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Influencer rate calculator: what a sponsored post is worth in views, engagement and orders

Updated October 29, 2026 · Nolyn research team

Enter a creator's follower count and the fee they quoted. The calculator estimates how many people a typical post reaches, using views per follower we measured on real TikTok and Instagram accounts (or the creator's own numbers if you have them), and turns the fee into a CPM, a cost per engagement (CPE) and a cost per 1,000 followers. Add your order value and margin to see how many orders the post must bring to pay for itself, and set a target CPM to get the fee you should offer. Everything runs in your browser.

How much should you pay an influencer per post?

Price a post by the views it gets, not the followers. In Nolyn's sample of 35 TikTok accounts with 10K–50K followers (mostly Brazilian creators, posts fetched October 16–21, 2026), a typical video reached 16.5% of the follower count in views and got 5.61 engagements per 100 views. A 30,000-follower creator's video then gets about 4,950 views and 278 engagements, so a $150 fee is a CPM of $30.30 and a CPE of $0.54. At $20 profit per order the post pays back at 7.5 orders, one per 660 views; at a $20 CPM the fee would be $99.00.

Calculate an influencer's rate

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Followers

The creator's follower count on the platform the post goes on.

Views per post, as % of followers

16.5% is the median of 35 TikTok accounts with 10K–50K followers we measured (5.5% for 50K–100K, 14.4% for Instagram video at 10K–50K). Better: divide the median views of the creator's last 10 posts by their followers.

Engagement per view (%)

Likes, comments and shares ÷ views. 5.61% is the TikTok 10K–50K median we measured (7.27% at 50K–100K, 4.52% on Instagram video). Check the creator's with the engagement rate calculator.

Fee for one post ($)

What the creator quoted, plus the product you send if you count it.

Your average order value ($)

Revenue per order the post should bring.

Margin per order before marketing (%)

What is left after product cost, shipping and platform fees.

Your target CPM ($)

What you are willing to pay per 1,000 views. There is no standard market rate; a common reference is the CPM you pay for ads on the same platform.

Estimated views of one post: 4,950
Estimated engagements (likes, comments, shares): 278
Cost per 1,000 views (CPM): $30.30
Cost per engagement (CPE): $0.54
Cost per 1,000 followers: $5.00
Fee at your target CPM: $99.00
Profit per order before marketing: $20.00
Orders to pay back the fee: 7.5
Views per order needed to break even: 660

The quoted fee is above what your target CPM allows. Offer the fee at your target CPM, ask for the creator's recent view counts, or negotiate extras (more posts, usage rights) instead of a lower price.

Compare creators by views, not followers

Nolyn's influencer search finds TikTok, Instagram and YouTube creators in your niche and shows their recent views and engagement side by side. Sign-in required; new accounts get 100 credits.

Search for influencers

Influencer rate formulas: CPM, CPE and break-even orders

A creator's follower count tells you who could see a post; the views tell you who did. Every useful price check starts from views of a typical post, best taken as the median of the creator's last 10 posts, since one viral video pulls the average up.

With 30,000 followers and 16.5% views per follower, a post gets about 4,950 views; at 5.61% engagement per view, 278 likes, comments and shares. A $150 fee is then $30.30 per 1,000 views and $0.54 per engagement.

Estimated views = followers × views per follower
CPM = fee ÷ views × 1,000
CPE (cost per engagement) = fee ÷ (likes + comments + shares)
Break-even orders = fee ÷ (order value × margin)
Fee at a target CPM = views × target CPM ÷ 1,000

Why pricing by followers misleads

Many brands and creators price posts per 1,000 followers. The same $5 per 1,000 followers buys very different reach, because larger accounts in our sample reached a smaller share of their followers:

The 80,000-follower account costs 2.7 times as much as the 30,000-follower one for fewer views at the median.
Ask every creator for their views on recent posts, and price on those; follower counts are only a starting point.

