How much do UGC creators charge: rates per video, add-ons and what changes the price

The short version

A UGC creator on UGCStars charges a median of $150 for one video with a standard edit, and the middle half of creators set their starting rate between $120 and $200, before usage rights and extras (UGC Rate Index, live figures of 15 October 2026).

The starting rate is the floor, not the final price. What you pay depends on what you ask for: how many videos, extra hooks, raw footage, a voiceover, a faster deadline, and above all where and for how long you run the videos. Paid ad use and exclusivity are where quotes grow most.

To compare creators fairly, send every creator the same package and ask for one line per item. Then you compare like for like, not a $150 quote for one video on your feed against a $600 quote for three ad-ready videos with 90 days of ad use.

If you’re a creator, the sections on add-ons and usage rights show how brands read your quote, and the section for creators covers how to quote so a brand can approve it quickly.

What a starting rate includes

A starting rate is the price for one finished video with a standard edit. Creators set it themselves, and on UGCStars it shows on each profile, so you can shortlist by budget before you write to anyone.

What “standard” means varies a little from creator to creator, so confirm it when you ask for a quote. In most quotes it covers:

• Reading your brief and writing or adapting a short script.
• Filming at the creator’s home or a location they choose, on their own phone.
• Editing: cuts, captions or text on screen, and music or sound, in vertical 9:16.
• One round of changes to the edit.
• Delivery of the final file by an agreed date.
• Use on your own channels, such as your social accounts and website, without paid promotion.

What it usually doesn’t cover: alternative openings, the unedited clips, paid ads, a voiceover, a deadline faster than the creator’s normal turnaround, and photos. Each of those is an add-on with its own price.

Starting rates by niche

Niche moves the median less than you might expect. On UGCStars the median starting rate is $150 in every niche creators can choose. The spread inside each niche is wider than the gap between niches, so the creator you pick matters more than the category you sell in.

The figures are recalculated from live profiles until the first monthly edition on 1 November 2026. The UGC Rate Index has the current figures and a checker for any mix of niche, country, platform and follower count, and the methodology explains how they’re calculated.

Add-ons: hooks, raw footage, voiceover, rush delivery and photos

Add-ons are extra work for the creator or extra value for you. Most creators price them as separate lines, which makes it easy to keep what you need and drop the rest.

Hooks and raw footage matter most when the videos will run as ads, because they multiply what one shoot produces. Three hooks on one video give you three ads to test against each other. Raw footage lets your editor make more without booking the creator again.

How creators price add-ons

There’s no standard price list. Creators price add-ons in one of three ways: a flat fee per item, such as a fixed amount for each extra hook; a share of the starting rate, such as 25% on top for rush delivery; or a bundle, such as three hooks and the raw footage for one price.

Whichever way a creator prices them, ask for each add-on as its own line, so you can see what each one costs and drop the ones you don’t need. The Creator Hub guide How to price your first UGC videos shows how creators work these prices out, which helps you judge whether a quote is reasonable.

Usage rights and exclusivity

After the videos themselves, usage rights are usually the biggest line in a quote. They set where you can use a video, for how long and in which countries.

Organic use means posting the video on your own channels: your social accounts, website and emails. Most starting rates include it. Paid use means running the video as an ad, where you pay to show it to people who don’t follow you. It’s priced on top, because an ad reaches far more people and is worth more to you than a post on your feed.

The terms that set the price

Longer periods cost more. A perpetual license, where you can use the video with no end date, costs the most, and some creators don’t sell one at all. If you’re not sure a video will work, buy a short paid period first and extend it for the videos that do. That way you pay for long rights only on the videos that earn them. The usage rights extension template puts an extension in writing.

Ads from the creator’s account

Some ads run from the creator’s own account instead of yours, through TikTok Spark Ads or Meta partnership ads. The ad shows the creator’s name and handle, so the creator is lending you their identity as well as the video. Creators usually price this separately, often as a fee for each month of access.

Exclusivity

Exclusivity stops the creator from working with your competitors for a set time. It costs them other paid work, so it’s priced by how wide and how long it is. “No other hair care brands for 30 days” costs less than “no other beauty brands for six months.” Ask for it only when the same face in a competitor’s ad would hurt you, and name the competitors or the narrowest category that protects you.

What moves the price

Beyond add-ons and rights, a few things about the creator and the job move a quote up or down.

Follower count, a little

UGC is priced on the work, not the audience, but creators with larger accounts do set higher starting rates. On UGCStars the median rises from $150 for creators under 10,000 followers to $200 for those with 50,000 to 250,000.

