Passes vs Patreon vs Fanfix is less a fee contest than a choice between three sets of house rules. The Passes Creators+ plan that every new creator starts on takes 20%, Patreon's standard plan takes 10% before processing and payout fees, and Fanfix's Creator Terms pay creators 80% while letting Fanfix set membership prices. The differences that decide most cases sit elsewhere: who can see your page, whether any 18+ work is allowed, and whether you may point fans to your other platforms at all.
This page compares the three from their own terms and help centres, read on 1 October 2026. It does not repeat setup steps; those live in our guides to becoming a Passes creator, becoming a Fanfix creator and starting a Patreon.
Why the vendor comparisons disagree with themselves
The best-known comparison of these three is published by one of them. Passes runs a platform comparison page whose small print dates its data to February 2026, and a November 2025 blog post covering the same ground. The two disagree with each other and with Passes' own fine print.
- Formats: the comparison table credits Patreon with videos, photos, audio and PDFs, while the blog post says Patreon and Fanfix restrict creators to visual content only. Even Patreon's feature access page for 18+ creators, its most restricted group, lists text posts, newsletters and file attachments alongside images.
- The Passes fee: the comparison table advertises fees as low as 10% plus $0.30 per transaction, which matches the 90/10 split with a $0.30 fee that the Passes FAQ describes as a downgrade from the standard 80/20. The Creators+ help page says all creators start on Creators+ at a 20% cut and cannot return to it for 30 days after downgrading.
- The Patreon fee: 10% is right for the platform fee on pages published after 4 August 2025, but the creator fees overview adds processing on every payment, a 2.5% conversion fee when a member pays in another currency, payout fees, and Apple's 30% App Store fee on eligible iOS purchases.
- The Fanfix fee: 20% is accurate as Fanfix's share, yet the Creator Terms also let Fanfix set membership fees and minimum prices for paid messages and locked content, and the Payment Terms add a 13% surcharge on credit card payments to what fans pay.
- Apps: the blog post calls Fanfix web-only, and Fanfix's FAQs agree, listing a native iOS app as coming soon.
Vendor pages are marketing and date themselves, so the matrix below uses only each platform's binding terms and help centre.
Passes, Patreon and Fanfix side by side
Each row draws on the pages linked in its Source cell. Where a platform's own pages disagree, the cell says so rather than picking one quietly.
| What you are comparing | Passes | Patreon | Fanfix | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platform cut of each sale | Creators+ (the default plan): 20%. Starter: 10% plus $0.30 per transaction | Standard plan: 10% for pages published after 4 August 2025; legacy plans at 5%, 8% or 11% | Fanfix keeps 20%; the creator receives 80% | Passes plans, FAQ; Patreon fees; Fanfix terms |
| What the cut is taken from | Net Consideration: total sales minus fees, taxes and processing costs | The payment amount excluding sales tax, with processing charged separately | Direct payments by fans for memberships, paid messages and locked content | Passes tax help; Patreon fees; Fanfix terms |
| Who decides the price | You price memberships, messages, livestreams and shop items | You price tiers; Patreon may convert them into a member's local currency | Fanfix sets membership fees at its discretion and minimum prices for messages and locked content; you may request changes | Passes memberships; Patreon fees; Fanfix terms |
| Costs added on top | Faster payouts cost extra: next business day 6.5%, instant 10%; two to five business days is free | Processing (card or Apple Pay to a USD payout: 2.9% plus $0.30), 2.5% conversion, payout fees, Apple's 30% on iOS purchases | A 13% surcharge on credit cards, paid by the fan; some banks add a foreign transaction fee | Passes payouts; Patreon fees; Fanfix payment terms, creator terms |
| 18+ material | Not allowed: no explicit adult content, nudity or pornography, and no sale of lingerie or other inherently sexual items | Allowed on Adult/18+ pages within limits: paying members who attest they are over 18, no sexual activity between real people, public areas free of nudity | Not allowed: a strictly safe-for-work platform whose terms define the nudity they ban and prohibit offering sexual services | Passes guidelines; Patreon guidelines; Fanfix FAQs, terms, guidelines |
| Age rules for creators and fans | Creators must be 18 even with a parent's consent; fans aged 13 to 17 may join with parental authorisation | Creators must be 18 or have a parent's or legal guardian's permission; nobody under 13 may use Patreon | Every creator and fan must be 18; no parental consent changes that | Passes terms; Patreon Teen Safety; Fanfix terms, FAQs |
| Getting accepted | Application review with a government ID, a live selfie and at least one active social account; not every application is approved | No approval queue in the pages cited; Adult/18+ creators must be ID- and age-verified | Invite-only; the Partnerships team reviews every application, which must include active social handles | Passes eligibility; Patreon 18+ access; Fanfix FAQs |
| Pointing fans elsewhere | No calls to action to adult platforms in posts, chats or messages; a link aggregator in your bio is the only allowed route | Luring people off Patreon is banned unless on its permitted list: public social profiles, Discord integrations and, for 18+ creators, external video hosts | Your Fanfix account must not promote Patreon, Passes, OnlyFans or any rival; liquidated damages of USD $1,000 per violation | Passes guidelines; Patreon off-platform policy; Fanfix terms |
| How the money reaches you | Bank or PayPal; $50 minimum; manual, scheduled every one to four weeks, or instant if enabled | You withdraw a balance and pay a fee by method, such as $0.25 per US direct deposit or 1% via PayPal with a $10 minimum | Stripe; the FAQs describe weekly processing while the Creator Terms say about 30 days after each month ends | Passes payouts; Patreon fees; Fanfix FAQs, terms |
Fees: what each headline percentage leaves out
Each platform takes its cut from a different base, so test your own prices. Below, P is the price a fan pays and n the number of payments in a month.
