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OnlyFans vs Patreon: Know the Difference

Prakhar Shivhare | Updated On December 21, 2023

Over the past few years, adult subscription-based content creation has been gaining momentum. OnlyFans is one such platform that has gained huge popularity and witnessed a large user base and revenue. Like Patreon, OnlyFans is also a subscription platform that enables content creators to make money by putting up exclusive content, including adult content. 

While OnlyFans is more popular, Patreon is an old player, and the platform hosted celebrities and influencers even before the former was created. This creates a debate about Patreon vs OnlyFans between the users of both these platforms. If you are also confused between them, read the article and decide accordingly. 

What is OnlyFans?

OnlyFans is an adult subscription for content creators to monetize their content, receive tips, mass message their fans, and sell PPV or pay-per-view based videos. The platform is simple to use and provides a lot of features to its users. Content creators can create an account on the platform, add media, sell videos, and direct message their subscribers. 

What is Patreon?

If you are an adult content creator, you might have heard about the platform Patreon. The platform rewards subscribers and business tools for creators and helps to build a sustainable income from your creations. Users can subscribe to a content creator’s account and get exclusive access to their content upon paying the price. The payment can be paid monthly or once per video or post. Creators can set monetary goals to encourage fans to support their work and can also perk to the users. 

OnlyFans Vs. Patreon: Different Audiences and Niches

Since its launch, OnlyFans has paid out over $600 million to creators and currently boasts over 50 million users and 1 million content creators. While there are creators from various niches on the platform, OnlyFans is dubbed “the paywall of porn.” 

Whereas Patreon, on the other hand, targets creators of general niches as well. The platform runs subscriptions for all categories to increase the views and readability of content creators like writers, artists, musicians, podcasters, and YouTubers per work of art. That elucidates why Patreon has stricter guidelines for content creators. The platform hosts over 6 million users and 200,000 creators. 

OnlyFans Vs. Patreon: Processing Fee and Pricing

The most notable difference between OnlyFans and Patreon is the fee they charge content creators. OnlyFans charges a high processing fee or commission, around 20%, whereas Patreon only takes 8%-15% of the creator’s earnings. 

OnlyFans Vs. Patreon- Flexibility for Content Creators

While OnlyFans supports diversified revenue streams to make money, Patreon allows subscription tier options but just for Pro and premium creators alone. Content creators working on OnlyFans can make money through subscriptions ranging from $4.99-$49.9%. The platform also supports pay-per-view content and allows content creators to receive tipping from their fans.

OnlyFans comes with features like discount bundles, which offer great flexibility for content creators to provide the best quality content for great prices. For example, you will be able to give a discount for 7 days for the first 10 fans who join the platform.

Another notable feature is that OnlyFans allows content creators to directly interact with their subscribers through texts, images, videos, and voice notes, while Patreon just supports messaging. In general, OnlyFans offers more flexibility and freedom to its creators, considering the content delivery and sales methods it supports. 

What Makes OnlyFans Better than Patreon?

After signing up on OnlyFans, creators will see a menu that displays the username, name, and payment-related information. You can set your subscription price and update the bank details. It is recommended to verify yourself as a content creator on OnlyFans before starting offering subscriptions.

OnlyFans also offers affiliate programs, which is an additional revenue stream, as they receive a share of the money made by the creator you refer to. Along with sharing the posts on social media, you can also make money by selling items to your fans or by creating pills. 

Adult content creators who can offer exclusive content to entertain or satisfy the fantasies of their fans can make thousands of dollars. However, creators can’t do the same on Patreon unless they have numerous followers on Instagram and subscribers on YouTube. 

What Makes Patreon Better than OnlyFans?

Once you join the platform, you will see a simple dashboard that lists all the rewards you have received. After setting up the dashboard, you can access the updates of content creators and the related information. 

The platform offers a safe and flexible payment system for its users. Patreon can donate a specific amount each month to their favorite creators, which allows them to access exclusive content before other users. Patreon handles the customer service side of the business like failed payments or refunds. 

OnlyFans Vs. Patreon: Which is the Ultimate Choice?

If you are an adult content creator, OnlyFans would be a better option as the platform is designed with adult content creators in mind. Whereas Patreon, as a subscription platform, welcomes the public with open arms. If you have a huge social media following and have fans closely following you, you can choose Patreon as it is easy to make money by converting the already existing audience. 

But, the best approach to these two platforms would be to create your own OnlyFans clone platform if you plan to establish an adult subscription business. Creating an OnlyFans-like platform allows you to set your own guidelines and favorite content creators to sell their content. 

The platform can make money through commissions made from the earnings of content creators. If you wonder what the best way to create an OnlyFans clone without having to build it from scratch is, select the best OnlyFans clone script. Fanso is one such OnlyFans clone script to create a membership-based community marketplace like OnlyFans or Patreon with the customization you need. 

Conclusion

No matter which platform you choose, OnlyFans or Patreon, you get what you put into it. Neither OnlyFans nor Patreon has a magic formula for success and making lots of money. The top creators of the platform have succeeded as they worked hard to create great content and promote it. They have been well-versed in marketing tactics and cross-promotion to build a large follower base to support their content creation journey. If you get things right and can bring in fans who are loyal to you, you can succeed in no time on any of the platforms.