Free tool

Creator rate calculator

Start from the 1 percent base rate, adjust for engagement and niche, then add for usage rights and exclusivity. This is that method, applied to your numbers.

Follower count

Engagement rate

Niche

Brand wants usage rights for paid adsCategory exclusivity required

The formula

base = followers × 0.01

rate = base
     × engagement multiplier   (your ER ÷ 2%, capped at 0.6x to 2x)
     × niche multiplier        (1x lifestyle to 3x finance and B2B)
     × 1.5 if paid usage rights
     × 1.3 if category exclusivity

Quoted range = rate × 0.75  to  rate × 1.4

The base is the widely used convention of one percent of follower count per feed post, or about 100 US dollars per 10,000 followers. It is a starting point, not a standard, but it is defensible and it stops you guessing.

The engagement multiplier is centred on 2 percent as the typical case and clamped between 0.6 and 2, so an unusually high or low input cannot produce a nonsense figure. The niche multiplier reflects how much a converted follower is worth in that category, which moves rates more than audience size does.

The output is a range rather than a single number because that is how rates are actually quoted. Anchor at the middle and let scope, not price, absorb a smaller budget.

What this does not include

The figure is for a single feed post. Long-form video takes days rather than hours and stays discoverable for years, so it prices at a multiple of this. Story frames price well below it, commonly at 20 to 40 percent.

It also excludes rush turnarounds under about a week, extra approval rounds beyond one or two, additional platforms, and raw footage. Each of those is real work and should be priced separately rather than absorbed.

Finally, it is an estimate built from industry conventions, not a quote and not market data. Treat it as the number you start the conversation from.

Common questions

How much should I charge for a sponsored post?: Start at one percent of your follower count, so about 100 US dollars per 10,000 followers, then adjust up for strong engagement and a high-intent niche, and add separately for usage rights, exclusivity, extra platforms, and rush turnaround.
Why does niche change the rate so much?: Because the value of a converted follower differs enormously by category. If a customer is worth 2,000 dollars a year to a software business, your reach is worth far more to them than the same reach is worth to a company selling a 12 dollar candle.
Should I lower my rate to win a deal?: Reduce scope instead. Removing a deliverable or shortening the usage window protects your rate for the next negotiation, whereas a discount teaches that brand what you actually cost.

Related terms

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.
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.
Exclusivity: An exclusivity clause stops a creator from working with a brand's competitors for a defined period, in a defined product category.
Engagement rate: Engagement rate is the share of an audience that interacts with a post, calculated as total engagements divided by a chosen denominator, most often followers or reach, expressed as a percentage.
Influencer tiers: Influencer tiers group creators by audience size: nano (roughly 1,000 to 10,000 followers), micro (10,000 to 100,000), mid-tier (100,000 to 500,000), macro (500,000 to 1 million), and mega or celebrity (over 1 million).

See the full pricing guide for the reasoning behind each adjustment, or rate benchmarks by tier to sanity-check the result.