Two agencies want to sign you. One takes 40%, the other takes 50%. The first looks like the better deal, and it may be exactly the same deal. Before you compare OnlyFans agency commission rates, find one word in each contract: gross, or net. A 40% commission on gross takes as much of your money as a 50% commission on net.
This page is about that single fact: why it is true, how to convert any rate you are quoted, and what it means for the offer in front of you. We are an agency that pays creators a fixed salary instead of taking a percentage, so read the last sections knowing that. The arithmetic is the same whoever does it.
OnlyFans takes 20% before anyone else
OnlyFans keeps 20% of everything fans pay, subscriptions, tips and paid messages alike, and pays the creator the other 80%. That cut comes first, it is the same with or without an agency, and you cannot negotiate it.
So every account has two numbers:
- Gross is what fans paid. Say $1,000 in a month.
- Net is what OnlyFans pays out after its 20%. On $1,000, that is $800.
An agency's percentage is calculated on one of those two numbers. The contract says which, usually in a single line, and often inside a definition ("revenue", "earnings", "income") a few pages before the percentage itself.
Why 40% of gross is 50% of net
Take the same $1,000 month.
- OnlyFans keeps $200, so $800 is left to share.
- An agency at 40% of gross takes 40% of $1,000: $400.
- $400 is half of the $800 that was actually paid out.
The agency is taking 50% of the money actually left to share. You keep $400, which is 40 cents of every dollar a fan spent.
Now take an agency at 50% of net. It takes 50% of $800: $400. You keep $400. Same money, different headline.
The rule works for any rate. Because net is 80% of gross, a percentage of gross weighs 1.25 times as much once you measure it against your net.
| Quoted as | Share of your net it takes | What you keep of every $100 fans pay |
|---|---|---|
| 20% of gross | 25% | $60 |
| 30% of gross | 37.5% | $50 |
| 40% of gross | 50% | $40 |
| 50% of gross | 62.5% | $30 |
Read it the other way round and the same logic holds: 50% of net leaves you $40 of every $100 fans pay, exactly like 40% of gross, and 40% of net leaves you $48.
That is also how a lower number can cost more. 45% of gross takes 56.25% of your net, which is more than an agency asking for 50% of net.
What agencies commonly charge in 2026
The agencies that publish their rates, and the guides written by the companies that sell them software, tend to describe the same ladder:
- around 20% to 30% for chatting only;
- around 30% to 45% for marketing plus management;
- around 40% to 50% for full management, where the agency runs the messaging, the promotion and the posting.
Several of those same guides describe anything above 50% as predatory. Treat the ladder as what is commonly quoted, not as a standard: nobody regulates it, and the base, gross or net, is rarely printed next to the number. The top of the range is where that matters most. A BBC investigation published in 2026, built on testimony from creators in the UK, described management contracts that took around half of what creators earned, and sometimes more, alongside managers who controlled creators' accounts and payments.
Is 50% too much for an OnlyFans agency?
Sometimes. Three things decide it, and the headline number is the least important of them.
- The base. 50% of net leaves you $40 of every $100 fans pay. 50% of gross leaves you $30, a quarter less money under the same headline.
- What comes off before the split. If the contract lets the agency subtract "marketing costs" or "operating costs" before calculating your share, and does not list or cap them, your real percentage is unknown on the day you sign.
- What the agency actually does. This is the honest case for agencies, and it is a real one. An agency that brings the traffic, writes to your fans around the clock and turns a small account into a large one can leave you with more money at 50% than you would keep on your own. Keeping $1,200 of a $3,000 month beats keeping $240 of a $300 month you ran by yourself. The catch is that you only learn whether your agency is that agency after months, and the slow months in between are yours.
Why the base is so often left out
A pitch leads with the percentage because it is the one number creators compare. The base lives in the contract. There is nothing wrong with either base, and some agencies state theirs plainly. But a percentage without its base is not a price, it is half of one: "40%" can cost you 40% or 50% of your net, and "45%" can cost more than "50%".
The fix is one sentence, sent in writing before you sign: is your percentage calculated on what fans pay, or on what OnlyFans pays out after its 20%? An agency that has been operating for a while answers it in one line. Then ask the second question that matters: which costs, if any, are deducted before my share is calculated?
What a fixed salary changes
A salary removes the question instead of answering it. When an agency pays you a fixed amount on a fixed day, whatever the account earned, there is no base to argue about and no share to calculate, and your pay date is the one written in your contract.
What it costs you, first:
- No upside. An exceptional month does not change the salary.
- You don't build your own brand. With us, the account stays in your name, but our team runs it while the contract lasts, and what you film is used only for as long as it does.
- You have to deliver. An agency that pays regardless of revenue ends the contract quickly if the content stops arriving.
Then the arithmetic. To keep $600 in a month through an agency at 40% of gross, or 50% of net, an account has to take in $1,500 that month. To keep $1,000, it has to take in $2,500. If your account already clears those numbers every month and you have savings for a bad one, a percentage may pay you more than a salary. If it does not, choosing the salary is not the naive option. It prices your risk correctly.
What Lumea pays
We pay a salary of $600 to $3,000+ a month, every week on the same day, by bank transfer in Europe and the US or in crypto everywhere else. We take no percentage and charge no fees. The salary is not an advance either: we never claw it back, whatever the account earns.
Where you start depends on your experience, your profile and what you choose to show: showing your face pays the most, your face replaced by AI comes second, and never showing your face is the base salary. The amount is written into your contract before you start and reviewed every quarter. And because we are a network of agencies by niche and by market, you are placed where you earn the most.
For the full comparison of salary and percentage deals, including the costs that get deducted before a split, read salary or percentage: how agency pay really works. To compare named agencies on the terms that decide what you keep, see the best OnlyFans management agencies, compared honestly.
FAQ
Do OnlyFans agencies take their commission from gross or net?
Both exist. The contract decides, usually in its definition of "revenue" or "earnings". Ask for the answer in writing before you sign.
What is a normal OnlyFans agency commission in 2026?
What is commonly quoted runs from about 20% for chatting-only services to 40% or 50% for full management. Several industry guides call anything above 50% predatory.
Does OnlyFans take its 20% before the agency?
Yes. OnlyFans pays out 80% of what fans spend. The agency's cut is then calculated either on the full amount fans paid or on the 80% that was paid out.
How do I compare a gross percentage with a net one?
Multiply the gross percentage by 1.25. 40% of gross is 50% of net, and 30% of gross is 37.5% of net.
We answer within 24 to 48 hours. Apply here, or see how the weekly salary works first.