Most creators pick a number the first time a brand asks, then quote that same number for two years. This is a way to arrive at a figure you can defend, and to raise it without a difficult conversation.
Start with your cost, not their budget
Price a reel by what it takes you to make, then add what your audience is worth.
Write down the hours honestly: concept, shoot, edit, revisions, posting, and the messages afterwards. A reel that looks like forty seconds of your life is usually six to ten hours of it.
Pick the hourly figure you want your time to earn. For a creator working full time in a metro, Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,500 an hour is a reasonable floor in 2026. That gives you a production cost of roughly Rs 9,000 to Rs 25,000 before anything else.
That is your floor. Not your price.
Then add what the audience is worth
The second half of the price is access to people who trust you. The honest proxy for that is not followers, it is engagement on a typical post and how narrow your audience is.
A reasonable working rule for India in 2026:
| Average views per reel | Typical reel fee |
|---|---|
| 5,000 to 20,000 | Rs 6,000 to Rs 15,000 |
| 20,000 to 75,000 | Rs 15,000 to Rs 40,000 |
| 75,000 to 300,000 | Rs 40,000 to Rs 1,20,000 |
| 300,000 and above | Rs 1,20,000 and up |
Use views, not followers. A 30,000-follower account that reliably gets 80,000 views on a reel is worth more than a 200,000-follower account that gets 25,000, and brands running performance campaigns already know this.
Then adjust for how specific your audience is. A general lifestyle audience sits at the bottom of its band. A narrow one that a brand cannot reach any other way sits at the top. If you are the person people in your city ask about where to eat, you are not competing on views.
The four things that change the number more than followers
Usage rights
Posting on your own account is one product. A brand running your video as a paid ad is a different one, and it is the single biggest thing people underprice.
Charge separately. A common structure is your base fee, plus 30% for three months of paid usage, plus 50% to 100% for a year or for use across their own channels. If the brand wants it forever and everywhere, say so in rupees rather than saying no.
Exclusivity
If a brand asks you not to work with their competitors for three months, they are buying your next three months of income in that category. That is worth 20% to 50% on top, depending on how much of your work sits in that category.
Revisions
One round included, every round after that charged. Write the number down. Unlimited revisions is how a Rs 25,000 reel becomes two weeks of work.
Turnaround
If they need it in four days, that is a rush, and a rush displaces other work. 25% is normal.
Barter is a price, and it is taxable
A brand offering you a Rs 15,000 product instead of a fee is making you an offer of Rs 15,000, and under Section 194R the value of that product is income you owe tax on. Decide your position before you are asked, and state it. There is a whole guide on that: free products from brands are taxable.
Many creators accept barter only above a value threshold, or only for products they would have bought. Both are reasonable. Saying "I do not do barter" is also reasonable, and saying it on your page means you never have to say it in a DM.
Put the number somewhere a brand can find it
The most expensive thing about pricing is the conversation. A brand messages, you ask what the budget is, they ask for your rates, you send them, and they never reply. That is three days of attention for nothing.
A public rate card ends it. The brands who cannot afford you leave before you have spent anything on them, and the ones who message you have already accepted the price.
You do not have to publish an exact figure. "Instagram reel, from Rs 25,000" does the same work. What matters is that it is on the page they land on, next to your work.
A rate card is not a commitment to a price. It is a filter, and the filter is the point.
Every Neroex page has a rate card built in: per-deliverable pricing in rupees, with usage rights, exclusivity, revisions and your barter position. It sits on your public page, and it is free. See what a page holds.
Raising your rates
Raise them when your work changes, not when you feel awkward about the number. Two signals: you are turning work down, or your typical views have gone up by half since you last set a price.
The easy way to raise them is to change the product at the same time. Add something small the old price did not include, or drop something it did. A rate card with a date on it does this for you, because the brand can see which version they are reading.
Do not announce it. Just change the page.
Common questions
- What is the going rate for an Instagram reel in India?
- For a creator with 10,000 to 50,000 followers, most quotes in 2026 sit between Rs 8,000 and Rs 40,000 for a single reel. The range is wide because the follower count is one of the weaker inputs. Engagement rate, how specific your audience is, and what usage rights the brand wants all move the number more.
- Should I put my rates on a public page?
- Yes, if you want to stop doing unpaid sales calls. A public rate card does the qualifying before the conversation starts. Brands with a smaller budget leave quietly, and the ones who stay already know your price. You can publish a starting figure rather than an exact one.
- What is a usage rights fee?
- It is what a brand pays to use your video somewhere other than your own feed, such as their ads. Organic posting on your own account is one price. Letting them run it as a paid ad for six months is a different product and is normally charged at 30% to 100% on top.
- Do I charge GST on brand work?
- If your turnover from services crosses Rs 20 lakh in a financial year, you must register for GST and charge 18% on top of your fee. Below that you can stay unregistered. Quote your rates excluding GST and say so, so the number does not change later.
Written by Siddharth Uttam at Qubera Technologies Private Limited. Reviewed 11 October 2026. Nothing here is tax or legal advice.