A creator monetization platform is a single account where a creator sells subscriptions, paywalled posts, paid DMs, tips, livestreams, and digital or physical goods, then collects payouts from one balance. Fanvault and Passes both compete in this category in 2026, but they price and scope it differently. Fanvault charges a flat 8% per transaction (creators keep 92%). Passes charges 10% plus $0.30 per purchase, ships seven monetization streams, and stays strictly PG-13.
⚡ Key Takeaways
- Fanvault charges a flat 8% per transaction (creators keep 92%). Passes charges 10% plus a $0.30 per-purchase fee.
- On a $2 tip, Fanvault pays out ~$1.84; Passes pays out ~$1.50 (about a 25% effective take). The gap narrows on $50 subs but the $0.30 floor hits every micro-transaction.
- Both ship subs, PPV, paid DMs, tips, and livestreams. Passes adds 1-on-1 calls. Fanvault adds an authenticated-memorabilia auction house and a Telegram-based ops agent.
- Passes is strictly PG-13: no nudity, no funneling to OnlyFans or Fansly. Fanvault is 18+, age-verified, with Sightengine moderation.
- Passes has paid 'tens of millions' to ~1,000 creators since 2022 and leans on celebrity/NIL signings (Livvy Dunne, Shaq, Bella Thorne, 37 of 40 Texas Longhorns).
- Pick Passes for brand-safe celebrity or NIL talent. Pick Fanvault for small-ticket volume, memorabilia drops, AI creators, or 18+ talent.
How do Fanvault and Passes compare on fees?
Fanvault is a flat 8% per transaction. Passes is 10% plus a flat $0.30 per-purchase fee, per Sportico. The $0.30 floor is what shapes most of the decision, because it scales worst with small-ticket transactions.
Run the math on a $2 tip. On Fanvault the creator keeps about $1.84. On Passes the creator keeps roughly $1.50, an effective take of about 25%. Move up to a $10 PPV unlock and Passes nets the creator about $8.70 versus $9.20 on Fanvault. The gap narrows on $50 subscriptions and high-ticket items, but the surcharge still hits every micro-transaction.
| Monthly volume / ticket | Fanvault (8% flat) | Passes (10% + $0.30 each) |
|---|---|---|
| $2 tip | $1.84 to creator | ~$1.50 to creator |
| $10 PPV unlock | $9.20 to creator | ~$8.70 to creator |
| $50 monthly sub | $46.00 to creator | ~$44.70 to creator |
| $1,000 / month gross (mixed tickets) | $920 to creator | ~$870-$895 to creator |
| $10,000 / month gross (mixed tickets) | $9,200 to creator | ~$8,700-$8,950 to creator |
What does each platform actually let you sell?
The core monetization stack overlaps. Both ship subscriptions, paywalled posts, paid DMs, livestreams, and tipping. Passes adds 1-on-1 video calls, digital products, and a basic storefront, per its April 2026 rebrand to "the Creator Accelerator Platform."
Fanvault layers two things Passes does not have. The first is an authenticated-memorabilia auction house inside every creator profile, with proxy bidding, reserve prices, anti-snipe extended-bidding windows, buy-it-now drops, and Shippo-powered fulfillment for physical goods. The second is a conversational agent (in-app and on Telegram) that spins up storefronts, writes listings, schedules content, and triages fan DMs. Passes ships an automated-messaging feature but nothing equivalent to end-to-end ops automation.
| Dimension | Fanvault | Passes |
|---|---|---|
| Platform fee | 8% flat | 10% + $0.30 per purchase |
| Core monetization | Subs, PPV, paid DMs, tips, wishlists, livestreams | Subs, PPV, paid DMs, tips, livestreams, 1-on-1 calls |
| Storefront | Auctions + buy-it-now drops with authenticated memorabilia and Shippo fulfillment | Basic digital-product storefront |
| Automation layer | Conversational agent (in-app + Telegram) for ops | Automated DMs only |
| Content rules | 18+, age-verified, Sightengine moderation | PG-13, no nudity, no funneling to adult platforms |
| Payout speed | Stripe Connect payout schedule | Instant ACH (minutes), 1-day, or 2-5 day options |
Who is Passes actually built for in 2026?
Passes was founded in December 2022 by Lucy Guo, a co-founder of Scale AI, and has raised about $50 million at a $150 million valuation, per Yahoo Finance. By February 2024 the platform had paid out "tens of millions" to roughly 1,000 creators.
The audience is brand-safe talent. LSU gymnast Olivia "Livvy" Dunne signed a multi-million-dollar NIL deal as Passes' first NIL signee, per On3. Shaquille O'Neal puts episodes of "The Big Podcast With Shaq" behind the paywall. Bella Thorne, Kygo, and a long bench of NIL athletes (37 of 40 offered Texas Longhorns accepted) fill out the roster.
Passes tends to fit talent who need:
- Strict brand-safe rules that match existing sponsor and NIL deals
- 1-on-1 video calls as a premium tier alongside subs and PPV
- Instant ACH payouts that land in minutes
- A celebrity-adjacent platform flywheel for discovery
The content rules match the talent. Passes' guidelines explicitly prohibit nudity, sexual content, and any "funneling" of fans to OnlyFans, Fansly, 18+ Snapchats, or adult-themed Patreons, per the official policy. If your model includes adult-adjacent content, Passes is not the platform.
