camguides

Independent creator platform research

Pick the platform that pays you best, not the one that markets hardest.

Fees, payout terms and referral programs for OnlyFans, Fanvue, Fansly and LoyalFans — each figure checked against the platform's own documentation and stamped with the date we checked it. Where sources disagree, we say so instead of picking the flattering number.

Compare the alternatives I'm just starting out

The four we cover

Quick picks — skip to the one that matches you

Not sure which describes you? The earnings calculator shows what each platform would pay you on the same revenue, and the full reasoning is below.

Some links here are referral links: if you sign up we may earn a commission from the platform, at no extra cost to you. It does not change the ranking — here is how we rank.

The four platforms, ranked by terms

This ordering is about the deal you get, not the size of the audience. If your only goal is the fastest first subscriber, that ranking is almost exactly reversed — which is the whole reason these pages exist.

1

LoyalFans

The smallest platform here and the only one whose referral commission is credibly lifetime — which changes the maths entirely if you refer creators who stay.

You keep 80% Referral: 5% for life, no published cap Terms disputed

The binding referral terms say 5% of Fan Payments; the public payout page describes 5% of creator earnings. The percentage agrees, but the calculation base differs. Our earnings-based examples retain the conservative base; confirm yours in writing.

Visit LoyalFans Full review
2

Fanvue

The most credible OnlyFans alternative right now: same 80/20 economics, a 15% promotional rate for your first year, and a platform actively courting creators who feel stuck.

You keep 80% Referral: 5% for 12 months, $50,000 per creator
Visit Fanvue Full review
3

Fansly

The closest thing to a like-for-like OnlyFans replacement, with better in-platform discovery and tiered subscriptions.

You keep 80% Referral: 5% of sales in year one; 1.5% afterwards, no published cap Terms disputed
Visit Fansly Full review
4

OnlyFans

The default. Biggest fan base, best-understood product, and the referral program with the worst recent history of the four.

You keep 80% Referral: 5% for 12 months, $50,000 per creator
Visit OnlyFans Full review

Side by side

Every number below links to the source it came from. All four were last re-checked on 2026-08-16.

Platform Best for You keep Minimum payout Referral window Discovery
LoyalFans Best for referral income 80% Official $50 US bank (ACH), $100 SEPA, $150 international wire Official Lifetime Official LoyalFans' own payout page advertises lifetime commission. The binding referral terms permit future changes or closure of the programme while protecting payments already earned; they do not guarantee an unchanging lifetime rate. Screenshot the terms when you join. Limited but real Visit
Fanvue Best terms in year one 80% Official 85% for the first 12 months for newly signed-up creators Varies by withdrawal method — not published Official 12 months Official For creators referred on or after 9 April 2026. Creators who registered before that date earn their referrer 36 months under the same policy, which is where the widely-republished 36-month figure comes from — it is no longer available for new referrals. Effectively none Visit
Fansly Best for getting discovered 80% Official Varies by method — $20 to $100 Official 5% of sales in year one; 1.5% afterwards Official The 5% tier runs for one year, followed by 1.5%; the article gives no end date for the lower tier.The help centre publishes 5% of referred creator sales for the first year and 1.5% afterwards. The 5% headline and twelve-month window here describe the first tier only. Strongest of the four Visit
OnlyFans Best for reaching fans 80% Official $20 Reported 12 months Reported Reduced from "LIFETIME" by an email sent on 1 May 2020, applied retroactively to referrals already made. Weak Visit

Run your own numbers

Percentages are easier to compare than to feel. The calculator applies the same rates as the table above to your figures, for all four platforms at once.

  • What would you keep?

    Enter what you earn in a month and see what each platform leaves you, per month and over up to five years.

  • How many subscribers would you need?

    Not earning yet? Enter what you want to keep and what you would charge, and see how many paying subscribers that takes on each platform.

  • Would leaving OnlyFans pay?

    Not every fan follows you to a new platform. Enter what you earn now and the share you expect to follow, and see what moving would leave you.

  • What is one referral worth?

    Enter what a creator you refer would earn and for how long, and see what each platform's referral program would pay you for them.

