The OnlyFans Terms of Service is a bundle of documents, and the one creators live under day to day is the Terms of Use. It sets the platform fee, says when earnings can be withdrawn, withheld or forfeited, gives OnlyFans a licence over everything you upload, makes you answerable for anyone else who appears in your content, and puts disputes under English law. This guide maps each of those parts as we read them on 13 October 2026, with short quotes and a link to the official page every time.
It is general information, not legal advice. A summary is never the contract, so open the official page before you rely on any line below, and take a real dispute or a large sum to a qualified lawyer.
Which documents make up the OnlyFans terms
The Terms of Use define “Terms of Service” as the legally binding agreement between you and the operator, Fenix International Limited, and list eight parts: the Terms of Use, the Acceptable Use Policy, the Referral Program Terms, the Platform to Business Regulation Terms, the Complaints Policy, the Appeals Policy, the UK VAT Policy and the Community Guidelines. The terms page shows these as tabs, along with a ninth tab for the Contract between Fan and Creator.
Two details are easy to miss. First, when we read the page there was a single Terms of Use for every user, with creator sections inside it, not a separate creator document. If a guide tells you to find the “Terms of Use for Creators”, look instead for the headings on registering a Creator account, Creator payouts, tax compliance and co-authored content. Second, the Contract between Fan and Creator sits beside the Terms of Service, not inside that eight-part definition. It is an agreement between you and each fan, and OnlyFans says it is not a party to it except for collecting payment, deducting its fee and paying you.
The opening lines of the Terms of Use also carry a warning that shapes everything else: “We can modify these Terms of Service at any time.” Changes made for legal reasons or to address a risk can arrive without notice. For other changes OnlyFans says it will notify you so that you can delete your account before they take effect, and continuing to use the site means you accept the new version.
Clause map: what each part says and what to keep
| Part of the terms | What it says in one line | What a creator should do or keep |
|---|---|---|
| Terms of Use: registering a Creator account | You upload valid ID and two photos of yourself, add a payout option, and supply further age or identity checks whenever asked | Keep the ID you registered with current and note which payout option is on file |
| Terms of Use: Content, general terms | You stay legally responsible for the account and its content even when someone else helps you run it | Write down who has access to your account and what each person is allowed to post or send |
| Terms of Use: Creator payouts (fee) | The fee is 20% of the total fan payment, taken from each payment | Price with the deduction in mind and reconcile your statements against it |
| Terms of Use: refunds and chargebacks | If a fan wins a refund or chargeback, OnlyFans may deduct your share of that payment | Save proof of what was sold and delivered for each paid message or custom request |
| Terms of Use: tax compliance | You handle your own tax, and tax non-compliance linked to your OnlyFans use can lead to closure or restricted payouts | Report the income where you live and keep your earnings statements |
| Terms of Use: intellectual property | You keep ownership and grant OnlyFans a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free licence to operate the service with your content | Only upload material you own or have licensed, and keep the originals with their creation dates |
| Terms of Use: co-authored content | Each other person must be a tagged creator or an adult whose ID and written, informed consent you hold | File a consent record and ID check for every person before you post |
| Acceptable Use Policy | A list of what OnlyFans may not feature or facilitate; a breach can deactivate content or the whole account | Read the list in full before a new content type, and again whenever its date changes |
| Terms of Use: advertising and transparency | Paid promotions need a label such as #ad plus the brand and who paid; AI-generated content needs a label such as #ai | Add both labels to your caption template so they are never left off |
| Terms of Use: sharing and linking | You may not promote your account with Google Ads or similar search advertising, and links must not imply OnlyFans endorses you | Check any paid traffic plan against this clause first |
| Terms of Use: suspension, deletion and withholding | OnlyFans can close an account on notice for any reason, or act at once and withhold earnings while it reviews a suspected breach or fraud | Save every notice and its date; the time limit for disputing starts there |
| Appeals Policy and Complaints Policy | Moderation decisions go through the Deactivation Appeal Form; forfeited earnings go through the complaints route | Pick the route that matches the decision you received |
| Terms of Use: account deletion | A creator account stays open until active subscriptions expire, then unpaid earnings are paid and the account is deleted | Back up your own content first; you lose access once the account is gone |
| Contract between Fan and Creator | You must provide paid content once the fan has paid, and the fan gets a limited licence to view it, never ownership | Describe paid content accurately and deliver what the description promised |
The fee, payouts and withheld earnings
The fee clause in the Terms of Use is one sentence: “Our Fee is calculated as 20% of the total Fan Payment and will be deducted from each Fan Payment.” What reaches you is called Creator Earnings, defined as the portion of a fan payment payable to you “after deducting all fees and applying all relevant tax laws”. Fan payments are stated exclusive of indirect sales tax, which is added on top. To see what that deduction does to a price you have in mind, run it through the OnlyFans earnings calculator. Every later deduction, from the pending hold to bank charges, is mapped in how much OnlyFans takes from creators.
