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Creator guide

How to price UGC

To price UGC, start with a base rate for creating the content, then add for usage rights, exclusivity, and rush turnarounds. The five steps below use 2026 market benchmarks to help you land on a number you can defend, and charge for what the brand is really buying.

  1. 1

    Start with a base rate for the content

    Your base rate covers creating the video — your time, skill, and equipment. As a rough market guide, a single UGC video runs around $75 to $150 for a beginner, $200 to $500 once you have a portfolio, and $500 to $1,500 or more when you're experienced or in a high-value niche. Pick the band that reflects where you actually are, not where you'd like to be, and treat it as your starting number.

  2. 2

    Add for usage rights

    This is where UGC pricing is won or lost. If the brand is only reposting organically, the base may be enough. If they're running your content as paid ads, charge extra as a percentage of the base: roughly +40% for three months, +75% for six, +110% for twelve, and +150% or more for perpetual use. UGC almost always involves the brand using the content, so the usage line is rarely optional.

  3. 3

    Add for exclusivity and rush

    If the brand wants category exclusivity — you agreeing not to work with competitors for a period — that restricts your future income, so add around +50% for the exclusivity window. A rush turnaround under three days disrupts your schedule, so add around +50% for that too. These are legitimate charges, not padding, because each one costs you something real.

  4. 4

    Factor in your experience and niche

    Rates aren't one-size-fits-all. A strong portfolio, a proven track record of content that converts, or a specialised niche (finance, beauty with clinical claims, tech) all justify pricing at the top of the band or beyond. If brands keep saying yes instantly, that's a signal you're priced too low — nudge your base up on the next deal.

  5. 5

    Package deals and know your floor

    For multi-video deals, offer a modest package discount — around 15 to 20% off the per-video rate — to win the larger booking while still pricing the work properly. And set a floor you won't go below, so a lowball offer gets a polite no rather than a rate that leaves you resentful. A clear floor makes negotiating easier because you know where the line is.

The shortcut

Let the calculator do the maths

All five steps come together in the free UGC rate calculator. Pick your experience level, the usage the brand wants, and whether there's exclusivity or a rush, and it applies the same percentages above to give you a suggested range in seconds — with the breakdown shown so you can see exactly where the number comes from.

It's a starting point, not gospel: adjust for your niche and the brand's budget. To go deeper on the pieces, read usage rights explained and what a rate card is, then use your number to build a card you can send brands. When you win the deal, track it and invoice it in the brand deal tracker.

Common questions

Pricing UGC — answered

Price UGC by starting with a base rate for creating the content — around $75 to $150 for beginners, $200 to $500 with a portfolio, and $500 to $1,500 or more when experienced — then adding for usage rights as a percentage of that base (roughly +40% for three months of paid ads up to +150% for perpetual use). Add further for category exclusivity and rush turnarounds, and adjust for your experience and niche. Set a floor you won't go below.
A single UGC video typically runs around $75 to $150 for a beginner, $200 to $500 for an intermediate creator with a portfolio, and $500 to $1,500 or more for an experienced creator or one in a high-value niche — for creating the content. Usage rights, exclusivity, and rush turnarounds are added on top, so a video with paid ad usage and exclusivity can be worth well more than the base rate alone.
Usage rights should be a separate, explicit charge on top of your base rate rather than baked in. UGC almost always involves the brand using your content on its own channels or as paid ads, and that continued commercial use is worth more than a single post. Charging usage separately, scaled to how the brand uses the content and for how long, is how you avoid giving away the most valuable part of the deal.

Get your UGC rate in a minute

Use the free rate calculator to turn these steps into a number, then track the deals you win in Poppi Social.

Try the rate calculator See the deal tracker

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