Passes vs OnlyFans is settled by your content before your fees. The Passes FAQ calls Passes strictly safe-for-work and says it prohibits all adult or pornographic content, while OnlyFans' Terms of Use acknowledge that some content on OnlyFans is adult material. If everything you sell is SFW, the money is closer than the marketing suggests: OnlyFans takes 20% of each fan payment, and Passes takes 20% on its default Creators+ plan or 10% plus $0.30 a transaction if you downgrade.
Below, the two are compared on what you may post and promote, what each keeps, payouts, licences and the 2023 Fanhouse acquisition, using each platform's own pages as read on 1 October 2026. If you have already picked Passes, the application steps and plan settings are in our guide to becoming a Passes creator.
The content line comes first
Passes' Community Guidelines, effective 19 February 2025, do not allow explicit adult content, nudity or pornography, and the ban extends to selling panties, lingerie or other inherently sexual items. Its Terms of Service require creators to be at least 18 but let 13 to 17 year olds join as fans with a parent or guardian's authorisation, and the guidelines describe Passes as a PG-13 platform that hosts minors. That younger audience is why the rules go further than a plain no-nudity policy.
OnlyFans works the other way round. Every user, fan or creator, must be at least 18, and a creator must upload a valid ID and two photos before the account opens. Its terms state that some content on the platform contains adult material, so a creator whose paid work includes it has only one option of these two.
The first test is therefore simple. If any part of your paid offer, merchandise included, would break Passes' guidelines, Passes is out for that offer. If your work is fully SFW, both are open to you, and OnlyFans also runs a free SFW video service covered in our guide to getting your videos on OFTV.
Running both: the funneling ban and the bio-link exception
Under the heading Solicitation and Funneling, Passes' guidelines ban promotion in public or private posts, house chats or direct messages that sends fans to NSFW or adult monetisation platforms, naming OnlyFans, Fansly, 18+ Snapchats, adult-themed Patreon pages and monetised adult-themed Twitter pages as examples. Casual phrasing counts: the banned examples include simply telling fans where else they can find or follow you.
The one exception is a link aggregator such as Linktree or Beacons, listed in your Passes bio. A direct link to an adult platform in the bio itself, in captions or inside text, audio or video posts is not permitted, and neither is any further promotion of those sites to your Passes fans.
OnlyFans adds a condition of its own. Its Terms of Use say any link promoting your creator account must comply with OnlyFans' terms and with the terms of the site where you advertise, and they forbid promoting an OnlyFans account through Google Ads or similar search advertising. Treat the bio aggregator as the only bridge and keep it plain; the guidelines are silent on what that page may show, so a simple list of links with no previews is the cautious choice. Our roundup of link-in-bio tools for OnlyFans creators compares the options.
What each platform keeps, and from what
OnlyFans has a single rate. Its terms calculate its fee as 20% of the total fan payment, deducted from each payment. Creators set their own prices, everything is charged in USD, and fan payments exclude indirect sales tax, which is added on top at the applicable rate.
Passes has two plans. Its Creators+ article says every creator starts on Creators+, that Passes takes a 20% cut on it, and that a creator who downgrades to Starter cannot move back for 30 days. The FAQ puts the downgraded split at 90/10 with a $0.30 transaction fee. Passes' own comparison page advertises fees “as low as 10% + $0.30” per transaction, which is the Starter rate, not the plan you start on.
The base matters as much as the rate. Passes' terms pay creators a percentage of Net Consideration, meaning what Passes actually receives for a sale minus fees, taxes and third-party costs such as payment processing, and its sales tax article repeats that taxes and fees may come off before your share is worked out. OnlyFans describes creator earnings as what is left of a fan payment after all fees and relevant tax rules. Neither set of terms includes a worked example, so compare your statements, not the headline percentages.
Inside Passes the plan choice is simple arithmetic. Ten per cent of an amount plus $0.30 is smaller than 20% of it once the amount passes $3, and Passes' terms set $3 as the minimum for any payment. On fees alone, Starter roughly matches Creators+ on the cheapest sales and costs less on everything above them, so what a downgrade really gives up is the Creators+ toolset described below.
Getting paid on each platform
Passes' payout article requires at least $50 in eligible earnings. You can be paid to a bank account in a supported country or to PayPal, where transfers cannot be reversed, by hand or on a schedule every one to four weeks, with scheduled batches running weekly at 5pm Pacific time. Speed is priced: instant payouts add a 10% fee, next-business-day payment 6.5%, and the two-to-five business day option is free. The article lists payouts in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and many European countries.
OnlyFans' terms make earnings withdrawable once they show in your account and meet the minimum payout amount, which the terms refer to without stating. Because everything is in USD, your bank or e-wallet may add conversion charges, and OnlyFans may deduct the creator share of any refund or chargeback. Passes' chargeback article likewise takes disputed amounts from your balance or future earnings, and separately deducts refunds its support team approves for problems with your content, order or fulfilment.
Where Passes' own documents disagree
Passes' help centre has moved faster than its contracts, and on 1 October 2026 four points did not line up:
- Fee: the Creator Terms of Service inside the terms page, effective 18 April 2024, still say Passes takes a 20% fee of all credit and debit sales and never mention the 90/10 option the FAQ offers.
- Timing: those Creator Terms default to paying every two weeks, within 30 days of the end of each period, while the current help article describes weekly batches, manual requests and instant payouts.
- Limits: an older Passes blog guide to payouts adds a $50,000 daily maximum and one payout every 24 hours, which the help article does not repeat.
