To make money on Instagram, switch to a professional account, pitch brands from day one, turn on gifts at 500 followers, join Creator Marketplace and affiliate partnerships at 1,000, and add subscriptions at 10,000 followers. Those are Instagram’s published thresholds as of October 2026. We’d put most early effort into brand deals, because Instagram’s own tools pay small amounts per fan.
This page is the order of operations. For what each stream pays, with sourced rate estimates, read how much Instagram influencers make.
What do you need before Instagram pays you?
You need a professional account, an age of 18 or older and a payout account. Every monetization tool also requires you to follow Meta’s Partner Monetization Policies and Content Monetization Policies.
- Switch your account to a professional account. Every Instagram monetization tool requires one.
- Be 18 or older. Subscriptions, gifts, Live badges, Creator Marketplace and affiliate partnerships all require it.
- Live in an eligible country. Subscriptions and gifts each list 49, including the US.
- Add a payout account. Without one you can earn up to $500 per tool and $1,500 across three tools, and you forfeit the money if you don’t add an account within 6 months.
Accounts that mainly post content focused on children can’t use subscriptions or gifts. You don’t need a paid plan either. Meta launched Meta One on September 15, 2026, from $14.99 a month, and none of the eligibility rules list it.
How do you make money on Instagram with under 500 followers?
Below 500 followers, Instagram’s own payouts are limited to Live badges and any bonus invitation that reaches you. Brand deals have no Meta minimum, so they are the main income at this stage.
Live badges list no follower threshold. Viewers buy them during your Live, Instagram takes 0%, the app store takes up to 30%, and one supporter can pay you at most $250 in a single Live. Badges only earn while you’re live, so they suit creators who already stream regularly.
Bonuses are invite-only tests in select countries, so there is nothing to apply for. Instagram says they reward the performance of reels, carousels and single image posts, and its help center says selection includes an element of randomness.
For brand deals, start small and specific. Collabstr’s 2026 report found nearly 80% of collaborations on its marketplace were priced below $300, according to Storyboard18’s March 2026 coverage, so a first deal at that size is normal. Instagram tells creators to back their rate with follower count and average likes, views, comments and shares, which belong in a media kit. Our guides to getting brand deals and UGC work cover outreach.
Add Instagram’s Paid partnership label whenever you’re paid in any form, including free products. Instagram says anything from a business partner counts.
What opens at 500 followers on Instagram?
At 500 followers, you can turn on gifts on Reels. Fans buy Stars and send them on your reels, and Instagram pays you $0.01 per star each month.
You also need a payout account and residence in one of 49 eligible countries. Collaborative posts can’t earn gifts. Instagram gifts are separate from Facebook Stars, so a fan’s Facebook Stars balance doesn’t work on Instagram.
What opens at 1,000 followers on Instagram?
At 1,000 followers, you can join Meta Creator Marketplace, and above 1,000 you can add affiliate links. Both need a public professional account and an age of 18 or older.
Creator Marketplace lets brands find you for branded content and partnership ads. Instagram suggests listing your interests there so you get relevant projects. In September 2026, Meta began rolling out its Creator Marketing Hub globally, which puts Instagram and Facebook creators into one discovery tool for advertisers, according to Marketing Dive.
Affiliate partnerships let you add product links to reels and feed posts in supported markets. The partner pays your commission directly, and Meta doesn’t process it. Our guide to affiliate marketing for creators covers choosing programs.
Brands need your permission before they can promote your branded posts as partnership ads. Treat that permission as a separate line in your price, as our guide to pricing sponsored posts explains.
What opens at 10,000 followers on Instagram?
At 10,000 followers, you can offer subscriptions. Fans pay a monthly price you set for subscriber-only Lives, stories, posts, reels, broadcast channels and a subscriber badge.
Instagram takes 0%, but fans subscribe through Apple or Google in-app purchase. Apple keeps 30% of a first-year iOS subscription, so by our arithmetic 100 subscribers at $10 leave you $700, or $850 if they all pay through Google Play in the US, where Google keeps 15%.
Plan before you launch. A price change applies only to new subscribers, and Instagram’s music library generally isn’t available for subscriber-only content, so you need Meta’s Sound Collection or music you own. Subscriptions run in 49 countries, including the US, UK, Canada, Australia and most of the EU.
What should you do at 100,000 followers?
At 100,000 followers, apply for Meta’s Creator Fast Track if you’re new or returning to Facebook. Meta pays creators with at least 100,000 Instagram followers $1,000 a month for three months to post eligible reels on Facebook, or $3,000 a month above 1 million.
Fast Track also gives immediate access to Facebook Content Monetization, which is otherwise invite-only, and you keep that access after the three months end. Content Monetization pays on the performance of public Reels, longer videos, photos, text posts and stories, at rates Meta doesn’t publish.
Post natively on Facebook rather than relying on cross-posting. Meta says Instagram content that Facebook shows as recommended content doesn’t count toward Content Monetization offers. Since you already make reels, the extra work is mostly uploading them in a second place.
In what order should you add Instagram income?
Follow the thresholds, but spend your effort where the money is. This is our recommended order, based on Meta’s published rules.
| Order | Followers | What to add | What it pays |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Any | Brand deals and UGC | Whatever you negotiate |
| 2 | Any | Live badges | The price minus an app store fee of up to 30% |
| 3 | 500 | Gifts on Reels | $0.01 per star |
| 4 | 1,000 | Creator Marketplace | Brand fees, paid by the brand |
| 5 | More than 1,000 | Affiliate partnerships | Commission set by the partner |
| 6 | 10,000 | Subscriptions | 70% to 85% of the price after app store fees |
| 7 | 100,000 | Facebook Creator Fast Track | $1,000 or $3,000 a month for three months |
Bonus invitations can arrive at any stage. Accept them, but don’t plan around them, since Instagram can end a bonus program at any time.
Our one strong opinion here is about memberships. Every Instagram subscriber pays through an app store that keeps up to 30%, while Patreon keeps 10% plus card processing from creators who published their page after August 4, 2025. If your fans will pay monthly, compare our best membership platforms before you build that income inside Instagram.
How and when does Instagram pay you?
Instagram pays once a month, around the 21st, for the previous month’s subscriptions, gifts and badges. Bonuses pay around the 7th and the 21st.
US creators get paid once their balance reaches $5. Outside the US, the minimum is $100 by wire transfer and $25 for other methods, and smaller balances carry over. Instagram’s subscription terms also let Meta roll subscription payments under $25 into later months, so a small subscription balance may wait longer than the $5 figure suggests. Changing your bank details triggers a 5-day hold, and banks take 1 to 7 business days to post a payout.
If you’re choosing a second app, our TikTok review and TikTok vs Instagram comparison set the two side by side, and how to make money on TikTok lists TikTok’s thresholds. For long video, YouTube publishes its revenue splits, and YouTube vs TikTok weighs it against short video. Creator taxes basics covers what US creators owe once payouts arrive.