When platforms change their terms

Platforms change their terms quietly. We watch their terms pages and log each change to a fee, payout or referral term, dated and linked to its source. The newest:

  • Published: broader earnings-hold grounds and conversion fees in the main terms

    Was: August 2024 wording required a suspected serious or repeated breach for that hold ground; currency fees were described as bank or e-wallet charges.

    Now: October wording allows holds on any suspected breach, loss or reputational harm, or delayed information replies; disputes must be in writing within six months. Converted payouts include conversion fees, separate from bank fees, without a published rate. Earnings can be redirected under law or court order; tax, fraud or financial-crime issues can also lead to legally required holds..

    What it means and what to do →

    · OnlyFans · Payouts

  • Published: AI content must feature the verified creator; data-use rules are explicit

    Was: August 2024 section 19 required an AI label without the verified-creator condition; section 8 did not contain the new data-collection and AI-training paragraph.

    Now: AI-generated, altered or enhanced content must clearly feature the verified creator and carry an AI label. Tools designed to collect data from Content or Direct Services, access-control circumvention and using that material to train or enhance software or AI are barred. OnlyFans may process content, including direct messages, with its own AI-enabled services..

    What it means and what to do →

    · OnlyFans · Content policy

  • Published: banned-fan refunds become discretionary and Israeli cancellations gain a refund route

    Was: Terminated fans' prepaid payments would not be refunded; the August 2024 subscription clause did not set out an Israeli pro-rata cancellation option.

    Now: Terminated fans' payments may not be refunded, leaving refund discretion. Israeli users can terminate a subscription within three days of requesting cancellation and choose to stop access for a pro-rata refund less a 5% cancellation fee, or retain access to period end without a refund or cancellation fee..

    What it means and what to do →

    · OnlyFans · Chargebacks & refunds

See every tracked term and the full change log → · Follow changes by RSS

Referral programs, compared honestly

All four pay 5%. That is where the similarity ends — duration, cap and who funds the commission vary enough to make the same headline rate worth ten times more on one platform than another.

Platform Rate Pays for Cap Paid out of
LoyalFans 5% of referred creator earnings Disputed The binding referral terms say 5% of Fan Payments; the public payout page describes 5% of creator earnings. The percentage agrees, but the calculation base differs. Our earnings-based examples retain the conservative base; confirm yours in writing. Lifetime Official LoyalFans' own payout page advertises lifetime commission. The binding referral terms permit future changes or closure of the programme while protecting payments already earned; they do not guarantee an unchanging lifetime rate. Screenshot the terms when you join. No published cap Official No per-creator cap is stated in the published referral terms; this does not promise that the programme will remain uncapped. The platform's cut Official The Referral Payments section says LoyalFans bears the cost and referred users pay no fee. Referral payments accrue monthly and are paid around the first of the following month; earned payments are protected from later programme changes.
Fanvue 5% of referred creator earnings Official 5% of Qualifying Revenue after Platform Fees. The 19 September policy update defines eligible tips, messages, content unlocks, profile subscriptions and App Store purchases. It excludes Fanvue Checkout sales, promotional credits, other commission and zero-net transactions. 12 months Official For creators referred on or after 9 April 2026. Creators who registered before that date earn their referrer 36 months under the same policy, which is where the widely-republished 36-month figure comes from — it is no longer available for new referrals. $50,000 per creator Official The platform's cut Official Section 6.3 says creator referral commission is paid from Fanvue's Platform Fees, without a deduction from the referred creator. Calculating commission after Platform Fees describes its basis, not who funds it. The separate creator affiliate programme is funded by the promoted creator.
Fansly 5% of sales in year one; 1.5% afterwards Official The help centre publishes 5% of referred creator sales for the first year and 1.5% afterwards. The 5% headline and twelve-month window here describe the first tier only.The 5% tier runs for one year, followed by 1.5%; the article gives no end date for the lower tier. 5% of sales in year one; 1.5% afterwards Official The 5% tier runs for one year, followed by 1.5%; the article gives no end date for the lower tier.The help centre publishes 5% of referred creator sales for the first year and 1.5% afterwards. The 5% headline and twelve-month window here describe the first tier only. No published cap Disputed The official help article does not state a cap. This is not a guarantee that no cap applies; confirm in your account. Sources contradict each other Disputed The help article gives the rates but does not say who funds the commission.
OnlyFans 5% of referred creator earnings Reported 12 months Reported Reduced from "LIFETIME" by an email sent on 1 May 2020, applied retroactively to referrals already made. $50,000 per creator Reported 5% of the first $1,000,000 a referred creator earns. The platform's cut Reported

