Pornhub pays models in its Model Program an average of about $0.69 per 1,000 views from ads, according to a Pornhub figure reported by LADbible in 2024. That’s about $690 per million views.
Video sales pay far better than views. Under Pornhub’s 2018 Modelhub terms, models kept 80% of net sales after a 15% payment processing fee, according to AVN.
In this article, we’ll break down Pornhub’s pay per view, revenue shares by income stream, tiers and eligibility, payout rules, what creators report earning, and how Pornhub compares with other porn platforms.
Top Statistics on Pornhub Creator Pay
- Pornhub’s Model Program pays an average of about $0.69 per 1,000 views from ads, or $690 per million views (Pornhub figure, reported 2024).
- YouTube creators earn about 4.9 times as much per view at the low end ($3.40 per 1,000 views).
- Models kept 80% of net Modelhub video sales after a 15% processing fee under 2018 terms (AVN).
- Pornhub’s cut on model sales ranged from 20% to 35% in 2020, depending on the service (Tubefilter).
- The Model Program had more than 100,000 independent models in 2019, Pornhub said.
- Pornhub removed about 10.6 million videos, 78.5% of its library, in December 2020; since then, only verified models and partners can upload.
How Much Does Pornhub Pay per View?
Pornhub pays about $0.69 per 1,000 views from ads on average, according to a Pornhub figure reported by LADbible in 2024. A 2024 Pornhub email shared by a creator says there is no fixed rate. At that rate, a video needs about 1.45 million views to earn $1,000.
The rate has barely moved. It was about $0.64 per 1,000 views in 2018, according to MEL Magazine, or about $640 per million views.
Here’s a breakdown of reported Pornhub ad pay per 1,000 views:
| Source | Year | Pay per 1,000 views | Per million views |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pornhub average (company figure) | Reported 2024 | $0.69 | $690 |
| Pornhub Model Program | 2018 | $0.64 | $640 |
| Bruinen pitch deck: MindGeek gross ad revenue per 1,000 impressions (not model pay) | 2018 | $0.50 | $500 |
| One amateur creator’s 4-year average | 2017–2021 | About $1.02 | About $1,020 |
| YouTube creators, low end (comparison) | 2023 | $3.40 | $3,400 |
Source: LADbible; MEL Magazine; The Logic; Business Insider via Yahoo. The creator average is our calculation from $2,559 earned on about 2.5 million views.
That creator, an amateur, earned $2,559 in direct Pornhub payments over four years from more than 200 videos, about $640 a year or $12.80 per video (LADbible).
YouTube pays far more per view. Low-end YouTube creators earned about $3.40 per 1,000 views in 2023, about 4.9 times Pornhub’s reported average (Business Insider via Yahoo). Adult ad inventory sells cheaply: adult display ads cost around €0.30 per 1,000 impressions, according to The Media Leader (2024).
How Pornhub Models Make Money
Pornhub models have earned from ad revenue, paid video sales, tips and Fan Club subscriptions. Card networks stopped processing purchases in December 2020, and in 2024 a Pornhub executive said the site’s revenue was “100 percent ads.” Pornhub’s cut on sales ranged from 20% to 35% depending on the service in 2020, according to Tubefilter.
Here’s a breakdown of what models keep from each income stream:
| Income stream | Share models keep | Source and year |
|---|---|---|
| Ad revenue | About 90% | Pornhub VP quote, 2017 |
| Ad revenue | 80% | Model Program FAQ, 2018 |
| Modelhub video sales | 80% of net, after a 15% processing fee (100% for the first 3 months) | AVN, 2018 |
| Video sales and other services | 65%–80% | Tubefilter, 2020 |
| Tips | 80% | Creator guide (Adent.io) |
Source: Tubefilter; AVN; Tubefilter; Adent.io. Creator-guide figures are unofficial.
The 15% fee matters. On a $10 video sale under 2018 terms, the model received about $6.80, or 68% of the sale price, by our calculation.
Pornhub has also run promotions. In April 2020, during COVID-19 lockdowns, models got 100% of video sales after the processing fee, an 85% share (Metro Weekly).
Pornhub’s marketing once said top models “can make over $40,000 per month” (MEL Magazine, 2019), a company claim that wasn’t independently verified.
Pornhub Creator Tiers and Requirements
Since December 2020, only verified Model Program members and content partners can upload to Pornhub (Dazed), and only Model Program members who have submitted ID can earn from videos, MindGeek told Canada’s House of Commons in 2021 (House of Commons). Since February 2021, applicants have had to verify their ID through Yoti, a third-party service (TechSpot).
