UGC Rates: How Much to Charge for UGC Videos (With a Rate Card Template)

This guide is for creators setting their own prices. It gives you a pricing method, a menu of add-ons with how to price each one, a rate card template you can copy, and scripts for the budget conversation. Usage rights get a short treatment here because they have their own guide: how to price usage rights when brands run your videos as ads. If you're a brand planning a budget, read how much UGC costs instead.

Why you won't find a reliable "average UGC rate"

Most rate articles quote a range without saying where it came from. Treat those numbers with caution: you can't tell whether they include usage rights, raw footage, or the platform's cut, and they're rarely based on published data.

A few marketplaces do publish brand-side prices, and they are useful as reference points if you read them correctly. As listed on their sites in October 2026:

Two lessons from this. First, the price a brand sees on a marketplace often bundles the platform's fee and broad usage rights, so it isn't what the creator takes home. Second, low listed prices exist, and some brands will compare you to them. Your answer is a clearly defined offer, not a lower number. Brands researching budgets read guides like our brand-side guide to UGC cost, so it's worth knowing what they see.

Step 1: Work out your floor price

Your floor is the lowest price at which a project is still worth doing. Below it, you are paying to work. Calculate it once and update it every few months.

1. Time every stage of one real project. Include reading the brief and messaging, scripting, setup, filming, editing, captions, exporting, revisions, and admin like invoicing. Most new creators underestimate the non-filming time.
2. Pick a target hourly figure. Base it on what your time is worth to you and what you could earn elsewhere. Remember that as a self-employed creator you pay your own self-employment tax and expenses; see taxes for UGC creators.
3. Add direct costs. Props, backdrops, a share of your editing app subscription, music licensing, shipping a product back, travel to a location.
4. Floor = (hours x hourly target) + direct costs. Round up.

Step 2: Define your base video, then price it

A rate means nothing until you say what it includes. Define one "base video" and quote everything else as an add-on. A typical definition:

• One concept, one script (yours or the brand's)
• One finished, edited video up to a stated length (for example, up to 60 seconds)
• One hook (the opening 2 to 3 seconds)
• One aspect ratio (usually 9:16 vertical)
• Captions or text overlays, if that's your standard
• One round of revisions within the original brief
• A stated delivery window after you receive the product
• Organic use on the brand's own channels for a stated period, with no paid ads

Set the base rate at or above your floor. Where you land above it depends on three things you can actually point to:

• Portfolio strength. Do you have samples in the brand's category and format? If not, build them first; see how to build a UGC portfolio.
• Skill depth. Scripting, strong hooks, clean editing, and good on-camera delivery each reduce the brand's work.
• Demand. If you're booked out or most quotes are accepted without pushback, your rate is probably low.

Step 3: Price the add-ons separately

Add-ons are where most of the money in UGC is, and where most new creators give value away. Each one below either adds work for you or adds value for the brand. List them on your rate card so brands see them before they ask.

How to think about each add-on

Usage and license length. Organic use on a brand's page and paid distribution behind an ad budget are different products. When a brand spends money to put your face in front of a large audience, the video is worth more to them, and your likeness is more exposed. Price paid use by term, and make the term explicit. The full method, including what to do when a brand asks for "all rights forever," is in the usage rights guide.

Raw footage. Raw clips let the brand's editor cut new ads from your filming without hiring you again, so it's reasonable to charge for them. Agree what "raw" means: all takes, or selected clips; with or without audio; and how they'll be delivered.

Hooks. The opening seconds decide whether an ad gets watched, so brands testing ads often want three to five openings on one body. Each extra hook means more filming and a new edit, but much less work than a whole new video. That's why a per-hook fee below the base rate makes sense.

Exclusivity. Exclusivity costs you income, because you have to turn down a category of work. Price it by the months it lasts and by how wide the category is. "No other protein powder brands for 60 days" is narrower than "no supplement or wellness brands for a year."

Rush. A rush job pushes your other clients back or eats your evenings. A surcharge on the whole order is standard practice. Only offer rush if you can actually deliver it.

Step 4: Build packages for repeat and multi-video orders

Brands testing ads rarely want one video. Packages make it easy for them to say yes and give you a reason to offer a modest discount: one product shipment, one brief, and one set of messages for several deliverables.

