Recent research conducted by Semrush shows that OnlyFans reached 1 billion monthly visits in January 2024. Considering the company reported a $525 million profit before taxes in 2022, it becomes obvious this platform has many ways of monetizing traffic. Apart from earning on content created by yourself, there are many other ways to monetize this service. Let’s find out how to make money on OnlyFans without showing your face and what creative ways you can use to maximize your profits.
- How Does OnlyFans Work?
- How OnlyFans Pays Creators
- How Much Money Can You Make on OnlyFans?
- 10 Ways to Make Money on OnlyFans
- 1. Subscriptions
- 2. Pay-Per-View Content (PPV)
- 3. Direct Messages
- 4. Paid Posts
- 5. Tips
- 6. Livestreaming
- 7. Merchandise and Digital Products
- 8. Affiliate Marketing
- 9. Promo Shoutouts
- 10. Referral Program
- How to Make Money on OnlyFans: A Step-by-Step Guide
- Choose a Niche
- Set Up an OnlyFans Account to Make Money
- Price Your Subscription
- Define What to Post
- Promote Your Account
- Reward Subscribers
- Analyze Performance
- Summary
How Does OnlyFans Work?
OnlyFans is a content-sharing platform that enables creators to monetize users who subscribe to their content. The service is primarily well-known for its adult content, but it also hosts a wide range of other materials. Creators can profit through subscriptions, pay-per-view models, direct messages, and more.
The service includes two types of accounts for fans:
- Free: provides users with access to public materials;
- Paid: provides users with access to private and exclusive content.
Viewers can easily register an account without any additional steps. However, creators must complete a separate registration process and confirm their identity with an ID. This ensures all users are of legal age and own the uploaded materials.
By the way, we covered why men pay OnlyFans models in our previous article. Click the link to read multiple user stories from Reddit and exclusive interviews with the service’s models.
How OnlyFans Pays Creators
Creators get paid on OnlyFans through a direct payment system from their fans. This can be done through monthly subscriptions, one-off tips, or pay-per-view content. The service takes a 20% commission, leaving the models with 80% of their earnings.
New creators receive payouts every month. Four months after receiving their first earned transaction, they switch to a weekly format. The payout methods depend on your location: bank transfers, wire transfers, Wise, Paxum, Skrill, and others.
How Much Money Can You Make on OnlyFans?
Can you make money on OnlyFans? Absolutely. Statista’s report shows that the highest-paid account earned $59.8 million in August 2022. Various other reports show that top models get $100,000+ monthly and they don’t necessarily show their faces.
However, it is believed that the average model has 21 subscribers and earns $151 per month. This amount may be enough for most users, but still there are many ways to increase it. Your income fully depends on what you publish and how you advertise your content.
10 Ways to Make Money on OnlyFans
So can you make money on OnlyFans with just pictures? It’s possible. However, your earnings will likely be below average without any additional steps. We gathered 10 ways to fully monetize this platform and its features to generate larger profits.
1. Subscriptions
The most popular way to monetize OnlyFans is by creating a paywall for your account. This means that users will access your pictures, videos, and posts only after buying access to them. It provides a steady income, but you’ll also have to provide compelling content to justify the cost.
2. Pay-Per-View Content (PPV)
PPV content includes special videos, photos, audio recordings, and all other materials available with a separate purchase. It’s a great model to monetize individual content that you consider premium or too exclusive for regular users. According to the OnlyFans blog, it’s the most crucial feature to maximize monetization for free profiles.
3. Direct Messages
You can send personalized messages and content directly to fans for a fee. This can be a great way to offer a more personal experience for your subscribers. As mentioned by multiple Reddit users, some people use OnlyFans to get the illusion of having a girlfriend. Using this kind of personalization with these users may be quite profitable.
4. Paid Posts
If some content doesn’t fit into your account’s monetization profile, you can charge for access to specific material. These could be highly requested content, tutorials, behind-the-scenes, or anything else that adds value. Paid media are a flexible way to present a variety of content at different price points and they’re available for both free and paid followers.
5. Tips
The tipping feature allows any fan to tip you directly. They can be a significant source of income and a way for people to show their appreciation for your work. You can increase your earnings by encouraging tipping during live streams and offering special mentions.
6. Livestreaming
Livestreaming is an engaging way to connect with your followers in real-time. You can set goals during these sessions and prompt users to tip you, allowing you to raise a certain sum. These live sessions can be anything: like Q&A, performances, tutorials, or simply chatting with your audience, making them feel more connected to you.