- Location: section 18 of the platform terms says the services can be reached from countries around the world, yet the governing-law clause says only persons located in the United States are currently permitted to access the platform as users, while the payout article lists non-US payout countries.
In a dispute, the terms you accepted carry the weight, and Passes' terms are governed by New York law. If you live outside the US, or your plan and payout schedule matter to your cash flow, get Passes Support to confirm your arrangement in writing before moving fans across.
Protection, licences and publicity
Passes' terms let it charge anyone who leaks restricted content $50 per site or platform where a piece appears, for up to three instances, plus a $150 remediation fee if the leaker does not take it down. The terms frame this as compensation to Passes, not a payment to you. Screenshot and screen-recording prevention, watermarking and DMCA takedowns are Creators+ features in the plan article, so a move to Starter gives them up. OnlyFans' terms give it the right, but no obligation, to send infringement notices to third parties on your behalf, and point to its DMCA and complaints policies for takedowns.
Both licences are broad. Passes takes a perpetual, irrevocable, sublicensable licence to use and modify your content to run and improve its services, and its Creator Terms add a publicity licence over your name, image, likeness and logos for its marketing. OnlyFans takes a perpetual licence it may sublicense, assign and transfer, and promises never to sell your content to other platforms. Leaving differs too: OnlyFans keeps a creator account open until active subscriptions expire and then pays unpaid earnings, while Passes' terms say termination includes deleting your account and its content.
Fanhouse: what the 2023 deal changed
Fanhouse was a creator monetisation platform that Passes bought in July 2023. TechCrunch's report on the acquisition said migrating Fanhouse creators were offered a 95% take rate for their first six months, then 90%, the rate Fanhouse had charged. It also said it could not find content guidelines on Passes' website at the time, before adding a note that the company had pointed it to them. The rules are now published and strict, and the FAQ says Fanhouse's operations have been folded into Passes.
Those introductory rates were time-limited, so a former Fanhouse creator now sits on the same Creators+ or Starter terms as anyone else. Passes' August 2023 claim guide asked fans and creators to sign up with the address they had used on Fanhouse, said content only migrates when both the creator and the fan claim their accounts, and gave migrated creators a tier called Fanhouse Membership that unlocks their old wall posts. The current migration help article keeps the same-email rule.
Passes vs OnlyFans at a glance
| Point of comparison | Passes | OnlyFans | Where it is stated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adult material | Prohibited, including sexual merchandise | Terms note that some content is adult material | Passes guidelines; OnlyFans Terms of Use |
| Youngest permitted user | 13, as a fan with parental authorisation; creators 18+ | 18 for every account | Both platforms' terms |
| Pointing fans to the other site | Only through a link aggregator in your bio | Links must obey OnlyFans' terms and the host site's; no search ads | Funneling section; OnlyFans linking clause |
| Platform cut | 20% on Creators+ by default; 10% plus $0.30 per transaction on Starter | 20% of each fan payment | Creators+ article and FAQ; OnlyFans payout clause |
| What the cut comes from | Net Consideration: sale value less fees, taxes and processing | The total fan payment, with sales tax added on top | Passes Creator Terms; OnlyFans Terms of Use |
| Smallest payment and payout | $3 minimum payment; $50 before a payout | Minimum payout amount, not stated in the terms | Passes terms and payout article; OnlyFans terms |
| Paying for faster money | Instant 10%, next business day 6.5%, two to five days free | No paid speed options in the terms | Passes payout article |
| Copy protection | Leak fee charged to leakers; screenshot blocking and DMCA on Creators+ | Right, not duty, to send infringement notices for you | Passes terms and plan article; OnlyFans IP clause |
| Your name and likeness | Publicity licence for Passes marketing | No equivalent clause found in the Terms of Use | Passes Creator Terms, section 2 |
| Law that governs | New York | England and Wales; creators count as business users | Choice-of-law clauses in each |
Decision checklist
- List every product you plan to sell, merchandise and custom requests included, and test each against Passes' guidelines. A single failing item rules Passes out for that offer.
- If you keep an adult page elsewhere, accept that a link aggregator in your Passes bio is the only pointer allowed, and that captions, DMs, house chats and livestreams must stay silent about it.
- Decide whether you need screenshot blocking, watermarking and DMCA requests. If you do, you are comparing Creators+ at 20% with OnlyFans at 20%; if not, Starter is the cheaper Passes route on almost every sale.
- Work out how often you need cash, and price in the 6.5% or 10% speed fee if you would use Passes' faster payouts.
- Outside the United States, get written confirmation from Passes Support that you can operate and be paid where you live, given the conflict in its terms.
- Decide whether you are comfortable with Passes using your name and likeness in its marketing.
- Plan captions, livestreams and messages for a Passes audience that can include fans as young as 13.
- Save dated copies of the terms and help pages you relied on. Passes' terms say changes apply to existing creators 30 days after notice is posted.
Limits of this comparison
This page compares rules and published rates as they read on 1 October 2026. It does not compare audience size, discovery or likely earnings, and it leaves out tax, which depends on where you live. OnlyFans' minimum payout amount is referenced but not stated in its terms, and several Passes documents contradict each other, as listed above. Read the current terms yourself before moving an audience, and take advice from a lawyer or a registered tax agent on anything contractual or tax-related.
If neither suits you, our overview of OnlyFans alternatives covers the wider field, the MYM vs OnlyFans comparison looks at the French-language market, and our guide on how to start an OnlyFans account walks through opening one. SirenCY, which publishes this guide, is an OnlyFans management agency based in Melbourne; if you settle on OnlyFans, our OnlyFans management agency page explains what management involves.