LoyalFans and OnlyFans take the same cut: the LoyalFans terms and the OnlyFans terms both set the platform fee at 20% of each fan payment. So the choice turns on everything else, and the gaps are real. LoyalFans pays out automatically twice a month, while OnlyFans has you withdraw once your balance meets its minimum. LoyalFans pays referral commission on referred fans as well as referred creators and calls it lifetime, where OnlyFans pays only on referred creators, for a limited period and up to a cap. And LoyalFans bans photorealistic AI-generated content that OnlyFans allows with an AI caption.
This comparison is built from the two platforms' own documents, read on 1 October 2026: terms of service, referral terms, LoyalFans' acceptable use policy and payout page, and its help centre. It deliberately leaves out audience-size and earnings claims, because neither platform publishes figures a creator could plan around. For the full detail of how LoyalFans pays, including where its payout page and terms disagree, see our LoyalFans payout and setup guide; for the wider field, the OnlyFans alternatives overview places both among the other subscription platforms.
Side-by-side matrix from each platform's own terms
Every cell below paraphrases a current first-party document, and the last column names it. Where a document is silent, the cell says so rather than filling the gap with third-party estimates.
| Topic | LoyalFans | OnlyFans | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who you contract with | TLFPAY LLC, a Delaware company; Delaware law and binding arbitration, with class actions waived | Fenix International Limited, registered in England and Wales; English law | LoyalFans terms; OnlyFans terms |
| Platform fee | 20% of each fan payment, taken before earnings reach your balance | 20% of the total fan payment, deducted from every payment | LoyalFans terms; OnlyFans terms |
| How money leaves the platform | Automatic payouts twice a month, each within 7 working days of the half-month period closing | You withdraw once earnings show in your account and meet the minimum payout amount | LoyalFans terms; OnlyFans terms |
| Minimum payout | $50 on the payout page, though the terms say it varies by method and country | The terms require a minimum without stating the figure, so check your payout settings | LoyalFans payout page; OnlyFans terms |
| Refunds and chargebacks | Valid refunds can be deducted, but not chargebacks from unauthorised-payment fraud or platform errors; dispute within 30 days | The creator share of a refunded or charged-back payment may be deducted | LoyalFans terms; OnlyFans terms |
| Referring other creators | 5% of the referred creator's fan payments, which LoyalFans calls a lifetime share | 5% of the referred creator's fan payments for 12 months, capped at US$50,000 per creator | LoyalFans referral terms and payout page; OnlyFans referral terms |
| Referring fans | 5% of a referred fan's payments of at least $1 to creators other than you | Nothing, unless that fan later becomes a creator | LoyalFans referral terms; OnlyFans referral terms |
| AI-generated content | Photorealistic AI content, and AI systems that interact with users without human oversight, are prohibited | Permitted when it follows the terms and is captioned with a tag such as #ai or #AIGenerated | LoyalFans acceptable use policy; OnlyFans terms |
| Labelling paid promotion | An unavoidable disclosure such as Ad, Sponsored or Paid partnership | A caption tag such as #ad, #paidpromotion or #sponsored, plus the brand and who paid | LoyalFans acceptable use policy; OnlyFans terms |
| Other people in your content | A tagged creator, or an adult whose ID and written consent you hold, including consent to downloads if you allow them | A tagged creator, or an adult whose proof of identity and written, informed consent you hold | LoyalFans terms; OnlyFans terms |
| Closing your account | Stays live until fan subscriptions run out; balances below the threshold may be forfeited | Stays open until fan subscriptions expire, then unpaid earnings are paid and the account is deleted | LoyalFans terms; OnlyFans terms |
Money: one fee, two very different payout rhythms
With the fee level, cash flow becomes the money question. On LoyalFans you do nothing: under its terms, earnings from the first half of the month are paid within 7 working days after the 15th, and the second half within 7 working days after month-end, as long as the balance clears your method's minimum. On OnlyFans, the terms describe earnings becoming available for withdrawal once they are reflected in your account, which puts the timing in your hands, subject to a minimum the terms mention but do not quantify.
Neither model is better in the abstract. A fixed calendar suits creators who budget around predictable dates; on-request withdrawals suit creators who want to move money the moment it is available. If you run both, you will be reconciling two rhythms at once, which is why the run-both checklist below starts with your bookkeeping rather than your content.
Referrals are where the documents diverge most. LoyalFans' referral terms pay on referred creators and on referred fans, monthly, while its payout page markets the share as earned for life; the same terms also let LoyalFans change or end the program. OnlyFans' referral terms pay only on referred creators, for 12 months, up to US$50,000 per creator. Our OnlyFans referral program breakdown covers that side in depth.
The agency catch in both referral programs. Each set of referral terms refuses payment on accounts the referrer owns or operates, or on a referred creator with whom the referrer has a commercial relationship. A manager or agency that refers its own clients should not expect referral income from either platform. Both programs also forbid promoting referral links through Google Ads or similar search advertising and ban statements that suggest a creator will earn a particular sum.
Content rules that can settle the question for you
For some creators the decision is made by policy, not money. The clearest split is AI. LoyalFans' acceptable use policy, last updated in July 2026, prohibits three uses: photorealistic or lifelike content substantially generated by AI, including deepfakes, face swaps and synthetic people; AI systems that interact directly with users to generate personalised responses or imagery without human oversight; and any AI material passed off as genuine human performance. The OnlyFans terms instead allow AI-generated content that complies with the rest of the terms, provided it is captioned clearly as AI.
