pixivFANBOX vs Fantia

pixivFANBOX and Fantia are the two Japanese fan-club platforms where most hentai and doujin artists sell monthly support. Both allow R-18 work, both require Japanese-style censoring, and both have spent the past two years adjusting fees and rules under pressure from card companies. For a creator the useful differences are payout reach, what you can sell, and how each enforces its theme rules. Our full list of head-to-heads is on the comparisons page.

Fees for creators

FANBOX (pixiv Inc.) charges 12.9% of pledges when a page is set to post R-18 content and 10% when it is all-ages. The R-18 rate rose from 10% on 2025-09-01; FANBOX's notice blamed requests from card companies and payment processors that raise review costs for R-18 content every year. The rate follows the setting at the moment of each pledge.

Fantia (Toranoana Inc.) charges 12.5% of sales in every non-live-action category, including illustration and manga, 17.5% in live-action categories and 30% on lottery and one-to-one meet goods. These rates apply from 2025-12-01; before that they were 10% and 15%. Separately, fans pay an 8% service fee on goods, commissions, tips and back numbers, but not on plans in drawn categories.

The fee gap is 4 JPY per 1,000. Payout fees decide it for small earners: a creator who takes 5,000 JPY a month to PayPal from FANBOX pays nothing more, while Fantia's 330 JPY claim fee is 6.6% of that same 5,000 JPY. Plans are set by the creator on both, 100 to 10,000 JPY on FANBOX and 100 to 100,000 JPY on Fantia. pixiv says the average FANBOX pledge is about 500 JPY. Our creator platform fees table converts the same example across every platform.

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Payouts and who can receive them

FANBOX pays to a Japanese bank account or PayPal: If you do not have a Japanese bank account, please use PayPal. Payoneer, WorldFirst, Kyash, Onebank and crypto exchanges are refused, and Wise is marked unavailable. Auto-Payout lands within five business days of the 20th each month and skips months under 5,000 JPY; Early Payout can be requested at any time and takes about 3 business days by PayPal. Unclaimed earnings expire after six months.

Fantia pays domestic bank transfers in the name ｶ）トラノアナ at 330 JPY a claim. You claim a month's sales between the 10th and 25th of the next month and are paid on the 10th of the month after, roughly 40 days after the month closes. Overseas payment (bank or PayPal) is 恒久的な海外在住者様のみ, permanent overseas residents only, and only once sales reach 50,000 JPY, with the transfer fee deducted. Unclaimed sales lapse after 360 days. No withholding tax is deducted.

For a creator abroad with modest sales, FANBOX is the realistic option. The full routes are on payout methods for creators.

Adult rules: mosaics and banned themes

Both are Japanese services and apply Japanese obscenity law, so neither allows uncensored genitals.

FANBOX's Guidelines say genitals and penetration must be censored appropriately, with a minimum mosaic of four pixels square, or 1/100 of the long side on larger images. Linking to uncensored files elsewhere is a violation. Fantia requires thick multi-line black or white bars or a mosaic, and the covered parts must stay unrecognizable even at thumbnail size. Fantia's stricter rule of May 2026 was withdrawn for 2D work after a police inquiry about live-action content; the story is in our Fantia mosaic rules report.

Themes are enforced differently. FANBOX lists Sexual exploitation or sexual abuse of a minor, incest, bestiality, rape and non-consensual mutilation as "Items Requiring Revision" for drawn work, judged with titles, tags and captions: such posts are hidden until revised. In late September 2026 creators reported a wave of suspensions, some of posts three or four years old, with notices citing the payment processor and tags such as hypnosis, brainwashing and kidnapping (AUTOMATON WEST). FANBOX can also switch a page to R-18 itself.

Fantia's guideline bans uncensored images, "excessively distorted" sexual depictions, cruel violence and deepfakes, and every post is checked by eye. Its non-live-action section has no age rule for drawn characters; its terms ban sexual content about real people under 18. Both ban AI-generated content in paid posts. For how these rules compare with Patreon and SubscribeStar, see content rules for adult creators.

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ID checks

Fantia requires every fan club, all-ages included, to submit photo ID through eKYC, and the payout account must be in the ID holder's name. Overseas residents submit an equivalent government photo ID. Adult posting is refused to anyone under 18. FANBOX runs on the pixiv account; its help center does not describe an ID check for creators.

What you can sell

FANBOX sells monthly plans. There is no free plan tier, but single posts can be made public, and posts can carry files. Supporter-only goods go through a BOOTH Secret Shop at 550 JPY a month. We found no tip feature.

Fantia sells plans (free and paid), back numbers, downloads, physical goods, post bundles, commissions, tips, lotteries and paid one-to-one sessions. Since 2026-10-22 back numbers can be bought without joining the plan, so a creator's archive becomes a per-chapter shop. Our subscriptions vs pay per chapter for creators page works through what that means.

For supporters

FANBOX takes Visa, Mastercard, JCB and American Express, plus PayPal, but only for supporters who had paid with PayPal on FANBOX before 2024-03-21 when backing an R-18 creator. Fantia suspended Visa and Mastercard on 2024-05-21; its card payments are JCB and American Express, with Tora Coin, convenience stores, bank transfer and pay-later services as alternatives. The background is in our report on Japanese card payment cutoffs.

Billing works the same way on both: joining charges the full month even late in the month, renewals come early in the month, cancelling keeps access to month end, and neither refunds a paid month. The card statement names the platform, never the creator: "PIXIV FANBOX" or ファンティア / Ｆａｎｔｉａ．ｊｐ. Both run in the browser only, with no official app. FANBOX's R-18 switch is a browsing setting on the pixiv account; Fantia added a self-declaration step for its R18 zones in March 2026. EU supporters on FANBOX pay VAT on top since July 2026.

Which one should you pick?

Pick FANBOX if you live outside Japan, your readers already know you from pixiv, or your supporters pay with Visa and Mastercard. PayPal payouts with no transfer fee and no 50,000 JPY bar make it the only one of the two that works well for a foreign artist starting out. Tag and title carefully: on FANBOX, metadata can get a post suspended.

Pick Fantia if you are in Japan and want one storefront for plans, back issues, downloads, goods and commissions, with tips and free plans on top. The drawn-category fee is a shade lower, and fans pay no extra on plans. The card restriction to JCB and American Express will cost you some foreign supporters.

Many artists run both, with pixiv as the free front page. The platforms for hentai artists guide covers Ci-en and Skeb as well.