Start your own OnlyFans agency

Adult content is legal in some countries, tightly regulated in others and a criminal offence in some. Depending on the country, laws on producing, distributing or promoting adult material can reach the people who manage it as well as the people who appear in it. If you, a staff member or a creator lives somewhere adult content is banned or heavily restricted, limit the business to lawful, non-explicit work such as influencer, streaming and social media management, and get advice from a local lawyer before you start.

The platforms add their own layer. OnlyFans says it does not work with or endorse any agencies, managers or third parties, and it tells creators to get independent professional advice before signing a contract with one (OnlyFans Help). Build that into your process: give every creator time to read your agreement and encourage them to have it checked.

Choose a structure before you trade, because it decides your personal liability, your tax and your paperwork. business.gov.au lists sole trader, company, partnership, trust and co-operative structures and recommends professional advice before you commit to one (business.gov.au).

For the trade-offs between structures, see sole trader or company, the UK version in sole trader or limited company, registering a business name and setting up an LLC.

The management agreement is the product. It decides what a creator is paying for, who controls the accounts and how either side walks away. At a minimum it should state:

• The services in and out of scope, described so both sides can tell whether they were delivered.
• The fee, what it is calculated on and when it is invoiced. The difference is explained in gross versus net agency fees.
• Who owns the accounts, the content and the fan relationships, during the agreement and after it ends.
• How access is granted, logged and removed, and who keeps control of two-factor authentication.
• Where platform payouts go. Fansly, for example, has agencies and other non-personal applicants sign up with the primary account owner's legal details, and that owner receives the payouts (Fansly Help).
• What the creator sees in reporting, and how often.
• Term, notice, exit and handover, including what happens to work already in progress.
• Confidentiality and data handling obligations on both sides.

In Australia, unfair terms in standard form contracts are banned and penalised for contracts made or renewed on or after 9 November 2023, and small businesses with fewer than 100 employees or less than $10 million in annual turnover are protected (ACCC). Many creators trade as sole traders, so a one-sided template with unilateral fee changes, open-ended terms or exit penalties is a legal risk as well as a reputational one.

More detail: what creators look for in an agency contract, how to read a creator contract and the agency and management hub.

Platforms put the paperwork for co-performers on the account holder. An agency that plans shoots or collaborations needs to know the rules as well as the creator does.

Use the platforms' own release tools wherever they exist. If your agency keeps copies of IDs or release forms, you take on the job of protecting them. The recruiter guide lists the warning signs that a creator is being controlled by someone else, which every agency should train its staff to notice.

Access is where the interests of creator, agency and platform meet: who can log in, from where, and what happens when someone leaves. Use each platform's delegated access before anything else.

Where there is no delegated access, put the access plan in the agreement: which staff can log in, through what tool, with two-factor authentication kept under the creator's control, and how access is cut off at exit. OnlyFans' own advice if someone else may have got into an account is to change the password, turn on two-step authentication and check the login sessions page (OnlyFans Help). See also the account access checklist and the account control map.

• Australian privacy law. Businesses with annual turnover of $3 million or less are mostly outside the Privacy Act, with exceptions that include trading in personal information without consent (OAIC). Covered businesses must notify affected people and the OAIC about a data breach likely to cause serious harm (Notifiable Data Breaches scheme).
• UK data protection fee. The ICO says organisations, including sole traders, that use personal information must pay a data protection fee unless they are exempt (ICO self-assessment).

Agency staff act inside a creator's account, so the creator's platform rules become your operating manual.

• OnlyFans. The creator stays legally responsible when someone else helps run the account (Terms of Service). Payments outside OnlyFans are not allowed (Help), creators may not directly integrate AI chat bots (Help), and real-life meetings cannot be discussed or arranged on the platform.
• Fansly. The terms prohibit AI systems interacting with users to generate personalised responses without human oversight.
• Cam studios. Stripchat pays a studio US$0.05 per token its models earn, and models are paid solely by the studio under their own agreement (Studio Agreement). On Chaturbate, a studio account collects linked broadcasters' earnings daily (Chaturbate Support). A studio's model agreements therefore have to state each model's share and payment timing plainly.
• Promotion and recruiting. Spam law, platform spam rules and disclosure rules all apply to outreach; the recruiter guide sets them out.

When you hire, the chatter role guide shows the rules from the staff side, and how to hire a chatter, the chatter job description template and building an agency team cover the employer side.

Classify every team member properly. In Australia, Fair Work lists maximum penalties for sham contracting of $21,840 per contravention for an individual and up to $546,000 for a larger business (Fair Work Ombudsman). The status tests for Australia, the US and the UK are summarised on the careers page and in contractor or employee. For the creator side of tax, see GST for creators, VAT for UK creators and the finance and tax hub.

Agency courses, mentorships and done-for-you setups are a business of their own, and US law treats some of them as business opportunities. Under the FTC's Business Opportunity Rule, a covered seller must give buyers a one-page disclosure document seven days before they sign or pay, and any earnings claim needs a separate statement headed “Earnings Claim Statement Required by Law” (FTC). The FTC also warns that testimonials for business coaching may not be true or typical (FTC consumer alert).

Ask any seller, in writing:

• What exactly is taught, in what format, and when it was last updated?
• What is the full cost, including renewals, upsells and required software?
• What are the refund and cancellation terms?
• Is every income figure backed by written evidence, and is it typical of buyers?
• What has the instructor actually run, and can you speak to past buyers?

The same questions apply to the operations guide and call offered on this page, which is why the section below asks you to confirm the format, price, support and terms before you rely on them. For a structured comparison, read agency mentorship programs and, if you are buying an existing agency, due diligence for an agency purchase.

1. Confirm the work is lawful where you, your staff and your creators live.
2. Choose a structure and register it, with the ABN, EIN or company number it needs.
3. Have a lawyer review your creator agreement and your staff contracts.
4. Write an access and offboarding plan for every platform you will touch.
5. Decide where personal data and any ID or release records live, who can see them and how long you keep them.
6. Check whether privacy law covers your business and whether you owe a data protection fee.
7. Register for GST or VAT when turnover requires it, and keep books from the first invoice.
8. Classify each team member correctly as a contractor or an employee.
9. Train staff on platform rules and your escalation process before they touch an account.
10. Plan outreach that follows spam law and each platform's rules.

Prefer to work in the industry rather than run an agency? See the roles on the careers page. Questions about this guide can go through the contact page.

Reviewed 2 October 2026

1. business.gov.au: Choose your business structure
2. ASIC: Register a business name, with current fees
3. Australian Business Register: Applying for an ABN
4. US Small Business Administration: Launch your business
5. IRS: Get an Employer Identification Number
6. GOV.UK: Set up as a sole trader
7. GOV.UK: Register your company
8. ACCC: Contracts and unfair contract terms
9. OnlyFans Terms of Service: co-authored content and assisted accounts
10. Fansly Help: verifying content featuring others
11. Stripchat: Studio Agreement
12. YouTube Help: Add or remove access to your channel
13. Fanvue Help: Manager accounts
14. OAIC: Small business privacy obligations
15. ICO: Data protection fee self-assessment
16. ATO: Registering for GST
17. GOV.UK: Register for VAT
18. FTC: Business Opportunity Rule guidance for sellers

This guide is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice, and its limits matter: fees, thresholds and platform terms change, and the right structure depends on your circumstances. Check the linked official pages, and use a qualified lawyer and accountant where you will operate before you sign creators or hire staff.