Table of Contents
Key takeaways
- TikTok offers 15 proven ways to earn money in 2026, from native programs like the Creator Rewards Program and TikTok Pulse to brand partnerships, affiliate sales, and selling your own products or expertise.
- You don’t need a massive following to start. Affiliate marketing, the TikTok Rewards referral program, and TikTok Shop let creators and businesses earn with as few as 1,000 followers, and in some cases none at all.
- The most consistent TikTok income usually comes from stacking methods together, like pairing Creator Rewards with affiliate links and the occasional brand deal.
Can you really make money on TikTok?
Yes, creators and businesses do earn real money on TikTok, but the range is enormous. Some people make a few dollars a month from views alone, while others build full businesses on the back of TikTok Shop sales or brand deals. The difference usually comes down to how you monetize, not how many followers you have.
A few factors tend to decide where you land:
- Your niche: Categories with products to sell or expertise to teach monetize faster than general entertainment.
- Your consistency: Regular posting keeps you eligible for programs that require recent activity and gives the algorithm more to work with.
- Your audience size and engagement: Some methods have follower minimums, and brands care as much about engagement as reach.
- Your monetization mix: Relying on one income stream leaves you exposed when a program changes or a video underperforms.
The realistic takeaway: treat TikTok payouts from views as a bonus, and treat selling something (products, services, or someone else’s products through affiliate links) as the actual business.
Bonus: Get a free TikTok Growth Checklist from famous TikTok creator Tiffy Chen that shows you how to gain 1.6 million followers with only 3 studio lights and iMovie.
What do you need to start earning on TikTok?
Most TikTok monetization features have their own eligibility bar, and they’re not all the same. Here’s how the major methods compare so you can spot the ones you already qualify for.
| Method | Minimum followers | Account type | Geographic availability | Earning potential |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creator Rewards Program | 10,000 (plus 100,000 video views in the last 30 days) | Personal or Creator | Select countries only | Low to medium |
| Video and LIVE gifts | 10,000 (exceptions possible) | Personal or Creator | Select countries only | Low to medium |
| TikTok Series | Varies by region | Personal or Creator | Select countries only | Medium |
| Subscriptions | 10,000 | Personal or Creator | Select countries only | Medium |
| TikTok Pulse | Invitation based | Personal or Creator | Select countries only | Medium |
| Work with Artists | 1,000 | Personal or Creator | Select countries only | Low |
| TikTok Rewards referrals | None | Any | Select countries only | Low |
| Brand partnerships | None (brands set their own bar) | Any | Worldwide | High |
| TikTok Shop (selling) | None | Business or seller account | Select markets only | High |
| TikTok Shop affiliate | 1,000 in many markets | Personal or Creator | Select markets only | Medium to high |
| Selling your own products or services | None | Any | Worldwide | High |
TikTok updates these requirements often, so check the relevant page in TikTok Studio or TikTok’s creator support documentation before you build a plan around any single feature.
How to make money on TikTok through native programs
TikTok has a handful of built-in ways to pay you without a brand or a product in the picture. These are the fastest to switch on, and most of them live in the Monetization section of TikTok Studio.
1. Join the Creator Rewards Program
Who can make money with this tactic: Creators
Want to get paid directly by TikTok when your videos go viral? Join the Creator Rewards Program.
Creator Rewards replaced TikTok’s Creator Fund to incentivize high-quality, original content creation. In this new version, the program pays out rewards for videos that:
- Are at least one minute long
- Get at least 1,000 views
- Aren’t a Duet or Stitch
- Aren’t created using Photo Mode
- Follow the program’s rules and terms
To be eligible for TikTok Creator Rewards,
- You must have a Personal TikTok account (Business accounts don’t qualify)
- Your TikTok account must be registered in United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, South Korea, France, Mexico, or Brazil
- You must have at least 10,000 followers and 100,000 video views in the last 30 days
- Your account must be following TikTok’s Community Guidelines and Terms
- Be at least 18 years of age
TikTok lists several factors used to calculate payouts on the Creator Rewards page, from originality to play duration. Payouts are calculated per 1,000 qualified views, which TikTok defines as views of at least five seconds on videos longer than one minute, so a video with a big view count and low watch time won’t earn much.
2. Earn gifts and tips from your audience
Who can make money with this tactic: Creators
Gifts are a way for viewers to show their appreciation to creators. Gifts from viewers turn into cash for you.
Here’s how it works:
- Users purchase coins from TikTok that they can use to buy virtual gifts.
- From there, users can send a gift to the creator when they watch a video they think is amazing.
- Creators convert their gifts into TikTok diamonds which they can cash out for real currency.
Two coins are worth one diamond, and one diamond is worth about $0.005, which means it takes 200 diamonds to earn $1. So a big, generous audience is really the only way gifts are going to work as a true financial opportunity.
As a creator, you’ll need to turn on the gift option in TikTok Studio under the Monetization tab.
Plus, you’ll also need to meet these qualifications:
- Live where gifts are available
- Be 18 years old or older
- Have at least 10,000 followers on an account that’s at least 30 days old
- Published content within the last 30 days
You may be eligible with fewer than 10,000 followers. But you’ll need to prove to TikTok that you’ve made money on other platforms.
TikTok LIVE is where gifting really adds up. Going live lets you connect with your audience in real time, and viewers can send gifts during the session just like they can on a standard video.
However, a major bonus to the TikTok LIVE feature: there’s a much larger range of gifts with way higher coin amounts.
There’s even an option to create exclusive TikTok LIVE events requiring a paid subscription to attend, plus LIVE subscriptions that give paying members perks like subscriber-only badges and chat.
TikTokers who stick with a steady schedule of live streams often report making hundreds or thousands of dollars from each session.
Tips are the low-tech version of the same idea, and they aren’t only reserved for the restaurant industry. On TikTok, you can set up a third-party tipping platform.
Check out how TikToker Mattie.dp added a Buy Me a Coffee option to the Linktree in her bio.
Source: mattie.dp
3. Create a TikTok Series
Who can make money with this tactic: Creators
TikTok Series is a program that lets you put collections of videos behind a paywall. Series can contain up to 80 videos, and each one can be up to 20 minutes long. It’s a fantastic monetization strategy for creators who focus on niche topics.
Series turns your expertise into passive income. Once you’ve created one, the link to it sits on your profile, waiting for the next viewer to dig in.
Check out the below example of a Series without showing your face.
Source: googlemapsfun
Notice the “Series” tag in this TikTok bio (psstt, use our free TikTok bio ideas generator to craft the perfect front window for your account).
You can post multiple Series and set your price for them. That way as you create more valuable, premium content, bundle up the videos that work together and place more money-making Series for viewers to binge.
4. Build a subscription community
Who can make money with this tactic: Creators
It used to be that if you wanted to offer your followers a VIP experience, you had to direct them off the app to a platform like say, Patreon. But now you can give your most loyal devotees all those insider perks (and get paid in the process) without leaving TikTok.
What can you offer potential subscribers to entice them to subscribe? A whole lot, including:
- Exclusive content
- Subscriber-only LIVE sessions
- Shoutouts in videos
- Exclusive merch
- Direct messages and comment replies (creator prioritizes their community members)
- Personalized notes or videos
You can even create subscription tiers like comedian Sarah Gray does.
Splitting it up like this gives users a low-cost way to get into your community. Once they’re in and love it, they’ll invest a little more to get the best stuff. A subscription community is also one of the steadier income streams here, since it doesn’t reset every time a video flops.
5. Earn ad revenue with TikTok Pulse
Who can make money with this tactic: Creators
TikTok Pulse is TikTok’s ad revenue sharing program. Advertisers pay to have their ads appear next to top-performing content in the feed, and the creators of that content get a cut of the ad revenue.
The catch is that Pulse isn’t something you switch on yourself. TikTok places creator content into Pulse based on performance, and participation runs through invitation and partner programs rather than a self-serve toggle. That makes it less of a strategy and more of a reward for consistently strong content.
It’s also different from Creator Rewards in an important way. Creator Rewards pays you based on qualified views of your own videos, while Pulse pays you a share of what advertisers spend to sit alongside your content. The two aren’t mutually exclusive, so if you’re already chasing watch time for Creator Rewards, you’re doing the work that makes Pulse eligibility possible.
6. Work with Artists
Who can make money with this tactic: Creators
TikTok’s Work with Artists monetization feature lets you help musicians get more exposure on the app while making money from the videos you post.
Here’s how it works: Artists launch a campaign on the Work with Artists board, including their song, the type of post it should be used on, and what they’ll pay. You pick the one that works best for your post, and you get paid based on the number of likes, shares, and views your video gets.
To apply for this creativity program, you must be at least 18 years old and have 1,000 or more followers. The feature is located in the Monetization section of your TikTok Studio.
7. Refer friends through TikTok Rewards
Who can make money with this tactic: Creators
You can make money on TikTok without followers. It’s actually easy, just join the TikTok Rewards referral program.
Once you’re in, copy the unique referral link from your profile and share it with friends and contacts. If those friends join and start using TikTok, you’ll get reward points you can redeem for cash. Eligibility varies by region, so check the program page before you start sharing.
How to make money on TikTok with brand partnerships
8. Land brand partnerships and sponsored content
Who can make money with this tactic: Creators
Technically, sponsored content on TikTok is defined as content for which you receive something of value.
For example, a brand might pay you to make a TikTok video about how great their soy candles smell, or you might receive a free skydiving trip in exchange for posting about it.