• Single video: base rate, add-ons as listed.
• Testing pack: several videos on different angles, or one video with several hooks. Price below the sum of the parts, but keep each video above your floor.
• Monthly retainer: a fixed number of videos per month at a set rate, usually for a fixed number of months. This is where steady income comes from; see how to turn one project into repeat work.

Rate card template

Keep it to one page or one screen. Brands comparing several creators will skim it, so put the base offer first and make the inclusions specific. Send it as a PDF, a link, or in the body of an email.

[YOUR NAME] | UGC Creator
Niches: [e.g. skincare, home, pet]  |  Based in: [CITY, STATE]
Portfolio: [LINK]  |  Contact: [EMAIL]

BASE VIDEO: $[BASE RATE]
- 1 concept, up to [LENGTH] seconds, 9:16
- 1 hook, captions included
- 1 revision round within the brief
- Delivered within [X] business days of receiving the product
- Organic use on your brand's channels for [X] months (no paid ads)

PACKAGES
- [3]-video testing pack: $[PRICE]  (3 angles, 1 hook each)
- 1 video + [3] extra hooks: $[PRICE]
- Monthly: [X] videos/month for [X] months: $[PRICE]/month

ADD-ONS
- Extra hook: $[PRICE] each
- Raw footage: $[PRICE] per video
- Extra format (1:1, 4:5, 16:9): $[PRICE] each
- Paid ad usage: 30 days +[X]% | 90 days +[X]% | 12 months +[X]%
- Ads from my handle (whitelisting / Spark / partnership): $[PRICE]/month
- Category exclusivity: $[PRICE]/month (category defined in writing)
- Rush (under [X] hours): +[X]% of order
- Extra revision round: $[PRICE]

TERMS
- [X]% upfront, balance on delivery (or per platform terms)
- Product is [kept / returned at brand's cost]
- Usage starts on delivery date; extensions available
- Rates valid until [DATE]

A worked quote, line by line

Scripts for the budget conversation

When a brand pushes back, trade scope for price. Don't discount the same work.

Thanks for sharing your budget. For $[THEIR BUDGET] I can do [REDUCED SCOPE, e.g. 1 video
with 3 hooks and 30 days of paid usage] instead of the full package. If you need the
second video or the longer license later, I can add it at my standard rate.
Want me to go ahead with that version?

Happy to include that. My quote covered organic use only. Running the video as a paid ad
for [TERM] is $[PRICE] on top, and I can extend it later if it performs well.
Let me know which term works and I'll send an updated quote.

That makes sense to compare. My rate includes [SCRIPTING / 3 HOOKS / CAPTIONS / A REVISION ROUND],
and the usage terms are spelled out so you know exactly what you can run. If a lighter
version suits this test better, I can do [SMALLER SCOPE] for $[PRICE].

When and how to raise your rates

• Most quotes are accepted without negotiation.
• You're booked further ahead than your delivery window.
• You've added a skill brands pay for (scripting, editing, a new format).
• You have new samples in a higher-value category.
• A repeat client has been on the same rate for several months.

Raise rates for new clients first. For existing clients, give notice with a date, honor any agreed retainer until it ends, and explain what's changed. A short message works: "Starting [DATE], my base rate for new projects will be $[NEW RATE]. Anything we confirm before then stays at the current rate."

Pricing mistakes that cost creators the most

• Quoting one number for everything. If "$200 per video" silently includes perpetual ad rights and raw footage, you've given away the most valuable parts.
• Leaving usage undefined. No term in writing usually means the brand assumes forever.
• Unlimited revisions. Cap revisions and define what counts as one; see how to handle briefs and revisions.
• Forgetting platform fees. On a marketplace, check whether you set your take-home amount or the brand's price. On CreatorsUGC (our platform), for example, you set what you want to earn per video and the price brands see includes a service fee.
• Accepting product as payment for ad-ready work. Gifted products may still count as income for tax purposes, and they don't pay your bills.

FAQ

Sources

1. Pricing — JoinBrands (viewed October 2026)
2. Pricing — Trend (viewed October 2026)
3. Topic no. 420, Bartering income — Internal Revenue Service

CreatorsUGC publishes this guide. We run a UGC marketplace, so we have an interest in the topic — we link to independent sources for facts and label illustrative examples.