Every number this site runs on, and where it came from.
The rate calculator, the offer check and the five follower pages all read one file. This is that file, printed. Nothing here is a secret formula, because a rate you cannot check is a rate you cannot argue for.
Last updated . That is the day a number below last moved, not the day this page was last touched.
Read this first
Three kinds of number, and they are not equally strong.
Every table below carries one of the first two. The third covers the formula that combines them, which is the only part of this page that is not a claim about the world. Treating all three as equally solid is how a creator ends up defending a figure they cannot support in a negotiation.
What brands actually paid, across six years of agreeing these fees on behalf of creators. One operator’s records, not a survey.
The range the market publishes these fees in, checked against those records rather than copied out of one table.
How the numbers combine. Not a claim about the world. You can check it with a calculator.
The honest version
This is one person’s model, built from one person’s records. It is not a survey, it has no sample size, and nobody has audited it. What it has instead is that you can see all of it, so you can disagree with a specific line rather than with a black box. If a brand offers you something different, their offer is data and this is an estimate.
The model
The seven tables.
These are generated from the file the calculator reads, so this page cannot fall out of step with it. Change a multiplier and this page changes in the same build, or the build fails.
Follower bands
Published market rangesThe fee a single in-feed Instagram post sits between at each end of a follower band, before any other input. Nothing on this site quotes a band edge as an answer: the band is the input, and the price is interpolated to your exact follower count inside it.
| Followers | At the bottom of the band | At the top |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 to 10,000 followers | $75 | $350 |
| 10,000 to 50,000 followers | $350 | $1,400 |
| 50,000 to 250,000 followers | $1,400 | $7,000 |
| 250,000 to 1,000,000 followers | $7,000 | $20,000 |
| 1,000,000 to 10,000,000 followers | $20,000 | $45,000 |
A band is wide because the market is wide. Where you sit inside one matters more than which one you are in.
The spread
Campaign recordsEvery answer is a range, not a point, because two creators the same size get different offers for the same post. The low end is the floor to hold. The high end is what to open at.
| End of the range | Multiplier | On a $1,000 centre |
|---|---|---|
| The floor, what to hold | 0.7× | $700 |
| The ask, what to open at | 1.4× | $1,400 |
The spread is fixed across every band. It is a deliberate simplification: real spread widens at the top.
Platform
Campaign recordsWhat the same creator, the same size, gets paid on each platform for one piece of content. Instagram is the baseline at 1.
| Platform | Multiplier | A $1,000 post becomes |
|---|---|---|
| 1× | $1,000 | |
| TikTok | 1.25× | $1,250 |
| YouTube | 1.6× | $1,600 |
Platform rates move faster than any other line in this model.
Format
Campaign recordsWhat the deliverable itself is worth, relative to one feed post. UGC is priced on production rather than on audience, so a follower count does not apply to it at all.
| Format | Multiplier | A $1,000 feed post becomes |
|---|---|---|
| Feed post | 1× | $1,000 |
| Reel / short video | 1.35× | $1,350 |
| Carousel | 1.2× | $1,200 |
| Story set (3 frames) | 0.4× | $400 |
| UGC, no posting | n/a | $75 to $350, whatever the following |
A story set is priced as three frames. One frame alone is not a third of this, it is usually not worth selling separately.
Category
Campaign recordsWhat the brand’s sector pays. The same post is worth meaningfully different money to a fast fashion brand and to a hardware brand, and that is about their margin, not about you.
| Category | Multiplier | A $1,000 post becomes |
|---|---|---|
| Fast fashion | 0.4× | $400 |
| Fashion, mid and premium | 1× | $1,000 |
| Beauty | 1.1× | $1,100 |
| Tech & electronics | 1.25× | $1,250 |
| Travel & hospitality | 1.05× | $1,050 |
| Food & drink | 0.9× | $900 |
| Finance & apps | 1.15× | $1,150 |
Fast fashion sits at or below the bottom of every published band. That is the category, not the creator.
Engagement
Campaign recordsThe one input that is about you rather than about the deal. Judged against what is normal for your size, not against a fixed percentage, because normal engagement falls as an account grows.
| Your engagement | Multiplier | A $1,000 post becomes |
|---|---|---|
| Below average | 0.75× | $750 |
| Average | 1× | $1,000 |
| Strong | 1.35× | $1,350 |
| Views beat my follower count | 1.8× | $1,800 |
Self-assessed. It is the input most often set too high, and setting it too high is how a pitch prices itself out of a shortlist.
