How to Make Money on Pinterest in 2026
Pinterest doesn't pay for views. It sends people somewhere else, and the money is made at the other end of the click.
How to make money on Pinterest comes down to sending clicks somewhere that pays. Pinterest doesn't pay creators per view as of October 2026, so income comes from affiliate links on Pins, paid brand partnerships, and selling your own products or content through Pins that link to a store, blog or newsletter. Pinterest itself says it doesn't facilitate payment for these.
That makes Pinterest different from TikTok or YouTube. There is no ad share and no view fund. A Pin earns when someone clicks through and buys, signs up or reads, and the payment comes from the retailer, the brand or your own customer.
Making money on Pinterest is a traffic business. Every Pin can carry a destination link, people save Pins to boards that keep surfacing in search for months, and the money is made after the click. Pinterest's creator site, create.pinterest.com, lists the routes it supports: tagging products, adding affiliate links so you earn commission when people click through and shop, and paid partnerships with brands. It also states that Pinterest does not facilitate payment for monetization programs, so the cheque always comes from someone else.
That explains why the advice around Pinterest income is mostly advice about traffic. How to increase Pinterest traffic covers how saved Pins keep sending clicks, and it is the engine under every method below.
An audience still matters in one place: brand deals. A brand deciding whether to pay for a Pin looks at the profile first, and the follower count is the first number on it. Pinterest followers add to that public count with nothing but your profile URL. They don't send traffic, and they don't make a Pin rank in search; the clicks still have to come from Pins people find.
Does Pinterest pay creators?
Not for views or engagement, as of October 2026. Pinterest ran a Creator Rewards program that paid creators for hitting monthly goals with Idea Pins, and closed it on November 30, 2022, saying it would focus on other creator programs. There has been no per-view payment since.
What Pinterest does run is a grant program. The Pinterest Inclusion Fund, announced again on July 21, 2026, gives accepted creators grants for content production plus training and coaching. Applications for the 2026 cohort closed on August 4, 2026, it covered ten countries including the US, Canada, the UK and India, and it was aimed at creators new to Pinterest. It is a selective program, not income anyone can switch on.
So the honest answer to whether Pinterest pays creators is: Pinterest pays a small number of selected creators through grants, and everyone else earns through the click.
Can you make money on Pinterest without a blog?
Yes. A blog is the classic destination, but it isn't required. The destination only has to be somewhere a click can turn into money:
- A retailer's product page through an affiliate link. You earn commission on what the visitor buys, and no site of your own is involved.
- Your own shop. A store on any e-commerce platform, a print-on-demand shop or a marketplace listing can be the link behind a Pin.
- Digital products. Templates, printables, presets and courses sell well from Pinterest because people come there to plan and make things.
- A newsletter or a YouTube channel. The Pin sends readers or viewers, and the money is made where they land.
Why the destination decides everything
A Pin with a great image and a weak destination earns nothing, because Pinterest only does the first half of the job. How to post on Pinterest covers the destination link field and the text fields that get a Pin found.
How does affiliate marketing work on Pinterest?
You join an affiliate program run by a retailer or a network, get a tracked link for a product, and put that link on a Pin. When someone clicks the Pin and buys, the program pays you a commission. Pinterest's creator site describes this directly: tag Pins with affiliate links to earn commission when people click through and shop.
Three rules keep it working:
1. Disclose it. Pinterest's commercial content guidelines require transparency about commercial links, and affiliate programs and US advertising rules require disclosure too. Say it in the Pin description.
2. Link to the product, not a maze. A Pin that promises one lamp and opens a homepage loses the click and breaks the trust that made the save happen.
3. Make the Pin useful on its own. Affiliate Pins that teach something, compare options or show a finished room get saved; Pins that are only a product photo with a link compete with the retailer's own catalogue.
Paid brand deals are a different track. When a brand pays you for a Pin, Pinterest's paid partnership tool adds a label naming the brand once they approve it. As of October 2026, Pinterest's help center says the tool is only in the mobile app, takes one brand per Pin, and can't be added after the Pin is published.
How many followers do you need to make money on Pinterest?
There is no follower threshold for affiliate links, product tags or selling your own things. A brand-new account can add an affiliate link to its first Pin.
Followers matter less on Pinterest than on almost any other platform, because most people meet Pins through search and recommendations rather than through who they follow. How to get followers on Pinterest explains why a profile can get large traffic with a modest following.
Where followers do count is the brand deal. Brands pick creators partly by the profile, and the follower count is the most visible number on it. They also ask for analytics, so a creator pitching a brand should be ready to show outbound clicks and saves, not just followers.
One setting to check first: Pinterest lets you make a profile private under Settings, Profile visibility. A private profile can't be found by the strangers every method here depends on.
Do Pinterest views pay?
No. Impressions, Pin views and saves are free to collect and earn nothing on their own. They are useful as signals of what to make more of, and as proof for a brand that your Pins reach people, but no program converts them into money as of October 2026.
The number that relates to income is outbound clicks: how many people left Pinterest for your link. How to see how many views a Pinterest post has shows where Pin stats live and which ones matter. A Pin with large impressions and few outbound clicks is being seen and skipped, and that's a problem with the image or the promise, not with Pinterest.
Can you sell products directly on Pinterest?
You can sell through Pinterest, with the sale finishing on your own site. Businesses connect a product catalogue to a business account, and the products appear as product Pins with price and availability that link to the product page. Pinterest's Verified Merchant Program adds a badge and extra shopping placements for merchants that meet its requirements.
Creators without a catalogue use product tags instead, tagging items that appear in their own Pins so people can shop them.
Either way, Pinterest is the shop window, not the till. Checkout, payment and delivery happen at the store. That's the same pattern as every other method in this guide: Pinterest supplies the visitor with intent, and the money changes hands one click later.
All Pinterest services, including Pinterest followers for the public count on a profile pitching brands, are listed on the Pinterest page.
Questions people ask about making money on Pinterest
How do beginners make money on Pinterest?
Start with affiliate links on useful Pins, or Pins that link to something you sell, such as a printable or template. Neither needs followers. Track outbound clicks to learn which Pins send buyers.
Does Pinterest pay you for views?
No. As of October 2026, Pinterest has no per-view payment. Its Creator Rewards program, which paid for meeting goals, closed on November 30, 2022.
Is the Pinterest Creator Fund still running?
Pinterest now runs the Pinterest Inclusion Fund, a selective grant program. The 2026 round was announced on July 21, 2026 and closed to applications on August 4, 2026.
Can you put affiliate links on Pinterest?
Yes. Pinterest's creator site says you can tag Pins with affiliate links to earn commission. Disclose the commercial link and send people to the product page, not a homepage.
Do you need a business account to make money on Pinterest?
A business account is free and gives you analytics and catalogue tools, which most earners use. Affiliate links and paid partnership labels are features for creators, and the paid partnership tool works in the mobile app.
How long does it take to make money on Pinterest?
Usually months, not days. Pins gain traffic slowly as they are saved and resurface in search, so income builds as a library of Pins with good destinations grows.
Keep reading
- Pinterest followers — When a brand checks your profile before a deal, Pinterest followers add to the public count with just your profile URL.
- How to increase Pinterest traffic — Saved Pins, destination links and the clicks every method depends on.
- How to see views on a Pinterest Pin — Where Pin stats live and why outbound clicks matter most.
- How to get followers on Pinterest — Why search does most of the work on Pinterest.