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Facebook doesn’t pay you just for posting. It pays through specific programs, each with its own rules and eligibility bar — and plenty of the money people make on Facebook comes from Marketplace buyers, brands and affiliate partners instead. Facebook paid creators nearly $3 billion in 2025, a 35% increase from the year before, according to Meta’s newsroom.
This breaks down every real way to make money on Facebook, what you need to qualify, how the payout works and where the money comes from. For plenty of people, it starts as one of many side hustles.
There are two broad paths:
Most people who make steady money on Facebook combine several of these. If you’re also building an audience elsewhere, the same approach works when you make money on YouTube or make money on Instagram. Below is the full breakdown of both paths.
| Method | What you need to qualify | How you earn | Who pays you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Facebook Content Monetization | An invitation from Meta, or acceptance into Creator Fast Track | A share of earnings based on how your content performs | Meta |
| Creator Fast Track | 20,000+ followers on Instagram, TikTok or YouTube and no Facebook reel in the past six months | $3,000 a month for three months, based on your follower count | Meta, monthly |
| Stars | 500 followers for at least 30 consecutive days | 1 cent for every Star a fan sends | Meta |
| Subscriptions | 10,000 followers or 250+ return viewers, plus an engagement or watch-time bar | A monthly fee from each subscriber | Meta |
| Brand deals | A Page or professional mode profile — no follower minimum | Whatever you negotiate | The brand |
| Affiliate links | A Page or professional mode profile and an account with each affiliate program | A commission on sales | The affiliate program |
| Facebook Marketplace | A Facebook account | Your sale price, minus a 10% fee on shipped orders | The buyer, in person or through Facebook’s checkout |
| Your own products or services | Nothing from Meta | Whatever your platform doesn’t take | Your store or payment platform |
If you read an older guide, you’ll see programs called In-stream ads, Ads on Reels and the Performance bonus. In October 2024, Meta announced it was merging all three into one program, Facebook Content Monetization, and said the new program would eventually replace them, according to Facebook for Creators.
Meta also tightened its rules on reposted content in 2026. It now deprioritizes unoriginal content in Feed and Reels and says accounts that keep posting mostly unoriginal content may lose monetization. Content you film or produce yourself counts as original. Reuploading someone else’s post, or making small edits like adding borders, captions or a speed change, doesn’t, according to Meta’s newsroom.
Facebook doesn’t have a single application like YouTube’s Partner Program. Each program has its own entry rules, and some are invite-only.
Across its creator programs, Meta generally requires that you:
Meeting every requirement doesn’t guarantee access. Meta sends invitations in waves for some programs, so check the Monetization tab in your Professional Dashboard to see where your account stands.
What it is: Meta’s main creator payout program. You earn money based on how your eligible public Reels, longer videos, photos, text posts and Stories perform.
What you need: An invitation. Meta says the program is invite-only and that it plans to offer open enrollment in the near future. Invitations come through official channels like the Facebook app, email, Meta Business Suite and your Professional Dashboard.
How to get on the list: Meta lets you express interest. In the Facebook mobile app, open your Professional Dashboard, tap the Monetization tab, then Content Monetization and fill out the interest form.
How the money works: Earnings depend on the engagement, views and plays your eligible content receives. Meta doesn’t publish a fixed rate, but your dashboard shows three metrics that help you track earnings:
Worth knowing: Every format counts, but Reels earn the biggest share. Meta says 60% of its 2025 creator payouts went to Reels, with the rest going to Stories, photos and text posts, according to Meta’s newsroom.
What it is: A three-month program, launched March 18, 2026, that pays established creators a flat monthly amount to post Reels on Facebook. It’s built for people who already have an audience somewhere else.
What you need: According to Meta’s Creator Fast Track page, you must:
How the money works: Your monthly payment depends on your follower count on Instagram, TikTok or YouTube:
| Followers on your other platform | Monthly payment |
|---|---|
| 20,000–99,999 | $450, based on Meta’s evaluation of your social presence |
| 100,000–999,999 | $1,000 |
| 1 million or more | $3,000 |
What you have to do: Post 15 eligible Reels a month on Facebook, uploaded on at least 10 separate days. They have to be public, your own original work and not already posted on Facebook. You can reuse Reels you’ve already shared on other platforms, and there are no Facebook view counts to hit.
The long-term payoff: You get immediate access to Facebook Content Monetization with no waitlist, and you keep that access after the three months end. In some countries, you can also earn an affiliate bonus of $150 or more across the three months by connecting an affiliate account and adding affiliate links to your Reels.
Don’t skip this: The six-month rule means posting even one Facebook reel before you apply can disqualify you. If you think you might qualify, apply first.
What it is: Fans buy Stars and send them to you on your Reels, live videos, photos, text posts and Stories.
What you need: At least 500 followers for 30 consecutive days, compliance with Meta’s Partner Monetization Policies and Community Standards and residence in a country where Stars is available. You also have to agree to Meta’s Stars terms.
How the money works: Meta pays you 1 cent for every Star you receive, according to Facebook for Creators. So 1,000 Stars equals $10.
Best for: Creators with an engaged audience who interact in comments and on live videos. It’s the lowest-barrier way into Meta’s payouts, but most creators treat it as a tip jar, not a paycheck.