Usage rights
Campaign recordsAdded to the fee, never multiplied by it. Usage is a second thing you are selling: the right to run your face as an advert, for a period. Perpetual triples the posting fee, because it never ends.
| Usage | Added | A $1,000 post becomes |
|---|---|---|
| Organic only | nothing | $1,000 |
| Paid ads · 1 month | +38% | $1,400 |
| Paid ads · 3 months | +75% | $1,750 |
| Paid ads · 6 to 12 months | +150% | $2,500 |
| Perpetual | +200% | $3,000 |
This is the line most often given away for nothing, and the one that costs the most when it is.
The arithmetic
How the seven become one number. Arithmetic
Find the band your follower count falls in. Interpolate between that band’s two fees to your exact count, on a logarithmic curve rather than a straight line, because fees rise with size the way sound rises with volume: a jump from 1,000 to 10,000 followers is worth far more than the same 9,000 added at 50,000.
That gives one centre figure. Multiply it by 0.7 for the floor and 1.4 for the ask, and you have a range. Then multiply that range by the platform, the format, the category and your engagement, in any order, because multiplication does not care. Finally add usage as a percentage of what you have got so far, rather than multiplying by it, because usage is a separate thing you are selling rather than a property of the post.
Said as one line
(band interpolated to your exact size) × spread × platform × format × category × engagement, then + usage%.
The band edge is never the answer. The 50,000 to 250,000 band reads $1,400 to $7,000. An account with exactly 50,000 followers is quoted $980 to $1,950, not $1,400. Every calculator that hands back a band edge as a price is telling an account just inside a band the same thing it tells one at the far end of it.
Worked through
One account, every step.
Computed by the same function the calculator calls. If this table and the calculator ever disagreed, the build would stop.
| Step | What happens | Running total |
|---|---|---|
| Start with the band | 120,000 followers sits inside the 50,000 to 250,000 band | $1,400 to $7,000 |
| Interpolate to the exact count | Logarithmically, not in a straight line, so the curve matches how fees actually rise with size | $3,350 |
| Spread it | 0.7× for the floor, 1.4× for the ask | $2,350 to $4,700 |
| Platform: TikTok | ×1.25 | $2,950 to $5,900 |
| Format: Reel / short video | ×1.35 | $3,950 to $7,950 |
| Category: Beauty | ×1.1 | $4,350 to $8,750 |
| Engagement: average | ×1 | no change |
| Usage: Paid ads for 3 months | +75% of the posting fee | $7,650 to $15,300 |
Each line is the running total, rounded for display so it is readable. The arithmetic underneath carries full precision the whole way and only rounds once, at the end, which is why multiplying two figures in this table together can miss the next line by a few dollars. The last line is the number the calculator gives.
Why the numbers end in round figures
Anything from $1,000 up is rounded to the nearest $50, and anything below it to the nearest $5. A rate is a negotiating position, not a measurement, and quoting $1,247 invites a brand to ask how you got to $1,247. Quoting $1,250 does not.
Why it is a range and not a price
Two creators the same size, in the same category, on the same platform, get different offers for the same post, because the budget on the other side is different. The low end is the floor to hold and the high end is what to open at. Quote the top first. You can come down. You cannot go back up.
Limits
What this model does not know.
- It has never seen your account. Engagement is the only input about you, and you set it yourself. It is the one people set too high, and setting it too high is how a pitch prices itself out of a shortlist before anybody reads it.
- It does not price exclusivity. Agreeing not to work with a competitor for a period is lost income and is charged separately. It is not in any table above.
- It does not price whitelisting or ad accounts. Running ads from your handle is a different negotiation from licensing the content.
- It does not know your market. Every figure is USD and reflects what brands pay for English-language content. A local campaign in a smaller market prices differently and this model will read high.
- The platform multipliers age fastest. They are the line most likely to be wrong first, and the date at the top of this page is how you tell whether they have been looked at recently.
- It is not a guarantee. Nothing here is a promise of what any brand will pay you, and no figure on this site should be read as an earnings claim.
Next
Your number, not the example.
The calculator runs everything on this page in one screen, free, and it does not ask for your email. If you already have an offer in front of you, the offer check tells you where it sits against all of it.