You don’t need a large account for videos that run from your own brand page. Pay more for followers only when the video will also run from the creator’s account or they’ll post it to their audience. UGC vs influencer marketing explains the difference between paying for the video and paying for the audience.

Country

Where the creator lives changes the rate a little, and the market you sell in decides where you cast. The median starting rate is $170 in the United Kingdom and $150 in the United States and Canada. Other countries have fewer than 20 starting rates each on UGCStars so far, so there’s no median for them yet.

The job itself

• Length and complexity. A 60-second tutorial with several scenes takes longer than a 15-second first impression.
• Number of videos. Several videos of one product filmed in one session can cost less per video. Different products or locations usually don’t.
• Props, people and places. A second person on camera, a pet, a car or a location outside the home adds time and sometimes cost.
• Product the creator has to buy. If you can’t ship it, add the cost of the product to the budget.
• Claims and approvals. Categories with strict rules on claims, such as skincare and supplements, need careful wording and often more review.
• Turnaround. A deadline inside the creator’s normal turnaround is a rush, and rushes cost extra.

Worked example: one quote, line by line

A supplement brand wants three 30-second videos from one creator, to run as Meta and TikTok ads for 90 days in the United States. The numbers below are hypothetical, built on a $150 starting rate, to show how the lines add up.

The videos are just over half of the $845 total. Paid use and hooks are most of the rest, and both are choices you control. If the budget is tighter, cutting hooks or the usage period is usually an easier conversation than asking the creator to lower their starting rate.

Each change keeps the creator’s rate intact and removes something specific, so the creator can say yes without feeling squeezed. If a winning video needs paid use later, the creator can quote it as one extra line.

How to compare quotes

Quotes only compare when they price the same thing. Send every creator on your shortlist the same package, in the same words, and ask for one line per item.

1. 01Describe the package: the number of videos, the length of each, the format and the number of hooks.
2. 02State the usage: organic only or paid, the channels, the period and the countries.
3. 03List the extras you need: raw footage, cut-downs, photos, a voiceover.
4. 04Give the deadline and say whether it’s firm.
5. 05Ask how many rounds of changes are included and what an extra round costs.
6. 06Ask for the total, the price of each line and the payment terms.

Creator A looks cheapest but doesn’t offer raw footage. Creator B includes paid use and a second round of changes for $20 more, which makes it the better deal of the two. Creator C costs more, and only the samples can tell you whether that’s worth it.

Price is one input. The work in their samples, how closely they match your viewer and how clearly they answered are the others. How to find UGC creators covers the checks to make before you ask for quotes.

Payment terms belong in the comparison too: a deposit before filming, payment on delivery, or payment 30 days after the invoice. UGCStars doesn’t handle payments, so you agree these with each creator.

Paying in product

Some brands offer free product instead of a fee. It can work for posts on the creator’s own account from creators who wanted your product anyway. It rarely works for ads.

• A gifted video is usually made for the creator’s own posting, or for your organic channels at most. Running it as an ad needs paid use, and creators expect a fee for that.
• The product’s retail value rarely covers the hours a finished video takes. A $40 product for a video that takes three hours to script, film and edit is a poor trade for the creator.
• Gifted work still needs disclosure when the creator posts it. In the US, the FTC treats a free product as a connection the creator has to disclose, and other countries have similar rules.
• If you want ad rights, offer the product plus a fee. The product is what the creator films. The fee pays for the work and the usage.

If you want to try gifting, the gifted collaboration offer template sets out what you’re offering and what you’re asking for, so the creator can decide quickly.

For creators: quoting so brands can say yes

Brands compare quotes line by line, so a clear quote is easier to approve than a low one with gaps.

• Put your starting rate on your profile. Brands with a fixed budget filter by it before they write to you.
• Ask where the video will run, for how long and in which countries before you quote. Organic and paid use are different prices.
• Quote one line per item: videos, usage, hooks, raw footage, rush. A brand can drop a line without asking you to cut your rate.
• Say how many rounds of changes are included and what another round costs.
• Write the usage period, channels and countries into the quote, so the brand knows what it’s buying and when it ends.
• Add a renewal price for paid use, so extending is a reply, not a negotiation.

The Creator Hub guide How to price your first UGC videos shows how to work out a starting rate from your hours, and the rate card template puts your prices on one page. How to charge for UGC usage rights covers paid use, ad access, exclusivity and buyouts in detail. To see what creators in your niche charge, check the UGC Rate Index.

Before you ask for quotes

Use these lists before you send your next request for quotes, or your next quote.

Once every quote prices the same package, the cheapest creator is easy to spot, and so is the one worth paying more for.