How Much Does OnlyFans Take? OnlyFans Fees, the 20% Cut, and What Creators Keep
OnlyFans takes a flat 20% of everything you earn, so you keep 80%. That same cut applies to subscriptions, tips, pay-per-view, and paid messages, with no separate fee to open a creator account. This page breaks down exactly what the 20% covers, what lands in your bank after fees and taxes, how payouts work, and how the cut stacks up against other platforms. Then use the directory search to see how creators in your niche price and present their pages.
OnlyFans keeps 20%, but only if fans find you first. Get listed so people searching the directory land on your page.
How much does OnlyFans take? The short answer
OnlyFans takes 20% of everything a creator earns and pays out the other 80%. The 20% is a flat platform commission that applies the same way to subscriptions, tips, pay-per-view messages, and live stream tips. There is no fee to create an account and no monthly charge. So on every $100 a fan spends on your page, you keep $80 before income tax. The cut never changes based on how much you make.
Last updated June 2026. Figures reflect the OnlyFans standard creator terms in the United States.
The OnlyFans 80/20 split, applied to every income type
The thing that trips up new creators is assuming OnlyFans takes a bigger bite out of tips or pay-per-view than it does out of subscriptions. It does not. The 20% is the same across the board. Whether a fan subscribes for $10, tips you $50, or buys a $30 PPV video, OnlyFans keeps 20% and sends you 80%. Here is how that looks across each way you get paid. If pay-per-view is where you plan to earn, our guide to OnlyFans PPV pricing covers what to charge and the message limits.
| How you get paid | OnlyFans takes | You keep | On a $100 sale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subscriptions | 20% | 80% | You keep $80 |
| Tips | 20% | 80% | You keep $80 |
| Pay-per-view (PPV) messages | 20% | 80% | You keep $80 |
| Paid (locked) DMs | 20% | 80% | You keep $80 |
| Live stream tips | 20% | 80% | You keep $80 |
One more number worth knowing: the OnlyFans referral program pays you 5% of the earnings of creators you refer, for the first 12 months and capped at the first $1 million those creators make. That 5% comes out of the OnlyFans side, not yours, so it is extra income rather than another fee on your own earnings.
What the 20% fee actually pays for
A 20% cut sounds steep until you price out what it replaces. The fee bundles the whole back office of running a paid adult business, the part most creators could not set up on their own.
Adult-friendly payment processing
Mainstream processors like Stripe and PayPal reject adult content. OnlyFans handles billing, card declines, refunds, and chargebacks with processors that allow this work, which is the single hardest piece to replace.
Hosting and delivery
Storing and streaming unlimited photos and video to subscribers worldwide, with the bandwidth and storage included. No hosting bill, no separate video host.
The audience and the paywall
The subscription system, paywall, DMs, tipping, and PPV tools are all built in, plus a platform that hundreds of millions of fans already trust enough to enter a card.
Verification and compliance
Age and identity checks on every creator, plus the legal and tax paperwork (including your 1099) that keeps the platform compliant in the US.
Fraud and chargeback handling
When a fan disputes a charge, OnlyFans fights it. You are not personally chasing chargebacks or eating processor penalties the way an independent site owner would.
Support and payouts
Creator support and a weekly payout system that moves money to your bank, with the currency conversion and banking relationships handled for you.
What you actually keep after fees and taxes
The 20% is only the platform cut. As a US creator you are self-employed, so income tax and self-employment tax come out of your 80% on top of that. Self-employment tax alone runs 15.3% on net earnings, and federal income tax stacks above it based on your bracket. A rough planning rule most creators use is to set aside 25% to 35% of what hits your bank for taxes.
Here is the honest version of a $100 sale. OnlyFans takes $20, leaving you $80. If you reserve 30% of that for taxes, about $24 goes to the IRS and your state, so roughly $56 is yours to spend. The good news: every legitimate business expense (equipment, props, a portion of your phone and internet, the apps you pay for) lowers the income you are taxed on. The platform fee itself is a deductible business expense too. Track it all and you keep more of the 80%.
Want the full picture on the tax side? Our guide to OnlyFans taxes covers the 1099, quarterly payments, and every deduction, and our walkthrough on bookkeeping for OnlyFans shows how to track the 20% fee so it lowers your tax bill.
How OnlyFans payouts work after the cut
Once OnlyFans takes its 20%, the rest sits in your balance until you withdraw it. The mechanics are simple, but the holds and minimums catch new creators off guard.
Minimum balance
You need at least $20 in your balance before you can withdraw. New creators sometimes start with a slightly higher minimum until the account is established.
Pending hold
New earnings stay pending for about 7 days before they become available to withdraw. This window helps absorb refunds and chargebacks.
Payout timing
You can withdraw manually once funds clear, or set automatic payouts. Many creators run weekly payouts so cash flows to their bank on a steady schedule.
Payout methods
Direct bank deposit or wire are the standard US options. Your bank may add its own small wire or transfer fee, which is separate from the OnlyFans 20%.
For the step-by-step on linking a bank and getting your money out, see how you get paid on OnlyFans.
How the OnlyFans cut compares to other platforms
The 20% is the going rate for adult-friendly subscription platforms. The places that take less, like Patreon, do not allow explicit content, so they are not a real option for most creators here. Figures below reflect 2026 standard terms.
| Platform | Platform cut | You keep | Min payout | Adult content |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OnlyFans | 20% | 80% | $20 | Allowed |
| Fansly | 20% | 80% | $100 | Allowed |
| Fanvue | 20% (15% first 3 months) | 80% to 85% | Varies | Allowed |
| Patreon | About 12% | About 88% | Low | Not allowed |
Want a deeper side-by-side on features, audience, and payouts? Read OnlyFans vs Fansly and OnlyFans vs Patreon.
Does OnlyFans ever take more than 20%?
No. The 20% is a flat rate that has held since the platform launched, and it does not scale up as you earn more or change based on the type of sale. There is no tiered structure where big earners pay a higher percentage, and there is no separate cut on tips versus subscriptions. If you see claims of a different number, they are usually counting a creator's own costs, like agency fees, chatter pay, or paid promotion, which are choices you make and are not part of the OnlyFans fee.
The only extra costs that are truly outside your control are small and bank-side: a wire or transfer fee your own bank might charge, or a currency conversion spread if you are paid in a different currency than you earn. Those are not OnlyFans fees, and for a US creator paid in dollars they are usually zero or a few dollars per withdrawal. Bottom line, plan around 80% of gross as your starting income, then taxes and your own business costs come out of that.
How much does OnlyFans take, questions answered
Keep more of your 80% by getting found
OnlyFans handles the payments and keeps 20%. Your job is to bring the fans. Getting listed in the OnlyFinds directory puts your page in front of people searching your niche, so more of that 80% actually shows up.