What applies on top on 4Based
The basics are platform independent: no upfront payment, no revenue promises, clear terms, access to your own numbers. If you are not confident about those yet, read Agency or on your own? What creators should know first — this article is only about what comes on top on 4Based.
The reason this article exists: 4Based is younger than the big platforms. Almost every agency working there developed its contracts and processes somewhere else and brought them along. Everything 4Based does differently therefore does not appear in those documents — not out of bad intent, but because nobody had it in mind when they were drafted.
For you that means you have to raise these points yourself. Nobody will do it for you.
The maths here is different
The base commission on 4Based sits at around 30%. On OnlyFans it is roughly 20%, on Maloum likewise. That sounds like a detail and is the single most important difference in this article.
Because the agency's share comes on top. If you agree the same split with the same agency on a 20% platform and on 4Based, you are left with noticeably less on 4Based — for identical work and identical revenue.
This is not an argument against 4Based. The platform offsets it elsewhere, through direct traffic, an audience with real spending power and less competition for your fans' attention. But it is an argument for doing the maths before you sign rather than after.
Take a realistic monthly revenue, subtract the platform fee, then the agency's share. Compare the result with what you would keep without an agency. Only that figure tells you how much extra revenue the agency has to produce for the deal to be worth it to you.
The 5% that appears in no standard contract
4Based has something most platforms do not: a referral model. Whoever invites a creator onto the platform earns around 5% of that creator's income.
For you as a creator that is a second income stream with nothing to do with your chat. If you bring a friend onto the platform, that produces earnings the agency did nothing for.
Which is exactly why this is the question you have to ask: who owns that income? A contract originally written for a different platform usually says nothing about it. And wording like "a share of all of the creator's earnings on the platform" sweeps it in by accident.
That is not an accusation against the agency, it is a gap. But it is your gap if it stays unresolved. Clarify that referral earnings expressly stay with you, and get it in writing.
Experience on 4Based is not the same as experience
"We have been managing creators for four years" does not answer whether someone knows this platform. Because 4Based is younger, the share of agencies with real routine there is considerably smaller than elsewhere.
The three questions that settle it:
How many creators do you currently handle on 4Based?
Not in total, but here. The answer "you would be our first" is not a disqualifier — but then the agency is learning on you, and that belongs priced into the terms.
What runs differently on 4Based than on other platforms?
Anyone who knows the platform has a concrete answer to that. Anyone staying general is probably just carrying processes over from elsewhere — and that is exactly what setups fail on, however good they look on paper.
Do you work on several platforms at once?
That is entirely fine and often an advantage. What matters is only that 4Based is not the side project getting whatever attention happens to be left over.
Looking for an agency with 4Based experience?
Enquiries from creators come in to us all the time. We do not manage creators ourselves, we build the software agencies use on Maloum and 4Based — which means we know a lot of them. Message me on Telegram and I will point you onwards.
Who actually writes with your fans
4Based is a German-language platform. Your fans write in German, expect German and notice immediately when something is off — awkward phrasing, wrong tone, replies that just miss the point.
That is more delicate than on an international platform where fans are used to clunky language. On a German platform the same thing reads as disinterest, and disinterest ends willingness to pay.
So ask specifically: do German-speaking chatters write, or is it translated? Both can work — good agencies deploy international chatters with real-time translation and still deliver clean German. What you want to know is not which route, but whether the agency has considered the difference at all. Anyone waving the question away has never asked it themselves.
Work the 30% through before signing, settle in writing that referral earnings belong to you, ask about experience on 4Based rather than experience in general, and have them explain how clean German in the chat is ensured.
Everything else — upfront payments, contract terms, data access, red flags — is in the basics article for creators. If you want to know how agencies pick their creators the other way round, that is in Finding Creators.
Frequently asked questions
Why is choosing an agency different on 4Based?
Because four things only apply here: the platform fee sits at around 30% instead of the 20% common elsewhere. There is a referral commission of 5% per invited creator that appears in no contract carried over from another platform. The audience is German-speaking, which places different demands on the chatters. And the platform is younger, so many agencies still have little experience on it.
Who owns the referral commission on 4Based?
That is a matter of negotiation, which is exactly why it needs settling. 4Based pays around 5% to whoever invites a creator onto the platform. If you invite someone yourself, that is your income and it has nothing to do with the agency's work. Because most agency contracts are carried over from other platforms, there is often no clause covering it at all.
Is an agency worth it despite the higher platform fee?
It depends on the maths. At around 30% platform fee plus the agency's share, less is left for you than with the same split on a 20% platform. So an agency only pays off once it earns that difference back in additional revenue. Work both figures out concretely before you sign.
How do I tell whether an agency really knows 4Based?
Ask how many creators they currently look after on 4Based, since when, and what runs differently there compared to other platforms. Anyone answering only in general terms is probably carrying processes over from elsewhere. That need not be a disqualifier, but then you know they are learning on you and can negotiate the terms accordingly.
How do I find an agency with 4Based experience?
Through referrals from other creators on the platform or through a referral service. Enquiries from creators come in to UserFlow all the time. We do not manage creators ourselves, we build the software agencies use on Maloum and 4Based, and therefore know many of them. If you are looking, reach out on Telegram at @user_flowde.
