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You might have heard about OnlyFans as an entertainment platform. You might have also heard about OnlyFans as one of the porn sites. But the platform is much more than that. There is no point denying that there is plenty of explicit content on OnlyFans. But there is also plenty of other content. And like most content platforms OnlyFans offers money-making opportunities.
Many creators consider OnlyFans as a lucrative source of online income. Obviously, the platform is much less restrictive than other social platforms (i.e. Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube) but still abides by the law. Offering money-making opportunities to people, OnlyFans is the platform with the name that speaks for itself. This is the place where you can make money from a fan base.
As you should have guessed by now, today we will sort out and discuss how to make money on OnlyFans.
Unfortunately, there is scarce statistical data on OnlyFans but let’s give a closer look at available numbers.
According to The Sun, the platform has paid its creators over GBP 956 million; fans pay from $5 to $55 per month for photos from their favorite creators — the platform charges its 20%. As of now, the platform has around 50 million users and more than 1 million content creators.
To put it simply, OnlyFans is a large membership platform (that describes itself as a social network) where content creators post visual content and users (aka ‘fans’) can see the content by paying subscription fees. The system might remind you of Patreon but without different subscription layers. Actually, the platform is user-friendly in terms that creators can use their mobiles or tablets to create and post content. Besides, OnlyFans also allows interaction between fans and creators, favoring more communication.
When you join OnlyFans as a content creator, the main menu will display several tabs, including Posts (all your posted content), Photos, Videos, Audio (voice recordings), Likes (the total number of likes), and Fans (the total number of subscribers).
Note: As we are discussing how to make money on OnlyFans (not how to spend money), we will focus on content creator accounts. To become a fan, you just sign up (like with any other social platform), link your bank account (to follow the content you're interested in), and have a nice time.
Let’s see what you can do as a content creator:
As for account types, there are two options: paid subscription and free subscription. A paid subscription is great as it provides a creator with a stable monthly income. But this account type is more suitable for profiles with a large fan audience.
When you are still new on OnlyFans, subscriptions might make people wonder whether your content is worth their money. Before subscribing they would like to know what content you post, how often you post, how fast you respond, and whether you offer custom content or not. In other words, users need to know you better before they will agree to pay.
Hence, you’d better go with a free subscription account. In the long run, you can make more money from a free page. Followers can see the content you offer, so they will be more prone to pay for Pay-Per-View posts whenever you decide to create them. By the way, the PPV option isn’t available for accounts with paid subscriptions.
Important: The platform helps creators to protect their rights on content and offers the watermarking feature. The OnlyFans team follows all notices and takes very seriously cases of copyright violation. Thus, use a watermark for your visual content to protect your photos and videos from unauthorized copying.
First of all, to make money on OnlyFans you should be at least 18 years old.
The platform provides several ways to earn money, including pay-per-view (PPV), monthly subscriptions, private messages, and tips. Obviously, the most popular model is the monthly fee, which may vary from $4.99 to $49.99. Another model is a Free Account without a monthly subscription fee but fans have to pay (up to $50) for access to some PPV content.
Besides, creators can charge up to $100 for direct messages (or media). This includes personalized photos or videos. Additionally, fans can leave tips for specific content (post) or require custom content via DMs. Interestingly, new users can tip only $100, while after 4 months on the platform the limit increases up to $200.
Ok, you know that the platform is all about visual materials, like photos and videos. What you probably don’t know is that you can make money on OnlyFans not only by posting nudes. Some creators post clothed photos and workout videos and still earn quite decent amounts.
Now, you can make money on OnlyFans from:
In fact, earnings can vary significantly, from $300 a month to $10k a month or even more. Like any online business, you need to develop a strategy to promote your account, be persistent and consistent with posts, keep your fans engaged, etc. In some cases, not only the number of fans influences your earnings. It is not uncommon that a fan pays $50-100 to a favorite creator.
There are many successful OnlyFans profiles focused on sports, fashion, gaming, cosplaying, and even cooking. Many creators redirect their audience from other social platforms to OnlyFans and share additional content, not available on free platforms. As a result, they earn more. Some creators go further and share a Tip menu that explains what fans can get in return for a specific tip amount. The good thing is that the platform provides creators with the power to decide what they want to share, who they plan to share with, and how much to charge for the content.