Two practical consequences follow. A creator whose catalogue includes photorealistic AI imagery cannot simply mirror it onto LoyalFans. And the second LoyalFans clause reaches past content into operations: chat tools that send AI-written replies with no human reviewing them fall inside it, so any automated messaging on LoyalFans needs a person in the loop. If AI is central to your brand, compare disclosure rules across platforms before committing; our guide to Fanvue's AI creator rules shows how a platform that welcomes AI accounts handles labelling and verification.
On other policy points the platforms look alike. Both require paid promotion to be labelled, both make you legally responsible for your account even when someone else helps run it, and both let co-performers withdraw consent and have shared content removed. LoyalFans adds one paperwork detail: if fans can download content featuring someone else, that person's consent must cover downloads too.
Built-in tools and how fans find you
LoyalFans documents a wide set of selling tools in its help centre. Beyond subscriptions, it lists a separate video store and audio store, Go Live broadcasts with tip goals and per-minute private shows, per-minute audio or video calls, Shout Out request videos, and inbound messages that fans pay to send. That last one carries a condition worth knowing before you switch it on: the messages settings article says you are paid only if you reply within 72 hours.
LoyalFans also runs on-platform browse lists. Its public creators section groups accounts into recently updated, popular, live, available-to-call and new creators, and the help article on adding store clips says tags feed the search in the general video store listing. Whether those lists send meaningful traffic to a new account is something no public document measures, so treat them as a possible bonus rather than a growth plan.
The OnlyFans terms describe what fans can pay for rather than how they find creators: subscriptions, pay-per-view content and other payments including direct messages, with livestream material counted as content. The practical comparison, then, is less about feature lists than about where your paying fans already are. If you want to build live content on either platform, our livestreaming strategy guide covers planning and pacing that transfer between the two.
Decision checklist: main platform, second platform, or both
Work down both lists and count which one describes your business more closely. A split result usually means running both, with one clearly treated as the base.
Signs LoyalFans deserves a serious place
- You can refer other independent creators, or fans who spend across many accounts, and you would value a share with no stated end date.
- You would rather have payouts arrive on a fixed calendar than remember to request them.
- Your income already leans on calls, live private shows, paid inbound messages or a clip and audio catalogue sold outside subscriptions.
- You plan to sell catalogue items to fans who are not subscribers, and want them discoverable through store tags.
Signs OnlyFans should stay the base
- Your paying fans already subscribe there; with the fee identical, moving them buys you no saving and risks losing some along the way.
- Your content or brand includes photorealistic AI-generated material, which LoyalFans' policy rules out.
- Your messaging depends on automated replies that nobody reviews before they send, which LoyalFans prohibits; confirm OnlyFans' own current rules on automation as well.
- You prefer disputes to sit under English law rather than Delaware law and binding US arbitration; read both sets of dispute terms before you decide this matters to you.
Run-both checklist for creators on LoyalFans and OnlyFans
If you keep one platform as the base and add the other, these steps stop the second account from creating policy, privacy or bookkeeping problems for the first.
- Set up one payout ledger with a column per platform: LoyalFans pays itself out on half-month windows, while OnlyFans withdrawals happen when you request them. Our payout forecast worksheet has the columns already.
- Keep one content library and mark which items are exclusive to which platform, remembering that LoyalFans store clips are sold separately from subscriptions.
- Mirror your location settings. LoyalFans' privacy and safety settings block chosen countries or US states; match whatever you hide on OnlyFans so the two accounts do not contradict each other.
- Turn on the LoyalFans watermark for photos and videos, so a leaked file shows which account it came from.
- Screen anything you cross-post for photorealistic AI material before it goes to LoyalFans, and caption AI material on OnlyFans as its terms require.
- Keep a human approving every automated or AI-drafted message on LoyalFans.
- Price your LoyalFans subscription inside the range its profile settings article allows, between $1 and $50 a month, rather than copying your OnlyFans price without checking it fits.
- If you switch on paid inbound messages, roster replies inside the 72-hour window set out in the messages settings article, or leave the feature off.
- Use each platform's own referral link, disclose your commission where you post it, and never promote either link with search ads.
- Collect one set of co-performer paperwork that satisfies both platforms, including download consent if your LoyalFans store allows downloads.
- Give helpers access through LoyalFans' delegated accounts rather than a shared password, and remember both platforms hold you responsible for what happens on your account.
- Keep every statement from both platforms for tax. Both sets of terms put reporting entirely on you, so get a registered tax agent or accountant to confirm how income from each should be recorded where you live.
Limitations of this comparison
This page compares documents, not outcomes. It cannot tell you which platform will earn more for your niche, because neither publishes audience or earnings data that would support that claim, and third-party traffic estimates are not reliable enough to repeat. LoyalFans' own pages also disagree on payout details, and the binding figures for both platforms, such as your minimum payout and any method fee, appear only in your logged-in settings.
Both platforms reserve the right to change their terms without notice, and LoyalFans says its changes take effect when posted. Re-read the relevant section before acting on any row of the matrix. Nothing here is legal or tax advice; for contract disputes, tax treatment or consent paperwork, speak to a qualified professional where you live. This guide is published by SirenCY, an OnlyFans management agency based in Melbourne.