- Passes on Creators+: you receive 80% of Net Consideration, which the sales tax help page defines as total sales minus fees, taxes and processing costs; the split itself is in the Passes FAQ.
- Passes on Starter: 90% of Net Consideration, less $0.30 for each of the n transactions, per the FAQ, then less 6.5% or 10% of any payout you speed up, per the payouts help page.
- Patreon on the standard plan: P, less 10%, less processing of 2.9% plus $0.30 per payment for card payments to a USD payout account, less 2.5% where the member pays in another currency, then a payout fee when you withdraw, all set out in the creator fees overview.
- Fanfix: 80% of what fans pay through Fanfix for memberships, messages and locked content, per the Creator Terms; the 13% card surcharge in the Payment Terms sits on top of the fan's price instead of coming out of your share.
Beyond the rates: on Fanfix your plan starts from whatever membership price Fanfix sets, and on Passes the cheaper plan costs tools, since the DMCA help page says takedown requests need an active Creators+ subscription. For Patreon against tip-and-shop tools, see our Ko-fi vs Patreon fee worksheet or our guide to Patreon fees for creators.
Content and age lines you cannot negotiate
Passes has the most mixed audience: its Terms of Service let fans aged 13 to 17 join with a parent's or guardian's authorisation while requiring creators to be 18, and its Community Guidelines describe a PG-13 platform that hosts minors and rule out explicit adult content and the sale of inherently sexual items.
Fanfix pairs a strict safe-for-work rule with an adults-only audience, and its Content Guidelines add mandatory labels for AI-made material.
Patreon is the only one of the three with room for 18+ work. Its Community Guidelines allow sexual, sensual and suggestive themes for paying members who attest they are over 18, but not sexual activity between real adult participants, and the public parts of a page must stay free of nudity. Our guide to Patreon adult content rules covers the 18+ side, including ID checks and the loss of native video.
If any part of your offer needs an 18+ label, Passes and Fanfix are out, and Patreon is in only if the work fits its narrower definition.
Where each platform lets you send your fans
Fanfix is the strictest about rivals. Its Creator Terms bar you from using your Fanfix account to promote Patreon, Passes, OnlyFans or any similar platform and let Fanfix withhold or recover creator fees if you do, and its Terms of Service set liquidated damages of USD $1,000 for each unauthorised advertisement of a competitive platform.
Passes polices direction to adult platforms rather than rivals in general. Its guidelines call this funneling, with OnlyFans, Fansly and adult-themed Patreon pages among the examples, and allow just one route: a link aggregator such as Linktree or Beacons listed in your bio, with no direct links or calls to action in captions, posts or messages.
Patreon's off-Patreon activity policy bans leading people to third-party sites unless the use is on its permitted list, which covers Discord integrations, public social profiles and, for 18+ creators, external video hosts such as Vimeo, YouTube and OnlyFans. A profile link is fine; a page built to farm followers elsewhere is not. If you run several platforms, these rules shape your link plan more than any fee.
Choose this if: a checklist for each platform
Tick every line under a platform before committing. An unticked content or promotion line is usually a dealbreaker; a fee line is a pricing problem.
Choose Passes if
- Everything you sell is safe for work, and you are comfortable with a mixed-age audience that can include teenagers.
- You want paid messages, livestreams, one-to-one calls and a shop in one dashboard, priced by you.
- You have compared Creators+ with Starter and know which protection tools a downgrade would cost you.
- Any adult-platform links you keep can live in a link aggregator in your bio and nowhere else.
Choose Patreon if
- Some of your work needs an 18+ label and fits Patreon's rules for adult pages.
- You want to open and price a page yourself without waiting on an application review.
- Most members pay on the web or Android, or you have priced in Apple's fee on iOS purchases.
- Your outside links are public social profiles, a Discord server or an approved video host.
Choose Fanfix if
- You already have an active public social following that its Partnerships team can review.
- You accept that Fanfix sets your membership price and the minimum price of paid messages.
- You will not promote any other monetisation platform from your Fanfix account, ever.
- Your fans are adults and a browser-based app is enough for them for now.
If two survive, run your real prices through each fee line above before moving anyone; switching later means asking members to subscribe again.
Limitations of this comparison
This page compares documents, not results: it does not measure earnings, approval speed or enforcement, and predicts none of them. Every figure was read on 1 October 2026 from the page linked beside it, and all three platforms can change their terms; Passes' own pages already disagree on fees and formats, Fanfix's FAQs and Creator Terms disagree on payout timing, and Patreon's rates depend on when your page was published and how members pay.
Tax, VAT and sales tax are not covered and vary by country, so check with a registered tax agent or accountant before you set prices. For contract questions, such as Fanfix's arbitration clause or liquidated damages, speak to a lawyer, and recheck the live pages before any rule here decides your choice.