Who is Fanvault actually built for in 2026?
Fanvault is an 18+ platform with age-verified onboarding, AI moderation via Sightengine, a two-strike brand-safety policy, and verified-onboarding gating for every creator across a 24-country footprint at launch. Two creator profiles map cleanly to it:
- Creators running a high volume of small-ticket transactions (tips, $5-$15 PPV unlocks, paid DMs) where the 10% + $0.30 surcharge would compound against gross
- Creators whose audiences treat them like athletes or musicians, where authenticated memorabilia auctions and buy-it-now drops open a new revenue lane on top of subs and PPV
- AI or virtual creators built on Fanvault's sister platform Content Capital, which publishes across Instagram, TikTok, and X and plugs straight into a Fanvault storefront
Both profiles lean on Fanvault's conversational agent (in-app and on Telegram) to keep listings, scheduling, and DM triage off the creator's plate. Stripe Connect handles payouts on a standard schedule, and Shippo handles labels and tracking for physical drops.
So which platform should you actually pick?
Read the table by your own profile, not by the marketing pitch. Both platforms sit inside a creator economy Goldman Sachs projects to reach roughly $480 billion by 2027 from about $250 billion today, so neither bet is a small-market call.
| Creator type | Best fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Brand-safe celebrity or NIL athlete | Passes | PG-13 rules match sponsor deals; talent flywheel and instant ACH are real |
| Streamer, gaming creator, or esports talent | Fanvault | Authenticated drops (jerseys, controllers, stream-worn gear) plus 18+ rails |
| Fitness, combat-sports, or dance creator | Fanvault | Memorabilia auctions extend earnings beyond subs and PPV |
| AI or virtual creator | Fanvault | Native Content Capital pipeline publishes across IG, TikTok, and X |
| Podcast host with premium episodes | Passes | 1-on-1 video calls and digital products fit a podcast-bundle model |
| Adult-adjacent or 18+ talent | Fanvault | Passes' PG-13 rules disqualify; Fanvault's 18+ verified rails apply |
The headline: pick Passes if you are brand-safe, lean on high-ticket subs, and want a celebrity-tier audience flywheel. Pick Fanvault if you run small-ticket volume, want a real marketplace inside your profile, want a Telegram-based agent doing the storefront work, or need 18+ verified rails.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Passes or Fanvault cheaper for small-ticket tips and PPV?
Fanvault is cheaper at small ticket sizes. The decisive factor is Passes' flat
The gap narrows as tickets get larger. On a $50 monthly subscription, Fanvault nets the creator $46.00 versus ~$44.70 on Passes. If your business is mostly high-ticket subs and 1-on-1 calls, the fee delta is small. If it is tipping, $5 to $15 PPV unlocks, and paid DMs, Fanvault keeps materially more in your pocket.
Can I use Passes if I sell adult or 18+ content?
No. Passes is a strictly PG-13 platform. The official community guidelines prohibit nudity, sexual content, and any 'funneling' of fans to OnlyFans, Fansly, 18+ Snapchats, or adult-themed Patreons. Even linking your Passes profile to an adult account elsewhere is grounds for removal.
If your model includes any adult-adjacent content, you need an 18+ platform. Fanvault is 18+ with age-verified onboarding, AI content moderation via Sightengine, and a two-strike brand-safety policy. It is built for adult-adjacent creators while keeping verified-onboarding rails.
Does Fanvault have 1-on-1 video calls like Passes does?
Passes' 1-on-1 video call product is a flagship feature: it is one of the reasons celebrity and NIL talent ship there, since a single high-ticket call can clear several months of subscription revenue. Fanvault's surface area is different. It focuses on subs, PPV, paid DMs, tips, wishlists, livestreams, and the storefront (auctions plus buy-it-now drops with authenticated memorabilia).
For a creator whose paid offering centers on premium 1-on-1 video time, Passes maps better. For a creator whose paid offering centers on recurring content, drops, and memorabilia, Fanvault maps better.
How fast do payouts hit my bank account on each platform?
Passes offers instant ACH payouts that land in a creator's bank account in minutes, plus a 1-day option and a standard 2-5 business-day option. Instant payout is the fastest path among the major creator monetization platforms today.
Fanvault runs payouts through Stripe Connect on the standard Stripe payout schedule. That is reliable but is not the same as minutes-fast ACH. If cash-flow speed is a hard requirement (for example, you depend on same-day liquidity), Passes wins on this specific dimension.
Can both Fanvault and Passes support AI creators?
Both platforms allow AI or virtual creators on the same rails as human creators. The difference is the supporting infrastructure. Passes lets an AI persona run subs, PPV, paid DMs, and livestreams alongside human talent, but there is no attached content-generation engine.
Fanvault ships with its sister platform Content Capital, an agentic creator brain that generates on-brand photos and videos and publishes across Instagram, TikTok, and X, then plugs into a Fanvault storefront for monetization. If you are building a virtual creator from scratch, that end-to-end pipeline is the meaningful difference.