Free tool · Creator payouts
CPM, flat fee or rev-share: which costs you less?
Enter one campaign and three ways to pay for it. See what each would cost if views come in low or high, where each one wins, and who carries the risk. For clipping, UGC and influencer deals.
Result
This calculator runs in your browser and needs JavaScript. The formulas are written out below, so you can also work them out by hand. How it's worked out
Fix the highlighted fields to see the result.
| Offer | If views come in low | If views come in high |
|---|---|---|
| Flat fee | ||
| CPM | ||
| Rev-share |
Where each offer wins
Who carries the risk
- Flat fee: you do. You pay the same for a post that flops and for one that takes off.
- CPM: shared. You pay for views, not customers, and views can be bought.
- Rev-share: the creator does. You pay only on revenue, but you need to know which customers each creator brought.
What to watch for
-
Bought views inflate CPM payouts
Under CPM a creator earns more from views that never buy, including bought ones. Cap the payout per post and check where the views came from before you pay.
-
Rev-share needs fair counting
Codes and links miss buyers who search for your app instead, so rev-share paid on codes underpays creators who really sell, and they notice.
-
Flat fees reward reach you can't check
Book a flat fee on a creator's recent views per post, not their follower count, and rebook only when the posts brought paying customers.
-
Mix the offers
Many teams pay a small base plus CPM with a cap, or a base plus a share. Run the numbers for each part here.
How it's worked out
- Flat fee: number of posts × fee per post.
- CPM: number of posts × pay per 1,000 views × views per post ÷ 1,000, with each post capped if you set a cap.
- Rev-share: number of posts × base fee + share × revenue per paying customer × paying customers, where paying customers = posts × views per post ÷ 1,000 × your paying customers per 1,000 views.
- The crossover between CPM and the flat fee is fee ÷ pay per 1,000 views × 1,000 views a post. The low column uses your low views and low guess; the high column uses the high ones.
Questions
What is a normal CPM for creators?
It depends on the platform, the market and the niche, and published rates change often. Use this page to find the CPM at which a deal stops paying off for you, then negotiate from there.
Is CPM or a flat fee better for clipping campaigns?
CPM keeps cost in line with views and suits many small accounts; a flat fee suits a creator whose views per post are steady. Either way, judge the result on paying customers, not views.
How do I pay rev-share without promo codes?
You need to know which customers each creator brought. WhichPost measures that from your Stripe or RevenueCat data with its own models, built in-house, with no links or codes, and gives each creator a likely range you can agree a payout on.
Get the measured answer for your campaign
A calculator tells you what a post needs to bring. WhichPost tells you what each creator really brought: connect Stripe or RevenueCat with a read-only key, add the posts you paid for, and see paying customers per creator, each with its likely range and a call to rebook, test again or pause.