Here’s The Difference Between OnlyFans & JustForFans

During the pandemic, OnlyFans became a household name for its raunchy vids, even earning a shoutout by Beyoncé in Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage Remix.” After losing the ability to earn income in more traditional ways, many sex workers turned to OnlyFans to make money, and horny people followed in droves — the company reported seeing a 75% increase in new users during the initial months of the pandemic last year.

Despite that, OnlyFans announced on Aug. 16 that it would begin banning porn come Oct. 1 in an effort to “comply with the requests of our banking partners and payout providers.” Performers will still have the ability to share nude photos and videos, but it will disallow any “sexually explicit content,” per Input. This announcement follows reports that OnlyFans has been struggling to find investors and banks to work with.

Fortunately, OnlyFans isn’t the only option out there when it comes to premium and personalized adult content. JustForFans may not have the name recognition OnlyFans does, but if you’re looking for a place to watch porn and DM performers, it’s worth checking out.

What is JustForFans?

Like OnlyFans, JustForFans (JFF) is a subscription-based content-sharing site for performers to sell exclusive content directly to their fans. However, unlike OnlyFans, JFF is a site specifically by and for sex workers and adult performers. It also calls itself a porn site, and has no intentions of changing that.

“Unlike other sites that are ‘mainstreaming’ and further marginalizing sex workers, we are built exclusively for sex workers,” Dominic Ford, creator of JFF and sex worker, tells Bustle. “Every decision we make is centered around how it will help models make more money.”

Ford launched JFF in Feb. 2018, eight years after he started Porn Guardian, an anti-piracy company that protects online sex workers and performers’ content. As a porn performer and director of his own porn studio, Dominic Ford, Ford knows all aspects of the adult digital industry and created JFF with these complexities in mind.

“Sites that are not built from people within the industry don’t understand the complete adult ecosystem,” Ford tells Bustle. “Our staff is mostly comprised of current sex workers, of all genders and orientations.”

Calling itself the “ultimate adult blogging platform and marketplace,” JFF is only for sexual content. The site doesn't allow non-sex workers to make performer pages and has several comprehensive protections on performer’s content and fans’ information. Using the technology behind Porn Guardian, JFF scans the internet every 15 minutes, identifying and preemptively stopping pirates before the content is stolen.

The Differences Between JustForFans & OnlyFans

The most significant difference between OnlyFans and JFF (other than OnlyFans getting rid of porn this fall) is the marketplace feature or “explore” page from an interface perspective. As OnlyFans is built to be used as an extension to content creators’ social media pages, the site doesn't have a marketplace feature. Creators need to drive their own traffic to their OnlyFans sites using other forms of social media. Once on the site, creators can charge their fans a monthly subscription (from $4.99 to $49.99) to see their content or can host a “free page” where they charge up to $49.99 per post. They can also message fans directly within the app and charge up to $100 on each direct message.

OnlyFans demands that all communication and money transactions between performers and fans happen in the app, forbidding performers from giving out their Venmo or PayPal. OnlyFans takes about 20% of all performers' earnings, which performers can withdraw eight days after earning. The site allows performers to post videos and photos and send text messages, voice memos, and photos and videos in direct chat.

Because OnlyFans is a bigger company, and again, isn’t a porn site, it currently hosts some PG-13 “behind the scenes” type content from performers, including big names like Cardi B and Tana Mongeau. Having celebrities on the site makes OnlyFans more known to the public. Still, lest we forget, celebrities starting OnlyFans pages can negatively affect sex workers on the site. For example, Bella Thorne's stunt on the platform resulted in the company limiting tip amounts.

JFF has both an “explore” homepage and an in-depth tag system, similar to Tumblr, where fans can search for specific content types, like #MILF or #Femdom. Additionally, the site encourages interaction between performers and fans on and off the site itself. On JFF, fans can watch performers camming, buy exclusive content, purchase physical items from performers (like underwear or polaroid photos), sext with performers, and get access to performers' exclusive Instagram or Snapchat accounts. Fans can buy monthly subscriptions to their favorite performer's pages, ranging from $4.99 to $14.99. You can also purchase specific content or service individually without getting a monthly subscription. JFF takes 30% of performers' earnings, with weekly or monthly payout options.

JustForFans’ Sex Worker Protections

The platform also has many tools and protections for sex workers. “Having been in the studio world for so long, I was acutely aware of how porn stars have no union and therefore bargaining power,” Ford says. “My goal was to use the bargaining power the site had due to a large number of models on it to get a health care package that could help the models.”

JFF currently offers health care packages for the models on the site. It also works to connect sex workers to create new content and have important labor conversations. “We facilitate models’ full-needs when it comes to a fan platform,” Ford says. “Models can also search by location to find models where they live or will be traveling.”

As JustForFans continues to grow, Ford hopes the platform will empower models and create a sense of connection between performers, fans, and marginalized communities. “Our charitable donations system allows models to donate a percentage of their income to trans organizations, HIV organizations, and Black Lives Matter,” Ford says. “We really foster a sense of community and what our role could be in helping others.”