How much does influencer marketing cost?
For most brands it is creator fees plus product. On TikTok, the median rate creators publish is $100 a post at 10,000 to 50,000 followers and $250 at 100,000 to 500,000. Product, postage, usage rights, software and payment fees come on top. Here is each line, with three example budgets.
By Nick Jaffrey, founder · Last updated
The six lines of an influencer budget
Creator fees
The biggest line for most brands. A flat fee per post or video, agreed before the creator publishes. On TikTok, where creators publish their rates, the measured medians are in the table below.
Product and shipping
Every creator needs the product, paid or not. Count what it costs you to make or buy, plus postage, including for creators who never post.
Discount codes and commission
A creator code gives their audience money off, and every order that uses it costs you that discount. If you also pay a commission on sales, it is a cost on every order the creator drives.
Usage rights and ads
Reusing a creator’s video on your site or in ads, or running ads through their account, is usually priced on top of the post fee. Agree it up front; it is cheaper than asking afterwards.
Software
A platform to find creators, agree terms and pay them. Prices run from free tiers with fees on each deal to quote-only contracts; Acurrate is $99 a month after a 14-day free trial.
Payment fees and your time
Some platforms take a share of each payment to a creator. And every creator means a brief, a contract, follow-ups and a payment, so ten small deals take far longer than one big one.
What creators charge, measured
TikTok creators can publish a rate on TikTok's creator marketplace. We read the published rates of 302 creators who list one in US dollars. These are their own asks, not estimates.
Published rates in US dollars, read 24 September 2026. These are creators who chose to publish a rate, none under 10,000 followers, and the bands with 10 to 14 creators are thin. The full table, with the range in each band, is in how much to pay an influencer.
Three things to take from it. Price does not rise steadily with followers: the 500,000 to 1 million band asks more than the 1 to 5 million band. Creators of the same size ask about ten times apart. And they pick round numbers, so a rate is where a conversation starts, not a market price. Instagram and YouTube creators do not publish rates this way, so any Instagram or YouTube rate table is an estimate.
Three example budgets
Creator fees below are the measured TikTok medians. Product and postage are example numbers: put in your own.
Software is on top: Acurrate is $99 a month after a 14-day free trial and takes no cut of what you pay creators. Other platforms range from free tiers with a fee on each deal to quote-only contracts; the platform pricing comparison has each one, checked on the vendor's own page.
How much is too much
A budget says what you can spend. Whether a creator is worth it depends on what their post earns you. Take the views their recent posts actually get, run them through your own conversion rate and order value, and take off product, shipping and the discount. What is left is the most you can pay before the deal loses money. The free influencer ROI calculator works it out for one creator, and Acurrate does it for every creator you look at, on your store's own numbers.
Ready to agree terms? The influencer contract template covers fees, usage rights and payment. Words such as CPM and usage rights are in the glossary.
Frequently asked questions
How much does influencer marketing cost?
For a small brand, mostly creator fees plus product. On TikTok, the median rate creators publish is $100 a post for 10,000 to 50,000 followers and $250 for 100,000 to 500,000 (302 creators, read 24 September 2026). Add the product and postage for every creator, any usage rights, software and payment fees.
How much should a small brand budget for influencer marketing?
Start small enough to learn: a seeding test with 20 creators, or paid posts from five small creators, costs hundreds of dollars, not thousands. Then set each creator’s ceiling from what their post can earn you, and spend more only on the creators whose posts sell.
Is TikTok cheaper than Instagram for influencer marketing?
Only TikTok creators publish their rates in a way we can measure, so we cannot honestly compare the two. Any table that compares them is an estimate. What you can compare is what each creator’s posts actually reach and what that is worth to your store.
Do you pay influencers per post or per follower?
Usually per post or video, as a flat fee, sometimes with a commission on sales. Follower count is a poor guide to price: in our data, creators of the same size ask about ten times apart.
Is gifting free?
No. Gifting has no fee, but you pay for the product and the postage for every creator you send to, including those who never post. Divide the total by the posts you get to see what each post really cost.
See what a creator is worth to your store
Paste any Instagram or YouTube handle into the free ROI calculator: the revenue a post would bring, and the most you can pay without losing money. No account needed.