The Instagram creator marketplace, called Meta Creator Marketplace in Instagram's Help Center, lets brands find creators and message them about paid partnerships. To join, you need a public professional account, an age of 18 or over, at least 1,000 followers and agreement to Meta's partner monetization policies. Brands pay you directly, not through Instagram.

What is Meta Creator Marketplace, and what do brands see?

Meta Creator Marketplace is a two-sided tool: creators join from the Instagram app, and brands search for creators in Meta Creator Marketing Hub, which opens inside Meta Business Suite or Ads Manager. Brands can discover creators through personalized recommendations, send and receive partnership requests, and manage campaigns from there.

Once you join, Instagram says brands can see the content you have posted, insights such as your average reach and number of followers, and message you directly. You can add a creator portfolio with a cover image, text about your work, posts and Reels, and the profiles of people or brands you have worked with. It is visible only to you until you change its visibility, and Instagram adds badges for your responsiveness and your partnership ads experience. You can also name up to ten preferred brand partners, and the ones that take part will see you in a suggested list of interested creators.

Who can join the creator marketplace?

You can join the creator marketplace if you are 18 or over with a public professional account of at least 1,000 followers, and you agree to Meta's partner monetization policies. A professional account is a Business or Creator account, and it cannot be set to private. Instagram's Help Center, read on 12 October 2026, says the marketplace is available to eligible creators worldwide, in all countries where Meta advertising operates. It is not available in Crimea, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria or Russia.

Meta's Business Help Center carries the same four requirements. Both pages add that the feature may not be available to you yet, so meeting the requirements does not guarantee the option appears.

How do I join the Instagram creator marketplace?

Join from the Professional dashboard: tap Branded content, then Join creator marketplace. In full:

  1. On your profile, tap Professional dashboard.
  2. Tap Branded content, then Join creator marketplace.
  3. Tap Accept to make information about you and your insights visible to brands and let them message you in a Partnership messages folder.
  4. Tap Accept changes, then review and accept the Terms.

If you qualify, Instagram may also invite you. Tap Accept invite at the top of your profile or in your feed, then Next and Join now. If you dismiss the invitation, the same option stays under Branded content in your Professional dashboard.

To leave, go to Professional dashboard, Branded content, Partner discovery settings, tap the three dots, choose Opt out of creator marketplace and confirm. You can rejoin at any time.

Where do brand messages from the creator marketplace arrive?

They arrive in a Partnership messages folder at the top of your Instagram inbox. The folder appears when you receive your first partnership message. It holds messages from eligible brands that contacted you through the marketplace, including project invitations, and you reply inside the app.

A project shows four things: what the campaign is about, the content to create (reels, posts, live videos or stories), the date to post and the offered payment. Each detail is either negotiable, which means the brand may adjust it for individual creators, or fixed, which means you can discuss it but not change it. You can also browse projects yourself: in Professional dashboard, Branded content, tap View available projects, then I'm interested, and a brand that wants to work with you can invite you through Partnership messages.

Accepting a project means agreeing to post the content described for the offered payment, and the brand cannot change anything after you accept. To count a post toward a project, choose the project when you add the paid partnership label, using Add a brand from a project. To tell a real offer from a fake one, read how to check Instagram collab messages, and to start the conversation yourself, see how to DM a brand for a collaboration.

How do I get paid through the creator marketplace?

The brand pays you directly, not through Instagram or Facebook. Instagram's Help Center says payment structures differ: some creators get a flat rate or gifted products, others are paid per piece of content based on a campaign's performance, and creators can be paid more if their content is used in an ad. Agree where and how the brand will pay before you accept. When the brand marks the project as paid, the project page shows the amount you earned.

Instagram for Creators suggests bringing data to the negotiation, such as your number of followers and the average likes, views, comments and shares on your organic content and past branded content. It also says the paid partnership label is required for anything you receive from a business partner, whether it is money or otherwise. Neither Instagram nor Meta publishes rates for these projects in the pages we read, so we give none.

Brands also hire through sign-up platforms outside Instagram, and brand deal platforms compares what six of them ask for.

Where this stops working

  • Joining does not promise messages. Instagram's pages describe how brands can find and contact you and give no figure for how many do.
  • Availability varies by account. The Help Center says the feature may not be available to you yet, even when you meet the requirements.
  • Old country lists are out of date. Meta's newsroom post of 21 February 2024 described a US launch and an expansion to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Japan, India and Brazil. The Help Center now says worldwide, with six places excluded, so use the current page.
  • There are no earnings figures here. Pay is agreed between you and each brand, and Instagram publishes no typical amounts.
  • We did not read the Terms you accept at joining. Read them before you tap Accept.

Now you know what the marketplace asks for, how brands reach you and who pays you. If brands also comment under your posts asking for your rates, a comment-to-DM reply can send your media kit link the moment they do.

Sources

Read on 12 October 2026: