Once upon a time, Instagram was a cute online photo album where you could post your favorite iPhone snapshots of sunsets and plane wings.
Now, it’s an essential tool that helps entrepreneurs and creators connect with audiences—and make money.
Lots of it.
Entire careers have been built using this app with humble beginnings.
If you want to dip your toe into the lucrative waters of Instagram, our guide to Instagram monetization will help you get started.
We’ll cover it all: physical products and Instagram subscriptions. Shoppable posts and branded content. Digital products and sponsored posts.
By the end of this guide, you’ll have the skinny on the most up-to-date monetization strategies, tools, and potential real-world earnings.
Can You Really Monetize Instagram?
Yes, you can, and you don’t have to have millions or even thousands of subscribers to monetize your Instagram account.
Instagram offers built-in monetization tools that reward reach, engagement rates, content value, and audience loyalty.
To get started, you’ll need either a creator account or a business account. Your Instagram profile has to follow Instagram’s rules for making money.
These rules spell out who’s allowed to earn money, what kind of content you can post, and how you must clearly state when a post is sponsored.
Make sure you read them—like really read them—before you get started. When our writing team was working on an article about how to connect Instagram to Shopify, we made a mock Instagram Business account.
It took about 20 minutes for Meta to figure out we weren’t serious about selling anything on Instagram. The account got flagged and blocked from monetization.
Moral of the story? Meta, Instagram’s parent company, is serious about the rules.
The 5 Top Ways to Monetize Your Instagram in 2025
Ready to learn how to turn your Instagram account into a money-making machine? Here are the top 5 ways you can use the Instagram app to grow your career.
1. Instagram Subscriptions
Instagram Subscriptions helps content creators earn predictable income from their most engaged followers.
Here’s how it works. Subscribers pay you a monthly fee, and in exchange, they get to see exclusive content that you publish on your Instagram account.
This exclusive content is highlighted with a purple subscriber ring. Subscribers also get a special badge that shows up next to their name in comments and DMs.
You can make Instagram Subscription-only:
- Lives
- Stories
- Reels
- Posts
- Broadcast channels
- Social channels where you can speak privately with up to 250 subscribers
- Early access to content
- Ask me anything (AMA) sessions
When you enable Instagram Subscriptions, followers will see a purple crown icon on your profile page.
They can click the icon to see a subscription page for your exclusive content.
You can set the monthly subscription price to be anything from $0.49 a month to $99 a month, and you can make changes to the price as you go. But subscribers will always pay the amount the subscription cost at the time they signed up, so choose your pricing carefully.
Some creators charge super-low prices for their monthly subscriptions, which makes it far more likely that they’ll get a ton of sign-ups.
Take @fuji_an, for example. A subscription to this creator’s exclusive content only costs $0.49 a month. With over 79,000 subscribers, that’s over $38,700 a month in revenue before taxes and fees.
While Instagram itself doesn’t take a cut, both the App Store and Google Play charge a 30% fee on in-app purchases like subscriptions. So in your first year, you’ll receive about 70% of the subscription price per subscriber. After a year, the cut may drop to 15%, increasing your share to 85%.
Clearly, there’s money to be made with Instagram Subscriptions.
But not every account qualifies. To enable Instagram Subscriptions, you must:
- Follow Instagram’s Partner Monetization Policies, Content Monetization Policies, and Community Standards
- Have at least 10,000 followers on your professional Creator or Business account
- Be at least 18 years old
- Agree to the Instagram Subscriptions Terms of Use
- Not be an account that posts content focused on kids, as these accounts aren’t eligible to participate in Instagram Subscriptions
See the full breakdown of Instagram Subscriptions eligibility requirements.
You must also be prepared to offer a steady diet of valuable, subscriber-only content that’ll keep subscribers engaged.
Follow Instagram’s guide to setting up Instagram Subscriptions to get started.
Pro Tip: Most creators start by charging between $2.99–$4.99 monthly, which adds up quickly even with a small number of subscribers.