Account	Fee at $5 per 1K followers	Views at the measured median	CPM	CPE
TikTok, 30,000 followers	$150	4,950	$30.30	$0.54
TikTok, 80,000 followers	$400	4,400	$90.91	$1.25
Instagram, 20,000 followers	$100	2,880	$34.72	$0.77

Views per follower and engagement per view are the medians for each platform and tier in the table below (TikTok 10K–50K: 16.5% and 5.61%; TikTok 50K–100K: 5.5% and 7.27%; Instagram 10K–50K video: 14.4% and 4.52%). Order value $40 at 50% margin: the 80,000-follower post needs 20 orders to pay back, the 30,000-follower post 7.5.

Measured views per follower and engagement per view

From the same accounts as our engagement rate benchmark: each account's median post, then the median across accounts, with the middle half (25th to 75th percentile) where there are 8 or more accounts. Posts were fetched October 16–21, 2026; Instagram counts video posts of accounts with 5 or more videos.

The spread is wide: in the middle half of 10K–50K TikTok accounts, a typical post reached anywhere from 6.0% to 28.5% of followers. That spread, not the median, is the reason to check each creator.
For engagement rate by followers and by views per tier, see the TikTok engagement rate calculator and the Instagram engagement rate calculator.

Platform, followers	Accounts	Views as % of followers, median (middle half)	Engagement per view, median
TikTok, 10K–50K	35	16.5% (6.0–28.5%)	5.61%
TikTok, 50K–100K	11	5.5% (1.8–15.4%)	7.27%
Instagram video, 10K–50K	9	14.4% (8.7–32.3%)	4.52%

Mostly Brazilian creators found by Nolyn's search in four niches (fashion, fitness, beauty, pet), plus a few brand accounts; not a random sample of TikTok or Instagram. Views and engagement are cumulative at fetch time, so the newest posts had less time to collect them. Groups with fewer than 5 accounts are not shown.

Setting your CPM and what to add to the fee

There is no published market CPM for creator posts. Set yours from what the post must do: if it is for sales, start from break-even orders (fee ÷ profit per order) and ask whether the creator's audience plausibly converts at one order per that many views; if it is for reach, compare with the CPM you pay for ads on the same platform.

Quotes often bundle more than one post. Price the extras separately: usage rights to run the video as your own ad, whitelisting (ads from the creator's handle), exclusivity and extra stories or posts. A post you can also run as an ad is worth more than its organic views. For finding and contacting creators, see how to find influencers for your brand and influencer outreach; for gifting instead of paying, product seeding.

How to use the influencer rate calculator

Enter followers and the quoted fee
From the creator's profile and their rate card or reply.
Replace the benchmark with the creator's numbers
Median views of their last 10 posts ÷ followers, and their engagement per view, if you have them.
Add order value and margin
To see how many orders the post must bring to pay back.
Set a target CPM and compare
If the quote is above the fee at your target CPM, negotiate on views, not followers.

Questions

How do you calculate an influencer's rate?

Start from the views a typical post gets: fee ÷ views × 1,000 is the CPM, fee ÷ engagements is the CPE. A 30,000-follower TikTok creator at the 16.5% median views per follower we measured gets about 4,950 views, so a $150 fee is a $30.30 CPM.

How much should I pay per 1,000 followers?

Followers are a weak basis for price. At $5 per 1,000 followers, a 30,000-follower TikTok account costs $150 for about 4,950 views, while an 80,000-follower account costs $400 for about 4,400 views at the medians we measured (16.5% and 5.5% views per follower).

What is cost per engagement (CPE)?

The fee divided by the likes, comments and shares a post gets. A $150 post with 278 engagements is a CPE of $0.54. Use it to compare creators; for sales, break-even orders matter more.

What percentage of followers see a post?

In our October 2026 sample, a typical video reached 16.5% of followers on TikTok accounts with 10K–50K followers (middle half 6.0–28.5%), 5.5% at 50K–100K and 14.4% for Instagram video at 10K–50K. The sample is mostly Brazilian creators, so check each creator's own views.

How many sales does an influencer post need to be worth it?

Fee ÷ profit per order. A $150 post selling a $40 product at a 50% margin needs 7.5 orders to pay back; at 4,950 views that is one order per 660 views.

Should I pay influencers with free products instead?

For small creators, gifting is common and costs only the product and shipping; count that as the fee in the calculator. It buys less control over timing and content, see the product seeding guide.