Instagram Live badges let viewers buy hearts during your live video to support you, and Instagram's badges help page says you can use them if you are 18 or older, run a professional (creator or business) account and meet Meta's monetisation policies, with no follower minimum of its own beyond the one Instagram sets for going live. A separate country page limits hosting Lives with badges to creators living in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil, France, Italy, Turkey, Spain, Mexico, Japan and Australia.
For viewers, badges take a couple of taps. For creators there is a country rule, a payout account, a per-supporter cap, a supporter list that expires and payout rules that two Meta pages state differently. This guide works through each from Meta's own pages, then gives you a session plan for running a Live that thanks supporters fairly and stays moderated.
What a badge gives the viewer, and what you see
When someone buys a badge, a heart appears next to their name in the comments for the rest of that Live. Instagram's page on using badges in a Live lists the levels as one heart at $.99, two hearts at $1.99 and three hearts at $4.99, and the creator page on badges gives the same steps in US dollars.
Supporters can buy several badges in one Live. According to the badges help page, a plus sign next to the special heart shows the running total, a supporter who buys 3 or more badges gets a profile photo that glows purple, and payments from any one supporter are capped at $250 per live video. You are notified about purchases and can spot top supporters by the number beside their username.
Badges also change how comments and questions reach you. You can pin a supporter's comment so everyone sees it, and in the Q&A box the questions from people who bought the most badges move to the top of your queue, an ordering supporters themselves cannot see. After the Live, the same help page says the list of supporters for that video stays available to you for up to 90 days.
Badges belong to Live only. Viewers who want to support your reels use a different product with its own currency and payout rule, explained in our guide to Instagram Gifts for creators.
Who can host a Live with badges
Two layers of rules apply: the general rule for going live at all, and the badge rules on top of it.
| Requirement | What Meta says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Going live at all | Only users with a public account and 1,000 followers or more can start a Live broadcast | Instagram Live help |
| Age | 18 years or older | About badges |
| Account type | A professional account, either creator or business | About badges |
| Followers for badges | No badge-specific minimum is listed; the going-live threshold above still applies | About badges |
| Policies | Meet the Partner Monetization Policies and stay compliant with the Community Standards and Content Monetization Policies; accounts that mainly post content focused on children are not eligible | About badges |
| Where you live | United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil, France, Italy, Turkey, Spain, Mexico, Japan or Australia | Badge countries |
| Where supporters live | Badges can be bought and sent by supporters in most countries, though badges are not enabled for all creators | Badge countries |
Many third-party guides still quote a follower minimum for badges, add a minimum number of streaming hours, or describe badges as limited to the US. None of those appears on the current Meta pages above, which name a list of hosting countries and no badge-specific follower or hours requirement. Instagram's badge set-up page also warns that the feature may not be available to you yet, and the country page says badges are not enabled for all creators, so the professional dashboard remains the check that counts.
Setting up badges
Instagram's guide to earning with badges on Live now keeps set-up short. Before you begin, you need a professional (creator or business) account and a payout account set up in the Instagram app. Badges are then switched on from the Live camera:
- Open the Instagram camera and toggle to Live.
- Tap Badges.
- Go live: badges are now enabled for that video.
Earlier versions of the same page put a monetisation application in the professional dashboard before this step, and the help centre still lists applying for monetisation among its badge questions. If your dashboard shows an Apply for monetization prompt or a Set up badges notification, finish it before your first badge-enabled Live. The guide also warns that content breaching the Content Monetization Policies may be flagged as ineligible, and that individual violations can disable badges for that video and for future Lives.
The payout account is shared with Instagram's other earning tools, and its set-up deadlines and earnings caps apply to badges too. Our gifts payout walkthrough covers those deadlines in detail.
Badge setup checklist
- The account is public, professional and above the follower threshold Instagram sets for going live.
- You live in one of the hosting countries, and your account details reflect that.
- The professional dashboard shows badges as available to you, with no monetisation restrictions or unfinished prompts.
- The payout account is complete, including the payout method and tax details.
- You have decided whether this Live will use badges, and know where the Badges option sits in the Live camera.
- A Live title is written, and a goal is ready to pin as a comment once you start.
- A moderator has agreed to join, using a different account from any co-host.
- You know where to switch off comments for the whole Live if it turns hostile.
- A Thank you sticker story is planned for after the Live.
