The OnlyFans percentage cut is 20% of every fan payment, deducted automatically, so you keep 80% as your Creator Earnings. The rate is the same for every creator and every kind of sale, from subscriptions to tips. What you actually keep is lower than 80% because refunds and currency conversion come off afterwards. Tax and any agency share follow, and each works differently.
This article follows one fan payment from the fan's card to your bank account and shows where each deduction happens. It is part of our guide on how to make money on OnlyFans, which covers the revenue streams themselves. Here the subject is only what leaves before the money is yours.
The fee in numbers
- The OnlyFans percentage cut is 20% of each fan payment, taken automatically (OnlyFans Terms of Service).
- You keep: 80%, called Creator Earnings. On $10,000 of fan payments that is $8,000.
- Same rate for every sale type, from subscriptions to tips.
- VAT or sales tax is not part of it. The fan pays that on top of your price.
- Later deductions: refunds, chargebacks, currency conversion, bank fees, any agency share, income tax.
The OnlyFans percentage cut: 20% of every fan payment
OnlyFans takes 20% of each fan payment and pays the remaining 80% into your account balance. The OnlyFans Terms of Service put it in one line: the fee is calculated as 20% of the total fan payment and deducted from each one. The terms state no other percentage fee for creators.
Two details in the wording matter. First, the fee is deducted from each payment as it comes in, so your balance only ever shows the 80%. Second, a "fan payment" is defined broadly: a subscription or a pay-per-view purchase, but also any other payment between a fan and your account, including payments in direct messages. That is why the rate is identical across every revenue stream.
The terms also set one rate for everybody. A creator with a few hundred fans and one with a six-figure month pay the same 20%, and the terms contain no volume tier that lowers it.
How much does OnlyFans take from subscriptions, PPV and tips?
OnlyFans takes the same 20% from every type of sale. The table shows what that means at a few typical price points.
| What the fan pays | OnlyFans fee (20%) | Your Creator Earnings (80%) |
|---|---|---|
| A $10 monthly subscription | $2 | $8 |
| A $15 PPV message | $3 | $12 |
| A $25 tip | $5 | $20 |
| A $150 custom video | $30 | $120 |
| A month with $10,000 in fan payments | $2,000 | $8,000 |
Tips are often treated as a gift that should arrive in full. Under the terms a tip is a payment between a fan and your account like any other, so the fee applies to it as well. For a discounted subscription the 20% is calculated on what the fan actually paid, after the discount.
What you charge is a separate decision, and our OnlyFans pricing guide works through it. Here the only point is that a lower price means a lower fee in dollars, never a lower rate.
Gross, net and Creator Earnings: the words on your statement
Gross is what fans paid you, net is what is left after the OnlyFans fee, and the terms call that net amount your Creator Earnings. Most confusion about OnlyFans fees comes from mixing these three, especially once an agency or an accountant uses a different word for the same number.
| Term | What it means | Who pays it or keeps it |
|---|---|---|
| Indirect sales tax | VAT or sales tax that applies in the fan's country, added on top of your price | The fan pays it; it never comes out of your 80% |
| Fan payment (gross) | The price of the subscription, PPV purchase or tip, excluding that tax | The basis for the 20% fee |
| OnlyFans fee | 20% of the fan payment | Kept by OnlyFans |
| Creator Earnings (net) | The fan payment minus the fee | Credited to your balance |
| Payout | Creator Earnings you withdraw once your balance reaches the minimum | Sent to your bank or payout method |
| What lands in your bank | The payout after any conversion or bank charges | Yours, before income tax |
The first row surprises many creators. Fan payments are exclusive of indirect sales tax, which is added at the applicable rate when a fan buys. A fan in a country with VAT may pay more than your listed price, but the extra is tax that OnlyFans collects. It is neither a fee on you nor extra income for you, and the OnlyFans percentage cut is calculated on your price, before that tax.
The contract between fan and creator says the same: OnlyFans collects the tax, takes its fee, then pays out your Creator Earnings.
