Every content creator hopes their time and effort will turn into steady income. Social media platforms now offer several ways to earn, but payouts can vary widely from one platform to another. So, which social media platform pays the most today? This guide breaks down the top platforms for creator earnings using recent data and also explains practical ways to increase revenue without adding extra workload.
Let’s dive in.
YouTube pays the most overall due to strong ad revenue sharing and multiple income options.
TikTok offers fast growth and early monetization, but payouts per view are lower than YouTube.
Instagram does not pay per view, but brand deals can be profitable for creators with engaged followers.
Facebook and Snapchat can generate good income, especially for video creators with the right audience.
Live streaming platforms like Twitch and Kick earn mainly through subscriptions, not views.
Using more than one platform helps creators build steadier income instead of relying on a single source.
What Is Social Media Monetization
Social media monetization means earning money from your content on platforms that pay content creators. Each network offers different ways to earn, like ad revenue, creator funds, or brand deals.
The highest paying social media platform for you depends on your content type and audience. For example, long-form video creators often favor YouTube’s ad revenue, while short-form influencers might thrive on TikTok’s funds or Instagram’s sponsorships. We’ll explore the paid social media platforms and see which is the most profitable social media platform for content creators today.
Top Platforms and Their Payouts
Not all platforms pay per view, but here is how the best social media platforms for content creators stack up in 2026:
YouTube
YouTube is widely regarded as the best social media platform to make money. It has a robust ad revenue sharing model. Creators earn about $1–$5 per 1,000 views on average through the YouTube Partner Program. Top YouTubers can make significant income from ads, channel memberships, Super Chats, and more. Its long-form videos allow multiple ads, so there’s no hard cap on earnings per video. YouTube offers the highest paying social media platform ecosystem for many creators.
TikTok
TikTok is the short-form video sensation. It doesn’t pay as much per view as YouTube, but it has huge viral potential. Through the TikTok Creator Fund (and new Creativity Program), creators earn roughly $0.02–$0.04 for every 1,000 views. That comes out to only a few dollars for a million views. However, TikTok’s strength is viral reach, so a single viral video can garner millions of views fast. TikTok also offers brand partnerships, live gifts, and its shopping features for additional income.
Surveys show many creators (around 30%) consider TikTok the platform that “pays the best,” likely because it’s easier for newcomers to monetize quickly. For smaller creators, TikTok can be one of the most lucrative social media platforms early on.
Facebook offers several monetization methods, including in-stream ad breaks on videos, Stars (virtual tips from fans), subscriptions for supporter-only content, and brand collabs. Facebook’s ad payouts vary widely. Creators report anywhere from ~$1 up to $20 per 1,000 views on Facebook, with a typical range around $8–$10 per 1,000 views for ad-supported videos.
The payout per view depends on content niche and audience. Facebook has a massive audience and an established social media monetization program, but it hasn’t been as creator-centric as YouTube. Still, it ranks among the best paying social media platforms due to its large ad revenue pool.
Instagram doesn’t pay creators for views directly like YouTube or Facebook do. There is no built-in ad revenue share for regular posts. Instead, Instagram monetization relies on brand sponsorships, affiliate marketing, and bonuses. Creators collaborate with companies for sponsored posts, often earning $10–$100 per post for 1K–10K followers as a baseline (larger influencers can command much more).
Instagram has introduced features like Badges (tips on Live videos) and Reels Play bonuses, but those programs are limited. In short, Instagram can be very profitable if you secure brand deals. However, as a platform it’s not the highest paid social media platform in terms of direct payouts. (Many creators actually use their Instagram to funnel followers to YouTube or other platforms that pay per view.)
Snapchat
Snapchat isn’t usually the first platform creators think of for income, but its Spotlight feature can pay big for viral content. Snapchat Spotlight was famously paying out $1 million per day to creators in its early launch. Today, Snap’s payouts are performance-based and less predictable, but top Spotlight videos can still earn thousands. On average, Snapchat’s bonus program has been estimated to pay around $0.10–$0.30 per 1,000 views for Spotlight snaps.
That means a video with 1 million views might net $1,000–$3,000 in bonus cash, far higher per-view than TikTok. The catch is that you only get paid if your Snap is among the most engaging of the day. There’s no follower requirement to hit a jackpot, making Snapchat arguably one of the easiest social media to make money if you can create a viral hit. Outside of Spotlight, Snap has limited direct monetization, so consistency is hard.
Twitch
Twitch is primarily a live-streaming platform, and its monetization works a bit differently from feed-based social networks. Twitch doesn’t pay per “view” in the same way YouTube or TikTok do. Instead, creators earn through viewer subscriptions, donations, Twitch Bits and ads. The main income on Twitch is from subscriptions: when a viewer subscribes to a streamer’s channel (typically $5/month for a Tier 1 sub), the streamer usually gets a 50% cut, so about $2.50 per subscriber per month. Top streamers or those in special agreements can get a 70/30 split, but most affiliates/partners are on the 50/50 model.
This means a streamer with 1,000 paying subs is earning roughly $2,500 monthly from subs alone. In addition, Twitch does offer ads on streams – these work on a CPM (cost per mille) basis like YouTube. Advertisers pay roughly $3–$6 per 1,000 ad views on Twitch on average, and the streamer gets a share of that (Twitch recently has given incentives like $3.50 per 1k ad views to streamers).
In practice, ad earnings on Twitch vary widely; they depend on how many ads a streamer runs and how many viewers are watching those ads (many fans use ad-block or Twitch Turbo to avoid ads). For instance, a streamer averaging 1,000 concurrent viewers might make on the order of $10–$20 in ad revenue per hour with a few minutes of ads, far less than what the same audience could generate via subscriptions or donations.
