How to Start an OnlyFans Account, Step by Step
OnlyFans lists the creator steps in one passage of its own Terms of Use. Here they are in order, with what each asks of you and where your look comes into it.
In short
Opening an OnlyFans creator account starts with an email, a username and a password, then ID, payout details, an optional price and your first content, as the OnlyFans Terms of Use list them. Pricing and tax are yours, and a few brand rules matter once you build around your look.
How this guide was made: Nocturnal Talent wrote it with AI tools, and every fact in it is checked against the sources it links to.
Starting an OnlyFans begins with a plain account: an email address, a username and a password. The creator part comes after that. The OnlyFans Terms of Use spell out the creator account steps in one short passage, and the version on the site today says "Last updated: August 2024".
An ordinary account comes first
The OnlyFans Terms say "You must provide a valid email address, a username, and a password or authenticate using an approved third-party." Your password has to meet OnlyFans' own password requirements. Settle the name your page will go by now, since it's asked for before anything else. Once the name is set, goth OnlyFans bio ideas helps with the words under it.
The same section says who can open any account at all.
You must be at least 18, able to be legally bound by a contract with OnlyFans, legally permitted to join and use the site, and not convicted of a serious crime. You may be asked for more information before your account is approved. The Terms also say "We may reject an account application for any reason."
The creator steps, as the Terms list them
With the account open, the Terms list what you must also do to open a Creator account.
"Upload a valid form of ID and two photos of you". This is the identity check.
"Add a bank account, payment details for your bank account, or a payment method". Have the details of the account you want paid into ready.
Pick your Payout Option, the method OnlyFans uses to transfer your Creator Earnings to you.
Give your UK VAT number, but only if you're registered for VAT in the UK.
"Submit additional age or identity verification information any time we ask for it". So the check in step 1 isn't one and done. OnlyFans can come back for more later. How OnlyFans verification works goes through the ID check in more detail.
"Set a monthly subscription price, if any, for your Fans". Read plainly, "if any" means a page can run with no subscription price set.
"Add Content for Users to view when they subscribe to your account and become your Fans". That makes posting part of opening the account, so a creator page with nothing on it isn't finished.
"Provide any additional information we request, which may vary depending on where you live or your nationality."
For a goth or alt page, step 7 is where your look goes up. The first sets are what a new subscriber sees, so lead with the shoot that shows it best: the heavy liner, the new ink, the velvet set. If you're still deciding how your look reads on camera, how to become an alt model covers that side.
Look at what the list leaves out, too. There's no follower count, no outside audience and no minimum number of posts, so you can open a Creator account with no following at all.
Pricing, payouts and tax
The Terms leave the price to you. They say "Creators are solely responsible for determining any pricing applicable to Creator Interactions," and all prices appear, and are charged, in USD. The Terms of Use don't set a minimum or maximum anywhere in the creator steps or the pricing section.
OnlyFans takes its fee from every payment: "Our Fee is calculated as 20% of the total Fan Payment and will be deducted from each Fan Payment." What's left is your Creator Earnings. You can withdraw them once they show in your OnlyFans account and your balance meets "the minimum payout amount requirement". The Terms of Use don't say what that amount is. Payments and earnings are in USD, so your bank or e-wallet company may charge conversion or other fees. How OnlyFans pays creators follows the money from a fan's payment to your bank.
Tax stays with you. The Terms say creators "are responsible for their own Tax affairs," and that OnlyFans isn't responsible for advising you on them.
If you're a creator registered in an EU country, the EU VAT rules that apply are yours to follow. Falling short on tax may get an OnlyFans account closed or suspended. Apart from the UK VAT number and that EU VAT line, the Terms of Use don't name a specific tax form, so ask a qualified tax professional where you live what you need to file.
Your look and brand under the same rules
Want a domain with "OnlyFans" in it, or something confusingly close? The Terms allow it only if you register it yourself, it redirects to your own OnlyFans account, and you get written permission from OnlyFans and sign a licensing agreement.
When you share your link, don't word it in a way that suggests OnlyFans is associated with you or endorses you. And "Do not promote your OnlyFans account using Google Ads or any similar advertising platform or search engine advertising service." For the places you can promote, see how to promote a goth OnlyFans.
Shooting with a friend or a partner? Each other person in your content must be a Creator you've tagged with the tool on OnlyFans, or someone who meets the same age rule and has given you proof of identity and their "written, informed consent".
If an alt clothing label pays you to wear its pieces, that post is Advertising Content: the caption needs a tag such as #ad, #paidpromotion or #sponsored, plus the brand's name and who paid. AI Generated content needs a caption such as #ai or #AIGenerated.
If you bring in help later, the responsibility stays with you. Someone else assisting with your Creator account "does not affect your legal responsibility," and OnlyFans says its relationship is with you, not with a third party. Nocturnal Talent, an OnlyFans agency for goth and alt creators works inside your own account, so every message sent to a fan is there for you to check, and OnlyFans keeps paying you directly.
Two more lines are worth knowing before you start. OnlyFans may suspend or delete an account "with 30 days' Notice, at any time, for any reason." And OnlyFans can modify the Terms of Service at any time, so read them again on the day you sign up.
Before you open the creator settings, have your ID, two photos of yourself and your bank or payout details in front of you. Then set a price, or none, and upload your first set. For what to shoot first, see goth OnlyFans content ideas. If you'd rather have a team on the business side from the start, Nocturnal's application form asks whether you have an OnlyFans account yet, and "Not yet" is one of the answers.