What else comes off before the money reaches your bank
After the OnlyFans percentage cut, four further things can reduce what you keep. Here is one month on $10,000 of fan payments, with each step in the order it happens.
| Step | Amount | What decides it |
|---|---|---|
| Fan payments in the month | $10,000 | Your prices and your fans |
| OnlyFans fee, 20% | -$2,000 | Fixed by the terms |
| Creator Earnings | $8,000 | |
| A $250 custom later refunded to the fan | -$200 | Only your 80% portion is deducted |
| Corrected Creator Earnings | $7,800 | |
| Conversion and bank charges on the payout | varies | Your bank or e-wallet, if you are paid in another currency |
| Agency share, if you work with one (example: 40% of corrected net) | -$3,120 | Your contract |
| Before income tax | $4,680 | Tax rules where you live |
Refunds and chargebacks
If a fan wins a refund or a chargeback from their card provider, the terms allow OnlyFans to deduct the Creator Earnings portion of that payment from you. The deduction is limited to your 80% portion of the refunded amount. A chargeback can arrive after the sale, so a month that looked finished can still shrink. The custom requests where the scope was never written down are the ones that get disputed most often.
Currency conversion and bank charges
All fan payments and Creator Earnings are transacted in USD. If your bank account runs in euros, pounds or another currency, your bank or e-wallet may charge conversion and other fees. OnlyFans does not set those rates and does not pay them, so compare what your own bank charges with the alternatives. How payouts work in detail, including the minimum balance and timing, is covered in how OnlyFans pays creators.
Withheld earnings
The terms let OnlyFans withhold Creator Earnings while it reviews a suspected breach or a payment it believes is fraudulent, and treat them as forfeited if the review goes against you. This is not a fee, but it is the one deduction that can take a whole balance at once, which is a good reason to keep every promotion and every chat within the platform's rules.
Income tax
Tax comes last and depends on where you live. The terms make you responsible for reporting your OnlyFans income and paying tax on it, and our article on OnlyFans taxes explains what that means in the US, the UK, Germany and the EU. This is general information, not legal or tax advice - ask a tax advisor in your country.
What the 20% fee does not touch
A few amounts look like part of the OnlyFans percentage cut and are not. Knowing them keeps you from double-counting.
| Item | Does it reduce your 80%? | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Sales tax or VAT on the fan's purchase | No, the fan pays it on top | Terms of Service |
| Referral payment to whoever referred you (5% of your fan payments for 12 months, capped at $50,000) | No, OnlyFans bears that cost | Referral Program Terms |
| Wallet Credits a fan prepaid and has not spent | Not yet; they are used later for fan payments, and the fee applies to those | Terms of Service |
The referral row is the one most often misread. If you joined through someone's referral link, that person receives a referral payment based on your fan payments for your first year. The OnlyFans Referral Program Terms state that OnlyFans bears that cost, not the referred creator.
How an agency share stacks on top of the fee
An agency share is calculated either on net or on gross, and that base changes what you pay as much as the headline percentage does. A share on net is taken from your Creator Earnings. A share on gross is taken from the full fan payment, so you also pay the agency a percentage of money OnlyFans already kept.
In the waterfall above, the agency row sits on the corrected net, after the 20% and the refund. Ask for that order and have the contract say it in one sentence. What different shares and bases cost in practice, and what break-even growth an agency has to deliver, is worked out in how much OnlyFans agencies charge.
Can you lower or avoid the OnlyFans commission?
You cannot lower the OnlyFans commission itself. It is fixed in the terms, applies to every creator, and is deducted before the money reaches you. What you can influence is everything that comes after it.
- Write down the scope and delivery date of every custom before the fan pays, because refunds are taken from your share.
- Check what your bank charges to convert USD, and compare it with other payout options available in your country.
- Agree on the net base, and a recalculation after refunds, with anyone who takes a share of your revenue.
- Keep receipts for business costs from the first month, so the tax step is calculated on the right number.
A different platform comes with its own fee, plus a different audience and other payout rules. If you are comparing, our overview of OnlyFans alternatives sets the platforms side by side.
How MAXMO handles the fee in our statements
We start from the same net number you see in your own account. Our share lies between 30 and 60 percent, agreed per creator in the first call. It is always calculated on net revenue after the 20% OnlyFans fee, never on gross fan spending. If a payment is refunded or charged back, our share is recalculated on the corrected amount. You pay on what arrives, not on what fans spent: we invoice our share on the amount that actually reaches your account.
It applies to growth only, so revenue you already had before we started is not charged, and that point is negotiable per creator. We charge nothing upfront: no setup fee, no onboarding fee, nothing billed before results.
Every month you receive a statement with all the numbers visible, from fan payments through the fee to our share. Your profile email and two-factor authentication stay exclusively with you, as do your payout details. Every collaboration starts with a trial phase so both sides can see whether it fits, and you can leave at any time with three days' notice. You can read what the work covers in our five service areas, see what it produced for three creators, find shorter answers in the FAQ on our homepage, or tell us where you stand and get a reply within 48 hours.
