When creators compare agencies, the first thing they compare is the percentage. It is the one number every agency will say out loud, and it feels like the obvious place to start. A 30% offer sounds better than a 50% one.
Sometimes it is. Often it is not, because the percentage on its own tells you almost nothing. Two agencies quoting the same share can be offering completely different amounts of work, calculated on completely different figures, under contracts with very different exits. And a higher share attached to a team that genuinely runs your messages, traffic and leak work can leave you better off than a lower one attached to a team that mostly posts on your behalf.
This post is about reading what sits behind the number. For the market-wide view of what agencies charge and how the structures vary, see OnlyFans agency commission rates. Here we focus on what each level should buy you, and how to compare offers fairly.
First, find out what the percentage is a percentage of
Before you compare any two offers, you need to know whether each share is taken from gross or from net. This one detail can change the real cost more than the difference between 30% and 50%.
Gross versus net
OnlyFans keeps 20% of everything fans pay. The rest, 80%, is your net, the money that actually reaches you.
Take a single $100 payment from a fan as an illustration:
- OnlyFans keeps $20, and $80 reaches you.
- An agency taking 40% of net takes $32. You keep $48.
- An agency taking 40% of gross takes $40, calculated on the full $100. You keep $40.
The second agency is quoting the same percentage but taking half of what actually reached you. Put another way, 40% of gross is the same cost to you as 50% of net. If one agency quotes 40% of gross and another quotes 45% of net, the second one is cheaper, even though its headline number is higher.
So the first question for any offer is simple: "Is your share calculated on gross or net, and can you show me that in the contract?" If the answer is vague, assume gross.
Is the share on all revenue, or only on growth?
Most agencies take their share of all revenue on the page. A few structure it differently, for example a share only of revenue above a starting baseline. If you already earn well, it is worth asking whether any such option exists, because it changes the break-even maths a great deal. We walk through that maths in is an agency worth it when you already earn $10k a month.
Whatever the structure, it should be written down, along with how the baseline is measured and whether it ever changes.
What usually sits behind each level
There is no industry standard for what a given percentage includes. What follows is a rough guide to the work you should expect to see at each level, so you can tell when an offer is thin. Treat it as a set of questions, not a price list.
Around 30%: support, not a whole team
At the lower end of the range, you should expect real help, but probably not full coverage of everything. Typical offers at this level focus on one or two areas: scheduling and posting, content planning, some traffic work, or a limited number of chat hours.
That can be exactly right for a creator who already handles much of the business and wants help in one specific place. The risk is assuming a low share means a full service at a discount. If the offer is 30%, ask which parts of the work stay with you, and make sure that list matches what you actually want to keep doing.
Around 40%: the core of the business run for you
In the middle of the range, the work should include the parts that move income on an established page. That usually means chatting with meaningful daily coverage, paid content sent in messages, regular traffic work on more than one channel, and some leak monitoring.
At this level, ask about depth rather than presence. "We do chatting" is not enough. How many hours a day, by how many people, working from what guide to your voice, with what notes passed between shifts? "We do traffic" is not enough either. Which channels, how often, run by whom?
Around 50%: everything, run seriously
At the top of the range, the agency is effectively running the commercial side of your page. That should mean chat coverage across your fans' busiest hours, several traffic channels each worked on its own terms, content planning and production support, pricing work, leak sweeps with takedowns filed for you, and a monthly statement you can check line by line.
At 50% the bar is high, and it should be. If you are giving up half of what reaches you, you should be able to see where the work goes every single week. If an agency asks for this level and cannot show you a written list of what they do and how often, the percentage is buying reassurance, not work.
What a split should come with in writing
The percentage is one line in a contract. What protects you is everything around it. Before you sign at any level, you should have these in writing.
A scope sheet
This is the most important document after the contract itself. A scope sheet lists every deliverable, how often it happens and who on the team owns it. For example: chat coverage hours per day, number of paid messages per week, which traffic channels and how many posts on each, how often leak sweeps run.
With a scope sheet you can check whether the work is being done. Without one, "full-service management" can mean anything, and nothing can be measured. If an agency is reluctant to put the scope in writing, ask yourself what they are reluctant to commit to.
How the share is calculated and whether it can change
Gross or net, all revenue or growth only, and whether the percentage is fixed for the life of the contract. Some agreements allow the share to rise after a period or once revenue passes a threshold. That might be fair, but you should know about it before you sign, not discover it later.
Access, ownership and exit
The share buys work. It should never buy your account or your content. In writing, you want to see that the agency works through the official OnlyFans co-manager role and never takes your password, that your content and account stay yours during and after the contract, and how long the notice period is, with no exit fee. Our post on contract clauses to refuse and the guide to OnlyFans agency contracts go through the clauses in detail.
What you will see each month
A monthly statement you can reconcile against your own OnlyFans dashboard. If the agency's share is calculated from figures you cannot check, you are trusting rather than verifying.
How to compare two offers fairly
When you have more than one offer on the table, put them side by side on the same basis. A simple way to do it:
- Convert every share to the same base. Work out what each one takes from your net. A share of gross is roughly 1.25 times the same percentage of net, because net is 80% of gross.
- Line up the scope sheets. Compare chat hours, traffic channels, paid messages, leak work and reporting, item by item. If one agency will not provide a scope sheet, that is already a comparison.
- Compare the exits. A slightly higher share with 30 days notice and no exit fee is lower risk than a slightly lower share with a year's lock-in.
- Ask how each one would clear your break-even line. If you already earn well, the agency has to grow the page enough to cover its share of your current income. Ask each one to explain, specifically, where that growth would come from.
- Ask how their chatters are paid. A team paid only on commission has a reason to push your fans for quick sales, which can cost you long-term fans. Hourly pay plus commission is a healthier arrangement.
If you want more on judging the chatting side in particular, read OnlyFans chatting: how to judge an agency's chatters.
Why the percentage matters less than what is delivered
It is natural to focus on the percentage because it is the one number you know for certain. But your income depends on what the team actually does, every day, for as long as you work together.
A low share attached to thin work can leave you with a bigger slice of a page that never grows. A fair share attached to real, written, checkable work can leave you with a smaller slice of something much larger, and with more of your own time back. The percentage only tells you how the result is divided. The scope sheet tells you whether there will be a result worth dividing.
That is also why a fixed share matters. If the percentage is agreed in writing at the start and cannot change during the contract, the only way for the agency to earn more is to help you earn more. That keeps everyone pointed in the same direction.
Where we sit
Our share is between 30% and 50%, quoted to you in writing before you sign, and fixed for the life of the contract. Where your quote falls depends on what you need from us, and the scope sheet that comes with it names every deliverable, how often it happens and who owns it.
There is no upfront fee and no setup fee. We use the OnlyFans co-manager role only and never take your password. The contract is 30 days rolling, and your content and your account stay yours throughout and afterwards. You get one monthly statement you can reconcile against your own dashboard. Every term is published on the Trust Standard before you ever speak to us.
We only work with creators whose page is already earning. If you want to know which part of the work would make the biggest difference on your page, apply and our reply includes a free audit of your page. We answer every application within 12 hours.
The short version
Ask whether the share is on gross or net, get the scope in writing, check the exit, and compare offers on the same base. Then judge each agency on what it will actually do, not on the percentage alone.
If you already earn $10k or more a month, see how we work with established creators, or apply for a free page audit.