On withdrawal, the terms say earnings are only available once they are reflected in your account, and your balance has to meet the minimum payout amount. The Terms of Use do not state that amount or a payout timetable, so those details come from your payout settings and the help centre, not from the contract. If a payout is stuck, our payout problems checklist covers the practical checks.
The terms name several situations in which money can be held back or taken:
- During a review. If OnlyFans thinks you have or may have seriously or repeatedly breached the terms, or suspects earnings come from unlawful or fraudulent activity by you or by the paying fan, it may withhold any part of your Creator Earnings for as long as the review takes.
- After a review. If it decides the concern was true, it may treat earnings as forfeited and refund or cancel fan payments. The terms say it will notify you and give a statement of reasons.
- Co-author paperwork. If you or someone in your content does not supply information OnlyFans requests, it may withhold all or part of your earnings.
- Liens and levies. If a creditor or authority places an encumbrance on your earnings, OnlyFans may withhold them until it is removed.
- Set-off. OnlyFans may use your earnings to cover loss it suffers from your breach of the terms.
- Tax. Being tax non-compliant in connection with your OnlyFans use, or being named in an investigation about it, lets OnlyFans close the account or restrict payouts.
The licence you grant and who owns your content
You keep ownership. The terms say “we do not own your Content”, and in the same section you grant OnlyFans a licence to do anything related to operating the site and its related products and services, including reproducing, displaying, distributing and creating derivative works, and using your content to improve features. The licence is described as “perpetual, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable, assignable, and transferable by us”. Non-exclusive means you can still publish the same material elsewhere. Perpetual means the licence is not written to end when you leave.
Three further lines matter to a working creator. You waive moral rights to object to how your content is treated, except where the law where you live does not allow that. OnlyFans says “We will never sell your Content to other platforms”, though the licence could transfer if the company or its assets were sold. And you give OnlyFans the right, but not the duty, to send infringement notices on your behalf; the liability section adds that it is not liable to Business Users if content is copied or reposted elsewhere. Chasing leaks therefore stays your job, and our takedown evidence pack shows what to collect.
Co-authored content, releases and the Acceptable Use Policy
The co-authored content section makes you warrant that every other person in what you upload is either a creator you tagged with the OnlyFans tool, or someone at least 18 years old whose proof of identity and written, informed consent you obtained. OnlyFans is not a party to any deal between you and a collaborator, and you release it from claims arising from that content. Anyone who appears can withdraw consent at any time, and the content may then be deleted. Deleting your own account does not automatically remove co-authored content that another creator posted. The step-by-step tagging and release process is in our guide to OnlyFans release forms and collaborator tags.
The Acceptable Use Policy is short and written as a list of things OnlyFans must not be used to feature or facilitate. It opens with anyone under 18, and anyone in explicit content who has not completed creator onboarding or supplied a properly completed release form. Later items cover misleading descriptions of media or account information, explicit conduct in places where the public is likely to see it, linking to external media storage sites, and in-person meetings. Read the whole list on the official page. It does not publish a list of banned words, so questions about caption wording need to be checked against the policy categories themselves, as the guide to OnlyFans restricted words does. When a post is refused, why OnlyFans posts get rejected or removed walks through the usual causes.
Chargebacks and what you owe a fan
Three documents touch chargebacks, and they point in the same direction. Fans promise in the Terms of Use not to make unjustified refund or chargeback requests, and OnlyFans may suspend or delete a fan account that does so in bad faith. In the Contract between Fan and Creator, the fan agrees not to start a chargeback unless they dispute the interaction in good faith. None of that protects your balance: if the fan succeeds with their card provider, OnlyFans “may deduct an amount equal to the Creator Earnings portion of the refunded or chargedback amount”.
