How much to charge for sponsored posts

What is the average price of a sponsored post?

Collabstr's 2026 Influencer Marketing Report puts the average payout per collaboration at $255 on YouTube, $193 on Instagram, and $186 on TikTok, according to Storyboard18's March 20, 2026 coverage. Storyboard18 says the report analysed anonymised data from Collabstr's own marketplace: more than 21,000 collaborations, 200,000 creators, and 472,000 listings.

Listed prices can run well above paid ones. Storyboard18 reports that Twitch creators on Collabstr list an average of $398 but are paid an average of $127.

Treat these averages as a floor, not a target. Nearly 80% of Collabstr collaborations were priced below $300, per the same coverage, and the marketplace sells fixed-price packages. A creator with steady views and a niche audience has room to quote above these numbers on direct deals.

Sponsored post rates by follower tier

Influencer Marketing Hub's 2026 benchmark estimates, last updated October 6, 2026, put nano creators under 10,000 followers at $10 to $100+ per Instagram post and mega creators above 1 million followers at $10,000+ per post. The site calls these planning benchmarks, not fixed rate cards, and does not publish its sample or method.

Other estimates run wider. Shopify's June 22, 2026 pricing guide, which aggregates estimates from several agencies and platforms, puts micro Instagram creators with 10,001 to 100,000 followers at $250 to $5,000 per post. When two sources disagree by that much, the tier tells you very little on its own.

Use tier tables as a sanity check. A 50,000-follower account that averages 5,000 views per Reel should not charge what a 50,000-follower account averaging 60,000 views charges.

Three formulas for pricing a sponsored post

Creators price sponsored posts with one of three formulas: a rate per follower, a rate per 1,000 views, or a rate per engagement. Price from views if you can. Views are what the brand is buying, and a cost per 1,000 views is the same math a brand's media buyer uses for every other ad.

Whichever formula you use, feed it your median numbers from the last 10 to 15 posts, not your best post. Brands check, and a quote built on one viral video falls apart the moment they open your profile. The examples below are worked math, not market rates.

• Per follower. The old rule of thumb is $100 per 10,000 followers, so 25,000 followers prices at $250. It is easy and it rewards follower count, which is the number brands trust least.
• Per 1,000 views. Rate = average views ÷ 1,000 × your CPM. At a $20 CPM, a creator averaging 40,000 views per video quotes $800. The CPM is your negotiating number, so pick one you can defend and raise it as your audience gets more specific.
• Per engagement. Shopify's 2026 guide gives the formula as follower count × engagement rate × rate per engagement, plus add-ons, and says the rate per engagement runs from about 5 to 15 cents depending on niche. At 30,000 followers, a 4% engagement rate, and $0.10 per engagement, the base is $120. See the glossary for how engagement rate is calculated.

What to charge for usage rights, whitelisting, and exclusivity

Charge a separate fee for every right that lets a brand use your content beyond your own post. Each one replaces an ad the brand would otherwise pay to make, and Influencer Marketing Hub's October 2026 guide says campaign budgets can rise 30% to more than 100% when creator content is extended into paid and owned channels.

Influencer Marketing Hub's sample quote adds $800 for 60 days of paid usage rights and $600 for 60 days of category exclusivity. It labels these as an illustration, not a recommended formula. Shopify's 2026 guide sets out the usual structure: organic posting on your own channels is included in the base rate, brand reposting and paid ads cost extra, and unlimited perpetual usage carries the highest premium.

Whitelisting means the brand runs paid ads from your account or under your handle. On Instagram this happens through partnership ads, and Meta's help center says one ad code can be used by up to two partners at a time. On TikTok it runs through Spark Ads, which TikTok describes as ads built from organic posts with the creator's authorization, and the advertiser can set how long the authorization code lasts.

Quote every add-on with a time limit, such as 30, 60, or 90 days, and a renewal price. Open-ended rights for a one-post fee is how a $300 post turns into a free ad campaign.

• Organic usage on your channels. Included in your base rate.
• Brand reposts on its own organic social. A flat add-on per platform.
• Paid usage or whitelisting. A fee per 30 days, priced well above a repost because the brand is putting media spend behind your face.
• Exclusivity. Priced by how wide the category is and how long it lasts. One competitor for 30 days is cheap. A whole category for a year should cost close to the deals you will turn down.
• Rush or extra revisions. A fixed fee per extra round or per day cut from the timeline.

How to build a rate card

A rate card is a short list of your packages, each with a price, plus your add-ons with their prices and time limits. Build it from your own numbers first, then compare it with the benchmarks above.

Raise your prices when brands accept your first quote without pushing back. That is the clearest sign you are under the market. For where to send the rate card, see how to get brand deals.

• Pull median views per post for each platform from the last 90 days.
• Pick a CPM and multiply. Round to a clean number.
• Check the result against the tier table. If you land far below the bottom of your tier, your CPM is too low. If you land far above the top, make sure your views justify it.
• Build three packages: one post, a three-post bundle at a small discount, and a cross-platform bundle.
• List usage rights, whitelisting, and exclusivity as separate lines with durations.
• Date the card and review it every quarter.

When to negotiate and when to walk away

Negotiate on scope, not on your rate. When a brand says its budget is lower than your quote, cut a deliverable, shorten the usage window, or drop exclusivity until the price fits. Dropping the rate for the same work sets the next brand's anchor too.

Walk away from product-only offers when the brand wants specific deliverables, usage rights, or a deadline. A free product still has to be disclosed as a material connection under the FTC rules, so a gifted post carries the same obligations as a paid one.

Commission-only offers are a separate business. They can pay well when the product already sells to your audience, and they pay nothing when it does not. See affiliate marketing for influencers. If a brand wants content to run on its own channels without you posting it, that is user-generated content, priced differently. See how UGC creators make money.