2. Sell Physical Products on Instagram Shop
If you sell physical products, you can create a shop on Instagram and sell things straight from your Instagram posts, Instagram Reels, and Instagram Stories.
To start creating shoppable posts, you must:
- Create a business page on Facebook
- Make sure your Instagram account is set to “business” rather than personal
- Build your product catalog—or sync your Shopify or WooCommerce catalog
- Review and sign the Seller Agreement
Once your shop gets approved, you can curate which products appear in your shop, create collections of products to feature, and run promotions.
You can even track when followers or customers post about your brand, then turn that user-generated content (UGC) into shoppable Stories, Reels, and posts that link directly to your product pages.
3. Offer Digital Products on Instagram
While the Instagram Shop feature only supports physical products, you can absolutely sell digital products—like online courses, templates, eBooks, and presets—through your Instagram account.
You just can’t do it using the native Shop tab or in-app checkout.
Here’s how creators and entrepreneurs are making it work:
- Use a link-in-bio storefront. Set up a storefront for your digital products using tools like Stan Store, Gumroad, Payhip, and Shopify (with digital delivery plugins). Put your storefront link in your Instagram bio and promote it in your posts, like Instagram user @miss.excel does.
- Promote your products through your Instagram content. Use your Instagram Stories, Reels, posts, and Highlights to show previews of your product, share customer wins, and show the outcomes of using your product. Always point followers to your link in bio, or use the link sticker in Stories if you have access.
- Sell via DMs. If you have warm leads—followers who already engage with you—use Instagram DMs to offer your digital products directly. Personal replies or simple prompts like “DM me ‘ebook’ for the link” can drive quick, high-converting sales.
Need more inspiration? Along with @miss.excel, check out these digital and non-tangible sellers on Instagram:
4. Feature Instagram Shoppable Content on Your Website
Ready to think beyond the Instagram app? A surefire way to increase your site’s conversion rates is to bring your Instagram content directly into your website.
Tools like Foursixty (that’s us! 👋🏼) help you add shoppable content to your website. With our tool, you can put real-time, on-brand Instagram feeds wherever you want on your site.
You can feature a few different types of content, including:
- Shoppable user-generated content (UGC): Photos or videos from real customers using your products, with links that take shoppers straight to the item.
- Influencer posts: Content from influencers who’ve shared your products.
- Product highlights: Posts that focus on certain products or collections—great for new arrivals or bestsellers.
- Brand content: Your own Instagram posts, so shoppers see your style, story, and products in action.
Putting shoppable Instagram galleries on your website is a great way to build trust with shoppers and increase sales.
Our client, Frankie’s Bikinis, features a shoppable Instagram gallery of posts on their homepage—and invites customers to tag UGC for a chance to be featured.
If you want to put shoppable content and UGC to work, Foursixty does all the heavy lifting for you, from getting rights to UGC to embedding galleries.
Pro tip: Foursixty also integrates with email platforms like Klaviyo. This means you can also put Instagram shoppable content into abandoned cart and product reminder emails. Learn how to integrate abandoned cart galleries into your Klaviyo account with Foursixty.
Pro tip #2: You can also track the ROI of shoppable content using Foursixty’s built-in analytics—measuring clicks, conversions, and engagement. See more in our guide to the 3 Ways to Get the Most Value from Foursixty.
5. Join the Creator Marketplace and Post Branded Content
If a brand has ever reached out to ask you for a collaboration, you may be eligible to join the Instagram creator marketplace.
This is where creators and brands connect to build official partnerships and run branded content campaigns.
Branded content is any post where a creator is compensated—either with money, products, or services—in exchange for promoting a brand. This applies whether you’re a celebrity, influencer, or everyday creator using a creator or business account.
Joining the creator marketplace and featuring branded content can be a great way to monetize your Instagram. As a creator, here’s what to keep in mind:
- You must use the Paid Partnership label anytime there’s an exchange of value between you and a brand.
