How to make money on X

Does X pay creators in 2026?

Yes. X pays creators through Original Content Rewards and Creator Subscriptions, and only Subscriptions has a published share. Original Content Rewards pays on impressions from Premium users at a rate X does not publish. Creator Subscriptions leaves up to about 97% of gross revenue with the creator, because X takes no cut and only payment processing and app store fees come out.

Both programs have high bars. The table lists each way to earn on X, with the rules from X's Help Center on October 21, 2026. Brand deals and your own products have no minimum, so they are where most accounts should start.

How does X Original Content Rewards work?

Original Content Rewards pays creators based on qualified impressions on their original posts, and X sends payouts every two weeks once you have earned $30. X's Help Center defines a qualified impression as a unique view on the Home Timeline from a Premium Basic, Premium, Premium+ or Premium Business subscriber, with at least half the post on screen. Repeat views from the same account, paid or promoted impressions and fraudulent impressions do not count.

To apply, you must be 18 or older in a supported country, with a Personal or Business account in good standing. You need an X Premium, Premium+ or Premium Business subscription, or a Plus, Premium, Super or Ultra plan on The X Subscription. You also need 500 verified followers and 500,000 Home Timeline impressions from verified users in the last 90 days. Impressions on your replies do not count toward that number.

Meeting the bar does not guarantee a place. X reviews each application, allows one appeal, and lets you reapply 42 days after a failed appeal. US creators are paid through X Money. Creators elsewhere connect a Stripe account and verify their identity through Stripe. Asking followers again and again to like, reply, repost or follow breaks the program's rules and can get you removed.

Budget for the subscription before you count any earnings. New subscribers now start on The X Subscription, and its cheapest plan, Plus, lists at $8 a month or $80 a year before tax. Existing X Premium subscribers can keep Premium at $8 a month or $84 a year on the web in the US, while the $3 Basic tier does not qualify. On monthly billing that is $96 a year, paid whether X accepts you or not.

What counts as original content on X?

X pays only for content you made yourself, and it counts commentary as original. Its Help Center says breaking down a news story or adding context others do not have qualifies, as long as your contribution is the main value of the post. Your own videos first posted on another platform also qualify. The program excludes the following:

• Copied content. Text, images or video taken whole from another creator, including clips downloaded from X or another platform and uploaded again.
• Minimal edits. Someone else's work with a word or two changed, a filter added, the speed adjusted or a text overlay placed on top.
• Compilations. Posts that mostly gather other people's content without a new angle.
• Cross-platform reposts. Content from another platform reposted by someone other than the person who made it.
• Other excluded posts. Posts only about monetization coaching or maximizing payouts, posts made with automated tools, and posts that carry a helpful Community Note.

What happened to X Creator Revenue Sharing?

X closed Creator Revenue Sharing and replaced it with Original Content Rewards in September 2026. X's Help Center says new enrollments stopped on August 7, 2026, and existing members kept earning through September 7. The last three payouts were scheduled for August 14, August 28 and around September 11.

Former members had to apply again. X began opening Original Content Rewards to them on September 8, and they had to meet the new requirements to get in. Creators who had already verified their ID and connected a payout method did not have to repeat those steps. Accounts with monetization paused for an earlier policy violation could not enroll.

The new program's terms, effective August 7, 2026, say X may amend or cancel it at any time. It has just replaced one pay program with another, so treat X payouts as a bonus. Do not build a monthly budget on them.

How do X Creator Subscriptions pay?

Creator Subscriptions let fans pay you a monthly fee for subscriber-only posts, and X's Help Center says creators can earn up to about 97% of gross revenue. X takes no revenue share. What comes out is payment processing, Apple or Google app store fees, cancellations and refunds.

The bar is higher than for Original Content Rewards. X's Subscriptions policy asks for an age of 18 or older, X Premium or a paid plan on The X Subscription, an account at least 3 months old and a post in the past 30 days. You also need 2,000 or more active followers who pay for Premium, 5 million organic impressions in the last 3 months, two-factor authentication and ID verification. Eligible creators who are not selected go on a waitlist.

You pick a monthly price from the price points X offers. X pays once your earnings reach $50, about 60 days after the end of the month it received the money, so March revenue usually arrives in the first two weeks of May. Subscribers can get subscriber-only posts, replies limited to subscribers, and subscriber-only Spaces.

Subscriptions suit writers and analysts whose readers already ask for more of their time. If you would put the same work behind a paywall anyway, compare X with a paid newsletter, where the subscriber list stays yours if you leave.

How much do brands pay for posts on X?

Brands pay less for X posts than for posts on the other big platforms Collabstr tracks. Collabstr's 2026 Influencer Marketing Report, as reported by Storyboard18 on March 20, 2026, puts the average X collaboration on its marketplace at $76. The same coverage puts YouTube at $255, Instagram at $193, TikTok at $186 and Twitch at $127.

Small accounts can go much lower. Influencer Marketing Hub's 2026 rate estimates, last updated October 6, 2026, say nano creators on X may charge as little as $2 per post, and call X pricing less standardized than other platforms. Collabstr's figure is an average of deals on its own marketplace. Influencer Marketing Hub's is a planning estimate.

Sell X as part of a package. A brand paying for a YouTube video or a newsletter placement will often add an X post or thread for a smaller fee. Price it from your average impressions, using the formulas in how much to charge for sponsored posts. Paid posts on X need a clear disclosure, the same as on any platform, as set out in FTC disclosure rules for influencers.

How to use X to grow a newsletter or sell a product

For most accounts, X earns more as a way to send readers somewhere else than it pays directly. A newsletter or product keeps earning if X changes its programs again, and the email list belongs to you.

The selling platform's fee replaces X's. Substack's help center says it keeps 10% of paid subscriptions, and Stripe adds 2.9% + $0.30 per US card payment plus 0.7% on recurring payments. Gumroad's pricing page lists 10% + $0.50 per direct sale. Our guide to selling to your fans compares the other platforms, and how much newsletter writers make covers newsletter income.

We found no X Help Center page that says how links affect a post's reach. Test it on your own account. Put the link in the body of one post and in a reply under another, compare impressions and clicks, and keep the version that brings more sign-ups. Pin your best offer to the top of your profile so new followers see it first.

Who should still try to make money on X?

X suits writers, analysts and commentators who already have a following among Premium users, and it is a poor first platform for almost everyone else. Pew Research Center's survey, run from January 30 to June 18, 2026 and published October 19, 2026, found 18% of US adults use X, down from 21% in 2025. The same survey found 84% use YouTube, 51% use Instagram and 37% use TikTok.

If you post news commentary, tech, finance, sports takes or niche expertise in text, X can pay through Original Content Rewards and feed a newsletter at the same time. If you make entertainment video or are starting from zero, put your time into YouTube or TikTok first and use X to share your best work. The full pay comparison is in social media platforms that pay creators.