This calculator vs. the "$10 per 1,000 followers" rule
The flat rule multiplies your whole follower count by a constant and calls that the price. This calculator multiplies only the followers who actually engage, using the same kind of creator-economy benchmark ranges — and for most real accounts, those two numbers are not close.
What each one prices
The "$10 per 1,000 followers" rule is a mental-math shortcut, not a calculation: take your total follower count, divide by 1,000, multiply by roughly $10 (sources vary from $5 to $25), and quote that. It needs one number, gives the same answer for a Story as for a dedicated video, and cannot tell a 100,000-follower account nobody interacts with from a 100,000-follower account whose audience shows up every time — because it never asks.
This calculator multiplies the same kind of CPM benchmark ranges against your engaged followers — your follower count times your own engagement rate — and varies the range by deliverable and platform. A brand is paying for people who see and react to the post, not for a number on a profile, so the two only produce the same price when your engagement rate happens to be unrealistically high.
| Account | Flat "$10 / 1,000" rule | This calculator (engaged-follower CPM) |
|---|---|---|
| 50,000 followers, 2% engagement, Instagram feed post | $500 | $10 – $20 |
| 8,000 followers, 15% engagement, TikTok Reel | $80 | $7 – $18 |
The first row is closer to a typical account: at 2% engagement, only 1,000 of those 50,000 followers are counted as reliably seeing and reacting to the post, so the engaged-follower math lands at $10–$20 against the flat rule's $500. The second row is a highly engaged small account — 15% is well above what most benchmarks call typical — and the gap narrows a lot, but the flat rule still overstates it. In this calculator's benchmark ranges, closing the gap entirely would take an engagement rate high enough that almost no real account reaches it.
| Question | Where to answer it |
|---|---|
| Why does the flat rule usually come out higher? | It prices your whole follower count as if all of it engages. This calculator's rate range prices only the share that actually does. |
| Does the flat rule adjust for Story vs. feed post vs. dedicated video? | No — one number for everything. This calculator's ranges differ by deliverable because a brand buys a different amount of attention in each. |
| Is the flat rule ever roughly right? | Closest for a small, unusually highly engaged account. It has no way to know that from a follower count alone, so it cannot tell that account apart from a low-engagement one the same size. |
| How was this calculator's range derived? | See where the benchmarks come from — commonly cited market CPM ranges, applied to your own numbers. |
| Is my follower and engagement data uploaded anywhere? | No. Everything runs in your browser; nothing is sent to any server. |
A flat per-follower number is a fine five-second gut check before you have real numbers in front of you. It is not a substitute for pricing your actual, current engagement rate once you have it — which is what this calculator does, for free, from two numbers your own platform's native insights already show you.
This tool needs no account and no sign-in: it is a static page, the arithmetic runs in your browser, and nothing you type is uploaded anywhere.
Common questions
What is the "$10 per 1,000 followers" rule?
A pricing shortcut floated across influencer-marketing blogs and rate-card templates: multiply your total follower count by roughly $10 per 1,000 to get a sponsored-post price, sometimes with a range like $5-$25 depending on the source. It needs only one number, follower count, and gives the same answer to every account that size regardless of platform, deliverable, or how many of those followers ever open the app.
Why does a flat per-follower rule overstate the price so often?
Because it prices your entire follower count as if all of it were engaged, and for almost every real account only a small fraction is. This calculator applies its CPM benchmark ranges to engaged followers — count multiplied by engagement rate — not raw follower count, so the two only agree at an engagement rate high enough that essentially nobody hits it in practice.
Does a higher engagement rate close the gap?
It shrinks the gap but in this calculator's benchmark ranges it does not close it. A well above-average, highly engaged small account still prices lower under engaged-follower CPM than under the flat $10-per-1,000 rule — the flat rule overstates less for a highly engaged audience, but it is not built to ever land below what the engagement-adjusted math supports.
Does the flat rule change by deliverable, the way this calculator does?
No — a flat per-follower rule gives the same number whether you are pricing a 24-hour Story or a dedicated long-form video, because it has no input for deliverable type at all. This calculator's benchmark ranges price a Story lower than a feed post and a dedicated video higher than either, because a brand is buying a different amount of attention in each case.
Open the Brand Deal Rate Calculator to run your own numbers, or read where the benchmarks come from.