Here is how to make a rate card as a creator: list the three to five deliverables brands actually ask you for, work out a floor price for each from your real hours and costs, publish each one as a "starting at" price, then put usage, whitelisting, exclusivity and rush fees underneath as separate add-ons. Finish with a short terms block (what is included, how many revisions, deposit and payment timing, and the date the rates are valid until). Keep it to one page, and send it after you know the scope, not before.
Most rate card advice stops at "list your prices." This guide shows where the prices come from.
Rate card vs media kit: they do different jobs
Your media kit answers "who are you and who watches you": your niche, your audience, your best work and past partners. What a media kit actually contains walks through it piece by piece. Your rate card answers one question only: "what does it cost, and what do I get for that?"
Keep them as two documents, or as two clearly separate pages in one file. A brand that is still deciding whether you fit wants the kit. A brand that has already decided wants the card. Sending prices before they have decided invites them to compare you on price alone.
Step 1: List only what brands actually book
Look back at your last six months of inquiries, pitches and DMs. Write down every format anyone asked about. Most creators find the same handful again and again: an in-feed Reel, a set of Stories, a carousel or still set, a TikTok, and UGC (content the brand posts on its own channels rather than yours).
Put those on the card, three to five lines. Leave off formats nobody has requested. A long menu looks generous but reads as unfocused, and every line you add is one more number a brand can pick apart.
Step 2: Find your floor from hours and costs
This is the part the top guides skip. Your floor is the lowest price at which a deliverable is still worth doing well. Build it from two things you already know.
Hours. Count everything, not just the shoot: concepting, scripting, the drive and parking, the shoot itself, editing, the revision round, and the emails.
Costs. A photographer's time, wardrobe you would not otherwise buy, props, location fees where they apply, and software.
Here is a worked example with illustrative numbers, not a market rate. A single beauty Reel shot at Sunset Cliffs:
| Task | Hours |
|---|---|
| Concept and shot list | 1 |
| Drive, setup and shoot at golden hour | 2.5 |
| Edit, captions, cover | 2 |
| One revision round and emails | 1 |
| **Total** | **6.5** |
At a target of $50 an hour, that is $325. Add $40 for gas and a prop, and the floor is $365. On the card it becomes "Reel, from $400." The "from" matters: it tells a brand the price grows with scope without you having to argue it.
Do this for each line on the card. It takes one evening.
Step 3: Check your floor against the market
Now compare. The most useful public numbers come from Collabstr, an influencer marketplace, in its 2026 Influencer Marketing Report. Drawing on more than 21,000 collaborations on its platform, it put the average amount brands actually paid at $193 for Instagram, $186 for TikTok, $154 for UGC and $255 for YouTube. It also found that 80 percent of collaborations cost under $300.
Read those carefully. They are averages from one marketplace where many small creators sell low-priced packages, so they describe the floor of the market, not what a polished creator with a real audience should charge. If your floor from Step 2 is far below them, you are undercounting your hours. If it is well above them, that is normal for creators who bring production quality, a defined audience or a location brands want. Price to your floor and your proof, not to the average.
What about $100 per 10,000 followers?
You will see this formula everywhere. Backstage's guide to rate cards repeats it and itself presents it as only a rough starting point, without naming where it came from. Treat it as a sanity check at most. It ignores everything that makes your work cost what it costs: production, engagement, niche and usage. A creator with 8,000 followers who delivers a finished, licensable Reel shot on location is selling a different product from a 200,000-follower account posting a phone selfie.
Step 4: Put the add-ons on their own lines
The base price covers making the content and posting it on your channel. Everything that widens what the brand gets is a separate line, so a brand can see exactly what each extra costs and drop the ones it does not need:
- **Usage rights.** The brand running your content on its own channels or in ads. Price it per window, such as 30, 60 or 90 days. How much to charge for usage rights has the full ladder.
- **Whitelisting (also called allowlisting).** Ads that run from your handle. Your name is carrying the ad, so it is its own fee.
- **Exclusivity.** Not working with competitors for a set time. Name the category and the number of days.
- **Rush.** Delivery in under five business days.
- **Extra revision rounds.** One round is included; each additional round has a price.
- **Raw files.** Unedited footage is a deliverable, not a favor.
This structure is what turns a brand's "can you do it for less?" into a scope conversation. They can remove a line; your base price stays put.
Step 5: Add a short terms block
Three or four plain lines at the bottom save weeks of back-and-forth later:
- What every price includes: one revision round, delivery within ten business days of receiving product and brief.
- Payment: 50 percent deposit to book, balance on delivery, or the terms you actually use.
- Posting: content goes live only after approval and payment terms are agreed in writing.
- Valid until: a date about three months out, so an old PDF cannot hold you to old prices.
These are business terms, not legal language. Anything you sign still deserves a careful read, and a lawyer's eye when you do not understand it.
A one-page template you can copy
| Deliverable | Starting at |
|---|---|
| Instagram Reel (up to 60 sec) | $400 |
| Story set (3 frames, link sticker) | $200 |
| Carousel or still set (5 edited images) | $350 |
| UGC video for the brand's channels (no posting) | $300 |
| **Add-ons** | |
| Paid usage, per 30 days | +$150 |
| Whitelisting, per 30 days | +$200 |
| Category exclusivity, per 30 days | +$150 |
| Rush delivery (under 5 business days) | +25% |
Every number above is a placeholder to show the format. Replace each one with your own floor from Step 2.
Should your rate card be public?
Usually not. A public price list gets compared, screenshotted and anchored against. Keep it as a PDF or a private page and send it once a brand has told you the deliverables, the timeline and where the content will run. How to respond to a brand collaboration email covers the questions to ask first. When the brand pushes back on the number, the pricing conversation covers holding it.
When to raise your rates
Date the card and review it every quarter. Two signals say you are underpriced: brands accept your quote without any pushback several times in a row, or you are booked far enough ahead that you are turning work down. Either one is a reason to move your "from" prices up on the next version.
Your next step
A rate card only works if the brand already believes you are worth it, and that is the media kit's job. Score your media kit against the 10 things brands look for and see what to fix before you send your next quote. If you would rather have it built, Coastal Beauties builds media kits for creators through creator support. You can also create a free directory profile so brands have a professional page to find you.
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