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OnlyFans and AVN Stars were two of the largest subscription-based social platforms in the world and were both are massively popular with the adult market.
So it's almost inevitable that one of the sites wouldn't last. And that ended up being AVN Stars, which now no longer allows models to add content for a subscription fee.
Let's take a look at what happened.
Jump to:
Intro to OnlyFans
OnlyFans was formed in 2016 and has skyrocketed in popularity, with over one million people registered on the site as content creators and 50 million users in total. It’s estimated that between 7,000 and 8,000 new content creators join every day along with half a million new users.
OnlyFans caters for any kind of creator, including fitness, cooking and more. However most creators are adult, sharing semi-nude, fully nude or explicit photos and videos and offering X-rated chat with fans.
Intro to AVN Stars
With OnlyFans, the number of users on the site are educated estimates based on the rare stats that the website has released so far. AVN Stars was even more discreet when it comes to user base – not a lot was really known about how many creators or users were signed up.
It was certainly nowhere near the amount of users as OnlyFans has, even though AVN Stars is a part of the global AVN Media Network, a renowned adult entertainment media and publishing group that runs the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo as well as numerous adult publications and shows.
The rest of this guide is our side-by-side review of the two platforms, written when AVN Stars was live. We've left it intact so that you can compare the two platforms as they were when they were competing.
How easy is it to use?
This one’s the most subjective area of scoring but check any Reddit or Quora thread and you’ll see the same feedback. AVN Stars is overall a cleaner, more professional-looking website. OnlyFans is massive that it seems to have grown too quickly for its site to keep up at times, although it’s still perfectly usable.
AVN scales better when you resize the page, while OnlyFans can sometimes suffer from some formatting issues – images can get blurred or shift around on the page. It hides your bio behind a ‘More Info’ button too, while AVN Stars shows it off on the profile page neatly.
Finally on this point, some people have reported more common glitches when using OnlyFans, such as the inability to delete a post with error messages that don’t make sense and aren’t easily explained by support.
Overall, AVN Stars is just easier to use and has less barriers for creators and users. It’s much more professional looking and just shows off all your content in a nicer way.
Winner: AVN Stars
Ways to make money
Both OnlyFans and AVN Stars let you make money through monthly subscriptions fees, by charging fans for individual messages, or from tips that you can source from your fans.
They do have different caps on what you can charge, which we’ll cover below.
The other shared revenue stream between both platforms is their referral programs.
With OnlyFans, if you refer a model to the site then you’ll earn 5% of their earnings during their first 12 months on the platform, with a maximum cap of $50,000. Sounds pretty good right? And you can do that with as many models as you can refer.
AVN Stars is better though. They offer the same 5% referral but it’s for life, not just the first 12 months. There’s also no earnings cap. So if you were refer the same model to OnlyFans or AVN Stars and they made $1.5 million in their first year, with OnlyFans you’d only get $50,000 while AVN Stars would pay you $75,000.
Winner: AVN Stars
How much can you earn?
Both OnlyFans and AVN Stars offer content creators 80% of the money they make from their fans, keeping 20% for their own fees. In terms of revenue you take, it’s a tie.
So what about earning caps?
For monthly subscriptions, OnlyFans has a minimum price of $4.99 while AVN Stars has a $2 minimum. Both have a maximum cap of $50. So AVN Stars offers you slightly more flexibility.
For tips, OnlyFans has a minimum tip of $3 and a maximum of $100, increasing to $200 once you’ve been active for a while. AVN’s minimum tip is $2 and it doesn’t have a maximum, again giving it the advantage over OnlyFans.
AVN Stars doesn’t impose any other caps, including for messages, while OnlyFans does – you can only charge between $3 and $100.
So when it comes to earning caps, AVN Stars generally lets you earn what you want, while OnlyFans puts strict rules in place.
When it comes to real-life examples of that earning potential, it’s hard to say. The average OnlyFans creator will make $180 a month but that’s a really skewed figure since there are so many millions of users putting in completely different amounts of time and effort. There’s no average earnings data for AVN Stars, but they do have a smaller userbase and number of creators.
Winner: Draw
While AVN Stars is more profitable for the money you get or the renewals you chase, it’s likely that OnlyFan’s larger userbase and currently more recognizable name balances that out.
Payout frequency
OnlyFans content creators get their money 21 days after it’s been paid by a user. They can then withdraw it whenever they want to, as long as it’s above the minimum payout of $20.
