Are you asking yourself, how much money do porn stars make? You’re not the only one — the question is definitely one of the hottest topics at the moment.
However, with the adult industry being more crowded than an Ibiza orgy, standing out and making great cash isn’t the easiest thing in the world. So, it’s not surprising that not everyone’s paychecks are the same.
To help you sort through all that and get your answer, we’ll tackle the following:
- What affects your earnings as a porn star?
- Do porn stars really make a lot of money?
- How much do female porn stars make?
- How much do male porn stars make?
- How do these numbers vary based on specific video types?
Keep reading to learn all about how much porn stars make.
What Affects Your Earnings as a Porn Star?
While everyone is equal when the lights are off, a porn studio is one well-lit place.
Jokes aside, a number of factors can affect how much a porn star makes per shoot. These include:
- Fame — everyone’s #1 source of fat stacks; the more people know a performer, the more they tend to cost
- Gender — female porn stars do make more than men in the industry, although men tend to have much longer careers
- Range — the types of scenes a performer is willing to do — straight, gay, anal, fetish — the weirder it is, the better it pays
- Unique factors — temporary or one-off circumstances: a performer’s first anal or BDSM scene will pay more, a certain porn genre might be popular at the moment, and so on.
Do Porn Stars Really Make a Lot of Money?
In essence, they do, but not from shooting scenes.
Now, don’t get us wrong; the answer to the question, how much do porn stars make from their pro careers is by no means discouraging.
However, it’s just the tip (pun intended) of what one can potentially earn by capitalizing on that fame on OnlyFans and similar platforms.
For instance, Mia Khalifa famously made just $12,000 from her three month-long professional porn career. Today, she’s raking in anywhere between $300,000 and $500,000 per month on OnlyFans, not even counting sponsorships or other sources.
Abella Danger — currently one of the hottest names and asses in the biz — tells a similar tale. She’s gone from an estimated $15,000 a month (standard for big name women) to a whopping $400,000!
Just imagine how much these porn stars make a year. Or rather, don’t — Mia earns between $300,000 and $500,000 while Abella is getting dangerously close to $4.8 mil.
That’s a load-shooting amount of dough, if we dare say so.
How Much Do Female Porn Stars Make?
Ladies are, unsurprisingly, the main attraction for most porn enjoyers. So, it’s a shock to no one that they make up the bigger chunk of the world’s porn stars.
With so many performers in the industry, how much porn stars make per video isn’t easy to pin down. And as you might have guessed, most of that difference comes from the performers’ popularity.
Namely, while superstars can make upwards of $1,500 per scene, newbies often have to settle for around $300.
Next, the studio an actress works for is a big factor as well. As you already know, size always matters, so bigger porn studios and websites offer higher rates.
For instance, Pornhub pays their models per view, and it gets around 2.5 billion views every month. That’s a lot of money, and most of it’s going to their performers.
Let’s take MollyRedWolf — sadly, not to dinner. With 231 million views, she made around $160,000 just from ad revenue; imagine how much she gets from all the other ways to earn on Pornhub.
Female OnlyFans creators are another mixed bag. Big stars like Riley Reid can earn several thousands of dollars in a single day — $25,000 on average, to be exact.
However, the average gals and beginners dabbling in porn aren’t as lucky. Namely, they get about $145 per month on average — not an optimistic answer to the question, how much does a porn star make?
The bottom line is: the amount of cash you’ll get will depend on your popularity, the studio or site you work for, and the type of work you do. Everything else is, for better or worse, all up to luck.
| Porn Star Name | Earnings Per Month |
| Riley Reid Angela White Elsa Jean Lena Paul Mia Khalifa Nicole Aniston Emily Willis Mia Malkova Nicole Aniston Brandi Love |
~$570,000 ~$550,000 ~$500,000 ~$500,000 ~$400,000 ~$370,000 ~$250,000 ~$200,000 ~$190,000 ~$100,000 |
Female porn star earnings based on currently available estimates and interviews
How Much Do Male Porn Stars Make?
You’ve probably already heard about the gender pay gap. Well, the porn industry is one of the rare ones where this gap is reversed.
