If you want to start a porn site, most people jump straight to picking a domain name, choosing a hosting service, or shopping for a WordPress theme. I made that mistake myself. I spent months on design, research, and setup — and nearly watched it all go to waste because I hadn’t solved the one problem that makes or breaks everything. Before you do anything else when starting a porn site, you have to figure out your payment processor.
Why Some Creators Want to Move Away from Adult Platforms
Let’s talk about why someone would want to ditch OnlyFans, Just4Fans, or ForMyFans in the first place.
These platforms have a ton of restrictions, and one major issue is the hefty commission they take from your earnings. If you’re a subscriber, you might not realize those platforms usually take around 20% of everything you spend — including tips. Even the ones with lower commission rates, like Fansmine or Myvipfans, have bad reputations for being untrustworthy. The legit ones mostly settle at 20%.
Understanding High Processing Fees on Adult Sites
Why are the fees so high? It’s not entirely the platform’s fault. Credit card processing companies charge around 10–20% right off the bat, and then the platforms add another 5–10% on top.
The high fees stem mainly from a high volume of fraudulent transactions and chargebacks. In normal everyday transactions, fees typically run 3–5%. But in high-risk industries like porn, they can hit 10–20% because of how often banks side with cardholders on chargeback claims. When someone disputes a transaction, the money has to go back — and someone eats the cost. That’s the excuse processors use to justify the steep rates.
When a chargeback hits an OnlyFans account, the transaction reverses and that user gets blocked. Creators have complained about this happening way too often. I remember seeing Roman Todd tweet about a guy who kept subscribing, leeching content, getting blocked, then opening a new account and doing it all over again.
Payment Methods When Starting Your Own Porn Site
If you want to skip the big platform fees and build your own porn site, you’re still dealing with credit card processors that charge 10–20%. These fees vary based on factors like transaction volume — more transactions generally means lower rates.
In the US, you’ll need a merchant account to register with a payment gateway or processor. All the big adult-friendly processors — CCBill, Verotel, Vendo, and Segpay — all require this. And getting a merchant account usually means registering a company, at minimum an LLC, which can be expensive and honestly a real headache. I’ve been through it.
In many Asian countries, credit card processors outright refuse adult businesses. Indian processors could work in some cases, but the trust issue is real. There’s one Brazilian option for South American creators, but fees are still around 20%.
One trick: find websites that have built their own porn site and trace back what payment gateway they’re using. For example, onnowplay.com (Brazil) has their own platform with a payment gateway you can identify. You can do this same research for any country.
How to Find Your Porn Site Payment Gateway: A Practical Exercise
Let’s look at some real examples — especially useful for people outside the US:
Eastboys.com: Features sexy Eastern European and Latino models. Their checkout redirects to secure.vend-o.com — a UK-based service (vendoservices.com). Probably requires a merchant account or KYB form, but worth investigating if that fits your setup. For Asian creators, look for studios based closer to your country first.
Jawked.com: Miami-registered site with models from all over the world. Runs three different payment gateways: CCBill (main), Epoch (for PayPal), and Rocketgate (Puerto Rico) for Visa. The Rocketgate option likely exists for lower fees on Visa transactions.
crunchboy.com: A true French gay site — and I love French guys, they have something about them that’s just so sexy. Their payment page redirects to studiopresse.com, based in Paris (Studio Presse SARL, BP 6444, 75064 Paris Cedex 02). Very tempting if you’re a French creator looking for something local.
Payment Gateway vs. Payment Processor: Know the Difference
Think of a gateway as a door, and inside the room are several different processors. One payment gateway can work with multiple processors. Segpay, for instance, also accepts PayPal — making Segpay the gateway and PayPal the processor. If you pay through PayPal directly from a website, PayPal itself is acting as the gateway in that context.
Finding a payment gateway is easier than finding a processor. If a website has built-in credit card payment as a service, that’s your gateway. When doing research on porn sites, you’re looking for the gateway they use — the processor behind it is a secondary question.
Alternative Payment Solutions for Your Porn Site
Your own country probably has payment gateways that service inventory-type businesses. These companies process transactions without necessarily knowing what kind of goods you’re selling. A few of my friends have successfully set up accounts and linked them as back-end processors. Problems only arise if you start getting a large number of chargebacks.
Another method similar to how some online casinos and Forex companies operate: using third-party intermediary companies. Funds go to their processing account, and they arrange someone in your country to transfer your earnings on a set schedule. These are usually import-export or money exchange companies. OnlyFans actually uses a version of this for some countries — I’ve received payments from a different third-party person in my country each time. Almost untraceable. I won’t name the specific service because these things can disappear, but the keywords I’ve dropped throughout should point you in the right direction.
There Is Still Hope for Aspiring Porn Site Owners
None of these platforms fit your situation? Building your own site is still a solid plan — but sort the payment processing first. Once that’s figured out, everything else (hosting, themes, membership plugins) is straightforward by comparison. I’ll cover all of that in future posts.
The good news: there are workarounds. Bitcoin and crypto payment links, smart use of email-based payment links, PayPal in specific setups, coupon code systems combined with subscription plans — all of these can work. I’ll write dedicated posts on each soon.
Content Restrictions on Adult Platforms Like OnlyFans
High commission fees aren’t the only reason creators look to build their own site. Content restrictions are just as real. OnlyFans has some genuinely mind-boggling rules:
- No filming in public places.
- No poppers or drug use visible in videos. I once edited a 40-minute video where a guy pulled out poppers for 15 seconds. Missed it in the edit. OnlyFans still gave me a warning. 😅
- Kinks are fine, but anything that looks like violence — whipping, for example — can get a video taken down.
- No sleeping scenes. I staged one where the guy pretended to sleep but woke up partway through. Taken down. Now I make sure the guy states at the start that it’s staged and he consents to being filmed.
- Restricted words in descriptions. “Meet” is banned (anti-escort policy). “Choke” as in “choke my cock” — also a no-go. Though you can just type “me-et” and it works, so the filter isn’t exactly airtight.
Not every platform has the same rules — JustForFans is way more relaxed than OnlyFans. There are tons of platforms launching lately and I can’t keep up with all their policies.
There’s also the video quality cap: OnlyFans limits uploads to 1280×720. Even if you’re shooting 4K, that quality is gone once it’s uploaded. Their rendering does a decent job minimizing the difference, but comparing 4K vs 720p side by side, you’ll feel it. Having your own site means your fans get the full quality of your work. That matters more than people think once you’re actually editing your own footage.
Leave a comment or question below — I’ll help if I can.