The number on the page is not the real cost
Ask most creators what OnlyFans costs and the answer comes back fast: 20%. That figure is correct, and it is also incomplete. The 20% commission is only the visible slice. The real cost of building a business on OnlyFans includes the cash flow you lose to slow payouts, the balance you cannot touch until a minimum clears, and the agency commissions that stack on top with no cap. Add those together and the true figure is much larger than one in five.
This article puts a number on each layer so you can see what a year on OnlyFans actually costs, and what the same year would cost on a platform that pays 90% commission with daily payouts and no minimum.
Layer one: the 20% commission
The commission is the part everyone knows. OnlyFans takes 20% of every subscription, tip, pay per view unlock, and paid message. There is no tier that lowers it. A creator keeps 80 pence of every pound.
OnlyFans keeps
Of every subscription, tip, unlock and message
Vaultiyo keeps
Flat, including payment processing
On a creator earning £3,000 per month gross, the commission alone removes £600 every month. Across a year that is £7,200 the platform keeps. A flat 10% fee on the same gross removes £300 a month, or £3,600 a year. The gap between the two is £3,600 every year for identical content and an identical audience. You can read the line by line version in our OnlyFans cost for creators breakdown.
Layer two: the payout cost
Commission is the cost you can see. Payout timing is the cost that hides in plain sight. OnlyFans pays weekly and holds a minimum balance before releasing funds. Money you have already earned sits in the platform account, not yours, until the next cycle clears. For a creator paying for studio time, gear, or ads, that delay is real working capital you do not have.
Vaultiyo pays daily with no minimum. Cleared balance reaches your payout method every 24 hours, roughly 365 cycles a year instead of about 52. That difference does not show up as a fee, but it is a genuine cost of doing business on a slow platform. The mechanics are on the how it works page.
Layer three: agency commissions with no cap
A large share of OnlyFans creators work with management agencies, and those agencies commonly take 30% to 50% of net earnings. OnlyFans does not cap that figure or require it to be disclosed. Stacked on the platform 20%, a creator paying a 40% agency can keep less than half of gross revenue before they see a pound.
Vaultiyo caps agency commission at 20% and requires a mandatory agency label on every profile that uses one. Combined with the flat 10% platform fee, the most a creator gives up is far lower and fully transparent. The policy sits on the OnlyFans alternative overview.
Adding the layers together
| Cost layer | OnlyFans | Vaultiyo |
|---|---|---|
| Platform commission | 20% | 10% |
| Payout frequency | Weekly | Daily |
| Minimum payout | 20 USD | None |
| Agency commission cap | None | 20% cap, labelled |
| Automatic watermarking | Not included | Included |
| Automated DMCA takedowns | Limited | Included |
The headline 20% is the start of the cost, not the whole of it. Once you fold in cash flow lost to weekly payouts, a balance you cannot touch, and uncapped middlemen, the gap between OnlyFans and a creator first platform becomes a real number on your annual accounts. See the side by side figures on pricing, and the wider analysis in the true cost of using OnlyFans.
Key Takeaways
- The OnlyFans 20% commission removes £7,200 a year from a creator earning £3,000 a month.
- A flat 10% fee keeps the difference, worth roughly £3,600 a year for the same work.
- Weekly payouts and a minimum balance are a real cash flow cost that the 20% figure hides.
- Agency commissions of 30% to 50% stack on top because OnlyFans does not cap them.
- Vaultiyo pays 90% commission, pays daily with no minimum, and caps agencies at 20% with a label.
Frequently Asked Questions
Keep 90% of What You Earn
Daily payouts, no minimum, and a flat 10% fee. See why creators move their business to Vaultiyo.