UGCStarsThe short version
Budget for UGC by adding four lines: each creator’s starting rate for every video, usage rights if the videos will run as paid ads, add-ons such as extra hooks and raw footage, and product and shipping for every creator you book.
The calculator above adds those lines up for your niche and country from the UGC Rate Index, the starting rates creators list on their UGCStars profiles. You get a low, likely and high figure before you contact anyone.
The harder question is what to spend it on. A first budget should buy a test: enough videos from enough creators to learn which face, hook and angle work, on short usage terms you can extend. Bigger spend comes after, on the winners.
If you’re a creator, the section for creators explains how brands arrive at the number they offer you.
- Decide whether the budget is for a test, for scaling or for steady content.
- Set the number of videos, creators and hooks, and the usage you’ll actually run.
- Price it in the calculator and note the low, likely and high figures.
- Add the lines the calculator leaves out: ad spend, your team’s time and tools.
- Spend the first round on a test, then move money to what worked.
How the calculator builds the range
Every figure starts from real prices: the starting rates creators list on UGCStars, collected in the UGC Rate Index in US dollars.
Low, likely and high
For each niche and country, the index has a median starting rate and a middle half: the range from the 25th to the 75th percentile. The likely figure is built on the median. The low and high figures are built on the bottom and top of the middle half, so the range spans the middle half of listed creators in that group.
Usage rights and add-ons go on top, as illustrative figures rather than market data. When one creator makes several videos, an illustrative bundle discount comes off.
Small groups fall back to wider ones
When a niche and country has fewer than 20 starting rates, the calculator widens the group, first to that niche in every country, then to all niches, and says which group it used.
What it leaves out
- Ad spend. The calculator prices the content, not what you pay TikTok or Meta to show it.
- Your team’s time, and the cost of finding creators.
- Ad access through TikTok Spark Ads or Meta partnership ads, and exclusivity.
- Cutdowns, voiceovers, photos and rush delivery, often a share on top, such as 25%.
- Taxes, and payment or currency conversion fees.
The calculator also shows how many matching creators UGCStars lists. Treat the range as a starting point, not a quote: each creator sets their own price, and How much do UGC creators charge shows how to compare quotes.
Decide what the budget is for
The same amount buys different things depending on the job, so decide which job this budget does before you choose the number of videos.
| Job | What you’re buying | Where the money goes | Usage to buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Testing | An answer: which creator, hook and angle work | Several creators and hooks, few videos each | Short paid terms, or organic only |
| Scaling | More of what already worked | Repeat bookings and new versions of the winners | Longer paid terms on the winners |
| Always-on content | A steady supply for your feed and ads | A monthly or quarterly package from a few creators | Organic, plus paid on the videos you promote |
How many videos and creators for a first test
A test compares things, so it needs more than one of each. One video from one creator tells you whether that video worked, not why. Two or three creators give you different faces and voices. Two or three hooks per video show whether the opening or the person made the difference.
Keep everything else the same: one product, one offer, one brief. If the creator, the hook and the offer all change at once, you won’t know which one moved the result. How to write a UGC brief shows how to write one brief every creator can follow.
Size the test to your ad budget too. Each version needs enough spend to show a difference, so twelve hooks on a small ad budget can leave every one of them unproven.
The line items of a UGC budget
Write the budget as separate lines, so you can see which choices drive the total and cut one without touching the others.
| Line | What it covers | How it’s priced |
|---|---|---|
| Creator fees | One edited video, with organic use on your own channels | Each creator’s starting rate, per video |
| Usage rights | Running the videos as paid ads for a set period | A share of the rate, growing with the period |
| Add-ons | Extra hooks, raw footage, cutdowns, rush delivery | A flat fee per item, or a share of the rate |
| Product and shipping | One unit per creator, delivered | Your cost, per creator |
| Ad access | Ads from the creator’s own account | A fee for each period of access |
| Finding creators | Search and contact details, or a brief | An access fee, a markup, or nothing |
| Your team’s time | Briefing, feedback, posting and reporting | Hours |
| Ad spend | Paying the platform to show the videos | Your media budget, kept separate |
Two lines are easy to forget. Product and shipping is per creator, not per video, and can include customs. And someone on your team writes the brief, reviews drafts and sets up the ads, so those hours belong in the plan.
Finding creators: a fixed cost or none
UGCStars annual access costs $245 a year, with no commission, and includes every listed creator’s contact details. You can also post a brief free, with no account: we send it to matching creators, and they contact you directly. How to find UGC creators compares these with agencies and other routes.
Worked example: a first test budget
A skincare brand wants to test UGC as Meta and TikTok ads in the United States. It books three creators for two 30-second videos each, with two extra hooks per video, raw footage from every creator and 3 months of paid use. The numbers are hypothetical, with a $150 starting rate for every creator.
| Line | Quantity | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Videos | 6, two from each of 3 creators, at $150 | $900 |
| Paid use, up to 3 months | 6 videos at $60 (40% of the rate) | $360 |
| Extra hooks | 12, two per video, at $20 | $240 |
| Raw footage | 3 creators at $50 | $150 |
| Product and shipping | 3 creators at $45 | $135 |
| Content total | $1,785 | |
| Creator database | Annual access | $245 |
| Total before ad spend | $2,030 |
Hypothetical. $150 starting rate, 40% for 3 months of paid use, $20 per hook, $50 for raw footage. Ad spend and team time not included.
