The issue

Legend:

• ✅ - Recommend, useable without getting booted within a week
• ❌ - Is shit, better avoid
• ⚠️ - Don't know really, fine I guess. But with warnings, might be a shitty platform

Social networks

❌ Instagram:

Ney. It's Zucc's site. Unstable ToS, bot infested. Community guidelines allow artwork with nudity but Instagram can very much decide by case when something violates their community guidelines.

❌ Facebook:

See Instagram

⚠️ Twitter/X:

Allows NSFW, but your profile might get hidden from public. You can check that by opening your own profile in a private browser window. Twitter also hides you from search once your profile got flagged as "contains adult content". This gets lifted if you don't share any NSFW images/videos for a while.

⚠️ Reddit:

Allows NSFW in own profile and in multiple Subreddits. And is one social network with the most lax ToS regarding to any adult content. Sometimes fighting in the comments, because Redditors are Redditors. Reddit also tends to screw with their community with insane changes that kills whole subreddits.

✅ Bluesky:

Fairly new social network that allows NSFW, has moderation lists that are managed by the community, to block shit like AI generated Fake-Art. They use an automated system to flag NSFW content, which often flags your art as pornography. You can appeal the automated flagging and lower it to "Sexually Suggestive (Cartoon)", which worked usually for me.

✅ Mastodon:

Many mastodon instances allow NSFW art when correctly flagged with content warnings. I had issues with a instance in the past that allowed NSFW content, but then decided it's not okay once I uploaded my art. Instances like Pawoo and Baraag that allow NSFW as well are usually blocked by other instances. Check sites like Fediseer first.

• Mastodon Art banned AI too
• Mastodon Social - contains a lot of spam accounts, but it's the largest Mastodon instance
• Eggplant Social - small, especially made for NSFW artists. Update: Admin let the instance die, sad.
• many more

✅ Pixelfed:

Pixelfed is like Instagram, without algorithm, without Zucc, no AI crawling (always keep in mind that you give your content to a 3rd party, you never know what they actually do). And it on the Fediverse, so people from Mastodon will be able to see your posts there too.

• Pixelfed.art The instance is not very large, but I still get a lot more engagement compared to my IG account. Registrations used to be approved by the admin/mods.
• Pixelfed.social Like .art but a more general instance
• Find more Servers here Some don't allow, so read their rules.

Instances likely won't display your nsfw art in the discovery section of the instance, so you have to make sure your art is findable. I used my mastodon.art account to let people know about my pixelfed.art account.

❌ cohost!:

Has an artist alley and allows NSFW art. I haven't been very active there yet. Update: cohost is no more, they have shutdown.

✅ Pillowfort

Same as cohost!, they used to allow AI. Which obviously got abused and people made content of minors.

⚠️ Tumblr:

Banned boobas. However you can upload NSFW art but you pretty much always have to appeal they automatic flagging system.

❌ Hive:

Dead. No moderation. Spambots. Mobile app only. But allowes NSFW Art. Wouldn't bother about this site/app.

Art community sites

Like DA, Artstation etc. that are more focused towards art*

❌ DeviantArt:

Allows NSFW art, with some restrictions. But DeviantArt is flooded with AI, which is also embraced by DeviantArt. The viewer needs an account to view adult content.

⚠️ Artstation:

Allows NSFW. Is run by Epic Games and they allow AI shit. The site is geared towards professionals.

✅ Newgrounds:

Allows NSFW art + banned AI, has 4 different content ratings (E, T, M, A). 'A' requires an account to view. Newgrounds uses some sort of scout system, where new users have to be scoutet by another member to be like a verified artist. By default the search only shows verified artists. I've got scoutet on day 1, as long as your account looks like a legit one this shouldn't be much of an issue. You can drop me a message if you would like me to look over your Newgrounds account.

❌ (✅) Cara:

Don't bother, no NSFW allowed yet. But banned AI. Has been hyped as an alternative for Instagram. Hopefully they find a way to make NSFW Art possible soon, since this is the only deal breaker so far.

⚠️ Artfol:

Allows NSFW Art, userbase is really small and young. The moderation team is also really small. Artfol removes your work if it conflicts with Google Plays/Apple's terms.

✅ Furaffinity:

Allows NSFW, the site is more geared towards furries, but sharing other art there is just fine. Just don't expect a lot of engagement if you are not drawing furries.

✅ Inkblog art:

Allows NSFW, banned AI, NFT, crypto. They are in open beta, according to their Twitter account (June 2024)

⚠️ Buzzly:

Allows NSFW. Had a massive drama in the past, with staff being unprofessional. I know that some of the staff members have their roots on DeviantArt and the the founder used to work on, the now defunct Artrise website. Which also involved a huge drama.

