UGC rate card: what to charge, line by line

A brand writes: "What do you charge for UGC?" But one video can mean a quick clip for their feed, or an ad that runs for six months with your face on it.

Those are not the same job. A UGC rate card splits them into lines, so the brand sees what each part costs and you stop guessing.

What a brand is paying for

UGC means user-generated content: videos you make for a brand to post on its own accounts or run as ads. They usually do not go on your feed. So a brand is not paying for your audience. It is paying for four things:

• The work: the script, the filming, the edit.
• Your face and voice: someone real, talking like a customer would.
• Use: how long the brand can show the video, and where.
• Speed and choice: extra openings to test, the raw clips, a fast turnaround.

Price the work on one line, then give each thing the brand might add its own line. If you are new to rate cards, our guide on how to make a rate card covers the basics first.

A base price for one video

Your base price covers one finished video with the smallest sensible use. Write down what that means:

• Length: for example, up to 45 seconds.
• Script: you write it from the brand's brief, or they send one.
• Edits: one round of changes.
• Delivery: how many days from receiving the product.
• Use: organic posts on the brand's own accounts, for a set time such as 30 days.

To find the number, start from your floor: what you need to earn in a month, divided by the videos you can make well in that month, messages included.

Example: Maya wants to earn USD 3,000 a month and can make about 15 good videos. That is USD 200 a video as a floor, so Maya starts at "from USD 220". (Example numbers, for illustration only.)

Then look at what creators with similar work in your market show publicly, and adjust. Use "from" when the brief can grow: a longer video, a harder product to film, a second location.

Hooks, edits and raw files

Price each one as its own line.

Extra hooks. A hook is the first two or three seconds of a video, the part that stops someone scrolling. Brands that run ads test several openings on the same video. Price per hook.

More rounds of edits. Your base price includes one round. A second or third round is extra, priced per round. Say what counts as a round: one list of changes, sent together.

Raw files. All your clips, unedited. They let a brand build new videos from your footage, so price them as a real line, not a favour.

Usage, paid ads and time

Use answers three questions: who runs the video, where, and for how long.

Organic use. The brand posts your video on its own accounts, like any other post. Your base price includes this for a set time.

Paid usage. The brand runs your video as an ad, from its own account, with money behind it. Price it by time: 30 days, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months. A common way is to add a percentage of your base price for each window, for example +30% for 3 months of paid usage. (Example percentage, for illustration only.)

Whitelisting. The ad runs from your account name, not the brand's. People see your handle at the top, so the ad reads like a recommendation from a real person. Each platform has its own way to give this permission:

• On Instagram and Facebook, Meta calls these partnership ads. You can turn on a partnership ad code for a post and share it with the brand. A code can be used by up to two partners at a time, and turning it off stops new ads but lets running ads continue (Meta help).
• On TikTok, these are Spark Ads. You authorise a post and choose how long the brand can use it: 7, 30, 60 or 365 days (TikTok help).

Price whitelisting above paid usage, and match the time you sell to the duration you set. Because running ads can continue after you turn a code off, agree in writing when the brand will stop them.

Exclusivity. The brand asks you not to work with its competitors for a while. That is work you turn down, so price it by how long it lasts and how wide the category is, for example "other skincare brands".

Usage gets its own deep dive in our guide to pricing usage rights and whitelisting.

Rush jobs

Your normal time is in your base price, for example seven days from receiving the product. Anything faster means moving other work, filming at night or saying no to someone else.

Add one rush line:

• What counts as rush: delivery in under your normal time, for example under three days.
• The price: a percentage on top of the order, for example +50%. (Example percentage, for illustration only.)

A full example

Sam makes UGC for skincare and home brands, with clients at home and in Europe. Here is the full rate card, with every extra as its own line.

Now a brand asks for one video, two extra hooks and three months of paid usage. The quote reads:

The brand sees why the total is USD 470, and can drop a line if the budget is tight. Our guide on how to write a quote a client says yes to covers the wording.

In Piku, each line of this card is a Rate on your Rate Card: the video, the pack, and each extra as its own Rate. Show a fixed price, a "from" price or a range, in your own currency. A brand taps Request on the video, you send a quote with the extras added as lines, they accept from an approval link and pay by card or mobile money. See how Rate Cards and requests work.

If you want to see this card next to a beauty and a travel creator's, our influencer rate card template has all three.

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