How to Make Money on Pinterest: 6 Realistic Ways
You can make money on Pinterest, but almost never by being paid for pins themselves. Pinterest is a traffic source. Income comes from what that traffic does next: buys something you recommend, buys something you sell, reads a page that earns ad revenue, or hires you.
Below are six realistic ways to earn from Pinterest, what each needs, and the Pinterest rules that apply. Every one of them depends on the same foundation: pins that people find in search and want to click. If you're new to that, start with our guide to getting traffic from Pinterest.
The Six Ways Compared
| Method | You need | Income depends on | Good first step |
|---|---|---|---|
| Affiliate marketing | Affiliate programme; ideally a site | Clicks that turn into purchases | One gift guide or comparison page |
| Your own products | A shop (Shopify, Etsy, Amazon, etc.) | Product pins that convert | Pins for your five best sellers |
| Digital products | A product and a sales page | Sales page conversion | A free sample that leads to the paid product |
| Blog traffic | A blog with ads or offers | Page views and RPM | Several pins per top post |
| Pinterest services | Skills and a portfolio | Clients | Manage one account well as a case study |
| Brand partnerships | An engaged audience in a niche | Brand budgets | A media kit with real results |
1. Affiliate Marketing
Recommend products and earn a commission when people buy through your link. Pinterest allows affiliate links, with rules: original content, transparency about the commercial nature of your pins, and no repetitive or high-volume affiliate pinning. Our Pinterest affiliate marketing guide covers the rules, disclosure, and pin formats in detail.
2. Sell Your Own Products
If you already sell physical products, Pinterest is one of the most natural traffic sources, because people plan purchases there. Mix product pins with idea pins (gift guides, styled rooms, outfit ideas) that link to products and collections. See our store guides for Shopify stores and Etsy sellers.
3. Sell Digital Products
Templates, printables, planners, presets, and courses do well on Pinterest because they match searches like “budget planner printable” or “wedding timeline template”. Pins can link to a store such as Gumroad or Etsy, or to your own sales page. A useful free sample that leads to the paid version is often the best first pin.
4. Monetize Blog Traffic
Many bloggers use Pinterest as a main traffic source and earn from display ads, affiliate links in posts, and email sign-ups. The work is creating several fresh pins per post and covering the whole archive, not just new posts.
5. Offer Pinterest Services
Businesses pay for Pinterest help: account setup, pin design, keyword research, and ongoing management. Freelancers and virtual assistants often start by managing one account well and using the results as a case study. Our page on Pinterest scheduling for virtual assistants covers running multiple client accounts.
6. Brand Partnerships
Brands sponsor creators to make pins featuring their products. Pinterest's commercial content guidelines require paid partnerships to be clearly disclosed, for example with #ad or Pinterest's paid partnership label, and they prohibit paying people to save pins in bulk. This model depends more on an engaged audience than the others.
What to Avoid
- Get-rich-quick promises. Pinterest's community guidelines prohibit promoting exploitative financial practices, including get-rich-quick schemes.
- Mass-produced pins. Repetitive, high-volume pinning of the same links is the behaviour Pinterest's spam policy targets.
- Buying engagement. Paid saves, follows, or pin-for-pin schemes are against Pinterest's rules.
- Misleading pins. A pin that promises something the page doesn't deliver loses clicks and trust.
Honest expectations
Pinterest income is usually slow to start and grows with consistent publishing. We don't publish income figures because results vary enormously by niche, effort, and model.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Pinterest pay you for pins?
Not directly for ordinary pins. Most people earn from Pinterest indirectly: commissions on affiliate links, sales of their own products, ad revenue from blog traffic, client work, or brand partnerships. Pinterest has run creator programmes in some markets, so check Pinterest's creator resources for what is currently available where you live.
Can you make money on Pinterest without a website?
Yes. You can link pins to affiliate products directly where programmes allow it, to your shop on a marketplace such as Etsy, or to a digital product page. A website gives you more options and makes income less dependent on one platform.
How long does it take to make money on Pinterest?
There's no reliable timeline. Pinterest traffic usually builds over months of consistent publishing, and income follows traffic. Treat claims of fast Pinterest income with caution; Pinterest's own guidelines prohibit get-rich-quick schemes.
Do I need a lot of followers to make money on Pinterest?
Not for traffic-based income. Pinterest works like a search engine, so pins can reach people who don't follow you. Followers matter more for brand partnerships.
Pick One Model and Build Traffic First
Choose the income model that fits what you already have: products, expertise, a blog, or recommendations you trust. Then spend your first months on the part every model shares: consistent, keyword-led, fresh pins that send people to pages worth visiting.
Keep the pins coming without the busywork
Pin Generator turns your posts and product listings into pin designs and schedules them across your boards, so traffic keeps building while you work on the rest.
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