OnlyFans hit roughly 305 million registered users and over 4.1 million creators by the end of its last reported fiscal year, with gross creator payouts crossing $6.6 billion. Those are the headlines, but the story behind them is more interesting than any single number.
Here's the cleanest current picture of OnlyFans statistics: who uses it, how much money flows through it, what creators actually earn, and where the platform is growing. Most figures come from parent company Fenix International's UK Companies House filings, plus reporting from Reuters, the BBC, and the Financial Times. Estimates are flagged where used.
How big is OnlyFans in 2026?
OnlyFans is one of the largest creator economy platforms on the planet. Last reported figures put it at:
- Around 305 million registered users worldwide
- Over 4.1 million active creators
- $6.63 billion in gross payments to creators in the most recent fiscal year
- $1.31 billion in revenue for parent company Fenix International
- $658 million in pre-tax profit (roughly half of revenue)
For context, that user count is bigger than the entire US population. The creator count, 4.1 million, is more than the population of Los Angeles. Not every registered user is active monthly, but the platform reports double-digit year-over-year growth in both fans and creators.
To see how the platform works under the hood, our how OnlyFans works breakdown covers the mechanics in plain English.
How much money does OnlyFans make?
The revenue picture is wild for a company most people first heard about during the pandemic.
OnlyFans takes a flat 20% of every transaction, with creators keeping 80%. Apply that to $6.63 billion in gross payments, and you get the roughly $1.3 billion in company revenue. Pre-tax profit margins have hovered around 45 to 55 percent in recent years, which is genuinely rare for a consumer internet business.
Some context numbers worth knowing:
- Lifetime payouts to creators have crossed $20 billion since launch in 2016
- The platform has paid more to creators than Patreon, Substack, and Cameo combined
- Founder Leonid Radvinsky has reportedly received over $1 billion in dividends across recent years
That last figure tells you everything about how profitable the OnlyFans model is. Few private internet companies generate the kind of cash that lets a single owner pay themselves nine and ten figures in dividends.
How many creators are on OnlyFans?
The 4.1 million creator number is from the latest official filings. But how many of those are actually active matters more.
Independent estimates suggest:
- Roughly 1.5 to 2 million creators are active in any given month
- Around 300,000 to 500,000 creators upload new content weekly
- The platform adds an estimated 15,000 to 25,000 new creators per week
Geographic distribution skews toward English-speaking markets. The US accounts for 35 to 45 percent of creators, with the UK, Canada, Australia, and Brazil rounding out the top five. To find creators in your area, our guide to how to find OnlyFans creators walks through what works.
What does the average OnlyFans creator earn?
This is where the headlines get misleading. On paper the math looks generous: $6.63 billion paid to 4.1 million creators averages out to around $1,617 per creator per year. But that's a mean dragged way up by a handful of mega-earners.
Here's what independent analyses, including a widely cited XSRUS study and reporting from various outlets, suggest about the actual distribution:
- The top 1% of creators earn an estimated 33% of all revenue
- The top 10% of creators earn around 73% of all revenue
- The bottom 50% of creators earn under $200 per month
- Median monthly earnings sit somewhere between $150 and $180
So when you read a story about a creator pulling in seven figures, that person is in roughly the top 0.1%. The typical creator earns far less than minimum wage at most jobs. The platform's economics look a lot like Spotify's, where a small handful of top performers capture most of the upside.
Top earners on the platform reportedly include public figures who joined in their existing fame. Bella Thorne famously earned $1 million in her first 24 hours back in 2020. Other reported top earners pull in $20 million or more per year.
OnlyFans user demographics
The fan base is more diverse than the stereotype suggests, though the gender split is still pretty stark.
Reported and estimated breakdowns:
- Around 70 to 75 percent of subscribers are male
- The largest age group is 25 to 34, making up roughly 40% of users
- 18 to 24 year olds account for another 25 to 30 percent
- The United States is the single largest market by subscriber count
- Mobile traffic accounts for 70%+ of platform visits
- iOS and Android together drive the vast majority of mobile sessions
Average subscription price across the platform sits around $7 to $10 per month, though prices range from free (with creators monetizing through tips, pay-per-view messages, and custom content) to $49.99, which is the cap OnlyFans enforces on monthly subs.
