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Give 4x more to the writers you read
As a Friend of Medium, you'll directly support the writers you read most — and with more impact than a regular Medium membership. When you spend time reading member-only stories, you'll generate four times more earnings for those writers compared to a regular membership. This revenue share is calculated in the same way as our standard Medium membership: it’s based on a combination of read and listen time, claps, highlights, replies, and follows. The difference is that it’s multiplied by a factor of four. Learn more -
Support a healthy, open future for online publishing
We’re building a publishing model that rewards great writing with real money. Medium is the place where ideas are shared, communities are built, and intellectual wellness is cultivated. We don’t need to tell you about how writing online has become flawed — full of distracting ads, impersonal AI-generated content, and noisy design. We’re creating an alternative to that world: A platform singularly focused on providing the best reading and writing experience on the internet. When you become a Friend of Medium, you’re investing in this mission to create a better future for online publishing. Learn more -
Share “Friend Links” to let your friends bypass the paywall
Friend Links used to be a writer-only feature, allowing authors to share links to member-only content to whoever they wanted, and allowing anyone to bypass the paywall. Now, we’re opening this up to Friend members. Friends of Medium can create and share Friend Links for any paywalled story. When non-members follow these links and bypass the paywall, their read time is factored into the writer’s earnings. This means you can drive more earnings and reach for writers you love by sharing Friend Links to their stories. - Plus: All Medium Member benefits Being a Friend of Medium grants you all the Medium Member benefits. Learn more
Become a Friend of Medium
- Go to medium.com/membership and click Upgrade (if you already have a Medium account), or Get Started (to create one).
- Choose your membership plan.
- Choose the payment method. You can use your credit card or PayPal.
- Enter your credit card details and click Start my membership or click PayPal Checkout to become a member with PayPal.
- In the app, tap your profile picture on the bottom bar.
- Tap Settings in the top-right corner.
- Tap Become a Friend of Medium.
- Choose your subscription plan and confirm.
Common questions
Friend of Medium membership can be canceled at any time from your Settings page, or from the App Store for memberships purchased through the Medium iOS app and Google Play Store for Android.
When you cancel, you will still be able to use all your membership benefits until the the end of the billing cycle. Learn more about cancellations.
Note that you can also change your billing frequency by going to your Membership and payment settings page, and then clicking “Manage membership.” If you downgrade, you will keep your Friend status until the end of your billing cycle.
Yes. To learn how to receive an invoice for your membership, see this article.
Certain credit and debit cards are unable to initiate recurring charges based on geographical banking restrictions. As this is a banking regulation, it is beyond our control. We encourage you to contact your bank, verify if this restriction is applied to your bank account, and work directly with them to find resolution.
When you become a member of Medium, our payment provider Stripe may make a temporary authorization of $1 to verify validity of the card. This temporary authorization will be credited back to you, and not charged.
In-app purchases such as Medium membership are not covered by Family Sharing. Learn more here.
Apple will charge you the full amount right away, and then issue you a refund for the difference to pro rate your payment. It may take up to a week for them to issue you the refund. If you have problems, you can contact Apple directly here.