With AVN Stars, that minimum payout threshold is slightly higher, at $25. However the holding time on payments made to you is only 7 days, compared to 21, and you can then withdraw whenever you want to.
Winner: AVN Stars
Which has the best features?
Let’s start with a quick summary of the features both sites share. These are features above the standard ways of making money covered above.
The first is Geoblocking. Geoblocking is a really handy tool that lets you block any IP from a certain region of the world. Why’s that important? Well, most people don’t want their friends and family to see their adult content. By blocking the parts of the world you live in, you keep open a global audience but stop your brother from accidentally finding your nudes.
The other key feature that OnlyFans and AVN Stars share is watermarking – the option to add a watermark to your images to prevent them being shared without your consent. Both offer an automatic watermarking option but only AVN Stars lets you customize that watermark to an image you want.
OnlyFans features
Beyond that, OnlyFans doesn’t really have any standout features to make your life easier as a content creator, but something worth shouting about is the option to promote via dedicated Subreddits.
Subreddits (groups on Reddit) that promote specifically OnlyFans users help you to reach a broader audience of people who are already looking for profiles. It’s a great way to make the most of social media to build your fanbase.
AVN Stars features
One of the biggest complaints made about OnlyFans is that it’s impossible to just browse profiles – you can only subscribe to people that you have the link for, or that appear in the small amount of promoted accounts. AVN Stars incorporates an Explore All page that lets you see everything that’s been uploaded recently (censored for non-subscribers) along with a feed on whoever is live right now. It’s so much easier for people to find you when you’re posting.
AVN Stars also lets you build up a dedicated Clip Store, where you can sell individual videos. It’s another potential revenue stream for you, as your most popular videos can create extra cash from non-subscribers with one-off purchases.
Speaking of videos, AVN Stars has a useful feature that lets you choose a cover image from a still within the video. With OnlyFans any preview is just the first frame, but you can pick a custom cover from the best moments to really tease fans and potential customers, and it helps make your Clip Store look all the more professional too.
OnlyFans and AVN Stars both let you stream content but with OnlyFans it’s only possible through the app itself. AVN Stars has the option to use OBS (Open Broadcast Software), the same kit that anyone on Twitch uses that’s full of amazing custom settings to play with. If you’re serious about streaming your own adult shows then AVN Stars is definitely the way to go.
It doesn’t stop there – AVN Stars lets you post certain clips and images to the public to see in the Explore All page or when browsing your profile. With OnlyFans the only way to share with the public is to create a second free account, but AVN Stars lets you do it for each individual piece of content from your main account.
Finally, stats-wise AVN Stars blows OnlyFans out of the water. With OnlyFans you only get a view of number of likes on your posts, but AVN Stars lets you see all kinds of stats about your visitors and what they’re interacting with, helping you to tailor your content to make the most of the people who currently subscribe and who may soon convert into paying subscribers.
Winner: AVN Stars
What’s the support like?
Both OnlyFans and AVN Stars claim to offer responsive support for their content creators, but remember that here’s where size of the platform really makes a difference in a negative way.
Anecdotally from Reddit and forums, people have complained that OnlyFans can take up to a week or more to respond to an email enquiry, and sometimes responses are automatic and don’t solve the problem.
Feedback about AVN Stars is much more positive – with email enquiries often dealt with within 24 hours. The support is engaging and quick, so you’ll get the answers you need quickly, which can be vital when it’s an issue around payments.
Winner: AVN Stars
So which is best?
For adult performers looking to create a fan-based subscription page, OnlyFans and AVN Stars are both excellent choices. OnlyFans is absolutely huge and, if you find the right niche and work hard to promote your page properly, you could easily make the most money by reaching a significant audience.
Scores
AVN Stars wins: 5 (Sign up to AVN here)
OnlyFans wins: 0 (Sign up to OF here)
Draws: 1
What happens now AVN Stars is gone?
When we first wrote this review, we felt it was pretty clear that AVN Stars was the stronger platform. The scores tell you that.
But sometimes you can't halt momentum, and that's why OnlyFans continues to be the biggest name in the fan page platform space. And AVN Stars ultimately had to fall by the wayside.
There are lots of other OnlyFans alternatives out there now and it may be that one day, OnlyFans decides to move away from adult content. When that happens there will be a huge space for rival sites to grow and become the biggest platform for adult creators.
It could've been AVN Stars. A shame it never worked out that way.
