How to make money on Instagram Reels (as of October 2026)

Gifts only work on reels. Anyone, follower or not, can buy stars and send a gift to a reel they like, and only the creator sees which gifts arrived. Gifts are separate from badges, which pay creators during live videos, and Facebook Stars balances cannot be used for Instagram gifts.

Gifts and other Instagram earning tools follow the Content Monetization Policies. The first line to read is about unoriginal content: creators can only monetize content they created, were involved in creating, or directly feature in, and content reproduced without meaningful enhancements such as commentary, parody or creative editing cannot be monetized.

The policies also list restricted categories that may face reduced or disabled monetization: debated social issues presented in a polarizing way, tragedy or conflict, objectionable activity such as crime or substance abuse, sexual or suggestive content, strong language, and explicit content such as wounds or medical procedures. Instagram notes that some of these subjects can still be monetized when they are handled in an explicitly uplifting way.

• Not monetizable: content rated false by fact-checkers, disproven medical claims, reposts without meaningful enhancement
• May be reduced or disabled: debated social issues, tragedy, criminal activity, sexual content, strong language, explicit content
• Examples of meaningful enhancement: commentary, parody, creative editing

Instagram's creator blog says reels must be three minutes or less to be recommended. You can make reels up to three minutes, but longer videos will not be recommended to people who do not follow you. In the same post, Instagram says it is less likely to recommend reposts of a reel that is already on Instagram, content with noticeable watermarks, and accounts that regularly collect and reshare other people's content.

The Recommendations Guidelines say the same thing in policy language. Unoriginal content that is largely repurposed from another source with only minor edits and no added value counts as low-quality content and may not be recommended. You can check whether your account can be recommended in Account Status in the app, and request another review if you think it is wrong.

1. Keep reels at three minutes or less if you want them recommended.
2. Upload the original export, not a file downloaded from another app with its logo.
3. If you use someone else's footage, add your own angle through commentary, story or editing.
4. Check Account Status regularly to confirm your account can be recommended.

Gifts are easy to unlock but rarely large. Creators who earn real income from Reels usually combine brand partnerships with selling their own products. When a brand pays you or sends products for a reel, you should add the paid partnership label so viewers know, and the brand can then use that reel in ads.

Brands look for accounts that publish watchable reels on a clear topic, consistently. Narrow your category, such as cooking, travel, pets or reviews, and keep a steady format and schedule. Editing every reel from scratch makes that hard to sustain, which is where the next section comes in.

Add one long video to Shortsmith and it suggests three story angles, then builds a 1080×1920 vertical video from the angle you choose. A cut edit keeps the original audio, joins the key moments, and adds a title and question at the top and captions near the bottom. A script with AI narration adds commentary and a voice. Both add a question and a story order rather than simply trimming scenes, which brings them closer to what Instagram calls meaningful enhancement.

The image below shows frames from finished Shortsmith cut edits. The files contain no other app's logo, so you can post them straight to Reels, and if you connect your Instagram account in Shortsmith you can post them as reels from there. When you use other people's footage, pick videos licensed for reuse (such as CC BY) and credit the creator in your caption. Every example card on the Shortsmith home page shows its creator and license.

• Posting one video to Shorts, Reels and TikTok
• Shortsmith pricing and credits