When you read about OnlyFans superstars like Bonnie Blue and Sophie Rain, it would be easy to assume that most OnlyFans creators are making tens of thousands of dollars a month, too. But the subscription-based platform isn’t the lottery ticket it seems to be for everyone. Most creators aren’t making enough money pay their electric bill each month.

That figure comes from a United Kingdom regulatory filing made by OnlyFans parent company Fenix International. The filing showed that gross payments for the 2023 fiscal year were $6.6 billion. (That amount is net of any applicable sales taxes, refunds and deferred income.)

That filing also showed that the platform’s creators earned a total payout of $5.32 billion…which sounds like a lot until you do some math. Based on the number of creators during that period, the mean average income per creator is not quite $1,300 a year. That adds up to less than $108 a month.

But that’s not how the money is actually distributed. Most of those billions of dollars end up in the accounts of the top one percent of content creators, with a total of $49,000 annually. That’s the equivalent of being paid $25 an hour for 40 hours a week.

The real money goes to the top 0.1 percent. These OnlyFans superstars make 15 times the amount of an average creator in the top one percent of creators. These are the names you’ve probably heard of, including celebrities like Cardi B and Iggy Azalea (both of whom reportedly earn around $9 million a month) and newer famous content creators like Bonnie Blue (who made headlines for her marathon gangbang earlier this year). Whether they’re famous from a career as a rapper or they’ve made a name for themselves on social media, the real winners from the platform are people who have some sort of built-in fan base. These OnlyFans millionaires are able to convert their followers into paid subscribers, boosting their bank accounts — and the platform’s itself, as they take 20% off the top of every subscription.

According to Matthew Ball’s report, OnlyFans gross revenue is up $300 million from five years earlier. While much of that is from subscription fees, there is an increase in additional transactions from add-on purchases that these creators offer. (Which OnlyFans also gets a cut of.) While the platform isn’t just for explicit content, it is most known for that kind of content which is why OnlyFans is often compared to porn sites. And if we do compare OnlyFans to other porn platforms like Aylo (which owns PornHub, Brazzers, RedTube, YouPorn, and XTube), it’s clear that OnlyFans is coming out on top as they reportedly have twice the revenue of Aylo.

While OnlyFans is clearly an amazing opportunity for many aspiring stars (both explicit and safe for work), simply joining the platform isn’t a straight shot to financial freedom. It takes a lot of time, effort, and luck to break into the top 1 percent to even start making a living form the platform. If you want to become an OnlyFans millionaire, you have to keep pushing to get into that top 0.1 percent.

Is it doable? Of course. But it’s not the get-rich-quick solution that some think it is.