For brands

How much does UGC cost in 2026?

Updated 27 September 2026 · 7 min read · By Yap Factory

The short answer

In 2026 a UGC video costs anywhere from about $20 to $500 or more. The most-quoted survey puts the median at $150 a video, and Collabstr’s 2026 marketplace data shows an average of $154 per UGC collaboration. Newer creators usually charge $50 to $100 on rate guides, and marketplaces built for volume go lower.

Running the video as a paid ad usually adds 30 to 50%. On Yap Factory, creators set their own rate from £8 ($10), and a first video with a new creator comes to about £15 ($18) all in.

The typical price

There’s no official price list for UGC, so the numbers you see online trace back to a few datasets. They agree on a middle of about $150:

Source	What it measured	Figure
Collabstr 2026 report	What it measuredOver 21,000 marketplace collaborations in 2025	Figure$154 average per UGC collaboration
Collabstr 2025 report	What it measured2024 marketplace deals	Figure$198 average asked, $178 average paid
Brands Meet Creators survey	What it measured10,000+ creator prices, 2022	Figure$150 median, $212 mean per video
Influee	What it measuredIts own US marketplace	Figure$57 average for a 30-second video

Most rate data is from the US. There's no rigorous UK or Canada survey; UK guides quote similar numbers in pounds.

A “UGC video” in these surveys is a vertical 9:16 video of 15 to 60 seconds, filmed on a phone, that you can post or run as an ad. Bundles are cheaper: the same survey found five-video bundles discounted by 19% on average.

By creator experience

Level	US	UK
New (a few months in)	US$50–$100	UK£50–£100
Mid-level	US$150–$500	UK£100–£170
Established	US$500+	UK£250+ for about 1 in 5

US from Billo's rate guide; UK from After Hours Creator Club's guide. Both are industry guides rather than surveys.

Rate guides describe what creators ask for. Marketplaces show what brands pay, and the prices there are often lower. SideShift says its median creator costs $7 to $9 a video, JoinBrands lists videos from $25, and new creators on Yap Factory usually charge £8–£20 ($10–$25).

What adds to the price

Add-on	Typical cost	What it is
Ad rights (usage rights)	Typical cost+30–50% of the rate	What it isRunning the video as a paid ad, usually for a set period
Whitelisting / partnership ads	Typical cost+20–25% per 30 days	What it isRunning ads from the creator's own handle
Raw footage	Typical cost+30–50%	What it isThe unedited clips, so you can recut
Extra openings (hooks)	Typical costAbout $50 (£30–£50) each	What it isAlternative first lines to test
Rush delivery	Typical cost+25–50%	What it isDelivery in days rather than weeks
Bundles of 5+	Typical cost15–25% off	What it isSeveral videos from one creator

Blog consensus (Influee, inBeat, Influencer Marketing Hub, After Hours Creator Club); no survey measures these.

Ad rights are the add-on that surprises people. Posting on your own channels is usually included. Paying to put the video in front of new people is extra, and time-limited unless you buy it outright. On Yap Factory the default is +50% of the rate for 3 months of ads, up to +150% for ads forever, and each creator can set their own.

What platforms and agencies charge

Option	Price	On top
Yap Factory	PriceCreator's rate, £8–£160 ($10–$200)	On top15% service fee, at least £2.50 ($2.99) a video. No subscription.
JoinBrands	PriceVideos from $25; default $60 (£50)	On top15% fee on the free plan
soona UGC (formerly Trend)	PriceFrom $89 a video	On topNothing; prepaid
Insense	PriceVideos from $100	On top$400–$650 a month plus a 7–20% fee
SideShift	PriceMedian $7–$9 a video	On top$299–$999 a month
Agencies	Price$300–$1,000+ a video	On topRetainers of $2,000–$10,000 a month

Platform prices from their own pages, 27 September 2026. Agency figures are an industry estimate.

A monthly plan makes sense once you order enough videos to spread it across. At three videos a month, a $299 plan adds about $100 to each one.

AI UGC

AI avatar tools sell monthly credits: HeyGen from $29, Creatify from $39 and MakeUGC from $59 a month. That works out to a few dollars a video. In one RevenueCat case study, an avatar video cost about $20 against about $500 for a creator. The catch is that there’s no real person, and TikTok and Meta both label AI-generated ads. See real creators vs AI UGC.

Budgeting a first campaign

Don’t judge UGC on one video. Most app teams test a few creators, keep what works and reorder from them. TikTok recommends running three to five creatives per ad group. A sensible first order is three creators, one video each, three openings per video. That gives you nine versions to test.

Rate-guide prices: 3 × $100 plus ad rights, about $400–$450.
On a monthly plan: the plan plus creator pay, so $300–$650 before the first video.
On Yap Factory: 3 × about £15 ($18), or about £21 ($26) each with 3 months of ad rights.

Why prices on Yap Factory are lower

Most creators on Yap Factory are newer to UGC and set their own rate, so a first video usually costs £15 ($18) all in rather than $150. You aren’t buying blind: you see each creator’s real TikTok videos before you invite them, your payment is held until you approve a watermarked draft, and 3 revision rounds are included. Established creators on Yap Factory charge up to £160 ($200). See pricing for a worked example.

Questions

How much should I pay for a UGC video?

Surveys put the median at about $150 a video, and newer creators charge $50–$100 on most rate guides. On Yap Factory, creators set their own rate from £8 ($10), and a first video with a new creator comes to about £15 ($18) all in.

How much do UGC ad rights cost?

Usually 30–50% on top of the creator's rate for a set period, such as 3 months. Posting on your own channels is normally included. On Yap Factory the default is +50% for 3 months of ads, and each creator can set their own price.

Why do UGC prices vary so much?

Experience, ad rights, length, how many openings you want, raw footage, deadline, and whether a platform or agency takes a cut. A $50 video and a $500 video can both be fair; the second usually includes rights, edits and a creator with a track record.

Is UGC cheaper than influencer marketing?

Usually. UGC pays for the video, not the creator's audience, so follower count doesn't set the price. Collabstr's 2026 data shows brands moving budget from influencer posts to UGC as a result.

How much does a UGC creator earn?

It depends on rate and volume. At 5 videos a week, a new creator charging £8–£20 ($10–$25) a video can make a few hundred a month. See how it works for creators on our creators page.

Your first app video from about £15 ($18), all in.

Yap Factory finds the creators, holds your payment until you approve the draft, and handles the contract. No subscription.

Get early access How it works

Sources

Checked 27 September 2026. Prices change; follow the links for the latest.