Influencer marketing is one of the most lucrative ways to earn money on TikTok. Since the audience on TikTok is growing larger — reaching an estimated 1.37 billion global users in 2025 — and more diverse, new brand partnership opportunities are always opening up.
Rates aren’t standardized, and they depend heavily on your follower count, engagement rate, niche, and usage rights. Smaller creators often start with product-only deals or a few hundred dollars per video, while creators with large, engaged audiences negotiate into the thousands. There’s also a related path worth knowing about: UGC creation, where brands pay you to make videos for their own accounts rather than posting on yours. You don’t need a big following for that, just good content.
To get started, head to TikTok’s collaboration platform, TikTok Creator Marketplace. That’s where brands go to find their next influencer.
Here are a few ways to jumpstart your brand partnerships while keeping your content authentic:
- Only reach out to brands you really love: If your TikTok is all about being a raw vegan, and suddenly you start posting about your favorite local burger joint, your followers will see right through you. Not only is this confusing, but it also makes you look like a sellout. Make sure your sponsored content aligns with your regular content.
- Make a press kit for your account: A press kit is like a movie trailer for yourself. It hypes up all of the great things about you and gives brands good reasons to start a partnership. Include contact information, photos, and notable achievements. Websites like Templatelab offer press kit templates for free.
- Create a few non-sponsored posts: Brands will want to see that you have what it takes to drive sales to their business. Make a few non-sponsored posts chatting up your new fav shoes, and that specialty sock brand will come calling.
How to sell products on TikTok
Selling is where the biggest TikTok paychecks usually come from — TikTok Shop alone is projected to surpass $20 billion in US sales in 2026. You have three routes: sell your own physical products through TikTok Shop, earn commissions promoting other people’s products, or sell digital goods off-platform.
9. Set up a TikTok Shop
Who can make money with this tactic: Brands and businesses
TikTok Shop offers brands a way to set up their own little e-commerce store right on TikTok. Buyers discover your products and complete the purchase without ever having to leave the app, and roughly half of TikTok social shoppers buy monthly.
There are lots of ways to turn viewers into buyers using Shops. You can showcase and sell your products via TikTok LIVE, the Shop tab, and directly with links on your videos.
TikTok Shop gives buyers and browsers a full e-commerce shopping experience. They can see product details they’re interested in, click through your full catalog, and complete the payment process.
Before you price your products, factor in the fees. TikTok charges sellers a referral commission on each order, and if you recruit creators to promote your products, you’ll also pay them a commission you set yourself. Both come out of your margin, so build them in from the start. Current rates are listed in the Seller Center.
Get started selling on TikTok by going to the app’s Seller Center.
Note: TikTok Shop isn’t available to all sellers. It operates in a limited set of markets, including the United States, United Kingdom, and several Southeast Asian countries, and you’ll need a registered business and local fulfillment in most cases. Check the current list on the TikTok Shop seller page before you plan around it.
10. Earn commissions through affiliate marketing
Who can make money with this tactic: Creators
You don’t need your own merch to sell something on TikTok. You can just use affiliate marketing links to earn a percentage of the sale of other people’s products.
TikTok makes it easy to be an affiliate marketer, too. There’s an affiliate marketplace where you scope out interesting products that fit your vibe (and that your followers would love). You pick the ones you want to promote, add them to your videos, and collect a commission whenever people buy from your link.
Commission rates are set by the seller, so they vary a lot by category. Sellers on TikTok Shop commonly offer somewhere in the range of 5% to 30%, with higher rates on newer brands trying to build momentum and lower rates on established, high-volume products.
TikTok’s marketplace isn’t your only option, either. You can also promote products through external affiliate networks or direct brand affiliate programs and point people to your bio link, which is useful when the products you love aren’t sold on TikTok Shop.
If you already create content about camping, home repair, or skincare, why not add a product link and make a little profit in the process?
A monetization method that’s rapidly gaining in popularity is being a TikTok Shop affiliate. If a viewer taps the link to that product on your video and makes a purchase, you will earn a commission on the sale, typically ranging from 5% to upwards of 30%.
That’s according to Celia Quillian, Creator of @smartworkai, who uses Series, Subscriptions, and affiliate links to monetize her own TikTok presence.
11. Sell digital products or services
Who can make money with this tactic: Creators, brands, and businesses
TikTok doesn’t currently let you sell digital products directly on the app. So if you make money selling woodworking plans, educational e-books, photo-editing presets, and the like, you’ll need a workaround.
Start by building a digital storefront, like Shopify or something similar. Gumroad and Stan Store are also popular with creators because they’re built for exactly this: a simple checkout page you can link from a bio. That’s where you’ll handle the actual payment collection and delivery of your digital goods. Then you’ll include a link to your shop in your bio.
