A creator commerce platform is a single account where creators sell paywalled content, run paid communities, take tips, and operate a digital or physical storefront, with the platform handling payments, payouts, and the automation around it. On fees, Fanvault charges a flat 8%. Whop charges 3% plus 2.7% + $0.30 in card processing on creator-sourced sales, and 30% on anything routed through Whop Discover. The right answer depends on where your traffic actually comes from.
⚡ Key Takeaways
- Fanvault charges a flat 8% take rate. Whop charges roughly 5.7% to 6% on self-sourced sales (3% commission + 2.7% + $0.30 processing) but 30% on anything routed through Whop Discover.
- Whop is the scale player: $2.67B cumulative GMV, 18.4M users, 183,628 sellers, $142M annualized revenue (up 255% YoY), and a $1.6B Tether-led valuation as of Feb 2026.
- Whop's earnings distribution is brutally bimodal. 89% of products earn $0, only 2% clear $1K/month, and 0.05% (105 products) cross $100K/month.
- Whop is digital-first (courses, gated Discord/Telegram, software, trading signals). Fanvault adds an authenticated-memorabilia storefront with auctions, reserve prices, anti-snipe extensions, and Shippo fulfillment.
- Whop prohibits pornographic content. Fanvault is an age-verified 18+ platform with AI moderation via Sightengine.
- Across the broader competitive set, Fanvault's flat 8% beats Fanvue (15%), Passes (10% + $0.30), and Fanfix (~20%).
What does each platform actually charge in 2026?
Fanvault's pricing is one line. The platform takes 8% per transaction and creators keep 92%, full stop, whether the buyer found you through your own audience or browsed the storefront.
Whop is more complicated. Dodo Payments documents a 3% Whop commission on automation-attached purchases (Discord, Telegram, Trading View), plus 2.7% + $0.30 per domestic card transaction in processing. That works out to roughly 5.7% to 6% effective for creators bringing their own traffic. International cards add 1.5%, and currency conversion adds another 1%.
The bigger line item is discovery. SchoolMaker notes that sales routed through Whop Discover, the in-platform marketplace, cost 30%, not 3%. That is the price of platform-sourced traffic.
| Dimension | Fanvault | Whop |
|---|---|---|
| Platform fee (self-sourced) | 8% flat | ~5.7-6% effective (3% + 2.7% + $0.30) |
| Platform fee (marketplace discovery) | 8% flat | 30% |
| Core product mix | Memberships, paywalled posts, paid DMs, tips, wishlists, authenticated memorabilia storefront | Courses, community access, gated Discord/Telegram, software, trading signals |
| Physical goods and memorabilia | Native: auctions, reserve prices, anti-snipe extensions, Shippo fulfillment | Supported via Whop Network, not the core product |
| Payout rails | Stripe Connect, 24 countries | ACH, crypto, Venmo, CashApp, 241+ countries |
| Content rules | 18+ verified, AI moderation, two-strike brand-safe policy | Pornographic material prohibited; betting and suggestive content allowed with controls |
How does the fee math break at $1K and $10K per month?
At $1,000/month in self-sourced sales, Fanvault keeps $920 in the creator's pocket. Whop's effective rate runs to roughly $940 to $943 if you bring all your own traffic, slightly better than Fanvault on volume but with $0.30 of fixed processing on every transaction, which compounds against small-ticket sales.
At $10,000/month, Fanvault keeps $9,200. Whop's self-sourced creators keep roughly $9,400 to $9,430. The gap closes the moment a meaningful share of revenue is sourced through Whop Discover, since Whop takes 30% on those orders, leaving the creator with $7,000 on a $10K mix that includes any non-trivial marketplace traffic.
Across the rest of the competitive set, the numbers are not close. Fanvue takes 15%. Passes takes 10% plus $0.30. Fanfix takes around 20%.
What can you actually sell on Fanvault vs Whop?
Whop is digital-first. Whop's own blog frames the product as courses, community access, gated Discord and Telegram groups, software, trading signals, and ebooks. The platform's Prohibited Products policy bans pornographic and sexually explicit content depicting real acts.
