In August 2026, OnlyFans reported that 5,076 creators had earned more than $1 million each since the platform launched in 2016. While million-dollar earnings attract attention, they tell only part of the story. When fans pay for content, how much of that money do creators actually keep?

To examine these differences, Giggster analyzed the amounts creators retain from fan payments, comparing OnlyFans with Patreon’s standard-plan fee structure and calculating the payments required to reach different balance targets. The report also examines third-party creator estimates across all 50 states and Washington, D.C., identifying where creator populations are largest and where they are most concentrated relative to the adult population.

Learn more about the methodology and breakdown here.

Key Takeaways

• •Fans must pay 25% more than the amount an OnlyFans creator retains. Under the report’s fee model, reaching a $1,000 balance requires $1,250 in fan payments, equivalent to 125 successful $10 transactions, before taxes and other costs.
• •The same fan payment leaves different creator balances on OnlyFans and Patreon. A $10 payment leaves $8 on OnlyFans and $8.41 under Patreon’s standard-plan model. Across 100 successful $10 payments, that difference reaches $41.
• •Nevada and D.C. have more than twice Washington’s estimated creator density. Nevada leads with about 119 estimated creator accounts per 10,000 adults, followed by D.C. with about 109. Washington ranks third at 42.
• •California, Texas and Florida account for nearly a third of listed creator estimates. California leads with about 91,400 estimated accounts, followed by Texas with about 66,800 and Florida with about 65,200. Together, they represent about 32% of the total across all 50 states and D.C.

01

How OnlyFans’ 20% Fee Adds Up

02

Beyond Subscriptions: How OnlyFans’ Revenue Has Changed

03

OnlyFans vs. Patreon: What Remains From the Same Payment?

04

OnlyFans Across the U.S.: Creator Counts and Concentration

The states with the most estimated OnlyFans creators are not necessarily those with the highest concentration. Giggster compared third-party creator estimates across all 50 states and Washington, D.C., using both total creator counts and population-adjusted density.

FAQs

Does the $8 remaining from a $10 OnlyFans payment represent take-home pay?

No. The $8 is the modeled creator balance after OnlyFans’ 20% platform deduction. It does not account for creator taxes, payout charges, agency fees or business expenses. The report does not measure how much creators ultimately take home.

Why does a 20% platform fee mean fans must pay 25% more than the creator retains?

The percentages use different starting amounts. In the report’s model, a $10 payment leaves an $8 creator balance and a $2 platform deduction. That $2 is 20% of the original payment but 25% of the amount retained. These are two ways of describing the same deduction, not separate charges.

Does the Patreon comparison mean creators earn more on Patreon?

No. The comparison shows what remains from identical payments under specified fee structures. It does not measure how frequently creators receive payments, how large their audiences are or how much they earn overall. Actual fees may also vary by plan and payment method.

Do states with higher creator density offer better earning opportunities?

The report cannot determine that. Creator density compares estimated accounts per 10,000 adults, not income or profitability. Nevada’s leading position indicates a higher estimated concentration relative to its adult population, but it does not establish that creators there earn more than creators in other states.

Do the rankings show where OnlyFans creator populations are growing fastest?

No. The rankings compare estimated account numbers and concentration across locations, not growth over time. OnlyGuider says its revised model retains the same geographic shares from its profile index while applying a different worldwide account baseline. The rankings therefore cannot establish that creators are moving to particular states or that one state’s creator population is growing faster than another’s.

Methodology

Giggster combined illustrative payment calculations with third-party estimates of OnlyFans creator accounts across all 50 states and Washington, D.C. The report examines what remains after specified platform deductions and where creators are estimated to be concentrated. It also examines company-level revenue by payment type and revenue attributed to the U.S., using figures compiled in Giggster’s research dataset. It does not measure individual creator earnings or profitability.

Payment Models

The platform comparison uses hypothetical successful payments of $4.99, $10 and $19.99. All amounts are in U.S. dollars. Examples assume web-card payments, USD payout currency and no sales tax or currency conversion. These payment amounts are illustrative, not observed averages.

The OnlyFans model deducts 20% of each payment, leaving 80% as the modeled creator balance, consistent with OnlyFans’ official payout guidance. No additional payment processing charge is deducted separately in this model.

The Patreon model applies its standard-plan platform fee of 10%, plus payment processing of 2.9% and $0.30 per transaction, as outlined in Patreon’s creator fee guidance. Both percentages are calculated from the original payment amount, and the fixed charge applies once per payment. Legacy plans and app purchases are excluded. These assumptions reflect the specified USD card-payment scenario, not every Patreon account or payment method.

Calculations retain full precision before displayed balances are rounded to the nearest cent. Balances exclude payout charges, creator taxes, refunds, chargebacks, currency conversion, agency fees and business expenses. They are not take-home pay or profit.

