TikTok has evolved far beyond short, fun videos. Today, it’s one of the world’s most powerful income-generating platforms — whether you’re a creator, expert, entrepreneur, or small brand.
But to actually earn consistent money on TikTok, you need more than just posting videos. You need a strategy, positioning, and a clear monetization plan that aligns with your audience and niche.
In this complete guide, you’ll learn how to make money on TikTok in 2026, how much creators actually earn, how to qualify for each method, and how to build a sustainable revenue ecosystem — even if you don’t live in Creator-Fund countries like the US or UK.
Let’s dive in.
Is it Actually Possible to Make Money on TikTok?
Yes, you can earn money with TikTok. If you are already a TikTok user, you must have realized that this platform has a great community of digital creators who grew online through it and have become famous in their niches.
Whether it's making challenge dances, get ready with me videos, recipes, and many other types of videos, they are paid by TikTok because of the number of views they get, and the platform is their primary income.
But that isn't the only alternative when it comes to making money on TikTok. You can use the platform to engage with your audience and sell more, participate in affiliate programs, and so on. In any of those cases, it's essential to get to know how TikTok works and be updated with its development.
Here’s why TikTok is such a powerful income source:
- Massive organic reach potential
- The algorithm rewards new creators
- Short-form content converts extremely well
- TikTok Shop + Live Shopping have become major sales engines
- Consumers trust TikTok reviews more than traditional ads
However, your earnings depend on:
- Your niche
- Your engagement rate
- The monetization method you choose
- The type of content you produce
- How well you convert your audience
How to Make Money on TikTok
1. TikTok Creativity Program (Creator Fund Replacement)
How to make money on TikTok - creators
If you want to invest in a career as a digital creator, TikTok is a great place to do that. With the TikTok Creativity Program, the platform pays you for the content you produce, but they need to have a high number of views
To be part of the program it's necessary to:
- Reside in a country in which Creativity Program Beta is available and do not use a VPN or other similar tool
- Have at least 18 years old.
- Have at least 100,000 video views in the last 30 days.
- Have at least 10,000 followers.
- Have an account that is compliant with TikTok Community Guidelines and terms of service.
As you may see by the requirements, it doesn't mean that you will start to get paid by TikTok once you start publishing videos. You will have to develop high-quality engaging content and build a community of followers.
Creators report that you can earn around US$0.03 to US$0.12 per 1,000 views, depending on the video and niche.
If the Creativity Program isn’t available in your country. The tip is to focus on external monetization streams (sponsorships, affiliate marketing, products, services). These usually pay much more anyway.
2. Produce Sponsored Content
If you already have a significant number of followers, you can partner up with brands and publish content sponsored by them. If a brand finds your profile interesting to advertise their products or services, they may pay you to make one or more videos talking about them.
When you scroll your feed on TikTok, probably you have already seen sponsored content. For example, when TikTokers show clothes from a specific store and link to their online store or promote the launch of a TV series.
Companies are realizing the potential of reaching a different audience with TikTok, and many of them are starting to make ads on the platform, and looking for creators who are aligned with their brand's identity to partner with them.
Developing content for a specific niche, posting regularly, and creating strategies to engage with your audience will help you to attract attention from brands. Add an email contact for partnerships in your bio. It's important to be professional, and create a media kit to present your work, including the numbers of views, comments, and followers to show your relevance.
You don't need to have millions of followers, micro-influencers are also valued in this market because they allow targeting a very specific audience. Numbers aren't the only thing that matter, but also how engaged your audience is.
Companies can pay you to:
- Review a product
- Create a challenge or trend
- Use their audio
- Feature their brand
- Mention their service
- Tell a story featuring their product
3. Promote Songs
Lip sync and dance videos are a huge success on TikTok, when songs go viral on the platform, the number of music downloads, concert tickets and merch sales increase as well. Musicians and record labels have realized the power of it, and pay creators to make videos with a specific song.
On the other hand, if you are a musician, you can put your songs available on TikTok, and get more people to know your song as they use it to record videos.
4. Sell Products through TikTok
Another way to make money on TikTok is to use it as part of your brand's marketing strategy and create a profile for your company. You can create videos presenting your products and service, and about other topics that are interesting to your target audience, and drive traffic to your ecommerce site, turning leads into customers.
How to make money on TikTok - TikTok shop
With TikTok Shopping, it's possible to sell the products directly in the platform through lives and in-feed videos.
The in-app checkout requires just few steps to finalize a purchase, which means higher conversion. With the live shopping, you can sell the products on real-time, and browsers become buyers instantly,
5. Make Part of an Affiliate Program
In an affiliate program, you gain a percentage of the sales that are made through the product or service link that you published on your website or social media, like TikTok.
