Instagram Posts, priced by audience size
A feed post — a single image or a multi-image carousel — is priced at the highest rate band on Instagram, because it buys something a Reel does not: a permanent placement on the creator's profile grid rather than a post the algorithm stops surfacing after a few days. That permanence is also why Lumanu's data shows a lower average settled payment for feed posts ($1,013) than for Reels ($3,618) even at a richer per-view rate — a feed post typically pulls fewer total views than a Reel that gets algorithmic reach to non-followers, so the higher rate offsets a smaller audience rather than multiplying a bigger one. Price a feed post from your average views for that exact format, not your Reels average; the two products get different levels of distribution and should never share a rate. A carousel with a strong save rate — the platform's clearest buying-intent signal — justifies the top of the range on its own.
Negotiating at 10,000 followers
10,000 followers puts you at the entry point of the Micro tier — 10,000 to 50,000 followers, with Reels views typically running 8,000 to 60,000 — the single tier brands are expanding fastest into: 52.83% of marketers in 2026 benchmark data said they were specifically growing their micro-creator spend. That demand is real leverage, but it is easy to under-price at this level because your numbers still feel small next to a mid-tier creator's. They are not small to a brand buying niche reach: a finance, parenting or home creator at 10,000 followers with genuine engagement can out-earn a disengaged 100,000-follower account on the same brief. Ask the brand's budget before you quote, itemise usage and exclusivity separately from the base rate, and re-derive your average views every quarter — accounts in this range tend to grow fastest, and a rate card that lags six months behind your real numbers is money left on the table with every new brief.