Digital products worth considering include templates and spreadsheets, Lightroom or CapCut presets, notion dashboards, e-books and guides, paid newsletters, and one-off services like audits or custom design work. The appeal is margin: you make it once and sell it repeatedly with no inventory or shipping.
The extra steps buyers take to complete a purchase aren’t ideal. But if you promote your storefront link in content and remind people to go to your bio, you can still generate some income from TikTok.
How to use TikTok ads to grow revenue
If you’re a business rather than a creator, TikTok is less about getting paid by the platform and more about using it to sell. You have two levers: paid ads and organic promotional content.
12. Run TikTok ads
Who can make money with this tactic: Brands and businesses
Sometimes, you’ve got to spend money to make money.
Whether you want to grow your TikTok following or drive traffic from TikTok to your brand’s site, sometimes organic views just don’t cut it. That’s where TikTok ads come in.
What’s cool is how TikTok’s ad platform is growing more and more robust by the year. There always seem to be new ways to attract viewers and encourage them to click on your ads.
Just take a look at these oversized deal links, for example.
13. Create organic promotional videos
Who can make money with this tactic: Brands and businesses
If you have products or services the TikTok world needs to know about, promotional videos that show them off are the perfect play.
Unlike ads, you don’t have to pay for these posts. All you need is a vibrant video of your products in action and a descriptive caption to close the deal (our free caption generator can help with that!).
Remember that these are organic posts from your account. You won’t have the benefit of ad targeting to get them in front of your audience. So optimize them for TikTok search and make them interesting enough that people want to watch.
How to sell your TikTok expertise
Knowing how TikTok works is a marketable skill in itself. Plenty of creators earn more from teaching the platform than from the platform.
14. Consult for brands
Who can make money with this tactic: Creators
If you’ve managed to crack the TikTok code and regularly create engaging content that delights audiences, why not use your special skills to help other brands do the same?
Liza Prigozhina, for instance, has parlayed her TikTok talents into a business as “the queen of New York real-estate TikTok.” Lizza gets paid to make videos for realtors and other clients.
Check out her account, it’s full of lifestyle and real estate content that shows off her creativity and competence on the platform.
Your TikTok account serves as a portfolio that demonstrates your content creation skills. Then, businesses will pay you to outsource their social media content to you, someone who knows how to appease the algorithm.
15. Coach other creators
Who can make money with this tactic: Creators
Instead of taking on social media for brands, create paid courses that teach new TikTokers how to grow their following.
There are several ways to monetize this strategy. You can place exclusive educational content behind a TikTok paywall. You can create a course through another platform, like email or Stan, and add a registration link to your TikTok bio.
Or, much like this coach, you can encourage followers to sign up for one-on-one training.
The strategy here is to give your audience plenty of free advice in your videos so they get a taste of what you offer.
That’ll grow your followers and get your videos on the For You Page more often. Then begin directing them to paid programs with much more valuable benefits.
Best practices for making money on TikTok
Picking a method is the easy part. Making it pay consistently comes down to a handful of habits that hold up regardless of which monetization features TikTok launches or retires.
- Pick a niche and stay in it: A clear niche makes you findable in TikTok search, easier for brands to categorize, and more likely to attract an audience that buys.
- Post consistently: Several monetization features require recent activity to stay eligible, and consistent posting gives you more chances at a video that performs.
- Optimize for watch time, not views: Qualified views depend on how long people stay. A video with 50,000 views and two-second retention earns less than one with 10,000 views people actually finish.
- Diversify your income streams: Programs change, algorithms shift, and single videos underperform. Stacking two or three methods smooths out the volatility.
- Use your analytics: Look at which topics, formats, and hooks drive completion and clicks with a TikTok analytics tool, then make more of those instead of guessing.
- Disclose sponsored content clearly: Use TikTok’s branded content toggle. It’s required by the platform and by advertising rules in most markets, and skipping it can cost you the partnership.
- Make your bio do the selling: A link-in-bio tool that routes people to your shop, tip jar, course, or affiliate picks turns attention into revenue.
Quillian’s advice on balance is worth borrowing here. She says the majority of the money she has made as a creator has come from sponsored videos, “because I care deeply about not promoting products I have not personally tried and found valuable to my audience,” while being “cautious to balance my sponsored content with non-sponsored, original content.”
FAQ: How to make money on TikTok
How many followers do you need on TikTok to make money?
How many views do you need on TikTok to make money?
How do you get paid on TikTok?
What’s the best way to make money on TikTok?
How much does TikTok pay per 1,000 views?
How do I set up my TikTok account to get paid?
How to earn $1,000 a month on TikTok?
Can you make money on TikTok without followers?
Is TikTok Shop worth it for sellers?
How much do TikTok brand deals pay?
Save time managing your social media marketing strategy with Hootsuite. Publish and schedule posts, find relevant conversions, measure results, and more â all from one dashboard. Try it free today.
