The actors and the money flows

Five actors, no more

An operation, even a large one, contains only five roles. The fan pays. The platform collects and takes its cut. The creator holds the account and the contract. The manager runs the account and takes a percentage. The conversation is held by a chatter, by an AI, or by both.

Everything else, tools, proxies, acquisition accounts, designers, is not an actor but a cost. The distinction matters: an actor negotiates a percentage, a cost is paid whatever the revenue.

Tier 1: the platform

This is the only tier whose rate is published. The OnlyFans terms of service state that “our Fee is calculated as 20% of the total Fan Payment and will be deducted from each Fan Payment”. This rate applies to everything: subscription, PPV, tip.

On Telegram, the economics are different and are the subject of module 3. For now, remember that Telegram’s in-app currency, Stars, is bought by users through Apple and Google in-app purchases, and that Telegram’s public terms state that all Stars sales are final and non-refundable.

Tier 2: the payment provider

On OnlyFans, this cost is already included in the 20%, since the platform states that payments are received and processed by a third-party provider it approves. There is nothing to negotiate here and nothing to add.

However, as soon as you leave the platform, this cost reappears, and it becomes your problem. That is the case on Telegram, and it is the case if you sell through an external payment link. Never forget it in a comparative calculation: an off-platform sale at $100 is not a $100 sale.

Tier 3: the manager

This is the tier for which there is no official figure, only private agreements and journalism. The BBC investigation published on June 15, 2026 writes that managers “take a proportion of the creators’ pre-tax earnings, commonly 50%”, and that “OFM contracts shared with the BBC show managers taking up to 70% of earnings”. The same investigation recalls that “the platform takes a 20% cut”, which means the two deductions stack.

The percentages publicly displayed by agencies themselves are lower, generally between 8% and 45% depending on the scope of the service. Those figures come from sales pages, not from independent data, and must be read as such.

What you should retain from this tier: there is no verifiable market rate. Anyone who tells you “the industry standard is X%” is quoting an opinion, not a source.

Tier 4: the conversation

This is the most misunderstood tier, and module 5 is entirely devoted to it. Two figures are enough here to set the order of magnitude.

Public job posts of the industry, checked on September 14, 2026 on a dedicated job board, show pay such as “$2.5/hr” with “2.5% commission on gross sales”, “$3/hr” with “5% of sales”, or a tiered grid per shift of 3% on the first $500, 4% from $500 to $1,000 and 5% above $1,000. Positions presented as senior go up to 8% to 12% commission.

The WIRED journalist who applied undercover in 2024 reports matching offers: “$1 per hour plus a 6 percent commission”, then “$5 per hour plus a 0.5 percent sales commission”, and finally “$4 per hour, no commission”.

These amounts look low seen from Europe. Set against real coverage, they stop being low: an inbox held twenty-four hours a day requires three shifts a day, seven days a week, plus a backup. Module 5 does that full calculation.

Tier 5: what is not a percentage

This is the tier that kills unprepared operations, because it is paid even in months without a sale.

Acquisition accounts are consumables. Module 4 explains why. You therefore have to budget their continuous replacement, along with the infrastructure that goes with them.

Tools are a monthly subscription per creator, sometimes with a commission on top. Public prices are quoted in module 5 and module 8.

Content has a cost: production, editing, cutting. Even a creator who produces her own content spends time, and that time has a value.

Supervision time is the most invisible cost. Whether the conversation is held by humans or by an AI, someone has to reread, correct and arbitrate. An operation without supervision drifts within days.

The practical conclusion

Do the cascade before signing anything. A 50% deal on an operation where you pay for the accounts, the tools and the conversation is not a 50% deal. That is exactly the calculation the exercise below asks for, and it is the calculation most people only do after their first loss-making quarter. Two tools on the site do it for you: the revenue split and the net after commission.