Read More: How to Set Up Donations on Twitch
Kick
Kick is a newer live-streaming platform (launched in 2023) that has drawn attention for its extremely generous creator payout model. Kick’s standout feature is its 95/5 subscription revenue split, creators keep 95% of a subscriber’s fee, which is virtually unheard of in the industry. For a standard $5 monthly sub on Kick, the streamer retains $4.75, whereas on Twitch they’d get roughly $2.50 from the same sub.
This means, in theory, a streamer can earn almost double the subscription income on Kick for the same number of subs compared to Twitch. Kick’s philosophy is to be more creator-friendly, likely to attract streamers away from Twitch. In addition to subs, Kick has recently introduced advertising, though details of ad payouts aren’t well-publicized yet; the platform is still new, so most monetization is via subs and donations. Kick also touts lower payout thresholds and faster pay periods, making it easier for small creators to get their money out.
Read More: Kick vs Twitch: Which Is Best for Streamers
X (Twitter)
Twitter (now called X) only recently introduced a creator monetization program, and the payouts are relatively low compared to the other platforms discussed. X’s creator program shares a portion of ad revenue from ads displayed in the replies to your tweets, but to qualify you must be a subscribed (Blue verified) user with at least 5 million tweet impressions in the past 3 months.
For those who do qualify, the earnings are about $5–$10 per million impressions on your tweets. In other words, ~$0.005–$0.01 per 1,000 impressions is a typical rate from X’s ad revenue sharing. One report estimated roughly $85 for 1 million tweet views in some cases, but in general creators have observed something closer to single-digit dollars per million impressions. This is orders of magnitude lower than what YouTube pays per million views, for example. Even a viral tweet with 10 million views might earn under $100 in ad share on X.
Pinterest is quite different from the other platforms in that it does not offer significant direct payouts for views. As of 2026, Pinterest does not have an open ad-revenue sharing program akin to YouTube’s or a robust creator fund like TikTok’s. In the past, Pinterest experimented with a Creator Rewards program that paid some creators for completing content goals, but that program was discontinued.
Nowadays, Pinterest’s focus is on driving traffic and sales, rather than paying creators per impression. Successful Pinterest creators often monetize by leveraging the platform’s ability to send viewers to external websites or products. For example, a food blogger might post recipe pins that drive traffic to their blog (where they earn ad revenue or sell a cookbook), or a fashion influencer might use affiliate links in Idea Pins to earn commission on sales.
Pinterest Affiliate marketing and brand partnerships are the primary ways to make money on Pinterest. A creator might partner with a brand to showcase a product in a pin, or use Pinterest to build an audience that they then monetize via an online store or sponsorships.
Comparison of Creator Earnings by Platform
To recap, here’s a quick comparison of platforms that pay content creators and how they pay on average:
Maximizing Your Revenue (Don’t Stick to Just One Platform)
So, which social media platform pays the most? The truth is, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. YouTube leads in overall creator earnings and is the top choice for full-time income. TikTok offers rapid growth and decent money through brand deals. Facebook and Instagram have huge audiences and monetization tools that some creators leverage successfully. Snapchat can surprise you with a big payout if you go viral.
Smart creators know that the most profitable social media platform is often a combination of platforms. By diversifying your presence, you can earn from multiple sources. For example, you might run a YouTube channel for ad revenue, while also posting on TikTok and Instagram to attract sponsorships and drive traffic to YouTube.
Multistreaming is one powerful strategy to maximize reach and revenue. Instead of choosing one platform, you can go live on all major platforms at once. Using a multistreaming tool like OneStream Live lets you expand your reach, boost view counts, and maximize payouts. If you’re streaming a show or event, OneStream Live lets you broadcast simultaneously to YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitch, LinkedIn and more.
More viewers on more platforms = more opportunities to earn. In fact, creators who multistream tend to grow 3–4 times faster in audience size, which directly translates to faster monetization. By going live everywhere, you’re not leaving any money on the table.
Just think about it, you host a weekly live Q&A. Using OneStream Live, you send it to YouTube (earning ad revenue and Super Chats), Facebook (where fans can send Stars), and Twitch (where subscribers and bits add income). At the same time, you maintain your presence on Twitter (X) and LinkedIn for additional exposure.
This multistream approach means your content works harder for you, and you earn from every corner of the internet at once. As OneStream’s motto suggests, more reach leads to more engagement, which leads to higher monetization and “larger…earnings”.
Final Thoughts
YouTube remains the platform that pays the most overall to content creators. But that doesn’t mean you should ignore the rest. TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat each offer unique paths to profit. The best social media platform to make money will depend on your content style and audience.
Many creators do better by using more than one platform instead of relying on just one. Choose platforms that match your content type, such as videos, photos, or live streams, and use the monetization options each platform provides.
If you stream live, OneStream Live lets you stream to multiple platforms at the same time, so your content reaches a wider audience and you can earn more without extra work.
FAQs: Which Social Media Platform Pays the Most
YouTube still pays the most overall because long-form ad revenue, memberships, and brand deals add up to more than any other platform.
YouTube is the best all-around platform for creators because it rewards consistency, search discovery, and long-term content value.
Seventy percent value content, twenty percent shared or curated content, and ten percent direct promotion keeps your audience from tuning out.
YouTube has the highest average payout per creator due to stable CPMs and multiple monetization layers.
Thirty percent educational, thirty percent entertaining, and thirty percent promotional keeps your feed balanced and profitable.
The four types are nano, micro, macro, and mega influencers, defined mainly by audience size and reach.
OneStream Live is a cloud-based live streaming solution to create, schedule, and multistream professional-looking live streams across 45+ social media platforms and the web simultaneously. For content-related queries and feedback, write to us at [email protected]. You’re also welcome to Write for Us!