Fanvault layers two things on top of the digital-content stack. The first is the conversational automation layer, where a creator can build a storefront, list items, edit a profile, schedule content, and triage fan DMs over Telegram or in-app chat. The second is the authenticated-memorabilia storefront: signed items, stream-worn apparel, tournament gear, and one-of-ones, with proxy bidding, reserve prices, and anti-snipe extensions, plus integrated Shippo fulfillment.
Wishlists are also a Fanvault-only feature in this competitive set. If your fans want to buy you things, Whop does not have a primitive for that.
How big is each platform, and who is actually making money on Whop?
Whop is the larger platform by orders of magnitude. Sacra reports that Whop hit roughly $2.67B in cumulative lifetime GMV by February 2026, with 18.4M users and 183,628 sellers. Annualized revenue reached $142M in October 2025, up 255% year over year, and Whop closed a $200M round at a $1.6B valuation led by Tether in February 2026.
The earnings distribution is bimodal. Whop Trends reports that 89% of products on Whop earn zero tracked revenue, only 2% (3,841 products) clear $1,000/month, and just 0.05% (105 products) cross $100K/month. Fitness creators average $1,170/month, nearly double the trading-category average, so vertical matters.
The top of that curve is real. Whop Trends' 2025 review documents Committed Coaches at $4.9M/month from 12K+ members, and Korvato pulling $67,796 in a single 24-hour window from an automated trading community. Fanvault launched in 2025 with invite-gated onboarding and every creator manually approved. Smaller, curated, AI-native from day one.
Which platform fits which kind of creator?
The honest answer is that Whop and Fanvault are not the same product. Whop is built for digital-only commerce at internet scale. Fanvault is built for creators who want a unified storefront that also handles physical authenticated drops and a Telegram-driven automation layer.
| Creator type | Fanvault | Whop |
|---|---|---|
| Streamer or gaming talent | Strong fit: subs, paid DMs, stream-worn drops, tips, wishlists | Strong fit if you sell coaching, gated Discord, or trading signals |
| Athlete or fitness creator | Strong fit: signed gear, tournament memorabilia, wishlists | Solid for coaching products and gated communities |
| Course creator or community operator | Possible, not the core wedge | The core wedge |
| Adult and 18+ creator | Allowed on age-verified 18+ platform | Not allowed (pornographic content prohibited) |
| Virtual or AI creator | Native fit via Content Capital sister platform | Possible but no AI-native tooling |
| Creator who relies on platform discovery | 8% flat regardless of source | 30% on marketplace-sourced sales |
The fee math is what it is. Goldman Sachs projects the creator economy will roughly double to $480B by 2027, and the platforms positioned to win are the ones that bundle multiple monetization modalities in one account. Both Whop and Fanvault are betting on that thesis. They just disagree about whether the storefront should include physical authenticated memorabilia and a conversational automation layer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which platform actually pays creators more in 2026?
It depends on where your traffic comes from. If you bring 100% of your own audience, Whop is slightly cheaper than Fanvault: roughly
Can I sell physical merchandise or authenticated memorabilia on Whop?
Whop supports physical goods through its Whop Network solution for physical products, but the platform's core product surface is digital: courses, gated communities, software, and trading signals. Fanvault is built around the storefront from day one. Auctions with proxy bidding, reserve prices, and anti-snipe extensions, plus buy-it-now drops for limited releases, all with integrated Shippo fulfillment. If signed items, stream-worn apparel, or tournament gear are central to your monetization, Fanvault is the more native home.
Why does Whop charge 30% on some sales when its commission is 3%?
The 3% commission applies to sales you source yourself, the audience that finds you through your own promotion and converts on a Whop checkout. The
Is Fanvault open to adult creators if Whop isn't?
Yes. Whop's Prohibited Products policy bans pornographic and sexually explicit material depicting real sexual acts. Fanvault is an 18+ platform with age verification at onboarding, AI moderation via Sightengine, and a two-strike brand-safe content policy. Adult creators have a defined home on Fanvault; they do not on Whop.
What is Content Capital, and how does it work with Fanvault?
Content Capital is Fanvault's sister platform, an autonomous agent for creators that generates on-brand photos and videos and publishes across Instagram, TikTok, and X. It can extend an existing creator's brand or stand up a new AI influencer from scratch, then plug directly into a Fanvault storefront for monetization. There is no equivalent on Whop. For virtual and AI-native creators, the Content Capital + Fanvault pairing is the differentiator.