By the way, the OnlyFans platform has a referral program. Yes, you got it right. The platform pays for referring new creators. Let’s see an example. Makayla Samountry has a YouTube channel with almost 70k subscribers. Normally, she tells about her life experience, shares advice and travel diaries. Besides, she created a series of YouTube videos dedicated to the OnlyFans experience. She also asks her YouTube audience to subscribe to her OnlyFans profile. According to her reports, she earns $30 000 a month with the major part of her income coming from coaching other women on how to start with OnlyFans. Obviously, she benefits from the OnlyFans referral program that pays 5% of the referrals’ income during their first year on the platform.
Launched in 2016, OnlyFans has already paid more than $3 billion to content creators. As we’ve mentioned above, the platform charges 20% from fans’ payments to cover the platform's expenses, such as hosting, payment processing, customer support, and some other services.
OnlyFans creators deal with two types of balances: pending balance and current balance. All funds sent by fans go to the pending balance; after eight days funds are transferred to the current balance and become available for withdrawal. For most countries, the minimum withdrawal is $20 (for direct transfer).
To cash out payments from OnlyFans creators should add their bank accounts to the OnlyFans profile. In fact, you can add your bank account only after personal details have been approved (you have to upload your ID (passport, ID card, or driving license) to confirm you’re 18 or over). You can withdraw funds manually or set up an automatic withdrawal, for example, weekly or monthly.
The OnlyFans platform supports withdrawals via direct bank transfer, international bank transfer (SWIFT), or ePayments.
Note that Direct Transfer works only for Visa and Visa Debit cards.
Before joining the platform you need to decide on the type of content you plan to post. As mentioned above, no need for full nudes to make money. Some creators go with fitness accounts and profiles and earn pretty amounts a month. So, think over a plan.
The first thing you do is opening an account. The process is straightforward. You’ll have a user name and a display name. The display name is displayed on your posts and your profile. You can add various emojis or spaces to your display name to make it catchy.
Next, you need to add your bank account or an ePayment wallet to withdraw payments. It is quite a simple procedure you’ve done many times.
Optionally, you can connect your Twitter account to your OnlyFans profile. The good thing with linked Twitter accounts is that you can drive traffic from Twitter to your OnlyFans profile. The OnlyFans platform offers the Autopost feature: every time you post on OnlyFans, the post will appear on your Twitter automatically.
Oh, don’t forget about your profile pic and a background image. You know that the first impression matters. Pay special attention to your About Me section. Make it clear and teasing at the same time. Users want to know who you are and what content they can expect from you. If you create custom content via DMs and accept tips, write it down.
Besides the About Me section, utilize a Pinned Post feature to introduce your content. The pinned post will always stay at the top of your feed. Some influencers create a compilation of the best images or videos to use as a pinned post.
For beginners, we recommend posting daily. Even if you choose the free subscription, you need to fill in the profile with posts so that later you can set a subscription fee for fans. When users browse through your profile they want to see the content before deciding on whether to subscribe to your profile or not. In the beginning, you can hide the number of followers. As your fan base grows you can make the count visible. Also, you can make your text captions and descriptions visible for all users. If you set a subscription fee, so all non-subscribers won’t see your content – only blurred images, but they will see descriptions. If you make your text attractive, you can get more subscribers.
Another way to get more subscribers is to create a poll. Just ask people what kind of content they want to see. Yep, it is as simple as that. This way you will save your time and focus on the actual and sought-after content. Keep your poll open: offer several options within your niche and leave an empty field for variants that aren’t mentioned. Answer options depend on the direction you’ve selected and may include:
By the way, you can keep the poll as a pinned post for your current and future audience or you can set the poll duration (for example, one week).
Polls are useful not only for you to create in-demand content, but they elevate the level of engagement as well. Interaction with fans is important. People want to feel special and valuable. Creating polls shows that you appreciate their opinions and try your best to match their requirements.
Another great way to engage with your audience is messaging. Messaging people directly makes them feel valuable and important. Remember, when you use DM people have the option to ask for custom content or send tips. For accounts with paid subscriptions, you can use mass messaging. You can send to all subscribers a new photo or a video as a gesture of appreciation. Keep a short talk with those who will reply showing that you value their attention. They can tip you or request paid custom content.