Payment Requirements and Balance Targets

The OnlyFans payment-target analysis uses creator balance targets of $500, $1,000 and $2,000. Each successful $10 payment produces an $8 modeled balance.

The required payment count is calculated by dividing the target balance by $8 and rounding up to the next whole transaction. Total fan payments equal the resulting transaction count multiplied by $10. Platform deductions equal 20% of that total, with the remainder forming the creator balance. Rounding up explains why the $500 target produces a $504 balance.

The repeated-payment comparison applies each platform’s model to 100 successful $10 transactions. Payment counts do not represent unique fans or subscribers, and no time period is assigned to reaching a target.

Platform Revenue by Payment Type

The revenue analysis uses subscription, non-subscription and total platform-revenue figures compiled by Giggster’s research team from Fenix International Limited’s annual accounts and comparative figures for FY2020 through FY2025. Each financial year ends Nov. 30. The figures describe the company’s global platform revenue, not total fan payments, transaction counts or individual creator earnings. Non-subscription revenue is treated as a combined reporting category; the analysis does not estimate the contribution of individual transaction types.

Each category’s annual share is calculated by dividing its revenue by total platform revenue for the same financial year and multiplying by 100. Chart shares are rounded to one decimal place. Year-over-year changes are calculated as the current year’s category revenue divided by the previous year’s category revenue, minus one, multiplied by 100. Calculations use the underlying amounts rather than the rounded figures displayed in the article.

The supplied FY2025 figures are $422.486 million in subscription revenue and $1,130.823 million in non-subscription revenue, totaling $1,553.309 million. These produce shares of 27.2% and 72.8%. The findings display the category amounts as $422.5 million and $1.13 billion. The FY2024 comparison amounts are $470.442 million and $942.652 million, respectively, giving a subscription-revenue decline of about 10% and non-subscription-revenue growth of about 20% in FY2025.

U.S.-Attributed Platform Revenue

The U.S. revenue card uses the geographic revenue figure compiled from the Fenix International Limited FY2025 accounts. The underlying U.S.-attributed amount is $965.447 million, displayed as $965.4 million. Dividing $965.447 million by $1,553.309 million in global platform revenue and multiplying by 100 gives 62.154%, rounded to approximately 62% in the card.

The basis used to attribute revenue geographically has not been independently confirmed for this report. The card therefore describes revenue attributed to the U.S., not income earned by U.S. creators or total spending by U.S. fans. This measure is not combined with the separate modeled share of U.S. creator accounts to estimate earnings per account.

Creator Estimates and Geographic Rankings

Geographic estimates come from OnlyGuider’s 2026 U.S. OnlyFans Creator Census. Its model applies each location’s share of its creator-profile index to a worldwide baseline of 2.5 million active creator accounts. These are modeled account estimates, not independently verified counts of unique people.

Giggster retained the supplied creator counts, adult-population figures, density values and rankings for all 50 states and D.C. Creator density represents estimated accounts per 10,000 adults. The two rankings describe total estimated account numbers and population-adjusted concentration, respectively.

OnlyGuider identifies its population input as an “OnlyFans Wrapped 2026” file. The original population source and reference year have not been independently verified for this report. The analysis retains the supplied density figures rather than substituting another population dataset.

The national context graphic also uses OnlyGuider’s 2026 Global OnlyFans Creator Census for the U.S. ranking by estimated active creator accounts. The U.S. share of the model’s worldwide total is calculated by dividing 700,153 by 2.5 million and multiplying by 100, giving approximately 28%. The ranking and share describe estimated accounts, not creator earnings.

Market Shares and Rounding

State market shares are calculated by dividing each state’s estimated creator count by 695,384, the sum of the 51 state and D.C. estimates, and multiplying by 100. Combined shares use the original counts, not the sum of rounded percentages.

The national context graphic rounds OnlyGuider’s headline estimate of 700,153 to approximately 700,000. That headline exceeds the state-table total by 4,769 accounts. The source does not explain the difference, so the two totals are not treated as interchangeable.

Counts displayed with “K” are rounded to the nearest 100, with K representing 1,000. Geographic tables and graphics display percentages and density values to one decimal place. Narrative figures may be rounded further for readability. Calculations use unrounded creator counts, and source rankings remain unchanged.

Context and Limitations

The worldwide payout figure comes from the Financial Times’ reporting on OnlyFans’ annual results for the financial year ended Nov. 30, 2025. It provides platform-wide context and is not allocated to states or divided by account counts to estimate individual annual income.

The report’s sources cover different periods and should not be interpreted as a single collection-date snapshot. The payment models do not measure transaction frequency, audience size, working hours or production costs. The geographic rankings do not establish earning potential or explain why creators are concentrated in particular locations. The report compares specified payment deductions, company-level revenue and estimated creator presence, not which platform or location offers the best financial outcome.