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Wait But Why

@waitbutwhyTracked since May 2026

Observed Aug 12, 2026Modeled revenue

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Creating high-quality blog posts.

How Patreon Signal reads this profile

Identity, tiers, posts, and visible counts come from the latest public Patreon observation. Growth compares available public snapshots. Revenue is labeled observed only when Patreon exposes it; otherwise it is modeled from public membership and tier signals.

Paid members

1,667

−0.8% · 30 days

Total audience

6,339

incl. free followers

Estimated monthly gross

$3.3K

$1.7K–$5K modeled range

Starting price

$1/mo

7 membership tiers

Membership tiers

Pricing and benefits captured publicly

Patreon is not exposing patron counts by tier for this creator, so this section shows public prices and benefits only.

$0/moFreePublic prices and benefits only

$1/moPledge $1 per monthPATREON-EXCLUSIVE POSTS. Every Friday, I’ll share something I worked on that week or learned in my research, or a sneak peek at one of the dozens of topics in my “future posts” list. We’ll have fun. On the last Friday of the month, I’ll post a video where I’ll talk about various things and answer patron questions.

$3/moPledge $3 per monthTHREE'S A CROWD. Don't know what that means but it was a famous saying involving the number three so I ran with it. In any case, for the price of a cup of coffee (in New York at least) a month, your pledge will add up to a very meaningful amount over the course of a year.

$5/moPledge $5 per monthALL CHINESE EMPERORS CAN READ WBW FOR FREE BECAUSE OF YOU. More than 1 million people visit WBW each month, and if each of them pledged just a penny, we'd hit our goal. None of the 494 emperors in China's history have pledged anything yet, but your monthly pledge has them all covered.

$10/moPledge $10 per monthYOU'RE KIND OF A HEROIC PERSON. Pledging $10 or more a month puts you in hero territory. We all have a handful of monthly $10 costs, and we seriously appreciate you carving out one of yours for us.

$25/moPledge $25 per monthI DON'T KNOW WHO YOU ARE, BUT I HAVE FEELINGS FOR YOU. After a year at this level, you'll have singlehandedly covered a full week of WBW hosting. Legit.

$100/moPledge $100 per monthI CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS EVEN A TIER. No site should ever expect this level of generosity from any reader, and if anyone decides to donate at this above-and-beyond level (which single-handedly pays for a month of our hosting over the course of a year), just know that somewhere out there, we're drowning in an uncomfortable amount of gratitude.

Growth signals — Wait But Why

−0.8%

1,667 paid members · past 30 days

Membership

1.7K1.7K1.7K

May 202615 weeks trackedNow

Wait But Why1.7K members · $3.3K/mo

The chart only uses Wait But Why's observed public history. Comparison peers are listed below, but comparable trend series are not available yet.

Creator comparisons

Where Wait But Why ranks

5 creators shown

Compare within

Rank by

Paid members Total audience 30-day member gain Estimated gross

#2of 9 measured

Paid members in Recommended cohort

A focused cohort chosen from content relevance, category, audience, pricing, and cadence. Changing the rank metric does not change who belongs in this cohort.

Ranking data · includes stale rows

Wait But Why's paid members rank in Recommended cohort
Rank	Creator and why included	Paid members	Gap vs Wait But Why	Freshness
#1	Second ThoughtWritingContent relevance + business context	5,533	3.9K more	Aug 10, 2026
#2	Wait But WhyProfileWritingPaid members position in Recommended cohort	1,667	Reference	Aug 12, 2026
#3	Slayer AndersonWritingContent relevance + business context	860	807 fewer	Jul 21, 2026Stale
#4	Chris BrecheenWritingContent relevance + business context	241	1.4K fewer	Aug 3, 2026
#5	BoardGameCoWritingContent relevance + business context	194	1.5K fewer	Aug 1, 2026

The rank uses the full fixed cohort. This table shows up to five creators around Wait But Why; the coverage summary above still counts everyone.

What they publish

Recent posts

235Profile posts3 postsLast month100%Members-only

Previews available for 32 of 235 posts

Article Latest post$1 tier & upFriday thoughts: Ancient human migrations

4 days ago

4 days ago at Aug 12 crawl 15 likes 1 comment

July Patreon video0:00 - Progress update (key purposes of each draft of a book)AudioJuly 31$1 tier & up 22 3 Friday thoughts: Atoms are rareJuly 23ArticleJuly 23$1 tier & up 0 0 Friday thoughts: Did you know?July 10ArticleJuly 10$1 tier & up 22 7 June Patreon videoJune 30VideoJune 30$1 tier & up 18 4 Friday thoughts: Antimatter universeJune 19ArticleJune 19$1 tier & up 19 5 Friday thoughts: the Black Hole Era is longJune 12ArticleJune 12$1 tier & up 17 3 Friday thoughts: Society is a macro-eukaryoteJune 5ArticleJune 5$1 tier & up 22 5 May Patreon videoMay 29 Thoughts on the mind-bending reality of time...VideoMay 29$1 tier & up 25 4 Friday thoughts: the inflationary multiverseMay 22ArticleMay 22$1 tier & up 15 3 Friday thoughts: Dinosaurs and Co.May 8ArticleMay 8$1 tier & up 13 3 Friday thoughts: Ancient sunlightMay 1ArticleMay 1$1 tier & up 15 2

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