Your side of the bargain is specific. Once you are notified that an interaction is confirmed you must perform your part, and you indemnify OnlyFans if you do not. You also warrant that content is of satisfactory quality, suitable for any purpose the fan told you about, and as you described it. Accurate descriptions and delivery records are the practical answer, and the chargeback prevention records guide shows how to keep them.
Suspension, termination and how decisions are disputed
There are two tracks. The first needs no fault at all: “We may suspend or delete your account with 30 days' Notice, at any time, for any reason”. The second is immediate. Without warning, and for as long as a review takes, OnlyFans may suspend or delete the account or content, pause fan payments and withhold earnings where it believes there has been a serious or repeated breach, a threatened breach with serious consequences, or suspected fraud. If your account is terminated, you lose access to your content.
The route for disputing depends on what was decided. The Terms of Use send a forfeiture of earnings to the Complaints Policy, and an account termination or content deactivation to the Appeals Policy. The Appeals Policy says the only way to appeal is to complete the Deactivation Appeal Form, that appeals should be filed within six months of a decision, and that OnlyFans is not liable for lost earnings or subscribers during the interruption even when it grants the appeal. The Terms of Use put the deadline bluntly: “If you do not dispute our decision within six months of Notification, you waive the right to dispute the decision.”
This guide stops at what the documents say. For what to gather and send when an account is limited, use the account restricted appeal checklist.
Governing law, liability caps and time limits
The Terms of Use split users into Consumers and Business Users, the latter being anyone who uses OnlyFans “for commercial reasons”. The terms do not say in so many words that every creator is a Business User, but a creator earning on the platform should read the Business User clauses as the ones likely to apply and ask a lawyer if it matters. For Business Users the agreement is governed by the laws of England and Wales and the courts there have jurisdiction, wherever you live.
- Liability cap. For Business Users, total liability is limited to the greater of 100% of the fees you have paid OnlyFans or USD $5,000, and loss of profits, revenue, data and reputation are excluded.
- Claim window. Except where the law prohibits it, a claim must be filed within one year of when it arose or when you learned of the facts, whichever is earlier.
- Before you sue. You agree to notify OnlyFans first and, if it asks, go to pre-suit mediation. The terms add that if you commence proceedings, OnlyFans reserves the right to terminate your account.
- Regional extras. The Platform to Business Regulation Terms give creators established in the European Union or the United Kingdom a complaint and mediation route. The Complaints Policy names Ofcom and the Information Commissioner's Office in the UK and the eSafety Commissioner in Australia as regulators.
Re-check log
Each document carries its own “last updated” line at the bottom. These are the dates shown when we opened each page on 13 October 2026. If the date you see is later, treat this guide as out of date for that document.
| Document | Date shown on the page | Our reading on 13 October 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Terms of Use | Terms of Use last updated August 2024 | Read in full; source of most rows in the clause map |
| Acceptable Use Policy | Acceptable Use Policy last updated September 2025 | Read in full; newer than the Terms of Use |
| Contract between Fan and Creator | Fan and creator contract last updated August 2024 | Read in full |
| Appeals Policy | Appeals Policy last updated August 2024 | Read in full |
| Complaints Policy | Complaints Policy last updated September 2025 | Read in full |
| Platform to Business Regulation Terms | Platform to Business terms last updated August 2024 | Read in full; applies only to EU and UK creators |
| Referral Program Terms, UK VAT Policy and Community Guidelines | Not recorded for these three | Listed as part of the agreement but not read for this guide; open each from the terms page tabs |
Limitations of this guide
This map has firm limits. It paraphrases long documents and leaves clauses out, including most of the fan-side billing rules and the full liability section. It covers six documents as they read on one day; three others named in the agreement were not read, and the Privacy Policy and DMCA Takedown Policy that the terms refer to are outside it. OnlyFans can change the terms, in some cases without notice, and how a clause is applied to your account is decided by OnlyFans and, in a dispute, by a court. Your rights may also differ by country, as the terms themselves say. None of this is legal, tax or financial advice. If earnings are being withheld, an account has been terminated or you are about to sign a contract that relies on these terms, speak to a lawyer who can read the current documents against your facts.
SirenCY, the publisher of this guide, is an OnlyFans management agency based in Melbourne; our OnlyFans management agency page explains how that kind of arrangement works.