- Tagging the business partner (brand or sponsor) is required when posting branded content on Instagram or Facebook.
- This applies to all types of posts: Stories, Reels, feed posts, and Live content.
- If your post includes affiliate links, you still need to use the Paid Partnership label, but you don’t need to tag a specific business partner.
To stay compliant, always follow Meta’s branded content policies and check your eligibility for these monetization tools.
Learn how to join the creator marketplace with Instagram’s official guide.
How Much Can You Earn on Instagram?
Realistically, you can expect to make anywhere from a few pennies to thousands of dollars on Instagram. Just as with any other type of business endeavor, there’s no such thing as overnight success.
Your earnings depend on factors like your audience size, engagement, niche, content quality, and the monetization tools you choose to use.
Back when Instagram had its now-discontinued Instagram Reels Bonus program, earnings were slim. According to Reddit reports, a few thousand views got you $50-$175.
Instagram Subscriptions can get you everything from a tiny monthly paycheck to a decent one. If you have 100 subscribers that pay you $2.99 a month, that’s $299 a month before taxes and fees. Grow your subscriber list to 1,000 and you could earn $2,990.
For sponsored content and brand deals, it all depends on the number of followers you have. The more followers on your Instagram page, the more you make.
For example, India Reynolds—a reality TV star with over 900,000 followers—reportedly earns between £2,100 and £3,200 per sponsored post.
@monty.mung, a pet influencer account with over 30,000 followers, reported earnings of $4,313 in six months from sponsored content and brand partnerships. To give you an idea of how much time it can take to start earning anything, the first six months of that year yielded no profits for Alison of @monty.mung.
Another influencer, Lisa McGowan, reported earnings of over €1 million in 2023 through brand deals and her own digital product line, according to The Times.
Whether you’re a brand, creator, or just starting your instagram account, there are real opportunities to build income through content monetization.
The key to success?
- Make a creator account or business account
- Focus on high-quality content that offers value to your audience
- Combine multiple monetization tools, from branded content to Instagram Subscriptions
- Make use of shoppable content platforms like Foursixty to drive ROI across your Instagram content, website, and emails
Want to learn more about how Foursixty can help you monetize your Instagram? Sign up for a free trial today.
FAQs
What are the different ways to earn money on Instagram?
There are several ways to earn money on Instagram depending on your follower count, niche, and UGC strategy. You can get paid through in-app tools like subscriptions, bonuses, and even badges when followers buy them during Instagram Live sessions.
You can also earn money by selling products such as digital downloads, physical goods, or merch. Many Instagram influencers also earn income through sponsored content, affiliate marketing, and by working with brands directly via influencer marketing campaigns.
Long story short? If you have a strong Instagram presence and know your target audience, there are plenty of opportunities to be had.
How many followers do you need to monetize Instagram?
There’s no fixed number, but typically you’ll need at least a few thousand Instagram followers to unlock features like Subscriptions or attract brand deals. That said, even smaller creators with highly engaged audiences can start earning. Monetization is about more than your follower count. You must also focus on how well you connect with your target audience and how consistently you offer up high-quality social media content.
Does Instagram pay you for 1,000 views?
Not directly. Instagram doesn’t pay you a flat rate per view like some platforms do. However, during bonus periods, creators may earn small amounts based on views—often just a few cents per 1,000 views.
This is different from how platforms like TikTok or YouTube pay creators. On Instagram, you’re more likely to earn income through tools like live streams, by selling products, and via brand partnerships.
We also have a great article on how to monetize Tiktok; check it out if you’re interested.
Where do I see my earnings and payouts?
You can see your earnings and payout details in the professional dashboard of your Instagram account. This is where you’ll manage tools like Badges, Subscriptions, and bonuses, and track how much you’ve earned. Your payout is sent out every month, and you’ll receive invoices and updates directly to the email tied to your account.
