Influencer rate card: how to price posts, reels and stories

Pricing is where most creators lose money — not by charging too little once, but by having no rate card at all and improvising in DMs. A rate card turns a negotiation into a selection: the brand picks a package instead of testing your floor.

Start from a defensible base

The common starting point is $100 per 10,000 followers for a single in-feed post, but treat it as a floor, not a truth. Adjust with the levers that actually drive value:

• Engagement rate — a 6% audience is worth multiples of a 1% audience at the same size (how to calculate it).
• Niche buying power — finance, travel, beauty and B2B pay more than general lifestyle.
• Geography — a US/Canada-heavy audience prices above a broadly distributed one (show your country split).
• Production load — scripting, shooting, talent, locations and edits are billable work.

Price the rights, not just the post

The post is the cheapest part. Charge separately for usage rights (typically +25–50% for 3–6 months organic), paid amplification (+50–100% if they run it as an ad), exclusivity (+20–50% depending on category and length) and whitelisting from your handle. Content made specifically for their channels is UGC and prices on a different logic.

Build three tiers

Offer a starter (one deliverable), a campaign bundle (3–4 assets with stories and a usage window) and a partnership retainer (monthly, discounted per asset, exclusivity included). Bundles raise your average deal size and make the middle option feel obvious.

Publish it, with guardrails

Public pricing filters out tire-kickers and speeds up the yes. If you work with very different budget tiers, publish "starting from" figures and note that final quotes depend on usage, exclusivity and timeline. Add your terms in one line: 50% deposit, revision count, turnaround, and no free reshoots.

Back the number with proof

A price only reads as fair next to results. Pair each tier with a case study and keep it inside your media kit so brands never have to ask twice. Then send it with a short pitch email instead of a PDF attachment.