Brands
How much should micro-influencers charge for brand deals
If you have somewhere between 5,000 and 50,000 followers, you're a micro-influencer by most industry definitions. Brands like working with this tier because it's affordable and the audience trust is typically higher than at larger scale. Most micro-influencers still drastically undercharge, though, mainly because they don't have a formula and end up picking a number that feels defensible rather than one grounded in actual value.
A starting formula, then the adjustments
A common baseline: $100-300 per 1,000 followers, per deliverable, adjusted heavily by niche and engagement quality. So a creator with 10,000 followers and solid engagement might reasonably charge $1,000-3,000 for a single dedicated post.
| Follower count | Baseline range (single post) | Typical adjustment factors |
|---|---|---|
| 5,000-15,000 | $500-4,500 | Niche value, engagement rate, usage rights |
| 15,000-50,000 | $1,500-15,000 | Above, plus content complexity |
| 50,000+ | Enters "mid-tier," different pricing logic entirely | — |
What actually moves you up or down within that range
Niche. Finance, B2B, and home-improvement content commands meaningfully higher rates than broad lifestyle content, because the audiences are higher-intent and harder for brands to reach otherwise.
Engagement rate, not follower count. A creator with 8,000 followers and 6% engagement is often worth more to a brand than one with 20,000 followers and 1.5% engagement — and should price accordingly, even though the follower-count instinct says otherwise.
Usage rights. A single Instagram post with no ongoing usage rights is priced differently than granting the brand rights to run your content as paid ads for 6 months. The second is worth substantially more — often 2-3x the base rate.
Deliverable complexity. A simple photo post costs less time than a scripted, edited video with multiple revision rounds. Price the actual time, not just the platform.
Exclusivity asks. If a brand wants you to not work with competitors for a period, that's a real cost to you in future opportunity — it should add meaningfully to the rate, not be thrown in for free.
Two worked examples
Example A: A home-organization creator, 12,000 followers, 4.5% engagement, no prior sponsored history. Baseline: $1,200-2,400. Niche adjustment (moderate-value niche): stays near the middle of that range. Recommended quote: ~$1,600 for a single Reel, standard 6-month usage rights.
Example B: A personal finance creator, 9,000 followers, 5.2% engagement, one prior successful sponsored post with strong click-through data to show. Baseline: $900-2,700. Niche adjustment (high-value niche): pushes toward the top of the range. Prior performance data: justifies pushing above baseline. Recommended quote: ~$2,800 for a single post, citing the prior campaign's click-through rate as evidence.
Why the "high" number feels uncomfortable and isn't
$1,000-3,000 for a single post feels aggressive if you're used to thinking of yourself as "just a small creator." But a brand paying that is buying access to 10,000 people who trust your specific recommendation — a targeted audience that's genuinely hard and expensive to reach through other advertising channels. The discomfort is usually about self-perception, not about whether the number is fair.
A quick self-check before you quote a rate
- Have I looked at my actual engagement rate in the last 30 days, not a vague memory of it?
- Do I know what comparable creators in my niche typically charge?
- Have I decided what usage rights I'm actually willing to grant at this price?
- Am I pricing the full time cost, including realistic revisions, not just the shoot?
If you can't answer all four confidently, that's worth fixing before the next brand conversation, not during it under time pressure.
The step that actually gets you paid fairly
Before quoting any rate, pull your real engagement data: average likes and comments as a percentage of followers, average watch time or completion rate on video content, and evidence that people actually click links or act on your recommendations. Brands increasingly ask for this before committing, and showing up with it proactively signals professionalism that itself supports a higher rate.
mayy.ai can help you pull that context together quickly — the actual numbers that support your rate, not a guess about what you're worth based on a follower count alone. You're very likely worth more than your current rate reflects. The gap is usually proof, not value.
See this for your own accounts
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