Choose an affiliate program from a company that has to do with the type of content you produce and include the link on your TikTok bio. You can use several strategies to promote the product, such as:
- Show yourself using the product
- Show results or "before/after"
- Use storytelling
- Add your link in your bio or TikTok Shop
- Use high-converting CTAs
Where to find affiliate programs:
- Amazon Associates
- Shopee Affiliate Program
- TikTok Shop
- Impact / Awin / CJ Affiliate
6. Start a Patreon
People who like your content may be willing to pay a fee for having access to exclusive content. Considering that, many creators now give their followers the option to become a Patreon, which is a way to support their work, and unlock access to different types of benefits, such as:
- Public shoutouts
- Exclusive content
- Community access, such as being part of a WhatsApp or Telegram group with you
- Live chats and hangouts with you
- Receive exclusive merch
7. Live Gifts & TikTok Coins
You can make TikTok lives where you speak with your audience in real-time, and they can interact with you via chat. During the live, the viewers can send you gifts that worth money. There are several types of TikTok gifts that can be bought with TikTok coins, and converted to your currency after.
However, TikTok lives are only available for creators that have over 1,000 followers, are over 18 years old, and don't have any major TikTok community guideline strikes.
Some common TikTok live formats are:
- Q&A lives
- Makeup routines
- Photo editing/graphic design lives
- Music, dancing, creative sessions
- Behind-the-scenes product creation
- Selling products in real-time
How to Get Paid on TikTok by Being a Content Creator
In a platform where thousands of videos are published every day, it's necessary to think about how you can produce a type of content that will stand out among others, right? Visibility is one of the main factors in how to make money on TikTok.
It certainly is a big challenge, and it takes dedication to build a career on TikTok as a creator. You need to plan the videos, research your audience, and have the patience to get results. Although there are cases of creators that go viral with one video, that isn't always the case. Don't give up if your first videos don't perform well.
1. Be Yourself
This advice may be a cliche, but it's true. To captivate viewers they need to see some originality in your content, so be authentic. You may reproduce a challenge that was made by thousands of other people but put your personality on it.
The users don't want to watch a video that was made only to get viewers, they are looking for interesting, funny, original content, not a copy. If you search for some of the most popular TikTokers in the world, you will see that they work on having their own identity.
It doesn't mean that you have to reinvent the wheel but think of ways, details, to distinguish your videos from others. It may be a catchy phrase you like to use, the way to edit the TikTok videos, or how you talk, for example.
2. Be Up To Date With The Newest TikTok Trends
To know how to make money on TikTok, you have to understand the platform, and how content is consumed on it. The first step is to become a user, start following different profiles, search for the most relevant ones in the niche you wish to aim at and analyze the videos that are the most successful.
Keep up with the latest trends that arise in TikTok, and follow the news about this social media to know when they release a new feature, or if there is a change in the algorithm. Remember the digital world is in constant evolution, and that applies to TikTok as well, you must update yourself constantly.
3. Post Regularly
To keep your audience interested, and conquer new followers, it's important to maintain regularity in posting videos. Plan them in advance, and try to post one video per day, don't forget to add the main hashtags that are aligned with the subject of the content.
4. Find Your Niche
When it comes to conquering followers and an engaging audience, it helps to aim at a niche. Instead of producing content that's too varied, the tip is to focus on one area, for example, talking about k-pop, fashion, games, or tv shows.
The possibilities are endless, and by defining a niche, it becomes easier to identify who you are talking to and produce content that satisfies the demands of a specific group. Besides, you can invest in partnerships with brands from the sector.
For example, a TikToker that comments on basketball games can partner up with Nike because the brand knows it's likely their followers are interested in sneakers, and sportswear. You may build a qualified audience, which is a valuable asset for advertisement.
How to Choose the Best Monetization Strategy for You
If you have <5,000 followers:
- Affiliate marketing
- UGC work
- Selling services
- Digital products
If you have 5,000–50,000 followers:
- Sponsored posts (micro-influencers convert extremely well)
- TikTok Shop
- Affiliate marketing
- Digital products
If you have 50,000–500,000+ followers:
- Larger brand deals
- Launching your own product line
- Live Shopping
- Patreon / subscription models
How Much Does Popular TikTok Creators Gain?
Charli D'Amelio
How to make money on tiktok - Charli
With 144 million followers, Charli D'Amelio earns around $17.5 millions per year. She posts lots of lip sync videos, and has released her own line of beauty products.
Addison Rae
How to make money on tiktok - Addison
Addison Rae has more than 88 million followers, and an estimated annual earnings of $8.5 millions. She publishes videos about makeup, fashion, and lifestyle, and has her own makeup brand.
Khabane Lame
How to make money on tiktok - Khabane
Khabane Lame has gone viral with his videos making fun of items that are supposed to make some daily tasks more practical, like cutting vegetables or opening a can, but just complicate them. He has more than 146 million followers and earns around $ 5 million annually.