Live session plan template
Instagram's badge tips cover the basics: ask supporters in Stories what they want before you go live, remind viewers at the beginning, middle and end that badges are on, pin a goal, and thank supporters during the Live and afterwards with the Thank you sticker. The plan below puts those tips in order and adds a moderation job for each segment.
| Segment | What you do | Supporter acknowledgement | Moderation task |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before the Live | Schedule the Live or post a story with a countdown sticker; ask what viewers want covered | None yet; note topics regular supporters asked for | Brief the moderator on what gets removed and when to remove a viewer |
| Opening | Go live with your title set; pin a comment introducing the session and its goal | Say once that badges are on and entirely optional | Assign the moderator after they join; they must accept the request |
| Main content | Deliver the segment you promised: a tutorial, a behind-the-scenes look or a discussion | Thank new supporters by username at natural pauses, using the same words for everyone | Report abusive comments, turn off commenting for repeat offenders, remove viewers who persist |
| Midpoint | Give a short recap for late joiners and share progress towards the pinned goal | Second reminder that badges are on; no pressure on anyone who has not bought | Check that the pinned comment and goal are still accurate |
| Q&A | Answer questions from the Q&A box | Supporters' questions surface first; also answer some from non-supporters so the Live never feels pay-to-talk | Skip and report questions that break the rules rather than reading them out |
| Close | Final reminder, collective thank-you, and the date of the next Live if you have one | Thank all supporters together; mark a milestone if the goal was reached | Stay until the Live ends to catch late problems |
| After the Live | Share the replay as a reel or keep it in your Live archive; review earnings under Badges in the dashboard | Post the Thank you sticker in Stories; supporters are notified so they can see it | Open Review moderator actions and decide on blocks, follower removals or hiding future Lives |
Write your acknowledgement rules down before the first badge-enabled Live, so they do not change with your mood or the size of a purchase:
- Thank people for supporting, not for the amount they spent.
- Never offer private contact, off-platform content or anything else Instagram's rules would not allow in return for badges.
- Keep every shout-out suitable for a general audience, because a Live can be watched by anyone you have not restricted.
- Do not single out viewers who have not bought anything.
- If someone seems to be spending more than they can afford, thank them once and move the conversation on rather than encouraging more.
How badge money reaches you
Instagram's revenue page for badges says creators currently receive 100% of badge revenue minus applicable taxes and fees, that Google and Apple deduct 30% of in-app purchases, and that Instagram receives no portion of those fees. The badges help page puts the same point as an Instagram revenue share of 0%. Both describe the current position rather than a promise, and the Badges Purchase Terms reserve Instagram's right to change badge prices.
On timing, Meta's pages disagree. The badges creator page answers the first-paycheck question by saying you are paid once you have earned at least $100. Instagram's general payouts page, which covers badges alongside other tools, says payments go out around the 21st for the previous month, with a minimum balance of $5 in the US and, elsewhere, $100 for wire transfers or $25 for other payout methods. The payouts page is the more detailed and general statement, so plan around it, and check the Payouts section of your dashboard for the threshold that applies to your account.
During a Live you can tap View to see earnings in more depth, and afterwards your total badge count sits under Badges in the professional dashboard. The purchase terms also explain the buyer's side: access to the badge experience is immediate, the buyer waives any statutory cooling-off refund, and a buyer blocked by you or Instagram for breaching the terms is not refunded.
Moderating a badge-enabled Live
Instagram's page on assigning a Live moderator allows one moderator per broadcast. They must be watching the Live when you assign them, they must use a different account from your co-host, and they have to accept before they can act. A moderator can report a comment, remove an account from the Live (it cannot rejoin that video but can watch future ones) and turn off commenting for an account, whose comments then stay visible only to that account. To swap moderators, remove the current one and assign another.
When the broadcast ends, Review moderator actions lets you block a viewer, remove them as a follower or hide future Lives from them. About Instagram adds that viewers posting comments similar to ones previously reported as offensive receive a warning, that you can switch off all comments from the comment field after the Live starts, and that you can bring in up to 3 co-hosts who follow each other.
Promotion before the Live matters as much as moderation during it. A broadcast channel is one way to tell your most engaged followers when you will be on, as our guide to launching an Instagram broadcast channel explains. For a general preparation checklist, see the livestream run sheet, and if you also stream on OnlyFans, its own features are covered in our OnlyFans livestreaming guide.
Limitations of this guide
Everything above comes from Meta help pages, the Instagram creator site and the Badges Purchase Terms as they read on 1 October 2026. Hosting countries, eligibility rules, set-up steps, prices and fees can all change, and the payout threshold example shows that Meta's own pages are not always consistent. Your professional dashboard reflects what actually applies to your account.
The session plan is a planning aid, not a prediction of results: no figure here estimates how many viewers will buy badges or what a Live will earn. Badge prices are quoted in US dollars as Meta lists them, and the amount you receive also depends on app store fees and taxes. For questions about how badge income is taxed where you live, ask a registered tax agent or accountant.