How much to charge for an Instagram or TikTok collaboration
There are two legitimate ways to price a sponsored post, and they give different figures: start from the size of your audience, or start from the reach you expect for that particular post. Neither is “the right one”, and they are never added together or averaged.
Scope International references, usually published in US dollars. Audience tiers do not depend on country.
The short answer
If your posts perform fairly consistently, the audience method is the quickest: your follower count puts you in a tier and the tier has a reference range.
If your recent posts have performed well above or well below what your size suggests, the performance method is fairer: it multiplies the reach you expect by a CPM you decide.
And there is a third case worth ruling out first: if the content never appears on your profiles, you are not selling audience. That is UGC, and it is quoted with a different tool.
The two methods, side by side
- By audience size
- Your follower count falls into a tier — nano, micro, macro or mega — and each tier has a reference range. It is the method most published rate cards use.
- By expected performance
- Expected reach multiplied by whatever CPM you want to apply. It is the one that convinces a brand buying media, because it speaks their language.
- Why they are not combined
- They measure different things: one your size, the other the expected outcome of a single piece. Adding them would double-count the same value; averaging them would invent a third figure that means nothing.
- Which to show
- Both. Seeing that the same job supports two legitimate readings usually moves the conversation further than defending a single number.
Followers, reach and views are not the same thing
- Followers
- How many people follow you. It does not say how many see each post, and on recommendation-driven platforms it can say very little.
- Reach
- How many distinct accounts saw the piece. It is the metric closest to what a brand is actually buying.
- Views
- How many times it was played. One person can add several, so it is always equal to or higher than reach.
- Engagement
- Comments, saves and shares. An excellent quality argument, but in this tool it moves no figure: we have no reference to do that with without inventing one.
Both methods, calculated
An account with 50,000 followers expecting 40,000 views on the piece, with an own CPM of 10 / 20 / 30:
- 50,000 Instagram followers
- 40,000 expected views
- Own CPM: 10 / 20 / 30
- No add-ons
Audience estimate
- Low
- $500.00
- Reference
- $1,500.00
- High
- $2,500.00
Performance estimate
- Low
- $400.00
- Reference
- $800.00
- High
- $1,200.00
These are two independent references: they are not amounts to be added or averaged. Use both as support for your negotiation.
These are two independent estimates. They are not added, not averaged, and there is no combined third figure.
How to read the two figures
If the two estimates land close together, you have a solid argument: your size and your performance tell the same story and the price is well anchored.
If the performance estimate comes out well above, that is a sign your posts do better than your follower count suggests. That is the moment to show data: reach on recent comparable pieces, not your single best one.
And if it comes out well below, it is worth asking why. Sometimes it is a format that performs worse, sometimes a bad run, and sometimes a large account with a quiet audience. In that case, presenting only the audience method can be hard to sustain if the brand looks at the numbers.
What a collaboration includes and what it does not
- Included
- Creating the piece and publishing it on your profiles, in the format and with the permanence you agreed.
- Not advertising
- The brand putting money behind your post, or reusing it as its own ad, is a separate licence.
- Not whitelisting
- The brand running ads from your account is another grant and it is calculated separately.
- Not exclusivity
- Not working with competitors for a period belongs on its own line.
- Not indefinite permanence
- If the piece has to stay up forever, that is a condition and it is worth writing down.
Deliverables worth pinning down
- Exact format: reel, carousel, story, long-form video or a combination.
- How many pieces and by when.
- Approximate length, and whether the brand is providing a locked script.
- How many revision rounds are included.
- Whether you need to link, tag or use a specific code.
- How long the piece must stay published.
- Whether the brand can reuse it and where.
Common mistakes
- Adding the two estimates together, or settling on the average: they are two readings of the same job, not two items.
- Using your best post as the reach forecast instead of the average of comparable ones.
- Accepting “a couple more stories” without revisiting the quote.
- Charging the same to post on your profile as to shoot for the brand's.
- Not asking whether there will be ad spend behind the piece.
- Assuming a high CPM defends itself: you have to be able to justify it.
A negotiation scenario
The brand proposes a flat figure well below both your estimates and argues that “it is what we pay creators your size”. Arguing about sizes goes nowhere: both of you can find examples that prove your point.
What does work is changing the axis. Show the performance estimate using the average reach of your recent comparable pieces, and ask what CPM they are paying across the rest of their media plan. The conversation moves from your size to a metric they already use.
And if the figure still does not fit, adjust the deliverable before the price: one piece instead of two, no mandatory permanence, no exclusivity. What you should not do is accept the low figure and the full package.
How far this estimate goes
The audience tiers are references synthesised from market reports, with the limitations you will see at the end of this guide: aggregated data from specific platforms, not an official scale.
The tool does not price by platform: we publish no difference between Instagram and TikTok because we have no reference that supports one. The platform is recorded as context, not as a multiplier.
And the largest tier deliberately ships without an automatic range: above a certain size the spread is so wide that any automatic figure would mislead more than it helps.
Sources and methodology for this guide
What backs each claim in this guide, with its limitations in plain sight. The data comes from the project's central register: not one figure is copied by hand here.
-
Market reports and rate cards
2026 Influencer Marketing Report
Open the source 2026 Influencer Marketing Report
What it backs
- Order of magnitude of a UGC package: around 180 USD on average
- Average creator payout around 154 USD and average campaign cost around 197 USD
- Reference ranges for the smaller audience tiers
Limitations Data from its own marketplace, not from the whole market.
-
Market reports and rate cards
Influencer pricing 2026
Open the source Influencer pricing 2026
What it backs
- Orders of magnitude by audience tier
- That differences between platforms are material
Limitations An aggregated market guide, not an official rate card.
-
Market reports and rate cards
Influencer pricing benchmarks
Open the source Influencer pricing benchmarks
What it backs
- Orders of magnitude by audience tier and by format
Limitations A creator-marketing guide and set of observations, not a published statistical sample.
-
Market reports and rate cards
Influencer rate guide 2025
Open the source Influencer rate guide 2025
What it backs
- Orders of magnitude by audience tier
- That differences between platforms are material
Limitations Rate cards collected from its own network's programmes, mostly from the US market.
Keep reading
-
Creating content versus licensing it
Creating is the work of making the video: script, shoot and edit.
-
How to work out the CPM of a YouTube sponsorship
A YouTube sponsorship is worked out from three numbers: the views you expect on the video, the CPM you want to apply and the format of the deal.
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Negotiating revisions, exclusivity and whitelisting
The three add-ons that slip into a collaboration without appearing in the price are unlimited revisions, open-ended exclusivity and whitelisting that nobody names.