Who Takes a Cut? Creator Platform Fees and Payout Times Compared (2026)

Creator platform fees range from 0% to 20% of each job as of October 2026. Insense, Billo, soona UGC, Influee and Social Cat take nothing from creator pay, Collabstr takes 15% of each sale, Aurelia takes a 10% creator fee that is already taken out of the take-home shown before a creator applies, JoinBrands takes 20% on its free plan or 15% on its $49.95-a-month Premium plan, Fiverr's help pages describe 20% including tips, and Upwork's fee is 0% to 15% per contract. Platforms where creators set their own price tend to take a cut from the creator, while platforms that set the task price mostly charge the brand instead.

Fees are easier to compare as dollars. On an illustrative $300 job a creator receives $300 on a 0% platform, $270 at 10%, $255 at 15% and $240 at 20%, before PayPal or bank fees. To keep $300 in hand on a platform where you set prices, quote the target divided by one minus the fee: about $353 at 15% and $375 at 20%. JoinBrands Premium cuts the fee by five points, so it only pays for itself above roughly $999 of monthly earnings, or $825 on the annual plan.

The most useful question to ask any platform is who holds the brand's money and what releases it. Collabstr, Insense, Billo, soona UGC and Influee collect from the brand before or when the creator is hired and pay after approval. Social Cat and Instagram's creator marketplace leave payment to the brand directly, so creators need a written agreement. #paid pays on a fixed calendar 30 days after the work. Escrow protects against a brand disappearing but not against slow approvals, revision loops or broad usage rights.

Payout timing varies widely. soona UGC pays to PayPal as soon as work is approved and auto-approves after 168 hours. Billo moves approved pay to Stripe within three days and pays out every Monday. Influee pays five to ten days after approval. Insense withdrawals take about four business days to PayPal and seven to a bank. Collabstr gives brands 72 hours after submission to request a revision. Fiverr holds earnings for a clearance period, and TikTok One Pay is reported to pay within 30 days of posting.

Usage rights are the cost that never appears in the fee column. JoinBrands tells brands they acquire unlimited usage rights, Insense grants brands perpetual digital rights once content is approved, soona UGC promises full licensing, Cohley gives perpetual universal usage, and Backstage's standard license is exclusive for six months of paid ads and twelve months organic. Creators should price those defaults into their work, read reviews on two sources with sample sizes, and never pay a deposit to unlock jobs or earnings.

On Aurelia, brands post campaigns and creators apply, and the whole job runs in one place: offer, agreement, shipping, feedback and payment. Aurelia charges a 10% creator fee as of October 2026, already taken out of the take-home shown before a creator applies, so a $400 campaign pays the creator $360; brands pay their own fee on top of the creator budget, so a $3,000 creator budget costs the brand $3,300 and creators receive $2,700. Every campaign also shows the product, the usage rights and the deadline up front. The brand pays in its creator budget before a paid campaign goes live, the money is held until the work is approved, and creators are paid to their bank automatically when the brand approves their work. Approved work is always paid, even if the brand cancels the campaign afterwards; a brand can cancel at any point and get its campaign budget back, minus the platform fee. Creators own their content, revisions stay inside the brief, and Aurelia sets no follower minimum: brands see applicants ranked by fit with their brief, not follower count.