Messaging is one of the features that allow OnlyFans to stand out. If you want to earn from your profile you have to be responsive. This means checking your DMs often and reply as soon as possible. Otherwise, people will look for other creators, more responsive.
Live streaming is a great tool to tighten the bond with your audience. You can make live streams once in a while or schedule them on a regular basis (weekly or bi-weekly). Live streams help in building a true community. Many successful OnlyFans creators confided that fans are more prone to send tips during live streaming. Those who don’t tip might support you with likes and comments.
Well, some creators successfully utilize both OnlyFans account types, an account with a subscription fee and a free account. Actually, this is a great strategy. You can use a free account to post special content and use the PPV feature for exclusive posts. At the same time, your free account might help to promote your premium account (with the subscription fee).
In exchange for tips, you can offer your fans exclusive digital content or even physical products, such as cookbooks (e-versions or printed books), meal plans (e-version), exclusive photo and video content, customized workout plans, customized workout videos, etc. For that reason, we recommend creating a tip menu with a list of items you provide.
Note: When you offer digital products, try to keep all files organized and ready so that you can send them as quickly as possible.
Naturally, not all people are ready to post their explicit photos but they still want to make money on OnlyFans. You can use photos of other people for this purpose. Do not get us wrong, you cannot just repost photos available on other platforms or use someone’s intimate or private photos without the consent of a person. Moreover, if you try to use free photos, sooner or later you’ll run out of free photos. Besides, you don’t need any legal problems related to unauthorized use of the visual content.
In this case, the best solution is to find a model — a girl who is ready to provide her photos and videos for your account. Actually, it is a common practice for the OnlyFans platform, as well as TikTok.
Obviously, you benefit from the cooperation with a model:
The only disadvantage is a model’s salary. In fact, rates vary significantly, somewhere from $400 to $2 000. Payments depend on your agreement with a model and may include a monthly fee only, or a monthly fee and a percentage from income. But with a proper strategy of monetization (see above) you can make much more.
Actually, you can easily find information about celebrities earning their fortunes on OnlyFans. However, their stories are often exceptions because they join the platform being well-known and followed by crowds of fans. Let’s say, if you have a couple of millions of fans on Instagram or YouTube, it won’t take much effort to make money on OnlyFans. Stories of ordinary people who are out of public spotlights in their daily lives are much more interesting and revealing.
Hannah Rimm has recently written about Gwen Swinarton and Dr.P. (names are changed) and their experience on OnlyFans. The stories below demonstrate the experience of non-celebrities earning on OnlyFans.
Dr.P., a 29-year-old social psychologist with a Ph.D., lost her job at the beginning of the pandemic. Her research was focused on sexual health policy, so with encouragement from her partner, she opened an account on OnlyFans to get some income. She doesn’t promote her account so much and she is quite selective with fans. With the subscription fee set at $15 per month, Dr.P. charges extra for full nudes and special requests. As of now, Dr.P. makes around $1 000 — $1 700 per month on selling photos, videos, and fetish content.
Gwen Swinarton began her online journey around five years ago by posting her ASMR video on YouTube. As of now, she has more than 400 000 subscribers on her main ASMR channel and 200 000 subscribers on her second channel. She made between $3 000 and $10 000 a month to cover her basic expenses, but her income wasn’t enough to cover her accumulated debt of $40 000 (a student loan debt and credit card debt). As she states in her interview, her fans supported and encouraged her to open an account on OnlyFans. Gwen’s fans always highlighted her "hot appearance". "After years of ignoring the overtly sexual comments, she finally started to reply and figure out it was what they really wanted." She spent some time researching and decided to go with more sexually explicit content. Finally, Gwen opened her OnlyFans account in July 2020. We must say, pretty successfully. At this stage, she makes more than $70 000 a month.
However, the platform isn’t specialized in adult content — it is just the fastest section to grow; the platform welcomes creators of all genres, including musicians and fitness coaches.
Conclusion
OnlyFans was blooming in 2021. The platform continues growing and attracts more and more creators and users in 2022. When Tim Stokely launched OnlyFans, he meant to provide creators with more space to earn on their content. Eventually, the platform has evolved into a huge space that balances explicit adult content with fitness videos, behind-the-scenes content from Cardi B’s videos, and even Australian wildfire fundraisers.
