Locals is a community subscription.
We're a business platform.
Locals is a fine patronage tool — a smaller, free-speech-leaning Patreon. The moment you want a real LMS, automations, a CRM, funnels, affiliates, or email that does more than broadcast — you've outgrown it. Simplero is what you'd build the rest of your business on. Start there.
The fee that comes off the top
before you see a cent.
10% on subs and tips.
Locals takes 10% of every subscription, recurring or one‑time payment, and tip. Stripe (2.9% + $0.30) is on top. So a $10/mo subscriber nets you about $8.41 after fees.
20% on premium content.
For one‑time Content+ purchases (premium gated posts, courses, paid downloads), Locals takes 20%. Plus Stripe. Plus 15–30% if the buyer is on iOS, Android, Apple TV, or Roku.
0% — you keep all of it.
Simplero charges a flat monthly subscription for the platform. Stripe still charges its 2.9% + $0.30 (every platform pays that). But Simplero takes nothing on top. At $5K/month in revenue, that's $6,000+/year back in your pocket vs Locals' 10%.
A flat platform fee is predictable. A percentage of every dollar punishes you for growing.
What Locals doesn't do.
No real LMS.
Locals can host posts, livestreams, and gated Content+ files. There's no drip schedule, no quizzes, no completion tracking, no certificates, no proper course structure with modules and lessons. If you want to deliver a real course, you'll be hosting it elsewhere and linking out.
No automation engine or CRM.
Locals has a member list. There's no tag‑based segmentation, no behavioral triggers, no automation builder, no real CRM with deal pipelines or notes. Email is broadcast‑only at best. Most Locals creators run ConvertKit, Mailchimp, or Kit on the side.
No funnels or affiliate program.
There are no multi‑step sales funnels, no order bumps, no upsells, no native affiliate management. If you want to actually sell offers — not just collect monthly subs — you'll be adding ThriveCart, SamCart, or another tool, and gluing it to Locals manually.
Locals + a real LMS + an email tool + a funnel platform + an affiliate tool = $200–$400/mo and 5 logins.
Simplero replaces all of them. One platform. $59/month, 0% fees.
What people actually say.
“Locals is essentially a boring wasteland. There's no real activity, no discoverability, no reason to keep coming back beyond whatever the creator posts.”
“Locals is terrible — the platform has barely changed in years, the app is buggy, and the experience feels neglected.”
Trustpilot rating: 2.8 / 5 across reviews of locals.com.
“I was looking for a Patreon alternative and tried Locals — it works for the basics, but there's no real way to deliver courses or run automations. I ended up adding three other tools.”
“Between the 10% platform fee, Stripe, and the App Store cut on mobile, you can lose 30%+ of a single subscription before it ever reaches you.”
“I'm outgrowing my patronage page and need a real platform with email, courses, and a CRM, not just monthly subs.”
Side by side.
Whole platform vs whole platform.
| Locals | Simplero Starter | |
|---|---|---|
| Platform price | Free to start — charged via % of revenue | $59/mo flat (annual) |
| Platform fee on creator earnings | 10% on subs / tips / one‑time · 20% on Content+ · +15–30% on mobile / TV apps | 0% on every plan |
| Native email + automation | Broadcast posts only — no automation engine | Full automation engine + segments + behavioral triggers |
| CRM with tags + segments | — (member list only) | ✓ Built in |
| Community | ✓ Native (the one job it does) | ✓ Native — posts, threads, members |
| Real LMS (drip, quizzes, certificates) | — posts and Content+ files only | ✓ Full LMS |
| Affiliate program | — | ✓ Built in |
| Native video hosting + livestream | ✓ Livestream + video posts | ✓ Unlimited video hosting |
| Multi‑step funnels / order bumps | — | ✓ Full funnels |
| Custom domain | — (yourname.locals.com) | ✓ |
| Funding model | Owned by Rumble (NASDAQ: RUM) · acquired 2021 | Bootstrapped · no investors · 17 yrs profitable |
| Founder access | — corporate parent | Calvin still answers email · partner level included · concierge tier available |
The difference that doesn't
fit in a feature matrix.
You own the relationship.
On Locals, your audience is on yourname.locals.com inside a Rumble property. On Simplero, you have your own domain, your own email list, your own CRM. If we ever change priorities, you can take it all with you.
Flat fee, not a tax on growth.
Locals takes 10–20% of every dollar your audience pays you, forever. Simplero charges a flat platform subscription. Grow to $20K/mo and Locals takes $24K+/year off the top. Simplero charges the same $59–$249/mo it always did.
Founder access, not a corporate parent.
Locals is owned by Rumble — a publicly traded company answering to investors. Simplero has been bootstrapped for 17 years. Calvin still answers customer email. Partner level included; concierge tier ($1,500–$2,500/mo) gets you direct access to the founder and product leadership.
What Simplero customers actually say.
“I scored 12 platforms on a spreadsheet. Simplero won — not because it was the cheapest, but because it was the only one that didn't make me build a Frankenstack of tools to run my actual business.”
“My income tripled, quadrupled in the last six years on Simplero. The platform grew with me — I never had to migrate.”
“I ended up paying my annual plan for Simplero in what I was paying for one month of all my subscriptions. One platform replaced five.”
“There are no chatbot-gates you have to get through to get support from an actual human. The team responds, listens, and actually fixes things.”
Simplero pricing.
Ready for a real business platform?
Locals is fine for what it is — a community subscription page. Simplero is the rest of the business: courses, email, CRM, automations, funnels, affiliates. Keep your 10–20%.
Founded 2009 · Bootstrapped · Proud of it.
Make it simplero™
