How to Use This Platform Comparison Tool
This tool lets you compare up to four creator platforms simultaneously across the metrics that matter most to your business. Here's how to get the most out of it:
- Select your platforms — Click on 2-4 platforms you're considering. The comparison grid updates instantly with detailed side-by-side data on each platform's payout rate, audience size, features, and more.
- Choose what matters most — The "What Matters Most" filter highlights the winning platform in your priority category. If payout rate is your top concern, the platform with the best payout gets highlighted. If audience size matters more, the platform with the largest user base wins.
- Read the recommendation — Based on your selected platforms and priority, the tool generates a tailored recommendation explaining which platform best fits your goals and why.
- Consider running multiple platforms — The most successful creators don't choose one platform exclusively. They run 2-3 simultaneously to maximize audience reach and diversify income. This tool helps you understand which combinations complement each other.
Creator Platform Payout Rates Compared
Payout rate is the first number most creators compare, but it doesn't tell the full story. Here's the landscape:
- 80% payout (20% platform cut): OnlyFans, Fansly, Fanvue, and Loyalfans all take the industry-standard 20% cut. For subscription-based platforms, this is the norm. At $10/subscriber, you keep $8.
- 88% payout (8-12% fees): Patreon takes less per transaction, but the catch is that adult content is severely restricted. The lower fee only matters if your content fits their guidelines.
- 50-60% payout (cam sites): Chaturbate (50%), StripChat (50-55%), and MyFreeCams (60%) take larger cuts, but their business model is different — they provide massive live traffic and real-time discovery. You're paying for audience access.
The critical insight: a platform that takes 50% but sends you 10x the audience often earns you more than a platform that takes 20% with minimal organic traffic. Chaturbate creators regularly out-earn Fansly creators in total dollars despite the higher platform cut, purely because of traffic volume.
Audience Size: Why It Matters More Than Payout Rate
OnlyFans has 190+ million registered users. Chaturbate gets 400+ million visits per month. Fansly gets roughly 50 million. These numbers directly impact your earning potential because organic discovery — fans finding you through the platform itself — is the cheapest form of marketing.
- OnlyFans: The sheer brand recognition means people search "OnlyFans" when they want creator content. This built-in demand is irreplaceable. New creators get subscribers faster on OnlyFans than any other subscription platform.
- Chaturbate/StripChat: Live cam sites have the highest real-time traffic because browsing is free. Viewers discover new models organically by browsing categories, tags, and recommendation algorithms. This drives massive exposure.
- Fansly: Smaller audience but growing steadily. Fansly creators typically need to drive their own traffic through social media rather than relying on platform discovery. This means more marketing work but more control over your audience.
- Fanvue/Loyalfans: Niche platforms with smaller audiences. Best as secondary platforms rather than primary ones. They're useful for diversification but shouldn't be your only income source.
The formula is simple: Total Earnings = Audience Size x Conversion Rate x Average Revenue per Fan x Payout Rate. A 5x larger audience at 80% payout will almost always beat a 1x audience at 80% payout, even with identical content and pricing.
The Multi-Platform Strategy Top Creators Use
The highest-earning creators don't pick one platform — they run a portfolio. Here's the proven combination strategy:
- Primary platform: OnlyFans. Largest audience, strongest brand recognition, and the most mature ecosystem for subscription-based creator content. This is where most of your subscriber revenue comes from.
- Secondary platform: Fansly. Runs alongside OnlyFans with similar content but takes advantage of multi-tier pricing. Even if Fansly generates only 20-30% of your OnlyFans revenue, that's free incremental income from content you've already produced.
- Traffic driver: Cam site (optional). Chaturbate or StripChat sessions funnel live viewers to your subscription platforms. A single cam session can generate 5-20 new OnlyFans subscribers. This is active work but compounds over time as those subscribers pay monthly.
- Diversification play: Patreon (SFW content). If you produce any non-adult content — fitness, lifestyle, behind-the-scenes — Patreon captures an audience that won't subscribe on OnlyFans. Different audience, additive revenue.
The key principle: each platform should serve a different purpose in your revenue stack. OnlyFans for volume, Fansly for optimization, cam sites for discovery, and niche platforms for diversification.
How an Agency Manages Multiple Platforms for You
Running 2-4 platforms simultaneously is operationally demanding. Each platform has different posting formats, DM systems, payout schedules, and audience expectations. This is where professional management pays for itself:
- Content distribution: Agencies repurpose your content across platforms automatically — adjusting format, watermarks, and pricing for each platform's standards. One photoshoot becomes content for OnlyFans, Fansly, social media, and cam show previews.
- DM management across platforms: Each platform's DM system works differently. Agencies staff chatters trained on each platform's interface, ensuring consistent fan engagement and PPV sales everywhere. This alone can double your total revenue since DMs are where most PPV sales happen.
- Payout optimization: Different platforms have different minimum payouts, payout schedules, and payment methods. Agencies track all of this, ensuring you never miss a payout cycle and your money flows efficiently.
- Platform-specific strategy: What works on OnlyFans doesn't always work on Fansly or Chaturbate. Agencies develop platform-specific content strategies — tier structures for Fansly, schedule optimization for cam sites, and pricing tests for OnlyFans.
- Risk mitigation: If one platform bans your account or changes its policies, having revenue spread across multiple platforms protects your income. Agencies ensure your content and subscriber data is never locked into a single platform. Learn more about what an agency does for creators.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which creator platform pays the most?
In terms of payout percentage, Patreon takes the smallest cut at 8-12%, followed by OnlyFans, Fansly, Fanvue, and Loyalfans at 80% payout (20% cut). MyFreeCams pays 60% to cam models, while Chaturbate and StripChat pay 50-55%. However, payout rate alone is misleading — OnlyFans creators typically earn more in total dollars than Fansly creators despite identical rates, because OnlyFans has 3-5x the organic traffic. The "best paying" platform is the one where you earn the most total income, not the one with the highest percentage.
Is Fansly better than OnlyFans?
Fansly offers better creator tools — multi-tier subscriptions, more flexible content locking, better DM organization, and more payment options including crypto. OnlyFans offers a significantly larger audience (190M+ users vs ~50M monthly visits). For creators who can drive their own traffic and want maximum monetization control, Fansly is arguably better. For creators who rely on organic platform discovery, OnlyFans wins. The best strategy is to run both and use the Fansly Calculator to model your earnings on each.
What is the best platform for new creators?
OnlyFans is the best starting platform for most new creators because of its brand recognition and audience size. When someone wants to subscribe to a creator, they think "OnlyFans" first. This built-in demand makes it easier to get your first subscribers. For cam models specifically, Chaturbate is the best starting point due to its massive live traffic. Fansly is best as a secondary platform after you've established an audience. Use our OnlyFans Calculator to estimate your starting earnings.
Can you be on multiple creator platforms?
Yes, and it's the recommended strategy for maximizing earnings. Most successful creators run OnlyFans and Fansly simultaneously at minimum, with many also adding cam sites or niche platforms. The same content can be posted to multiple platforms with minimal extra effort, and each platform reaches a different segment of your potential audience. The only consideration is exclusivity — some fans expect platform-exclusive content, so top creators differentiate their offerings slightly across platforms.