❌ Weasyl:

Allows NSFW, site is dead? Userbase is quite young and has a lot of furrie art.

Other Sites

✅ Itch.io:

Allows NSFW. The site is made for indie games but you can also upload art, comics. And even sell it there.

⚠️ Adult content sites:

I tried sites like Pornhub in the past, but you need to create a amateur model account and the engagement rate is quite low. I had good experience with Suicidegirls who also openly allow fanart of their models.

getting paid finding clients

❌ Gumroad:

Avoid, they no longer want NSFW artists on their site. Gumroad added a commission feature today, but they still don't allow NSFW artwork. They are also very vague in their terms about what is allowed or not. They also take a fee of 10% when you want to get paid out.

✅ Itch.io:

Proxies to Paypal and hides any information about NSFW and what you actually do

⚠️ Patreon:

They don't allow any NSFW on public posts, which can be a real bummer. They sometimes change their Community guidelines when they got too much pressure by the payment processors.

⚠️ OnlyFans:

I had bad experience with them. They can lock your account for over 1 month because they need to investigate your posts. When this happens, you won't get an information about this. People will simply tell you that they can't find your OF account. They removed all my artwork that contained tentacles. It can also be very hard to get any advice on this, many support groups don't want visual artists among them.

Only Fans notifying me that they removed my posts

⚠️ Threadless:

One of the few print on demand services that allow NSFW art to be printed and sold. They don't allow sexually explicit content and if the artwork looks like the subjects haven't given their consent. Similar to OnlyFans.

⚠️ DeviantArt:

Used to be a good source to get commissions because people can pay with there points. But since the flood of AI crap it got way to hard to be seen. The customer also requires a DeviantArt account to commission or buy from you.

✅ Newgrounds:

Newgrounds has a marketplace, where people can look for artists to collab or pay. You also can place your own commission sheet there

❌ Artfol:

Has a marketplace as well, but I can't recommend that one because the site has mostly artists and a very young audience with little to no money and no interest in NSFW art.

⚠️ Fiverr

They allow NSFW, I guess. At least I can find a huge amount of Gigs® that have NSFW and are still up. But you have to compete against a huge amount of dumping prices. I can find full rendered character drawings for under 30€.

✅ Artistree.io:

Allows NSFW art, has a marketplace where people could find you. But they list you only if you interact with their social media profiles (which is a real bummer) and make active sales on their platform. They also charge your client the fees.

❌ Commiss.io:

LoL, don't go there. The admins left the site. Flooded by bots. I don't know what happens if you actually need support. They removed the marketplace, because that went to shit as well. The band aid now is that they need to approve your account.

❌ Artists n Clients:

Allow NSFW art, I guess it works. They take a fee when someones commissions you. Update: Fuck em, they ban people without warnings. If you want to use them, always make sure you pull your money.

❌ Ko-Fi:

No Snu Snu. Can't recommend them if you make NSFW art. I had my account under review even with their acceptance of nude art.

❌ Buy me a coffee:

Like Ko-Fi but uses Stripe instead for payouts. Has the same shitty content guidelines.

⚠️ SubscribeStar:

Allows NSFW, and have more lax rules than Patreon. Which also provides a platform for bad actors. I recommend doing your own research about that site, before deciding to go there.

❌ Vgen:

Allow NSFW, but their beta-program requires you to do their work and promote the shit out of them on social media to get your artist account unlocked. I say, avoid. Unless you know already someone who can give you an access code. The marketplace is also very oversaturated.

Webhosting

✅ Neocities:

This is like and old web hosting provider for static sites. If you remember Yahoo Geocities, you'll know what I mean. They also allow +18 artwork. Uploading is without an premium account only possible via web UI and cli software. IMHO, this provides a good alternative when you are on a budget or just started with your art. For example this site is mirrored to Neocities.

✅ vServer in Germany and low end vps:

Hosting in Germany or any country that isn't allowed to sniff in your content is a great way to host your NSFW Art site ;D. Look at their ToS some hosters like Hetzner have special terms for people from the US. Search for low end vps and you should quickly find a provider that offers some that fit your demands. Keep in mind that you search for a server to host your art website, not a gaming server. Low spec is usually fine.

✅ carrd:

Mostly fine for NSFW Art as long as it is not something illegal.

⚠️ WIX:

Those are the people who absolutely ruined DeviantArt, lol. But they allow NSFW Art. The website editor is slow and clunky.