What it is: Followers pay you a monthly fee for perks you choose, like a subscriber-only Facebook Group, exclusive live videos or behind-the-scenes content.
What you need: A Page in an eligible country, including the US. Your Page needs 10,000 followers or 250 or more return viewers, plus one of the following in the last 60 days, according to Facebook for Creators:
If your Page isn’t already using a Facebook monetization tool, Meta reviews it against its Partner Monetization Policies first. Your Page has to pass that review before you can turn on subscriptions.
Why it matters: Subscriptions are recurring. Your income doesn’t depend on how many people see a given post that month.
None of the income streams below route through Meta’s creator payout programs. The money moves directly between you and a brand, an affiliate program or a buyer.
That’s why none of them require an invitation or a follower minimum. You can start any of these today to make extra money.
What it is: A brand pays you directly to feature its product in a post, Reel, Story or live video.
What you need: A Page or professional mode profile, and compliance with Meta’s Branded Content Policies, Partner Monetization Policies, Content Monetization Policies and Community Standards. Meta doesn’t list a follower minimum for branded content. In practice, brands want to see an engaged audience in a clear niche before they pay.
Meta’s rules still apply: Meta asks you to use the Paid partnership label on branded content so your followers know about the deal.
How brands find you: You can join Meta’s Creator Marketplace, where brands look for creators to work with. Plenty of creators also land deals by being approached directly, working with an agency or pitching brands themselves.
How to earn more from one deal: A brand can pay to run your branded post as a partnership ad, which reaches people beyond your followers. Meta tells creators to negotiate higher pay when a brand wants those extra usage rights.
How you’re paid: Directly by the brand — a flat fee, free product, a performance-based fee or a mix.
What it is: You share a product link from an affiliate program and earn a commission when someone buys through it.
What you need for Facebook’s built-in affiliate tools: Meta says you must be at least 18, have a Page or professional mode profile, follow its Branded Content Policies and Partner Monetization Policies and be registered as an affiliate with a participating partner. Partners vary by country.
How it works: You can search partner programs by product name or category and see commission rates before you add products to your post. Your tagged products show up as an affiliate banner, so your audience can get from your content to a product page in one click.
How you’re paid: Directly by the affiliate program, on its schedule.
What it is: Selling items — from furniture and clothes to electronics — to buyers in your area or, when shipping is available, across the country.
What you need: A Facebook account. There’s no follower count, invitation or Page required.
How the fees work: Local sales where the buyer pays you in person don’t go through Facebook’s checkout, so there’s no Facebook selling fee. Shipped orders paid through Facebook’s checkout carry a selling fee of 10% per order, with a $0.80 minimum, deducted from your payout, according to Facebook’s Help Center.
Quick example: A $50 item you ship costs you a $5 selling fee, leaving $45 before shipping supplies. The same item sold locally for cash leaves you the full $50.
Best for: Decluttering and quick cash. If you need money this week rather than this year, it’s one of the fastest ways to make $500 fast. Meet buyers in a public place for local sales.
Worth knowing: Selling your own used stuff for less than you paid isn’t taxable income. Reselling for a profit is. See the tax section below.
What it is: Coaching, courses, handmade goods, digital downloads, local services — anything you sell to your audience, with Facebook as your marketing channel.
What you need: Nothing from Meta. You promote your offer on your Page, in Groups you run or in your posts, and take payment through your own store or payment platform.
How you’re paid: Directly through your platform, on its schedule.
Why it works: You keep whatever your platform doesn’t take, and it doesn’t depend on a follower threshold. A small, trusting audience — like a local Group you run — can support real income this way. If you’re selling physical products, it’s worth comparing bank accounts built for e-commerce businesses.
There’s no single number, and Meta doesn’t publish a standard per-view rate. Here’s the simple version.
Four factors move Content Monetization earnings the most, based on what Meta says it rewards:
| Factor | What it means |
|---|---|
| Originality | Meta gives original content more reach and deprioritizes reposts and lightly edited copies. |
| Qualified views | Only views that meet Meta’s criteria count toward earnings, and your dashboard shows why others don’t. |
| Engagement and watch time | Meta says it’s putting more weight on deeper engagement and longer watch time. |
| Format | Reels drew 60% of Meta’s 2025 creator payouts. |
For Meta’s own programs, earning money and getting paid aren’t the same day.
For anything outside Meta’s programs — brand deals, affiliate links, Marketplace sales and your own products — the brand, program, buyer or store sets the timing.
Once money starts coming in from several places, keeping it separate from your personal spending makes tracking income and expenses much easier at tax time. Here’s how to open a business bank account. And if income from Facebook is uneven month to month, it’s worth knowing which cash advance apps work for gig workers before you need one.
Two rules apply no matter where the money came from:
You’re not stuck waiting for an invitation. Marketplace sales, affiliate links, brand deals and selling your own products all work at any follower count, because none of them route through Meta’s creator payouts. Stars unlock at 500 followers.
The catch is that most of these depend on people trusting you enough to buy. Marketplace is the exception — buyers care about the item, not your follower count — which makes it the quickest place to start. The same logic applies across most ways to make money online.
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