How to make money on Instagram: 9 ways, and how many followers each one needs

Instagram doesn't pay you for followers, and outside an invite-only bonus test it doesn't pay for views either. Below are the nine ways that do pay, starting with the ones a small account can use today, with what each one needs and how the money reaches you. Instagram's requirements come from its Help Center and were checked on October 31, 2026.

The nine ways at a glance

Every tool Instagram pays you through also needs a professional account, an age of 18 or over, a country where the tool is available and an account that follows Instagram's monetization policies.

1. Sell digital products from your link in bio

A digital product is something you make once and sell many times: a guide, a template, a preset pack, a workout plan, a recipe ebook, a course. It's the quickest way for a small account to earn, because nothing ships and you keep most of the price. If people ask you the same question every week, the answer can be a product. Our list of 30 digital product ideas has examples by niche.

Instagram doesn't sell files for you, so the sale happens on the page behind your bio link. Stick, made by our team, is free and has a Digital Product block: you set a price and attach the file, buyers pay through Stripe, and the file reaches them by email. Stick takes 0% of the sale; only Stripe's processing fee applies. You can also set the price to zero and give a product away for an email address, which is how many creators start the list they sell to later. The full walkthrough is in how to sell digital products.

2. Sell your products or services

If you make or resell things, or sell your time (lessons, beauty, repairs, coaching), Instagram is your shop window, and the sale ends on a link or in a chat. Instagram no longer takes payment in the app: product tags now send buyers to the seller's own website. Our guide to selling on Instagram covers the setup step by step.

For a small range of products or a service menu you don't need a full online store. A mssg.me page shows your prices, an order form and buttons for WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber and Facebook Messenger, so people who'd rather ask first can, and its paid plans add a store with a cart. For bookings, a WhatsApp click-to-chat link in your bio often brings more requests than a form.

3. Make content for brands (UGC)

Brands pay creators for photos and videos that the brand posts on its own account or runs as ads. This is called user-generated content, or UGC, and the brand pays for the content, not for your audience, so you don't need many followers.

What you need is a portfolio: a few sample videos in the formats brands buy (unboxings, tutorials, testimonials, before-and-after) and a page with your samples, what you charge and a way to contact you. Pitch brands you already use, then agree in writing on what they get: where they can use your content, for how long, and whether they can run it as ads. Usage rights and ads cost extra.

4. Earn commission with affiliate links

Affiliate programs pay you a share of the sales you send them. Many stores run their own (Amazon's is the best known), and creator affiliate platforms bring many brands into one account. Instagram closed its own affiliate tool in 2022, so for years the links were yours to place: in your bio, on a link sticker in a Story, or on your link in bio page. In 2026 Instagram began rolling out affiliate partnerships again: creators with more than 1,000 followers can tag partner products on Reels and posts, and the partner pays the commission. It's arriving gradually and only in some countries, so your own links are still the way to start.

Affiliate links pay when they're easy to find long after the Story disappears. A page of the things you use, grouped the way your followers ask about them (my camera kit, my skincare, my kitchen), keeps earning from every new follower who taps your bio. Say plainly that you earn a commission: in the US, the FTC requires it.

5. Get paid for sponsored posts

Brands pay creators to feature their products in posts, Reels and Stories. There's no official follower minimum: brands look at who your followers are, how many of them see and react to your posts, and whether your content suits their product. A small account with a clear niche can land deals because its followers trust it.

• Make a media kit. Who you are, who follows you (countries and ages from Insights), your average reach on Reels and Stories, past work and your rates. Keep it on a page you can link to and update the numbers every month.
• Make yourself easy to find. With 1,000 followers and a public professional account, you can join Meta Creator Marketplace, where brands search for creators to work with.
• Pitch brands you already use, with one specific idea rather than "let's collaborate".
• Price each deliverable (a Reel, a set of Stories, a carousel) and charge extra for usage rights, for ads run from your account and for exclusivity.

Label every sponsored post with Instagram's Paid partnership label, including posts about products a brand sent you for free: Instagram requires it for all branded content. In the US, the FTC expects you to disclose any financial, employment, personal or family relationship with a brand, and it warns against assuming that a platform's label is enough on its own, so also say "ad" or "sponsored" where people will see it. The FTC's Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers explains the details.

