How much should a creator charge?
There's no universal creator rate — and anyone who quotes you one is guessing. What you should charge is built from a handful of factors, not copied from a chart.
Here are the factors that set your price, and how to turn them into a number you can defend in a negotiation.
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How much should a creator charge?
It depends — genuinely. Your rate is built from your audience and engagement, the platform, the content type and production effort, the usage rights, any exclusivity, and the timeline. Rather than copy a number from a chart, build yours up from those factors. A rate calculator does exactly that.
Why we won't hand you a rate chart
You'll find plenty of articles listing "standard" creator rates by follower count. Treat them with caution. Real rates vary enormously by niche, engagement, content type, and — above all — usage, and a table that ignores those is more likely to mislead you than help. Quoting a fabricated industry figure as fact does you no favours in an actual negotiation.
What genuinely helps is understanding the levers that move your price, so you can build a number from your own situation and explain how you got there. That's what the rest of this page is for.
What actually sets your rate
Reach opens the conversation; these are the factors that decide the number.
Audience size
How many people you reach is the starting point — but it's only the starting point. Reach sets the ballpark; the factors below decide where in it you land.
Engagement
An engaged audience is worth more than a large passive one. Brands increasingly price on engagement, not just follower count. Know your engagement rate.
Platform
The same idea costs differently on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube — production effort, shelf life, and format all vary by platform.
Content type
A single Story is not a produced Reel is not a long-form video. More formats, more pieces, and more complexity all move the number up.
Production effort
Scripting, filming, editing, locations, props — the real cost of making the content. Higher production means a higher rate.
Usage rights
The most underpriced factor. A post the brand can run as a paid ad for months is worth far more than one that just goes on your feed. Understand usage rights.
Exclusivity
If the brand asks you not to work with competitors for a period, that limits your future income — and should be paid for.
Timeline
A rush turnaround costs more. If a deal compresses your schedule or bumps other work, that urgency belongs in the price.
From factors to a figure you can defend
The practical way to price a piece of work is to build it up in components rather than pluck a total from the air. Start with the base cost of creating the content — factoring in the platform, format, and production effort. Then add for usage if the brand wants to run the content beyond your own channels. Add for exclusivity if they're asking you to turn down competitors. Add for a rush timeline if it compresses your schedule.
That component-by-component approach gives you two things a single guessed number can't: a total that reflects the actual work, and a breakdown you can walk a brand through when they push back. When you're ready to put figures to it, the free rate calculator takes these inputs and returns a defensible starting rate. To present your rates cleanly afterwards, see what a rate card is.
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Creator rates, answered
Build a rate you can stand behind
Turn the factors that set your price into a defensible starting number — free, in a couple of minutes.
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