In practical terms, for every dollar a female porn star earns, her male colleague makes 60 cents. This comes down to somewhere between $200 and $1,200 per film depending on their industry rep and the type of shoot they’re doing.
Of course, male porn star legends such as the likes of Danny D and Johnny Sins can make a lot more. But newbies will have to work a lot harder to reach that level.
The average male OnlyFans numbers paint a similar picture, with dudes making around 60% of what ladies earn. If you’re willing to go down this rabbit hole, you’ll likely be getting $100-$150 per month at first.
This would all seem discouraging if it wasn’t for the fact that they’re getting paid to have sex with hot women instead of vice-versa. Most dudes would sign the fuck up without a second (or first) thought.
As if that wasn’t enough, male porn stars tend to have longer careers. The legends can find high-paying work well into their 50s, especially if they stay in shape.
In addition, guys often find it easy to transition from performer to director, like the legendary Seymore Butts.
There’s a lot of room for growth, especially if you’re ready to work hard (pun intended). And if you’re also willing to get really kinky, those earnings can skyrocket.
Speaking of kinkiness, here’s how much money porn stars make depending on the scenes they do.
| Porn Star Name | Earnings |
| Paul Wagner Bruce Venture Dredd Jordi ENP (El Nino Polla) Tyler Nixon Owen Gray Jason Luv Ricky Roman Nacho Vidal Danny D |
~$180,000 (monthly) ~$150,000 (monthly) ~$100,000 (monthly) ~$80,000 (monthly) ~$55,000 (monthly) ~$50,000 (monthly) ~$50,000 (monthly) ~$40,000 (monthly) ~$30,000 (monthly) ~$25,000 (monthly) |
Male porn star earnings based on currently available estimates and interviews
How Much Do Amateur Porn Stars Make?
Sadly, there’s no sexy college for porn stars. You don’t enroll, get a diploma, then start stockpiling money like your typical boomer.
Instead, getting good at porn is a self-taught affair with a hot twist: learning actually pays you. All the money-making methods we described in this article are open to amateurs as well as pros — and pay equally as well.
The only exception are porn shoots, which admittedly aren’t as generous to newbies. Your typical amateur will bring home around $10,000 by the end of their first year.
Is it any surprise that most adult entertainers prefer to create their own content these days?
Porn Star Earnings Based on Scene Type
Before proceeding, let’s hear some insider info from Valentina Nappi:
Your fee depends on many factors – how famous you are, the type of scene and so on. A lesbian scene is paid less than a scene with penetration, and anal is paid more. When I went to the States, I was already quite well-known, so my starting fee was higher than what you’d normally get as a beginner. I made €1,070 for a regular hetero scene.
As the most common porn video type, the basic hetero sex scene (whether homemade or professional) pays the least. The average rates are around $200 for men and $300 for women.
If you were wondering how much porn stars make for some girl-on-girl action, averages hover around $250. Gay guys do earn more than their straight colleagues, but the exact numbers are hard to pin down — think $400 for bottoms and $500 for tops.
Now, niche or kinky scenes are where the real dough is at. There, performers can earn way more than $1k for scenes including anal, roleplay, BDSM, threesome or group sex, and so on.
Just like in real life, your first always counts. A model’s initial anal or interracial scene and other cherry poppings will always pay extra.
For example, a good producer will buy your backdoor virginity for $10,000.
All in all, you can make a boatload of cash if you’re up for some non-traditional fun. Still, the fact remains: even if you shoot more exotic porn, you’ll still earn less as a beginner.
But remember: as useful as it is to know how much the average porn star makes, these numbers are just averages. Things in the real world aren’t nearly as flaccid.
That being said, the adult industry isn’t about averages, it’s about standing out. All those knockout models aren’t trying to fade into the background, and neither should you.
Launching your very own website is a great way to hype yourself up and stand out. And with themes like ModelX, you can do it with zero coding or web design knowledge.
Conclusion: How Much Do Porn Stars Get Paid?
Now that you know how much money the average pornstar makes, it’s time to get cracking. Whether you post your sexcapades on OnlyFans, Pornhub, or your own adult website, you can get set for life if you play your cards right.