Work out what one referral would pay you on each →

Read the full breakdown, including what the OnlyFans lawsuit means for anyone relying on referral income →

Start with your situation

  • Best for creators starting from zero

    If nobody knows your name yet, platform choice matters less than where your traffic comes from. Here is the honest answer, and the one platform that does part of the work for you.

    We pick Fansly

  • Best for creators leaving OnlyFans

    Moving an audience is the hardest thing you will do as a creator. Which platform loses you the fewest subscribers, and how to run the move so you keep your income during it.

    We pick Fansly

  • Best for creators who refer other creators

    If part of your income comes from bringing other creators onto a platform, the terms differ enormously — and the headline rate is the least important part.

    We pick LoyalFans

  • Best for live streamers and audio creators

    Live and voice content have different requirements from photo sets — tipping mechanics, stream stability and audio-first discovery. Not every platform takes them seriously.

    We pick LoyalFans

  • Best for creators running more than one platform

    Running two platforms is the single most effective protection against a deactivation or a terms change. Here is which second platform to add, depending on what your first one is.

    We pick Fanvue

What to charge

No platform publishes what creators charge, so every range here shows the sources it came from and says when they disagree.

  • How much to charge for a subscription

    What creators charge for a monthly subscription, what each platform lets you set, and what a price brings in after commission. Every figure sourced and dated.

    $5–$15 a month · checked 2026-10-24

  • How much to charge for PPV content

    What creators charge for pay-per-view photo sets, clips and bundles, what each platform lets you charge, and what you keep. Every figure sourced and dated.

    $10–$75 per unlock · checked 2026-09-16

  • How much to charge for a custom video

    Per-minute rates for custom videos are the most disputed price in the creator economy. Here is what the published guides say, why they disagree, and what the platforms let you charge.

    $5–$20 per minute · checked 2026-09-16

All seven price guides →

Head to head

Guides

  • Glossary: creator-platform terms in plain English

    PPV, pending periods, referral windows, chargebacks, promotional rates. What the words on creator platforms and on this site actually mean, in a sentence or two each, with a link to the page that has the figures.

    Verified 2026-10-16

  • OnlyFans alternatives — the three that are actually worth moving to

    Most lists of OnlyFans alternatives are twenty platforms deep and useless. Three are worth your time, they win on different things, and which one is right for you depends on a single question.

    Verified 2026-10-29

  • OnlyFans' November 2026 terms: what changed and what to do now

    OnlyFans' main terms page now carries the October 2026 wording. Compare it with the previous terms: broader earnings holds, AI likeness rules and conversion fees, plus what to do now.

    Verified 2026-11-01

  • Creator referral programs compared — all four pay 5%, and that tells you nothing

    OnlyFans, Fanvue, Fansly and LoyalFans advertise a 5% creator referral rate. The calculation base, duration, later tiers, cap and funding decide what that headline actually pays.

    Verified 2026-11-02

  • What every creator platform actually takes

    All four take 20%. One undercuts it for a year. The fee comparison everyone writes is over in a sentence — so here is the part that actually affects what reaches your bank account.

    Verified 2026-10-31

  • How much does Fansly take? The full breakdown

    Fansly takes 20% of everything. What that actually means for your take-home once payment processing, payout methods and currency conversion are accounted for is a different number.

    Verified 2026-10-31

All guides →

Why trust any of this?

We earn referral commission when someone signs up through our links, and we are upfront that this creates a bias worth guarding against. Our defence is method: every number is sourced and dated, disputed figures are flagged rather than smoothed over, and we publish the cases where the platform paying us has the worse product. How we research and rank →