7. Merchandise and Digital Products
Selling branded merchandise or digital products is a great way to monetize your OnlyFans. This could include clothing, accessories, artworks, ebooks, or courses. But it will only work when you have a lot of followers interested in your activities.
8. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing allows OnlyFans creators to gain commissions from promoting products, services, and even other models. This approach helps them monetize their OnlyFans without necessarily creating new media, making it a valuable strategy if you want to diversify your assets. How it works:
- Affiliate links: you partner with a brand and receive a unique link or promo code.
- Promotion: you promote the brand’s product or service to your followers.
- Commissions: you get a commission from each sale or action completed via your link or code.
Many models often share adult, fashion, beauty and healthcare, and other products within the app depending on their personal branding. For example, you can find a list of the best dating affiliate programs and networks here. They are frequently related to the adult industry, so you might find them useful.
9. Promo Shoutouts
If you have a significant number of followers, other creators might be willing to pay you for promotions or shoutouts on your page. This can be a profitable way to monetize your page. If your demographic matches the promoting creator’s target audience, you’ll get even a better opportunity to sell ads.
10. Referral Program
OnlyFans offers a referral program where you can earn a commission for any new creators referred to the platform. This is a passive revenue stream that can grow over time as more people sign up through your referral link. You’ll get 5% of the referred user’s earnings during 12 months.
Best Ways to Make Money on OnlyFans
Our team analyzed the most profitable features based on different statistics and interviews with various influencers. This will help you determine the best way to monetize your OnlyFans for maximum income.
| Feature | Pros | Cons |
| Subs | Steady revenue; Predictability; Builds loyalty. | Requires regular updates; Challenging to grow. |
| PPV | Flexibility in pricing; Ability to charge for specific content; Attracts non-subscribers. | Not used by all subscribers; Requires extra promotion; Needs a balance between free and paid options. |
| Affiliate Marketing | Passive revenue potential; Low effort after initial setup. | Needs alignment with users’ interests. |
How to Make Money on OnlyFans: A Step-by-Step Guide
Now you’ll get a step-by-step guide to creating your OnlyFans and monetizing it for maximum profits.
Choose a Niche
Your choice of niche determines your competition and content flow. In a perfect world, you should work in a niche that aligns with your insterests. So, first, you’ll need to identify your interests. Then, research demand, and find gaps in the market to see where you can stand out. Last, see what users need and prefer, as they will generate your revenue.
Set Up an OnlyFans Account to Make Money
Creating an OnlyFans page is a matter of minutes:
- Sign up: open the website and sign up using your email, Twitter, or Google. You’ll need to provide some basic information to get started.
- Verification: you’ll have to complete a verification process to ensure you’re of legal age. This requires uploading an ID to prove your identity.
- Set up your page: upload a profile picture, a cover image, and write a bio. It should highlight what subscribers can expect from your content.
- Connect Payment Methods: connect your bank or payment processing option to get payouts.
Price Your Subscription
The cost of a sub varies from $4.99 to $49.99, but the average is $7.20. To choose your price, research competitors for your price to be competitive. Define your publishing frequency, because if you plan to publish often, you might set a lower price to attract more followers. Adjust your pricing based on feedback and results.
Define What to Post
If you’re a creator and don’t want to publish explicit content or show your face, there are other types of content you can monetize on your OnlyFans. You can publish media content made by you, personal stories, exclusive tutorials, behind-the-scenes looks, and more.
Promote Your Account
To promote your OnlyFans, you’ll have to use social media to advertise your OnlyFans content; partner with other users for shoutouts or collaborations to reach more people; provide exclusive offers like run promotions or discounts for new users to attract an initial audience; and share snippets or previews of your future publications on other platforms to attract potential followers.
Reward Subscribers
Your followers require attention and that may be one of the reasons they monitor your page. Share some love with them by offering access to exclusive content, merchandise, or one-on-one interactions to long-term followers. You can also engage with them by answering comments and messages. Personal interaction can help followers feel valued, increasing the chance they remain among your fans. Another good reward is special offers like discounts or limited access to your most loyal fans.
Analyze Performance
Conduct proper analysis to strategize a way to increase revenue. Check engagement rate (likes, comments, and messages) to see what resonates most; follower growth to monitor the churn rate and subs growth to understand performance; and your earnings — to understand whether you’re getting paid enough. After all this, you can gather data necessary to adjust your strategy if need be.
Summary
OnlyFans is a service that provides creators with many ways of earning revenue. An average model gets around $151 monthly, but you can earn thousands and even millions with the right approach. And affiliate marketing appears to be one of the most profitable options, providing users with large flexibility and many offers to choose from.