Here’s a breakdown of Pornhub’s main creator rules:
| Rule | Detail | Since |
|---|---|---|
| Who can upload | Verified Model Program members and content partners only | December 2020 |
| ID check | Yoti identity verification for applicants | February 2021 |
| Co-performer consent | Proof of consent and IDs for everyone in a video | January 2024 |
| Ad revenue tiers | Higher tiers get a higher ad share | 2024 (creators emailed March 2024) |
| Staying monetized | At least one upload every 6 months | 2024 |
| Minimum video length for ad pay | 7 minutes (per a creator quoting Pornhub’s tier page); one creator reported 8 minutes in 2025 | 2024 |
Source: Dazed; TechSpot; 404 Media; creator posts by Adora Bautista and Goddess Fiestry. Tier rules come from creators’ accounts of Pornhub emails, not public terms.
Pornhub doesn’t publish its tier thresholds. One Pornhub email shared by a creator said there is no fixed RPM, earnings vary by tier and location, and “as you climb up the Tier ranks, you receive a higher percentage of ad share” (Adora Bautista).
How Pornhub Pays Creators
Pornhub pays models monthly, with a $100 minimum payout, according to a third-party blog (Pawns.app). PayPal stopped paying Pornhub models in November 2019, which Pornhub said would hurt more than 100,000 performers (AP via Star-Advertiser).
After PayPal left, Pornhub offered Paxum, checks, direct deposit and cryptocurrency (Bitcoin.com News). About 10% of models chose crypto payouts by March 2020 (The Block).
Card payments are another constraint. Visa and Mastercard stopped processing payments on Pornhub on December 10, 2020 (Fortune), and some performers said that cut their income in half (BuzzFeed News).
How Much Do Creators Earn on Pornhub?
Creator earnings range from a few hundred dollars a year to six figures. A couple who were among Pornhub’s most-viewed amateurs in 2022 said they earned $15,000 to $25,000 a month, or $180,000 to $300,000 a year, which may include income outside Pornhub (LADbible).
Here’s a breakdown of earnings reported by Pornhub creators:
| Creator | Reported earnings | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Top-viewed amateur couple | $15,000–$25,000 a month | 2022 |
| Independent male performer | Over $10,000 a month, up from about $4,000 with studios | About 2018–2023 |
| High-ranking performer | $1,000–$2,000 a month | 2020 |
| Amateur creator (200+ videos) | $2,559 over 4 years | 2017–2021 |
Source: LADbible; UnHerd; NBC News; LADbible. All figures are self-reported.
Views alone rarely pay well, so most performers depend on studio scene fees and fan-site sales instead. One widely viewed former performer said she was paid about $12,000 for about a dozen shoots and received no residuals, even though her videos drew about 784 million Pornhub views (Press Democrat, 2019).
One creator who posts on both platforms said Pornhub paid about $1,000 per million views, vs about $340 on YouTube, about 2.9 times as much (2025, Latin Times).
How the Model Program Has Changed
The Model Program grew from more than 57,000 models in June 2018 (AVN) to more than 100,000 in 2019 (MEL Magazine), Pornhub figures that imply a 75% increase by our calculation. Then a December 2020 crackdown removed about 10.6 million unverified videos, cutting the site’s library by about 78.5%, by our calculation from BuzzFeed News’ figures.
Here’s a breakdown of key changes that affected creator pay:
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| June 2018 | Modelhub launches: 100% net payouts for 3 months, then 80% net (15% processing fee) |
| November 2019 | PayPal stops paying Pornhub models |
| December 2020 | Visa and Mastercard block payments; unverified uploads banned; library cut from 13.5 million to 2.9 million videos |
| August 2022 | Visa suspends card payments for ads through TrafficJunky, Pornhub’s ad network |
| March 2023 | Ethical Capital Partners buys MindGeek, later renamed Aylo |
| January 2024 | Consent forms required for all co-performers |
| 2024 | Ad revenue tiers and activity requirements introduced |
| September 2025 | Aylo pays $5 million to settle FTC and Utah charges |
| February 2026 | Pornhub blocks new UK users |
Source: AVN; AP via Star-Advertiser; BuzzFeed News; Visa; TechCrunch; The Logic; 404 Media; Utah Division of Consumer Protection; Euronews
How Age-Verification Laws Affect Pornhub Creators
Fewer viewers mean less ad revenue, and each new state on the list of porn age verification laws shrinks Pornhub’s reach. Pornhub blocks access in 25 US states as of October 2026, rather than check users’ IDs (Gizmodo), up from 12 in July 2024 (Scripps News) and 17 in January 2025 (The Independent via AOL).
