How Many Followers Do You Need to Make Money on TikTok?

Most TikTok earning features start at 1,000 followers. LIVE Subscriptions and TikTok Shop affiliate (in the US) both require 1,000 followers, and you must be 18 or older. The Creator Rewards Program, which pays for video views, needs at least 10,000 followers and 100,000 video views in the last 30 days.

Follower count is only one condition. Age, country, account standing and the type of content you post all decide whether a feature is available to you, and TikTok can change these rules by region.

TikTok Money Features and Their Requirements

Sources: Creator Rewards requirements from TikTok Newsroom; LIVE Subscriptions from TikTok Newsroom; TikTok Shop creator eligibility from TikTok Shop Academy (US); LIVE hosting and LIVE Gifts from TikTok Support.

Can You Make Money on TikTok With 1,000 Followers?

Yes, in several ways. At 1,000 followers and 18 or older you can usually offer LIVE Subscriptions, and in the US you can apply to TikTok Shop as an affiliate creator and earn commission on products you promote.

1,000 followers is also the number most creators associate with going LIVE, but TikTok says it applies a local minimum rather than one worldwide figure. Our guide to how many followers you need to go LIVE on TikTok explains the details.

If you are still working towards that number, see how to get your first 1,000 TikTok followers.

How Many Views Do You Need to Make Money on TikTok?

For the Creator Rewards Program, you need 100,000 video views in the last 30 days to qualify, alongside 10,000 followers. Because the window is the last 30 days, views from a video that went viral months ago do not count towards it.

Once you are in the program, earnings are based on qualified views, not all views. TikTok says qualified views are unique views from the For You feed and exclude views under five seconds, paid views and fraudulent views. TikTok does not publish a fixed rate per 1,000 views.

Our guide on how TikTok video views are counted explains the difference between the public view count and qualified views.

Can You Make Money on TikTok Without Followers?

Mostly not through TikTok's own programs, which usually start at 1,000 followers or more. You can still earn from TikTok skills without a large audience:

• Make videos for brands to post on their own accounts (often called UGC). You are paid for the content, not your reach.
• Use TikTok to send customers to your own product, service or shop. Sales do not depend on a follower minimum.
• Work with smaller brands directly. Some value a niche, engaged audience more than a big follower count.

Be careful with offers that promise money for watching or scrolling TikTok videos. None of the creator programs above pay you for watching, and these offers are a common route to scams.

Do Your Followers Need to Be Real?

For the features that pay you, yes. Creator Rewards requires an account in good standing and counts only qualified views, and TikTok excludes fraudulent and paid views from them. Followers who never watch your videos will not help you reach 100,000 views in 30 days.

Our guide on whether buying TikTok followers affects FYP reach or account safety covers what TikTok says about fake engagement and why a higher follower number does not make an account eligible on its own.