Types of Influencers: Nano, Micro, Mid-Tier, Macro and Mega (Follower Counts and Costs)

There are five types of influencers by follower count. Nano influencers have roughly 1K to 10K followers, micro influencers 10K to 100K followers, mid-tier influencers about 100K to 500K followers, macro influencers 500K to 1M followers (or 100K to 1M in guides with no mid-tier band) and mega influencers more than 1M followers. Platforms don’t define these tiers; rate guides and data vendors do, and their lines differ. Influencer Marketing Hub and Later’s 2026 guides skip the mid-tier, Later’s 2025 Instagram report used 100K to 500K, and HypeAuditor uses 50K to 500K, so check which bands a quote or report uses.

Prices climb steeply by tier. As of October 2026, Influencer Marketing Hub’s planning ranges put a TikTok video at $50 to $200 for nano creators, $200 to $800 for micro, $800 to $5,000 for macro and $5,000 to $50,000 or more for mega. Its Instagram ranges run from $10 to $100 for nano up to $10,000 or more for mega, and its macro floor is $5,000 on Instagram but $800 on TikTok. Later’s 2026 baselines are higher at the small tiers, and paid usage or whitelisting typically adds 30 to 50 percent.

Engagement depends on how it is measured. In HypeAuditor’s 2024 data, Instagram engagement was 1.73% for nano accounts, 0.68% for micro, 0.54% for mid-tier, 0.61% for macro and 0.68% for mega, so the big drop comes after nano. Measured by views on TikTok, Socialinsider’s 2025 benchmarks are much flatter, from 4.40% for the smallest accounts to about 3.95% for accounts with 100K to 1M followers. Reach moves the other way: those large accounts averaged 34,900 views per video, against 350 for accounts with 1K to 5K followers.

Follower count is only one way to classify creators. UGC creators make videos for a brand’s own channels and ads, so their audience barely matters. Brand ambassadors post over months, affiliate creators earn commission through links or codes, and customers, employees and experts bring trust that reach alone can’t buy. Celebrities are usually mega tier, and virtual influencers are computer-generated personas run by a studio or brand. For many campaigns, what the creator makes and how they relate to the brand matter more than the size of their audience.

To choose, name one goal, pick the type of creator before the tier, set the tier from the goal and budget, decide how many creators you can manage, then vet each one on fit and median views rather than the label. On Aurelia, a brand posts one campaign and creators of any size apply, with no follower minimum. Application questions can screen by follower range, Aurelia’s picks rank applicants by fit with the brief, pay is set per creator, contracts are written from the campaign, and Aurelia pays each creator once the brand approves their work.