Content creators working with brands face a pricing problem most freelancers do not: your rate depends partly on your audience size, not just your time. This calculator helps you find a floor based on your actual production costs, so you never take a deal that loses money regardless of what the brand offers.
// frequently asked questions
How do I calculate my minimum rate for a brand deal?
Start with your production cost: the real time it takes to concept, shoot, edit, and deliver one piece of content at your hourly rate. Add your non-billable overhead (admin, pitching, content planning) across the month. That total divided by your billable output gives you a floor below which any deal loses money regardless of how attractive the brand is. Audience size and engagement rate sit on top of that floor, not instead of it.
What are usage rights and should I charge for them?
Usage rights cover a brand's ability to repurpose your content in their own paid advertising, website, or other channels beyond your original post. This is separate from the creation fee and should always be quoted separately. Standard usage rights add 25-100% to the base rate depending on duration (30 days vs 1 year), exclusivity, and the channels involved. Never include unlimited usage rights in a base creation fee.
What is UGC and how is it priced differently?
User-generated content (UGC) means you create content for a brand to use in their channels without posting it to your own audience. Because your following size is not part of the value, UGC rates are lower and based almost entirely on production effort. UGC work is good for building a portfolio and generating stable income, but it does not build your audience and should not replace creator-rate work entirely.
How do I handle brands that offer product instead of payment?
Product gifting has a market value of approximately zero unless you specifically want the product and it would cost you more than the time to create the content. Calculate what the content would cost at your minimum rate and compare it to the product's retail value. If the product costs less than your rate, the deal loses money. Gifting-only deals are appropriate for very early portfolio building and almost never after that.