Guide for creators
How to price UGC
Price UGC per finished video based on the production work, not your follower count, starting from a base fee per video, then add separately for paid usage rights by duration, raw footage, extra hooks or variations, and rush turnaround, and bundle multiple videos with a modest discount rather than cutting the base.
By Distinct ·
UGC, user-generated content made for a brand to use on its own channels or in its ads, is priced differently from an influencer post. The brand is not buying access to your audience; it is buying a video and the right to use it. That changes what drives the number.
1. Price the video, not the audience
Because the content runs on the brand's channels, your follower count is largely irrelevant. What the brand pays for is the concept, the filming, the editing, and your on-camera delivery. A UGC creator with 2,000 followers can reasonably charge the same as one with 200,000.
Work out the hours a typical video takes you from brief to delivery, including revisions, and make sure your base fee pays for them at a rate you would accept for any freelance work.
2. Set a base fee per video
As a starting convention, newer UGC creators commonly charge somewhere around 100 to 300 US dollars for a single short video with one round of revisions, and experienced creators with a portfolio of performing ads charge considerably more. Treat these as starting points, not a market rate.
Define exactly what the base fee includes: video length, number of hooks, number of revision rounds, and whether music and captions are added. Everything outside that list is an add-on.
Common mistake: Including paid usage in the base fee by default. If the brand runs your video as an advert, that licence is worth more than the video, and giving it away for free sets the price for every future job.
3. Charge separately for usage rights
Organic usage on the brand's own social accounts is often included. Paid usage, meaning the brand spends money running your video as an ad, is priced on top, commonly by duration: for example 30, 60, or 90 days, with longer periods and perpetual rights costing substantially more.
Write the usage terms down: which channels, paid or organic, how long, and whether the brand can edit the video. Without that, assume the brand will treat the video as theirs to use however it likes.
4. Price the add-ons
Common add-ons include extra hooks (the same video with different openings for ad testing), raw unedited footage, alternative aspect ratios or lengths, whitelisting access so ads run from your account, and turnaround under about a week.
Extra hooks are one of the most valuable add-ons for a brand running ads, because testing openings is cheap for them and costly to reshoot. Price them per hook rather than giving them away.
5. Bundle, do not discount the base
Brands often want several videos. Offer packages, such as three or five videos, with a modest discount on the total. That rewards the larger commitment without lowering the per-video rate you quote to the next brand.
If a budget is too low, reduce what is included, such as fewer revisions or no raw footage, rather than cutting the price of the same work.
Common questions
- Do UGC creators need a lot of followers?
- No. UGC is made for the brand to post or run as ads, so the creator's own audience is rarely part of the deal. Brands judge UGC creators on their portfolio and how well past videos performed as ads.
- What is the difference between UGC and influencer marketing?
- An influencer is paid for content posted to their own audience, so reach matters. A UGC creator is paid for content the brand uses on its own channels or in ads, so production quality and usage rights matter instead.
- Should UGC rates include usage rights?
- Organic use on the brand's own accounts is often included. Paid usage in ads is normally priced separately, by how long the brand can run it, because that licence is often worth more to the brand than the video itself.
Terms used in this guide
- UGC creator
- A UGC creator makes content for a brand to publish on the brand's own channels, rather than posting it to their own audience. They are paid for the content itself, not for distribution.
- Usage rights
- Usage rights define where a brand may reuse a creator's content, in what form, and for how long. Without them, the brand may not repost or advertise with the content even though it paid for the post.
- Whitelisting
- Whitelisting is when a creator grants a brand permission to run paid advertising from the creator's own social account, so the ad appears to come from the creator rather than the brand.
- Rate card
- A rate card is a creator's published list of prices by deliverable, for example a set fee for a feed post, a story series, or a long-form video.
- Flat fee
- A flat fee is a fixed amount paid to a creator for agreed deliverables, regardless of how the content performs.