Passes is leading a new wave of monetization in the creator economy. In 2025, creators are no longer focused solely on growing their follower count—they’re building real businesses by converting fans into subscribers, superfans, and loyal customers. As more Passes creators aim to diversify and scale their income, a common question emerges: What is Passes, and how does it compare to other monetization platforms?
Passes (Passes.com) gives creators the ability to sell exclusive content, offer membership tiers, and build deeper connections through gated experiences. Its subscription-first model is ideal for creators who prioritize community-building, recurring revenue, and content ownership. With intuitive tools designed for managing fan relationships and delivering premium access, Passes continues to attract a growing number of digital entrepreneurs.
However, for creators wondering what is Pop.store and how it supports full-scale growth—it’s more than a link-in-bio tool. It’s a powerful alternative for launching and scaling a full-fledged digital business beyond just subscriptions.
With POP.STORE, creators can not only sell exclusive content, paid chats and live streams, but they can also seamlessly sell coaching sessions, online courses, digital products, physical merchandise, and more—all from a fully branded storefront. It’s more than just a monetization tool; it’s a creator commerce platform built for scale.
POP.STORE also excels in customization, allowing creators to align their store with their brand identity. Built-in CRM, analytics, and flexible product options make it a top choice for those ready to transition from content creator to digital CEO. It’s no surprise that POP.STORE is now considered a compelling Passes alternative in 2025.
While Passes remains the go-to for creators focused on subscription-based income and gated content, POP.STORE stands out for largers creators who are tired of giving away their followers to marketplaces and ready to own their audience to diversify their revenue streams, expand their offerings, and take full control of their digital storefront.
In this in-depth comparison, we’ll examine:
- How Passes.com operates and monetizes audiences
- Key features of Passes vs. POP.STORE
- Why POP.STORE is becoming the go-to platform for large, independent creators
Passes.com: Built on Borrowed Influence
Passes has made a name for itself by onboarding popular influencers and then leveraging those creators’ audience traffic to build its own internal ecosystem. On the surface, it offers tools for content monetization—DMs, exclusive content, and more. But dig deeper, and the core business model becomes clearer: Passes thrives by promoting newer or smaller creators to users originally brought in by bigger names. Passes runs ads telling small creators that if they join passes they can make money, because they will send them customers brought in by large creators.
In other words, once a big creator signs up thousands of paying fans, Passes turns around and promotes other creators to those fans through discovery feeds, algorithmic suggestions, and featured sections. This turns large creators into de facto acquisition funnels for the entire Passes platform.
The Marketplace Dilemma
This approach is strategic for Passes.com’s bottom line but problematic for creators. Here’s why:
- Your fans don’t stay yours
- You don’t own your audience list
- You lose control over monetization touchpoints
As a result, many top creators feel like they’re feeding a machine that uses their influence to grow everyone’s business but their own.
What is Passes.com And What it Offers
To be fair, Passes does offer a decent set of creator tools:
- Paid DMs: Fans can pay to message you.
- Exclusive Content Paywalls: Creators can lock posts behind a subscription or one-time fee.
- Custom Fan Experiences: Includes shoutouts, call requests, or custom content options.
- Tip Jar: Basic tipping functionality for fans to show support.
While these tools can generate income, the problem remains: Passes owns the infrastructure, the discovery engine, and the user base. You’re a tenant, not the landlord.
POP.STORE: The Platform Built for Ownership
Enter POP.STORE. Designed for creators who want full autonomy, POP.STORE gives you everything you need to run your creator business from your own link in bio—offering more flexibility and control compared to platforms like Stan Store.
Unlike Passes, POP.STORE doesn’t poach your fans. It helps you own and monetize them on your terms.
Here’s what sets it apart:
Monetization Tools That Convert
Paid DMs
Monetize inbox access with tiered messaging privileges.
“My Life” Video Series
Serialized episodic content with free previews and locked full access.
‘Fan Feed’ Posts
Post images, videos, blogs or a combination for your subscribers. All content is locked and only available to subscribers at the appropriate tier.
Posts can also be PPV or Pay2View and the cool thing is that you can make subscription posts automatically become Pay2View after a period of time—preventing new subscribers from accessing your entire content archive instantly.
Digital Downloads
Sell PhotoSets, Videos, or other downloadable digital goods.
Live Streaming with Product Tagging
Sell in real-time while streaming.
Every feature is designed to help creators keep more of their earnings and control the user experience end-to-end.
Own Your Audience
POP.STORE is built with creator sovereignty at its core:
- Download your full contact list
- Message your fans via email, push, or SMS
- No platform discovery feed pushing fans to others
- Your fans subscribe only to you
The Affiliate Monetization Engine
One of the most exciting features for creators in fashion, lifestyle, or beauty is the POP.STORE Brand Partnerships program. Through its massive affiliate catalog, creators can earn commissions by promoting real products from premium brands like Fenty Beauty , Alo Yoga ,Levi’s, Glossier and 1000’s more.
This allows creators to make passive income by curating shoppable looks or recommending favorites—all without a middleman taking the lion’s share.
Why Large Creators Are Choosing POP.STORE
If you’re a creator with an established following, giving your audience away to a marketplace can be a risky move. Many are now asking, what is Passes, and is it truly worth it? While platforms like Passes.com offer short-term monetization opportunities, the reality is that you’re contributing to building their brand—not your own.
Here’s what POP.STORE gives large creators that Passes doesn’t:
- Audience Control: Keep your fans within your ecosystem
- Content Variety: Offer episodic series, downloadable resources, and paywalled posts all from one storefront
- Multi-Revenue Streams: Subscriptions, DMs, digital goods, affiliate commissions, live sales, and video calls
- No Algorithmic Hijacking: Your followers won’t be suggested to someone else
- Data Portability: Download and move your contact list anytime
If you’re serious about building a brand, POP.STORE is your storefront, CRM, content hub, and monetization engine—all in one.
Final Verdict
- Passes helps you rent access to your followers and monetizes their attention across its marketplace. It’s a good solution for small creators, but a no no for large creators.
- POP.STORE helps you own your audience and monetize your influence directly.
That’s why the future belongs to creators who choose platforms like POP.STORE. and Fanfix.
Ready to take control?
Start building your store, monetizing your DMs, and owning your audience today at get.pop.store.
