What is OnlyFans? A Simple Guide (Everything You Need To Know)
What is OnlyFans? Who uses it? How much do OnlyFans content creators make? What celebs use it? All these questions and more answered below…
With over 30 million subscribers and hundreds of thousands of content creators, OnlyFans is an app for iPhone and Android that is redefining the sex industry…
Paid content is great. It allows individuals and brands to monetize their creative output online, without adverts. Patreon is perhaps the most well-known paid content platform. It covers everything from marketing to witchcraft – and everything else in between.
Next, we have OnlyFans: a paid content membership/subscription app that, unlike Patreon and most other social networks allows its users to post whatever they like – and that has made it a digital home for sex workers in the adult industry.
OnlyFans isn’t JUST NSFW content, but a large slice of its user base is focussed on NSFW content – some 18,000 creators use the platform (and their bodies) to make money from paid-subscriptions. And with the COVID crisis in full swing for almost 12 months now, OnlyFans is growing at a rapid rate.
You Don’t Have To Get Naked – But It Helps…
Thanks to media coverage by Buzzfeed and even a mention in a Beyonce song, OnlyFans is now a global phenomenon. Back in May, the company confirmed there are around 6000 to 8000 new content creators joining every day.
And not all content on OnlyFans is explicit; Cardi B joined the platform in 2020 but does not post anything that would be classed as NSFW. You also have plenty of musicians on the platform too. As noted above: OnlyFans isn’t just about NSFW content.
Unlike other platforms, including Facebook and Reddit, OnlyFans’ secret sauce is that EVERYTHING happens behind a paywall. In order to view a creator’s content, you have to subscribe to their account. And that will cost you a minimum of $9.99 a month – more in some cases.
This means an account can be monetized more or less instantly, providing you have some kind of social media following on other platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, or Facebook. Those with an already-engaged following can quickly start earning thousands of dollars a month.
And the biggest selling point? The content creators have complete control of not only their output and working hours but also their money. You’re also not reliant on things like ad networks and/or SEO to grow your business. You can do it all with a few saucy Instagram posts and a link in your bio.
“I was worried about money, about paying off my mortgage, bills, and stuff. Before lockdown I was looking after animals – pet dogs, mainly. But because it’s an independent business my boss can’t pay me until she gets her grant from the government,” a woman who goes by Miss June told Vice. “… At the minute I’m living off savings. OnlyFans seemed like the easiest option.”
How Does OnlyFans Work?
It’s actually pretty simple: you set up an account with OnlyFans and then you can start uploading content – either videos or photos. Once you have content uploaded, you can start marketing your channel to try and get paying subscribers.
There are no freebies on OnlyFans, either: you have to subscribe to each content creator’s channel individually. And prices vary too – anywhere from $5 a month to $25.00 per month. The max you can charge for a subscription on OnlyFans is $49 per month.
How Much Can You Make On OnlyFans?
There is also no cap on how much you can make per month. If you can get a million subscribers to your channel, you’ll be making A LOT of money every month. OnlyFans take a slice (20%), but the creators still get the lion’s share of the fees.
Bella Thorne, for instance, is estimated to make around £9,013,128 per year from her 23.8 million subscribers. Blac Chyna makes even more from her smaller following (but she charges more), netting herself around £15,418,259 a year.
These figures are based on the following metrics: OnlyFans fees, price of the subscription, Instagram followers, and the number of paid subs on OnlyFans. They’re not 100% accurate. But they do paint a fairly accurate picture of the sorts of revenue that OnlyFans can generate.
These are HUGE numbers and are not the norm on OnlyFans, however, accounts with even a modest number of subscribers can easily clear £1000 to £7000 per month. All you’d need is a few hundred subscribers to achieve this level of earnings on OnlyFans.
Another way people make money on OnlyFans is via private messaging. If you have a channel with a lot – or a few – subscribers, you can charge the subscribers additional fees for private one-on-one video sessions and specific content requests.
Is OnlyFans Safe?
OnlyFans is a quick way to make a lot of money, sure, but not everybody wants to work or be known as someone that works in the sex industry. For this reason, many content creators conceal their faces in their content. This gives them a level of anonymity, while still being able to make content that can be monetized.
However, OnlyFans does store and share personal details of its creators. Here’s what the company said about what information it stores and shares about its creators:
Our services are not intended for anyone under 18. We have checks to ensure that we do not knowingly offer our services to or collect personal information from anyone under 18 or anyone using a false identity. These checks involve passing the following information to a third party which verifies the information. If you commence the registration process then you do so on the strict understanding that your personal data will be transferred to that third party and processed accordingly. We reserve the right to change the third parties as and when necessary without reference to you.
The data we share with third parties for verification purposes is (Verification Data):
your full name; your date of birth; your (passport or other identification document number); your address; your selfie photo.
Celebrities That Have OnlyFans Accounts
Thanks to COVID and not being able to work, as well as the allure of making a metric ton of cash, many celebrities have created OnlyFans accounts to cash-in on the new app.
Celebs That Have OnlyFans Accounts:
- Cardi B
- Tyler Posey
- Bella Thorne
- Sonja Morgan
- Aaron Carter
- Shea Coulee
- Tyga
- Blac Chyna
- Dorinda Medley
- Tana Mongeau
- Amber Rose
- Austin Mahone
- Jordyn Woods
Richard Goodwin
Richard Goodwin has been working as a tech journalist for over 10 years. He is the editor and owner of KnowYourMobile.
