Every influencer rate calculator answers what creators should charge. This one answers what a business should pay — because the person writing the cheque is usually the one negotiating blind.
Stated plainly, because a range you can't interrogate is worth nothing in a negotiation.
Cost per thousand followers. Creator work is quoted this way. Smaller accounts cost more per follower than large ones — a 5,000-follower local account is not a fifth the price of a 25,000-follower one — so the bands step down as reach goes up. Instagram typically runs $5–$25 per thousand, TikTok less because reach comes from the algorithm rather than the follower count, YouTube more because the work is longer and lives longer.
What you're buying changes it. A story that disappears in a day is not a permanent feed post. A reel costs more than a photo. Someone travelling to you and covering it in person costs more again.
Engagement matters more than size. Twenty thousand followers with 200 likes a post is a worse buy than five thousand with 400. If you know their typical likes, put them in — it changes the answer by up to a third either way.
Local is worth a premium. A plumber cannot serve most of a national following. An audience concentrated in your town is worth more to you than the same number scattered across the country, and it's the one thing a small business can genuinely outbid a national brand for.
What this is not. It is not a quote, and it is not what any particular person charges. It is a range built from published benchmarks so that you know whether the number you've been given is ordinary. Northic has no relationship with any creator, stores nothing about them, and takes no commission on anything you agree.
The shapes small businesses usually buy.
For a local account with 5,000 to 25,000 followers, a single feed post usually falls between $50 and $600 depending on platform and engagement. Below about 5,000 followers, most collaborations are worth more as a product trade than a fee. The number moves more on engagement than on follower count.
Often yes, if their audience is local to you. A plumber cannot serve most of a national following, so 3,000 people in your town beat 30,000 scattered across the country. Ask where their audience is before you ask how many there are.
Compare it against cost per thousand followers, which is how creator pricing is quoted. Divide the rate by the follower count in thousands. For Instagram that usually lands between $5 and $25 depending on size and engagement. Well outside that range, ask what explains it.
What their recent posts typically get in likes and comments, where their audience is, whether the post stays up permanently, and whether you can reuse the content in your own ads. The last one is worth real money and is often given away free.
Only if what they send people to is correct. A post drives people to search your name, and what they find is your Google listing. If the hours, phone number or address there are wrong, the spend is wasted before it starts. Check that first — it is free and takes about ten seconds.