6. Gifts on Reels

Viewers can send you gifts on your Reels, paid for with stars they buy in the app, and Instagram pays you $0.01 for every star. To receive them you need a professional account, at least 500 followers and a payout account, and you must be 18 or older and live in a country where gifts are available (the US, the UK, Canada and Australia are on the list). If someone sends a gift before your payout account is set up, you'll see who sent it but won't earn from it. At a cent a star, gifts work like a tip jar: welcome, but rarely an income on their own.

7. Badges in Live

During a Live, viewers can buy badges for $0.99, $1.99 or $4.99, and you'll see hearts next to their names in the comments. Only public accounts with at least 1,000 followers can go Live, so that's the real minimum for badges; you also need a professional account and to be 18 or older. Badges pay best when you thank the people who buy them and give your regulars a reason to come back, such as a weekly Q&A, a workout or a live tutorial.

8. Subscriptions

With 10,000 followers you can offer a monthly subscription: subscribers pay a price you set for content only they can see. You need a professional account and to be 18 or older, and Subscriptions are available in 49 countries, including the US and the UK. Instagram's own share is currently 0%, but Apple and Google keep 30% of subscriptions bought through their app stores.

That 30% is worth a thought. If your best content would also work as a paid guide, a template pack or a course, selling it from your bio link costs you only the payment processor's fee: on Stick, a digital product sale goes through Stripe and Stick takes 0%.

9. Bonuses

Instagram is testing bonuses that reward the performance of your Reels and photo posts, estimated from the views they get. They're invite-only, for select creators in the US, Japan and South Korea, and the Reels bonus needs at least 5 million views over the previous three months. Invitations appear in your Professional dashboard, and you can't apply, so plan your income as if bonuses don't exist.

How many followers do you need to make money on Instagram?

None, if you sell your own products, make content for brands or share your own affiliate links. Instagram's tools have minimums: 500 followers for gifts on Reels; 1,000 to go Live and earn badges, to join Meta Creator Marketplace or to tag affiliate products; and 10,000 for subscriptions. Brands set their own bar, and many work with accounts of a few thousand followers in a clear niche, because what they pay for is the attention of the right people, not a big number.

Set up your account to get paid

1. Switch to a professional account. Open your profile, tap the menu, find Account type and tools and choose Switch to professional account, then Creator. It's free, and every monetization tool needs it.
2. Check your monetization status. In Settings, tap Creator tools and controls (or Business tools and controls), then Monetization status, to see whether a policy violation blocks your account. Your Professional dashboard shows which tools you can turn on.
3. Add a payout account. Instagram pays gifts, badges, subscriptions and bonuses into a payout account, once you've added your tax details. Until you add one, you can earn at most $500 per tool, and if you haven't added one within six months, you lose those earnings.
4. Make your bio link the money page. You can add up to five links to your bio, but only the first shows without an extra tap, so make it the page where people buy, book or contact you. A free Stick page holds your digital products, your affiliate picks and a contact form for brands, and it counts views and clicks for every link, so you can see what earns. Meta's paid Meta One plans add a page of up to 20 links and, on the Advanced plan, a few clickable links in posts and Reels: here's what Meta One gets you.

Mistakes that cost you money

• Buying followers or likes. Fake followers don't buy, brands see them in your reach, and Instagram's Community Guidelines ban artificially collecting likes and followers. Every monetization tool requires following those guidelines.
• Posting other people's content. Brands pay for your work, not for reposts, and Instagram's bonus program excludes aggregator accounts.
• Hiding that a post is paid. An unlabeled sponsored post or affiliate link can cost you your followers' trust, and in the US it breaks FTC rules.
• A bio link that doesn't sell. A link to your homepage, or to a page that doesn't work well on a phone, loses the people you worked to get there. Point it at the page where they can buy, book or subscribe.
• Depending on one source. Bonus programs end and rates change. Instagram's own payouts are the least predictable; your products and your email list stay yours.

Sources

Checked on October 31, 2026. Instagram Help Center: Subscriptions eligibility and fees, gifts, starting a Live, bonuses, Meta Creator Marketplace, affiliate partnerships, the paid partnership label, monetization status, payouts and links in your bio. Instagram for Creators on badges. Digiday on the end of Instagram's first affiliate tool. The FTC's Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers. Stick product facts.