Aylo says Pornhub lost about 80% of its traffic where ID-based age checks apply (Paperjam, citing Wired). In the UK, Pornhub’s audience fell from 11.3 million in August 2024 to 9.8 million in August 2025, according to Ofcom (AOL).
Creators feel it. 45.2% of surveyed adult creators said their adult income fell in the past year (SWR Data, 2025).
Why Pornhub’s Ad Pay Is So Low
Pornhub earns most of its money from cheap ads, the same model behind how porn sites make money across the industry. MindGeek, Pornhub’s parent, took in $213 million in ad revenue in 2018, according to a pitch deck from private equity firm Bruinen reported by The Logic. That’s about 46% of the $460 million MindGeek said it made that year (Semafor), by our calculation.
Ads were about 50% of MindGeek’s revenue, its CEO estimated to Canada’s House of Commons in 2021 (House of Commons). For Pornhub itself, “it’s 100 percent ads,” an executive at Aylo, the company that owns Pornhub, said in 2024 (netzpolitik.org).
Payment bans squeezed that model further. Losing card processing cut MindGeek’s expected 2022 earnings by as much as 40%, according to Semafor.
Pornhub vs Other Porn Platforms
Under 2018 terms, Pornhub’s 80% ad share was well above YouTube’s 55%, while its 80%-of-net sales share (about 68% of the sale price) was mid-range. Clips4Sale pays 60% of clip sales, and Chaturbate keeps roughly 40% to 50% of models’ earnings, according to 2015–2018 sources cited by Wikipedia.
Here’s a breakdown of creator payout shares across platforms:
| Platform | Share creators keep |
|---|---|
| Pornhub (ad revenue, 2018 FAQ) | 80% |
| Pornhub Modelhub (video sales, 2018) | 80% of net sales |
| JustForFans | 80% (85% for exclusive performers) |
| ManyVids | 60% or 80%, depending on content |
| Clips4Sale | 60% of clip sales; 80% of tips |
| YouTube (long-form ads, comparison) | 55% |
| Chaturbate | 50%–60% (site keeps 40%–50%) |
Source: Tubefilter; AVN; Bustle; Wikipedia (ManyVids, Clips4Sale, Chaturbate); CNBC
A high share doesn’t mean high pay. Because ad rates per view are low, a Pornhub model earns about $690 per million views from ads, while one $10 video sale paid about $6.80 under 2018 terms.
How We Compiled These Statistics
We reviewed 291 candidate data points from trade press (AVN, Tubefilter), news investigations (MEL Magazine, BuzzFeed News, The Logic, 404 Media, NBC News), company statements reported by the press, regulators (FTC, Utah), card networks (Visa), and creator accounts.
Pornhub doesn’t publish its current revenue shares, rates or tier thresholds. Figures come from company statements to the press, older program terms (2017 to 2020) and creators’ own reports, so we label each by year and source. Creator guides and individual earnings are unofficial and self-reported.
Key Takeaways
Pornhub pays models about $0.69 per 1,000 views from ads, or about $690 per million views, roughly the same as in 2018 and far below YouTube’s rates.
Models keep a large share of what they earn, 80% of ad revenue and 80% of net video sales under past terms, but creators report that ad pay from views alone is small. Age-verification blocks in 25 US states have cut traffic, and with it ad income.
FAQ
How much does Pornhub pay per view?
About $0.69 per 1,000 views on average, according to a Pornhub figure reported in 2024, or about $690 per million views. The rate was $0.64 per 1,000 views in 2018.
How much does Pornhub pay for 1 million views?
About $690 from ads at Pornhub’s reported average rate. Reported rates range from about $640 (2018 published rate) to about $1,020 (one creator’s 2017–2021 average, by our calculation), depending on year, tier and viewer location.
What percentage does Pornhub take?
Pornhub’s cut on model sales ranged from 20% to 35% in 2020, depending on the service. Under 2018 terms, models kept 80% of ad revenue and 80% of net video sales after a 15% processing fee.
How do you get paid on Pornhub?
You must join the Model Program and verify your ID. Pornhub pays monthly once you pass a $100 minimum, via methods such as Paxum, direct deposit or crypto; PayPal stopped paying models in 2019.
Can you make a living on Pornhub?
Some creators do. A top amateur couple reported $15,000 to $25,000 a month, but one amateur with 200+ videos earned $2,559 over four years from Pornhub payments.
About this research
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