What is OnlyFans? It’s a subscription platform where creators sell exclusive content directly to their fans. Creators set their own prices (a monthly subscription, paid messages, tips), OnlyFans charges the fans, keeps 20% and pays the creator the remaining 80%, with everything priced in US dollars. To sell on it, you have to be 18 or older and verify your identity.
This guide is for anyone who wants to understand the platform, and especially for anyone thinking about making money on it: what it’s used for, how it works for creators and fans, how much OnlyFans takes, how payouts work and where the income comes from. If you landed here because someone mentioned their “OF”, it’s the same site: here’s what OF means and the slang around it.
What is OnlyFans used for?
OnlyFans launched in London in 2016. Every creator has a profile with a feed of posts and a private chat with their fans, and decides what’s visible to everyone and what sits behind a paywall.
It’s used to get paid directly by your audience for the things you don’t post for free. On Instagram, TikTok or YouTube, creators make money from ads or brand deals, and the algorithm decides who sees what. On OnlyFans, each fan pays to see your content or to talk to you: your fans are your customers.
What OnlyFans doesn’t do is bring you an audience. It doesn’t work like a social network that shows your posts to strangers. Most fans arrive from outside, through your social media, which is why promotion is half the job.
What is OnlyFans known for?
Mostly for adult content, and there’s no point pretending otherwise: it’s what people search for most. But the platform allows any legal content that follows its rules, so it also hosts accounts about fitness, cooking, music, fashion and comedy.
It became a household name in 2020, when creator and fan sign-ups surged during the pandemic. In 2021 it announced it would stop allowing explicit adult content, then reversed the decision within days after a backlash from creators. That scare pushed many of them to open backup accounts on other platforms, but OnlyFans is still the reference for paid subscription content.
How does OnlyFans work?
How OnlyFans works for creators
- Sign up for free with an email address (or your Google or X account) and choose a username. It can be a stage name.
- Verify your age and identity with a government-issued photo ID and a selfie. Until you’re verified, you can’t get paid.
- Add a bank account in your name for payouts, plus any tax details OnlyFans asks for in your country.
- Choose your account type. On a paid page, fans pay a monthly subscription to see your feed. On a free page, anyone can follow you and you earn through paid messages and tips. Many creators run both: the free page attracts fans and the paid one keeps them.
- Post and chat. Photos, videos, text, polls and live streams on your feed; paid or custom content through private messages.
- Promote your profile on social media and withdraw your earnings to your bank account.
The tools you get inside (mass messages, the vault, fan lists, scheduling, statistics) are explained one by one in our guide to OnlyFans features.
How OnlyFans works for fans
Fans sign up for free, add a card and subscribe to the creators they like. A subscription gives access to that creator’s feed, plus the option to message them, buy extra content or send tips. Fans decide whether each subscription renews automatically every month and can cancel at any time. Like creators, fans have to be 18 or older, and depending on where they live they may be asked to prove it.
How much does OnlyFans take?
OnlyFans keeps 20% of everything you earn on the platform and you keep 80%. The fee is the same for subscriptions, paid messages, tips and live streams. There’s no monthly fee and no cost to open an account: if you don’t sell anything, you don’t pay anything.
Here’s what that looks like with round numbers:
| If a fan pays… | OnlyFans keeps (20%) | You get (80%) |
|---|---|---|
| A $10 subscription | $2 | $8 |
| A $25 paid message | $5 | $20 |
| A $50 tip | $10 | $40 |
That 80% is before taxes and before whatever your bank charges to receive dollars or convert them into pounds, Canadian dollars or Australian dollars. Keep it in mind when you set your prices.
Is 20% a lot? It’s standard in this industry: some alternatives charge the same and a few charge less, but none of them has as many paying fans. We compare them one by one in our roundup of sites like OnlyFans.
How creators make money on OnlyFans
| Income stream | How it works |
|---|---|
| Monthly subscription | A fixed monthly price, which according to OnlyFans’ terms can be set between $4.99 and $49.99 (or free). You can offer multi-month bundles at a discount and promotions for new or returning fans. |
| Paid messages (PPV) | You send locked content by message with a price, and the fan pays to see it. It’s the core of chat sales and, done well, can bring in more than the subscription. |
| Tips | Fans can send extra money on a post, in a message or during a live stream. |
| Live streams | You go live for your subscribers and receive tips while you’re on. |
| Custom content | Made-to-order requests you agree on with each fan by chat, at your price. |
| Referrals | If another creator signs up through your link, OnlyFans pays you 5% of what they earn during their first year. |
In practice, the accounts that do best don’t rely on a single stream: the subscription is the base, and paid messages, tips and custom requests make the difference. How to build that mix is covered in how to make money on OnlyFans.
How OnlyFans pays creators
OnlyFans doesn’t pay a salary or a fixed amount per post: it pays you 80% of what you generate. There’s no meaningful “average” to go by, because two accounts with the same number of fans can earn very different amounts depending on their prices, their content and how they handle the chat.
This is how getting paid works:
- Everything is priced in US dollars. Your prices and your earnings are in dollars. If your bank account is in pounds, Canadian dollars or Australian dollars, the money gets converted at some point, and the exchange rate and fees depend on your payout method and your bank.
- First, a pending balance. New earnings can’t be withdrawn right away: they sit as a pending balance for a few days and then become available.
- Then, the withdrawal. From the payouts section you send your available balance to your bank account. PayPal isn’t one of the payout options.
Exact timings, the minimum withdrawal and the methods available in your country are in how long OnlyFans takes to pay out.
OnlyFans rules to know before you start
OnlyFans is flexible about content, but some of its rules aren’t open to interpretation:
- Everyone who appears in your content must be an adult, verified on OnlyFans and must have given written consent.
- You can only post content you created or hold the rights to.
- You can’t advertise in-person meetings.
- Your creator account and your bank account must be in your name.
Break them and OnlyFans can withhold your payouts or close your account. Read its Terms of Service before you post: they override any advice, including ours.
Is there an OnlyFans app?
Not in the App Store or Google Play: OnlyFans runs in your browser, on your phone or computer, and you can add the site to your home screen to open it like an app. Anything in the stores, or any APK file, that claims to be “OnlyFans” isn’t official. The steps for iPhone and Android are in our guide to the OnlyFans app.
OnlyFans pros and cons for creators
Pros
- You get paid directly by your fans, without depending on brands or ads.
- You decide your content, your prices and your hours.
- You have several income streams in a single account.
- You can work under a stage name and block your country or region so people you know don’t find you.
Cons
- It doesn’t bring you an audience: if you don’t promote your profile, nobody shows up.
- It takes consistency: new content, an answered chat and daily promotion.
- There’s a risk of leaks and of people you know finding your account.
- Income varies from month to month, it’s earned in dollars and it’s taxable.
- You depend on one company’s rules, and they can change.
What you need to start an OnlyFans
- To be 18 or older, with a valid government-issued ID for verification.
- A bank account in your name.
- A plan: what you’ll offer, at what price and which social platforms you’ll use to bring in your first fans.
- Time to create, answer messages and promote yourself, or a team that takes on part of the work.
Once that’s sorted, signing up takes a few minutes; verification can take a little longer. Every step is in our guide on how to make an OnlyFans account.