Creator Rate Card Template

A rate card exists to move one conversation off the table: whether you have a price. Sending one signals that you have done this before and that your number is not invented on the spot for this brand.

The structure matters more than the numbers. Price base rate, production and usage rights as three separate lines. A single blended figure invites a single blended counter — "can you do it for less?" — and you have nothing to give except your own margin. Itemised, the same conversation becomes "which of these three moves?", and the honest answers are available to you: drop the extra Story frame, shorten the usage window from 90 days to 30, cut the second shoot day. You concede scope instead of value.

Two things to hold firm on. Quote from your average views, not your follower count — followers and reach have decoupled on algorithmic feeds, and a follower-based number systematically underprices an engaged account. And never quote perpetual usage as a line item. Perpetual rights are a sale, not a licence: the brand runs your face in their advertising forever, including after you have moved to a competitor, and you can never resell that inventory. Put a fixed term on the card and price extensions.

Mark the card valid for a period and re-derive it every quarter. A rate card six months behind your real numbers costs you money on every brief.

RATE CARD — [Your name] (@[handle])
[Niche] · [Primary platform] · Valid to [date]

AUDIENCE
Average views, last 30 days (outliers trimmed)
  [Format 1]                       [00,000] views
  [Format 2]                       [00,000] views
Story reach, last 30 days          [00,000]
Engagement rate                    [0.0]%
Audience: [00]% [country], [00]% [age range]

CONTENT — BASE RATES
These price the content only. Usage and exclusivity are
separate lines below.
  [Format 1]                       [0,000]
  [Format 2]                       [0,000]
  [Format 3, e.g. 3-frame Story set]  [0,000]
  Bundle: [combination]            [0,000]

PRODUCTION (added when applicable)
  Single-location shoot day          [000]
  Second person on camera            [000]
  Scripted concept written by me     [000]
  Props / product bought for shoot   at cost + [00]%
  Paid editor                        at invoice + [00]%
  Travel outside [city]              fare + half-day rate

USAGE RIGHTS (% of base rate)
  Organic only, my channels          included
  Paid usage / whitelisting, 30 days      +[00]%
  Paid usage, 90 days                     +[00]%
  Paid usage, 12 months                   +[00]%
  Perpetual                          not offered
  Off-platform (web, email, retail, OOH)  quoted per channel

EXCLUSIVITY (% of base rate)
  Category exclusivity, 30 days           +[00]%
  Category exclusivity, 6 months          +[00]%

OTHER
  Rush delivery (under 5 days)            +[00]%
  Brand-supplied script, no creative freedom  +[00]%
  Revisions beyond two rounds        +[00]% per round

TERMS
50% on signature, 50% within [7] days of publication.
Rates valid to [date]. Rights begin on publication date.
Late payment: 1.5% per month.

[Your email] · [Media kit link]
Questions

Before you send it

Usually not. Brands almost always have a range approved before they contact you, and that range is frequently higher than the number you would have volunteered — so ask what the budget is first. Send the rate card when they refuse to say, or when they ask for one directly. At that point it works in your favour, because it moves the conversation to which line item changes rather than whether your price is real.

Because a blended number can only be negotiated one way: down. Itemised, you have real concessions to trade — a shorter usage window, one fewer Story frame, dropping category exclusivity — and each one costs you something you can actually afford to give. Blended, the only thing left to cut is your own margin.

Quote from the views. Follower count and reach have decoupled on algorithmic feeds, and a rate derived from followers systematically misprices both directions. A 10,000-follower account averaging 30,000 views is worth more than a 100,000-follower account averaging 8,000, and the brand can see both numbers in the campaign report afterwards.

Re-derive your average views every quarter and reissue the card with a new validity date. Accounts in the nano and micro range grow fastest, so a card six months out of date is the most expensive document you own — it quietly underprices every brief that arrives while it is stale.

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