How to Get Paid on X in 2026: Requirements and Payouts

You get paid on X through Original Content Rewards, the programme that replaced Creator Revenue Sharing on 7 September 2026. To apply you need an active X Premium subscription, at least 500 verified followers and at least 500,000 Home Timeline impressions from verified users in the last 90 days, and once you're in, X pays every two weeks when you've earned at least $30.

That's the whole answer in two sentences, but the detail underneath is where most creators trip up. Here's the bit most guides miss: the impressions that get you in only count if they come from verified users on the Home Timeline, and the impressions you're paid on only count if they come from Premium users. Everything below is taken from X's own help pages, read on 2 November 2026.

What X pays creators for now

Original Content Rewards pays for original, high-quality content in any format: a post, an Article, a video or an image. X calls the thing it pays on qualified impressions. A qualified impression is a unique impression from a Premium user (Premium Basic, Premium, Premium+ or Premium Business) on the Home Timeline, where at least 50% of the post is visible on screen.

Some views don't count at all. X excludes the same account seeing a post more than once, paid or promoted impressions, and anything artificially generated or fraudulent. So a viral post that mostly travels through replies, ads or accounts without Premium can look huge in your analytics and still earn very little.

X doesn't publish a rate. There's no per-impression figure on its help page and no example of what anyone has earned, so treat any number you see quoted elsewhere with caution. I've gone through what's known about payouts in my guide to how much X pays for views.

If you were in the old programme, it ended on 7 September 2026 and you'll need to apply again; the dates and final payouts are in what happened to X Creator Revenue Sharing.

Original Content Rewards requirements

X says you need all of these at the point you apply. Miss one and you won't get through.

Requirement	What X says	How to check
Country	Based in an available country	Look for your country on the list on X's page, then confirm in Creator Studio
Age	18 or older	The date of birth on your account
Account standing	Account in good standing	No current suspension, and monetisation not paused for a past violation
Account type	Personal or Business account; political and government organisations aren't eligible	Your account settings
Subscription	Active X Premium, Premium+ or Premium Business, or a Plus, Premium, Super or Ultra plan on The X Subscription	Your subscription has to be active when you apply
Impressions	At least 500,000 Home Timeline impressions from verified users in the last 90 days, replies excluded	X checks this when you apply; replies don't count
Followers	At least 500 verified followers	Total followers don't matter, only verified ones
Activity	Actively posting original content	Regular posts of your own work, not reposts

Two of those rows catch people out. The impressions test ignores replies, so reply-guy growth doesn't help you qualify. And the follower test only counts verified followers, which is a much smaller number than the one on your profile for most accounts.

How to apply, step by step

Check your country against the list on X's page and confirm it in Creator Studio before you spend anything.
Make sure your subscription is active. Without Premium, Premium+, Premium Business or a qualifying plan on The X Subscription, you can't apply.
Open Creator Studio and go to Original Content Rewards. Former Revenue Sharing members can check their status in the same place.
Submit your application. Meeting every requirement doesn't guarantee you a place: X reviews each application.
Set up your payout account if you haven't already. US creators are paid through X Money; everyone else needs a Stripe payout account and Stripe ID verification.
If you're rejected, you get one appeal. If the appeal fails, you can reapply after 42 days.

Former Revenue Sharing members get a head start here: X says your existing ID verification and payout method carry over. The one group that can't enrol at all right now is accounts whose monetisation was paused for a past violation.

Getting paid: the payout account and the $30 threshold

Payouts go out every two weeks, and the minimum payout is $30, as of November 2026. If you haven't reached it in a cycle, you wait until you do.

How the money reaches you depends on where you're based. In the US, X pays through X Money. It's one X Money account per person, tied to your Social Security number, and one X account per X Money account, so you can't route several X accounts into the same one. I've covered how that account works in my explainer on X Money.

Outside the US, you need a Stripe payout account and you'll go through Stripe ID verification. That's true whether you're in the UK, Canada, Nigeria, India or South Africa. To withdraw, X's page says to message @Subscriptions.

What counts as original content

This is the rule that decides whether your posts earn anything at all. X doesn't count any of these as original:

Copied content, including anything downloaded from X or another platform and uploaded again.
Minimally modified content: a word or two changed, a filter added, the speed changed or a text overlay dropped on top.
Aggregated compilations that don't add a substantial new perspective.
Cross-platform reposts by someone other than the creator.

Commentary that adds your own perspective does count. So reacting to a clip with your own analysis is fine; reuploading the clip with a caption isn't.

What makes a post or an account ineligible

Some content earns nothing even when it's yours. X lists these as ineligible:

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Anything exclusively about monetisation coaching, monetisation discussion or maximising payouts. Yes, that includes threads about how to get paid on X.
Posts made by automated means.
Sexually explicit or harmful content, and disinformation.
Posts carrying a helpful Community Note.
Anything else that breaks X's rules.

Staying eligible is its own list. You have to stay subscribed, keep posting original content, use no bots or automation to inflate engagement, and avoid engagement solicitation, which X describes as repeatedly asking people to like, reply, bookmark, follow or repost. That last one rules out the "like and repost if you agree" sign-off a lot of accounts rely on.

There's also an AI rule. From 3 March 2026, AI-generated videos of armed conflict posted without an AI disclosure get a 90-day suspension, and a repeat is permanent.

Which countries are on the list

The Original Content Rewards list is the old Revenue Sharing list plus Brazil, Georgia, Gibraltar and Kazakhstan. The list on X's page includes the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, India, Philippines, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Mexico, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, among others.

Pakistan isn't on it, and nor are China or Russia. There's no workaround I'd recommend, and borrowing someone else's account or address breaks the rules you've just read. The list on X's page is published as an image, so confirm your own country in Creator Studio before you pay for anything.

My verdict on getting paid on X

I'd check two things before anything else: that your country is on the list, and that you've got at least 500 verified followers. Skip paying for Premium until you know you'd qualify on both, because the subscription costs money and approval isn't guaranteed. You'll find the current figures in this rundown of the X Premium price.

If you do qualify, the work is simple to describe and hard to fake: post your own material, add your own perspective when you comment on other people's, and stop asking for likes. Never buy followers or verification to cross the line. It's the fastest way to end up with an account X won't pay at all.

Frequently asked questions

How do I get paid on X in 2026?

Apply to Original Content Rewards in Creator Studio. You need active Premium, at least 500 verified followers and at least 500,000 Home Timeline impressions from verified users in the last 90 days, and X reviews every application.

Is Creator Revenue Sharing still running?

No. Creator Revenue Sharing sunset on 7 September 2026, and X's help page says to apply to Original Content Rewards in Creator Studio to keep earning.

What's the minimum payout on X?

The minimum payout is $30, paid every two weeks. US creators are paid through X Money, and creators elsewhere need a Stripe payout account with Stripe ID verification.

Do replies count towards the impressions requirement?

No. The 500,000 impressions have to be Home Timeline impressions from verified users, and replies are excluded.

Can I get paid on X from Pakistan?

Not at the moment. Pakistan isn't on the list on X's page, and nor are China or Russia. Check Creator Studio for the current list before paying for Premium.

What happens if X rejects my application?

You get one appeal. If that appeal fails, you can reapply after 42 days.

Published and maintained by the Lilach Bullock team, covering marketing, AI and business growth.