• Snopes
  • Posts
  • Snopes reaches 12,000 paying members, nears break-even point

Snopes reaches 12,000 paying members, nears break-even point

An update for Snopes members.

February 04, 2026

Snopes reaches 12K paying members, nears break-even point

January was the best month Snopes has ever had for subscription growth, going from just over 9,000 paying members to now 12,000.

We are estimating we need 15,000 paying members to cover a shortfall in ad revenue this year and break even with expenses. We are over 80% of the way there.

Snopes reaches 12,000 paid members!

Last year, it became clear that Snopes could not continue covering expenses by relying solely on ad revenue in this new digital age — with quick AI answers and social media platforms shunning fact checkers and sending less traffic to publisher websites.

We tried focusing on grants, and we did get a few, but they were not enough to bring us to a break-even point. And it was difficult to rely on the grants for future hiring.

We switched to focusing on our email newsletters and memberships, and they took off. We now have over 500,000 subscribers to our free newsletters and over 12,000 paying members.

By relying less on platforms and more on subscriptions to fund our operations, we can spend more time fact-checking stories that are likely to make an impact — rather than stories that have the highest chance of internet popularity. And soon we’ll have a dashboard for paying members to help us decide what is most important to fact-check.

Keep Snopes Debunking

We need your continued support to continue our fact-finding mission.

P.S. In these charged times, getting the full and accurate picture of each story is more important than ever. Too many media outlets only focus on the parts of a story they think their audiences want to hear. I hope we can make an impact by shining a light on the full story of what is happening every day.

-- Chris Richmond, Snopes CEO

Some recent stories getting high engagement

A slightly blurry image shows a white man wearing glasses, a hat and a hoodie speaking while looking to the left. He stands in a street, with cars parked near him and on the other side of the street. A white logo that says TNM can be seen in the top right corner.

Real videos show confrontation between Alex Pretti and federal officers days before his death

Pretti's family has confirmed the authenticity of the footage, which allegedly shows him kicking a vehicle being driven by federal agents.

A white man and Black woman are shown on an image from left to right. The woman is pointing at the man, who holds money and a Fiji water bottle.

Does this image prove attack on Ilhan Omar was staged? We inspected

The earliest version of the image supposedly showing Omar and her alleged attacker appeared on an X account labeled as parody.

A white woman is shown smiling while looking forward.

Did Craigslist ad offer people $50 to see 'Melania' documentary? What we know

The ad exists, but it's unknown whether it's a genuine offer or a joke.