If subscription pricing is what's making you hesitate, our OnlyFans tips for subscribers post covers free trials, bundle discounts, and how PPV messaging actually works.
How OnlyFans grew so fast
The growth curve is one of the most aggressive in tech. Some milestones:
- 2016: Launches with a few thousand users
- 2019: Around 7.5 million registered users
- 2020: Pandemic pushes user count to 85 million by year end
- 2021: Crosses 150 million users, reverses brief plan to ban explicit content
- 2022: Hits 220 million users, $5.5 billion in creator payouts
- 2023: Reaches 305 million users, $6.6 billion in creator payouts
- 2024 to 2026: Continued double-digit growth, expansion into non-explicit categories
A lot of recent growth has come outside the adult niche. Fitness coaches, chefs, musicians, and comedians have built meaningful audiences on the platform. They're still a minority, but they're the fastest growing segment.
How does OnlyFans compare to other platforms?
A quick scan of the creator economy puts OnlyFans in perspective. Patreon has roughly 250,000 active creators and around $3.5 billion paid out cumulatively. Twitch has roughly 9 million active monthly streamers and $1+ billion paid to creators in recent years. Fansly, the closest direct competitor, has an estimated 130 to 150 million users and around 2 million creators.
OnlyFans payouts to creators dwarf almost every other subscription platform. For a head-to-head with its closest competitor, our OnlyFans vs Fansly post covers the differences in fees, features, and creator tools.
What these statistics actually mean
A few takeaways from the numbers. The platform is mature and dominant: with 305 million users and 4.1 million creators, OnlyFans isn't a startup anymore. It's the default for direct creator-to-fan monetization.
Earnings are extremely top-heavy. If you're considering creating, plan for the median, not the headlines. Most creators earn modest side income, not life-changing money.
Growth is still happening at a pace most mature platforms would envy. And the business model is unusually profitable: a 20% take rate on $6.6 billion in payments, with 50%-plus pre-tax margins, puts OnlyFans among the most profitable internet companies per employee in the world.
To browse creators by category, location, and price tier, the full OF Ranks directory is the fastest way in.
Frequently asked questions
How many people use OnlyFans?
OnlyFans had around 305 million registered users at its most recent official report, with continued growth into 2026. Active monthly users are a smaller subset, but still in the tens of millions. It's one of the largest paid subscription services on the internet by raw account count.
How much does the average OnlyFans creator make?
Mean earnings sit around $1,600 per year per creator, but that figure is misleading because a small percentage of top creators capture most of the revenue. Median monthly earnings are estimated at $150 to $180. The top 1% take home roughly a third of all platform revenue.
How much money has OnlyFans paid out total?
Cumulatively, OnlyFans has paid more than $20 billion to creators since launching in 2016. The most recent fiscal year alone accounted for $6.63 billion in payouts. That places it ahead of Patreon, Substack, Cameo, and most other creator subscription platforms in total dollars distributed.
What percentage does OnlyFans take?
OnlyFans takes a flat 20% of all earnings, including subscriptions, tips, paid messages, and pay-per-view content. Creators keep 80%. There are no tiered fees or volume discounts, so the take rate stays the same whether you earn $50 or $500,000 per month.
Who owns OnlyFans?
OnlyFans is owned by Fenix International Limited, a UK-registered company. Ukrainian-American businessman Leonid Radvinsky acquired it in 2018 and remains the sole owner. Founder Tim Stokely stepped down as CEO in 2021. Radvinsky has reportedly received over $1 billion in dividends in recent years.
Is OnlyFans growing or shrinking in 2026?
OnlyFans continues to grow, though at a slower rate than the explosive 2020 to 2022 period. Both registered users and active creators have shown double-digit year-over-year growth in recent periods. Non-adult creator categories like fitness, music, and lifestyle are reportedly the fastest growing segments.
Is OnlyFans bigger than Patreon?
Yes, by a wide margin. OnlyFans pays out roughly 5 to 7 times more to creators per year than Patreon, has more than 16 times the active creator count, and reaches a much larger total user base. Patreon still dominates non-adult niches like podcasts and webcomics, but OnlyFans is the larger business overall.