What Is the Instagram Reels Bonus?
A Reels bonus is money Instagram or Facebook pays invited creators for how their reels perform. On Instagram bonuses are invitation-only and time-limited.
Meta has run several bonus programs for reels. Instagram’s creators page (read 29 October 2026) says its bonuses pay creators based on how their reels and photos perform, carousels and single-image posts included, and that they are time-limited and only available by invitation. It gives no amounts and no criteria for an invitation.
On Facebook, the Performance bonus ended on 31 August 2025 together with in-stream ads and Ads on Reels, and its place was taken by content monetization, which pays invited creators for performance.
For a creator, a bonus is not something to apply for: Meta invites, sets the terms of each offer and decides what is paid. Tips Instagram gives for bonus content are its tips for any reel: relatable humour, a reason to comment and a hook in the first seconds.
Bonus offers are separate from the money fans give directly. On Instagram that is Gifts, paid at US$0.01 per Star, and subscriptions; on Facebook it is Stars and subscriptions. Those have published rules and anyone eligible can turn them on, while a bonus exists only for the creators Meta chooses, for as long as Meta runs it.
How Instagram pays creators
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