OnlyFans sign up: how to create a creator account, and what to settle before the first payout.

To sign up for OnlyFans as a creator, you must be 18 or over, open an account with an email address, then pass identity and age verification with a government ID and a selfie, add your tax details and a payout method, and set a subscription price. This guide walks through each step, then covers what sign-up tutorials skip: the tax status to set up, the bank account, the manager contract, who owns your content, and how much of your identity stays visible.

For the business model itself (subscriptions, pay-per-view, the 20% fee), see how OnlyFans works.

Who can sign up as an OnlyFans creator?

The baseline is in OnlyFans' terms. Every user must be at least 18, able to enter a binding contract, and not convicted of a serious crime. A creator must also upload a valid form of ID and two photos of themselves, add a bank account or payment method, choose a payout option, and provide any further information the platform requests, which "may vary depending on where you live or your nationality". OnlyFans can also reject an application for any reason.

Have ready a valid ID in your own name, a phone for the live selfie, a dedicated email address, your tax number (SSN or EIN in the US, National Insurance number in the UK) and the bank details for payouts.

How to create an OnlyFans account, step by step

1. Sign up and log in

The OnlyFans sign-up starts like a fan's: a valid email, a username and a password that meets the platform's requirements, or an approved third-party login. You then log in with the same credentials. Use an email created for the business, a unique password and any two-step verification on offer. If someone else creates the email or the account, they hold the keys: that is the most common way creators lose control of their page.

2. ID and age verification

This is what turns a fan account into a creator account. According to its privacy policy, OnlyFans uses a third-party provider: you give the provider a photo of your government ID and a short selfie, and face-matching technology compares the two. The platform receives the result and keeps a record including your full name, address, place of birth and a selfie of you holding your ID. It checks you have not been banned before, may ask you to re-authenticate later and, for US-based creators, may run background screening for serious criminal convictions.

Anyone who appears in your content must also be 18 or over, and either a creator you tag with the platform's tool or a person whose proof of identity and written, informed consent you have obtained. Sort this out before the first collaboration.

3. The tax form

United States. US creators submit a Form W-9, which gives a payer your taxpayer identification number so it can file information returns with the IRS: that is how your earnings reach the IRS on a 1099. The figures and thresholds are in our guide to OnlyFans taxes in the US.

United Kingdom and elsewhere. The privacy policy refers to a tax identification number and its issuing country, company details if you trade through one, and a VAT number; creators registered for UK VAT must provide it. Under the UK reporting rules for digital platforms, individuals give the platform their National Insurance number. If you are outside the US and are shown a US form for foreign persons (the W-8BEN certifies foreign status to a US payer), read it before you sign: it is a certification made under your own responsibility.

4. Payout details

You add a bank account or payment method and pick one of the payout options offered in your country. Earnings are in US dollars, after the platform's 20% fee, and can only be withdrawn once your balance meets the minimum payout amount. One rule has no exceptions: payouts go to an account in your name, or your company's, never your manager's.

5. Settings: price, username, geo-blocking, watermark

Price. You set a monthly subscription price, or none: the terms allow a free subscription. Prices are shown and charged in US dollars, with any sales tax added on the fan's side.

Username. Your username and display name are public. Pick ones with no link to your legal name, your town or your personal social accounts.

Geo-blocking. OnlyFans offers a setting to block access to your profile from certain locations. Its exact scope is not described in the terms and can change, so check in your account what it covers. A block based on where someone connects from can be defeated with a VPN or a plane ticket.

Watermark. Turn on the watermark option if your account offers it, or add one when editing. It will not stop leaks, but it helps prove where content came from.

How to start an OnlyFans legally: the status to set up first

As a creator you warrant to OnlyFans that you report every payment to your tax authority; if you fall out of tax compliance, it may close the account or restrict payouts. Status is a day-one question.

In the US, you are a sole proprietor by default: the income goes on Schedule C with your Form 1040, and once net earnings from self-employment reach $400 for the year you also owe self-employment tax at 15.3%. An LLC is optional, not a precondition.

In the UK, you can trade straight away, but once your trading income passes the £1,000 trading allowance in a tax year (6 April to 5 April) you must register for Self Assessment, by 5 October after the end of the tax year in which you started. Keep records from the first payout. Our UK OnlyFans tax guide covers rates, National Insurance and VAT.

Why open a separate bank account from day one?

Payouts arrive from a foreign platform, with a description your bank may not recognise. Banks on both sides of the Atlantic must know their customer and understand the money moving through the account, and an unexplained stream of platform payments into a personal account is what triggers questions, restrictions and closures. A separate account in your name, opened with the activity disclosed, makes every payout easy to explain and your expense records credible. Our guide to banking for OnlyFans creators in the US and UK covers which banks and payment providers to look at.

A manager wants to run your account: what should you sign?

OnlyFans' terms are clear: if someone assists you with your account, your legal responsibility is unchanged, and the platform's relationship is with you, not with them. The account, the content and any breach stay in your name.

Before you hand over any access, get these in writing:

1. the account, email and login belong to you, and you can withdraw access at any time;
2. what the commission is calculated on (net earnings after the platform's 20%, or something else) and at what rate;
3. the term, the notice period and what happens when you part ways;
4. what the manager may do with your content, and for how long;
5. payouts land in your account, not theirs.

Our guide to the 12 clauses that matter in an agency contract goes through each one.

Who owns your content?

You do. In the US, copyright exists the moment a work is created and fixed; in the UK, protection is automatic and there is no register. OnlyFans does not own your content, but you grant it a broad licence: perpetual, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable and transferable. In return, it may send infringement notices on your behalf, without being obliged to.

For US creators, one step is worth knowing: you must register a US work with the Copyright Office before you can sue over it, and registration can open the door to statutory damages and attorney's fees. Keep dated originals either way: they are your evidence on the day of a leak. Any transfer of rights to a manager should be in writing and limited to what is needed.

Is an OnlyFans account anonymous? Who sees what

Under its privacy policy, verification data goes to service providers, advisers and authorities, not to other users, and some of it may be kept for up to seven years for identity and tax reporting. The terms also state that it is not responsible if people who know you recognise you in your content, or if third parties expose your identity. Discretion is your job. In the UK, a sole trader does not appear on the Companies House register, whereas a limited company and its directors do.

The order to do things in

What we see in practice is rarely a failed sign-up. It is accounts opened on a manager's email, payouts landing in a personal account, and taxes dealt with a year later. The order that avoids it:

1. decide your status (sole proprietor or sole trader to start);
2. open a separate bank account and disclose the activity;
3. create a dedicated email, then the OnlyFans account and verification;
4. enter accurate tax details;
5. set username, price, geo-blocking and watermark;
6. sign a written contract before any manager gets access.

The account takes an evening. What surrounds it decides whether you still control it two years from now.

Your contactOlivier MaciejewskiFounder of OFM Legal · Former international business lawyer (HEC Paris, Arendt, Clifford Chance) · Official MYM partnerHis background Updated September 12, 2026

This article is general information and does not replace advice tailored to your situation. OFM Legal is not a law firm: court proceedings are handled by our partner lawyers.

Our partners

See all our partners

Read next

Understanding OFMAverage OnlyFans incomeRead the article Understanding OFMWhat is MYM? How it worksRead the article Understanding OFMAge verification: what changedRead the article