The six videos with their hooks give the brand 18 versions to test: each video’s own opening plus two more. The raw footage lets its editor cut new versions of the winner without another shoot.
The videos are about half of the content total, and the rest is lines the brand chose. With a tighter budget, a free brief instead of access saves $245, and one extra hook per video instead of two saves $120, for $1,665. Keep the three creators. Comparing people is the point of the test.
Usage rights: buy what you’ll use
Usage is the line that grows fastest and the easiest to overbuy. Buy the shortest paid term that covers your test, then extend it on the videos that work.
| Usage | Added to the starting rate | When it fits |
|---|---|---|
| Organic, on your own channels | Included | Your feed, website and emails |
| Paid ads, up to 3 months | 30 to 50% | A first test |
| Paid ads, up to 6 months | 50 to 75% | A winner you’ll run for a season |
| Paid ads, up to 12 months | 100% | A proven ad in steady rotation |
| Unlimited, no end date | 2 to 3 times the rate | A proven ad you’ll run for years |
Illustrative ranges, not market data. The calculator uses the same figures, and each creator sets their own terms.
A video that doesn’t perform in its first weeks won’t need a year of rights. Pay for long terms once a video has proven itself.
Ask for a renewal price in the first quote, so extending is a reply rather than a new negotiation, and put the terms in writing with the UGC content agreement. How to charge for UGC usage rights covers ad access, exclusivity and buyouts.
Ways to stretch a budget without hurting results
The cheapest way to get more from a budget is to get more from each shoot, not to pay creators less. Each option has a trade-off.
| Option | What it gets you | The trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Extra hooks | Several ads from one video, for a small fee per hook | Tests the opening, not the person or the angle |
| Raw footage | New versions cut by your editor, with no new shoot | Editing time on your side, and the same usage terms apply |
| Several videos from one creator | A lower price per video when they film in one session | Fewer faces, so less to learn about who works |
| Product seeding | Videos from people who like the product, for the cost of the product | No guaranteed video, and no paid usage for ads |
| Short usage first | Paid rights only on the videos that work | You pay again to extend the winners |
| A free brief instead of access | Creators come to you, with no access fee | You choose from who replies, not the whole pool |
Save by removing a line, not by asking creators to go below their starting rate: fewer hooks, a shorter usage term or no raw footage. The creator can then say yes without renegotiating.
Phasing spend over time
Spend in rounds, not all at once. Each round answers one question, and the answer decides where the next round’s money goes.
| Round | What you buy | What you learn | Move on when |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Test | A few videos from 2 or 3 creators, with hooks and short paid usage | Which creator, hook and angle work | Each version has had enough ad spend to compare |
| 2. Confirm | New videos from the creators who worked, built on the winning hook or angle | Whether the result repeats | The new videos hold up against the first winners |
| 3. Scale | More videos and versions from them, and longer usage on the winners | How far it goes before results fade | New videos stop beating the old ones: start a new test |
Illustrative. How long each round takes depends on your ad budget and how quickly results come in.
Hold back part of the total for rounds two and three. If the whole budget goes into the first round, nothing is left to act on what it taught you.
For creators: what a brand’s budget means for you
Brands build their budget from the same lines you quote: your starting rate, usage, add-ons and product. When a brand names a budget, ask what it covers before you answer.
- Keep your starting rate on your profile. The calculator’s range comes from listed rates, and brands shortlist by them.
- Ask where the videos will run and for how long. A budget for organic use and one for 3 months of ads are different jobs.
- Quote one line per item, so a brand that’s over budget can drop a line instead of asking you to lower your rate.
- Offer a renewal price for paid use. Test budgets buy short terms, and the videos that work get extended.
- Treat a test as a first booking. Later rounds go to the creators whose videos worked.
The Creator Hub guide How to price your first UGC videos shows how to set your rate and add-ons, and How to charge for UGC usage rights covers the usage line.
Before you set the budget
Use these lists before you set your next UGC budget, or before you answer a brand’s offer.
For brands
- Have we decided whether this budget is for a test, for scaling or for steady content?
- Do we know how many videos, creators and hooks the test needs?
- Have we priced it in the calculator and noted the low, likely and high figures?
- Is the usage term the shortest that covers what we’ll run?
- Have we added product, shipping, team time and the cost of finding creators?
- Is ad spend budgeted separately?
- Have we kept part of the budget for the next round?
For creators
- Is my starting rate on my profile?
- Do I ask what usage a budget covers before I answer?
- Does my quote have one line per item?
- Have I included a renewal price for paid use?
- Do I have a price for extra hooks and raw footage?
A budget built line by line shows what each choice costs, and a test shows where the next dollar should go.