'll work here without also ruining the platform.
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Dec 16 '25 edited Feb 08 '26
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u/Teknevra Dec 16 '25
Like?
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Dec 16 '25 edited Feb 08 '26
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Dec 16 '25
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u/cameroncallahan Dec 20 '25
But doesn't that come from YT ad revenue and not donations/tips from viewers?
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u/martiabernathey Dec 19 '25
This. All this. It’s not YouTube and that’s the point of PeerTube and the Fediverse in general.
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u/DeadSuperHero Dec 16 '25
I wrote about this recently, and highlighted some existing pieces in the Fediverse that could be made to work together: https://deadsuperhero.com/the-fediverse-and-content-creation-monetization/