Byline: Kelvin Mark, Manager, IndianSMMServices.com — Published September 8, 2026

Quick answer: Threads crossed roughly 400 to 450 million monthly active users in 2026 and Meta finally switched on ads for every user worldwide during the week of January 26, 2026. None of that ad revenue flows to individual creators. Meta's own Threads creator bonus program ended around March 2025 and has not been replaced. The people actually making money from Threads in 2026 are doing it off-platform: brand deals negotiated by direct message and contract, affiliate links and promo codes, and cross-promotion into an Instagram or YouTube account that does have a working payout system. A credible follower base is still the entry ticket to that first brand conversation, which is why buying an initial Threads follower base remains one practical, low-risk lever inside a strategy that otherwise depends on genuine posting.

The Threads Number in 2026: Bigger Than X, Paid by Nobody

Threads is no longer the also-ran app that launched in July 2023 as an emergency X alternative. Third-party trackers place monthly active users somewhere between 400 million and 450 million in 2026, and one comparison data set puts Threads' mobile daily active users at roughly 141.5 million against X's 125 million — meaning Threads has already overtaken X on at least one meaningful daily-usage measure, even though X still leads on raw monthly reach at an estimated 557 million. Year-over-year mobile usage growth is reported at around 128 percent, which is the kind of number that gets a platform taken seriously by media buyers, even one still finding its monetization footing.

The audience is also unusually favorable for a panel serving Indian and global sellers: India accounts for roughly 32 percent of Threads downloads, the single largest country share on the platform, ahead of Brazil at around 22 percent and the United States at around 16 percent. Three out of four Threads users follow at least one business account, according to Meta's own advertising materials cited in coverage of the ad rollout — which tells you the audience is primed to engage with brands, even if Threads itself has built no mechanism to pay the creators bringing brands that attention.

What Actually Happened to the Threads Creator Bonus Program

Meta did run a native payout program for a while. A Threads creator bonus scheme existed through 2024 and into early 2025, giving a subset of creators direct payments tied to engagement, similar in spirit to Facebook's and YouTube's own bonus schemes. It was wound down around March 2025 and, as of this writing in September 2026, has not been replaced with an ongoing revenue-share or pay-per-view program. This is the single most important fact for anyone approaching Threads with a monetization mindset in 2026: the absence of a creator fund is not a rumor or an old complaint, it is the current, confirmed state of the platform, roughly a year and a half after the bonus scheme ended.

That puts Threads in a different category from platforms this panel has already covered where a real, if imperfect, native payout mechanism exists — Facebook's Content Monetization Program pays out through an RPM-based revenue share, and Telegram's Ad Platform runs a 50 percent revenue share funded by Stars. Threads has neither. Anyone building a Threads strategy in 2026 needs to plan around that gap rather than wait for Meta to close it.

The Ads Rollout Trap: More Ads on Threads Does Not Mean Creators Get Paid

Here is the trap specific to Threads in 2026, and it catches a lot of creators who half-follow platform news: Meta expanded Threads advertising to every user globally in the week of January 26, 2026, after an announcement on January 21, following a slower testing rollout that started with select markets in January 2025 and reached all eligible advertisers by April 2025. Carousel and catalog ad formats were added in October 2025. Ads now run through Meta's Andromeda ad-delivery system, the same AI infrastructure behind Facebook and Instagram targeting, and campaigns include Threads placement by default unless an advertiser manually opts out.

It is tempting to read "Threads now has ads everywhere" as "Threads now pays creators," because that is how the story played out on YouTube and, more recently, on Facebook and TikTok. It has not played out that way here. Ad revenue on Threads flows to Meta and to the advertisers buying reach, not into a creator revenue-share pool. Meta has stated ad delivery on Threads will "initially remain low" as the auction matures, which means even the platform itself is not promising a near-term flood of ad dollars, let alone a creator-facing share of them. Treat any claim that Threads ads automatically translate into creator income as unverified until Meta actually announces a program saying so.

The Threads Revenue Reality Ladder

Because there is no single "Threads monetization" switch to flip, it helps to think in rungs, from what the platform itself provides up to what a serious operator builds around it.

Rung 0 — What Threads pays directly: nothing. No creator fund, no ad revenue share, no bonus program, as covered above. Build nothing on the assumption this changes soon.

Rung 1 — Followers and engagement as a credibility asset. A new Threads account with a handful of followers reads as unproven to a brand scrolling through pitch DMs. This is the one rung where a purchasable service maps directly: an initial, gradually-delivered follower base removes that first-glance objection while genuine posting does the actual work of building reply engagement, which is the metric brands actually weigh most heavily (see the next section). IndianSMMServices.com's live services catalog lists a real Threads follower package (Threads Followers, real delivery, up to 5,000 per order, gradual daily delivery, priced at roughly ₹827 per 1,000 followers at the time this was checked); treat this as one input into credibility, never as a substitute for posting.

Rung 2 — Brand deals negotiated entirely off-platform. Since Threads has no creator marketplace, no in-app deal tooling, and no escrow, every brand partnership on Threads today is negotiated the old way: direct outreach or inbound DMs, a written contract covering deliverables, exclusivity, usage rights and payment terms, and payment handled by invoice, PayPal, or an agency contract. Because platform toggles for content usage do not exist on Threads, the contract itself has to spell out whether a brand can repost creator content or run it as a paid ad from its own handle.

Rung 3 — Affiliate links, promo codes and commerce. With no in-app checkout or link-in-bio native tooling comparable to Instagram, creators route Threads traffic through external UTM-tagged links or unique discount codes set up before a campaign goes live, then measure results manually at 24-hour and seven-day checkpoints rather than through any built-in Threads dashboard.

Rung 4 — Cross-promotion and paid amplification. The most sophisticated operators layer Threads carousel or Advantage+ catalog ads behind an organic creator post to extend its reach, and push Threads audiences toward an Instagram or YouTube account that does have working monetization. For a business already running an Instagram growth strategy, Threads functions as a second, faster-growing surface for the same audience rather than a standalone revenue channel.

What Brands Actually Screen For Before Paying a Threads Creator

Because there is no algorithmic creator marketplace ranking Threads accounts by follower count the way some platforms do, brands running 2026 campaigns report evaluating creators on a more mixed set of signals: active, recent posting cadence rather than an inherited follower total; reply-engagement rate on recent posts, since Threads is a reply-driven format; existing footprint on Instagram or TikTok that a brand can cross-check; and, for campaigns targeting Japan, Korea or Taiwan specifically, "Community Champion" status inside relevant Threads Communities. Follower count still matters as a first filter — a brand is not going to seriously consider an account with a few dozen followers regardless of how good its last three posts were — but it is a gate to clear, not the metric that closes the deal. That is precisely why an initial follower base and a real posting habit need to be built together, not one instead of the other.

The Technical Angle: What Agencies Managing Multiple Threads Accounts Need to Know

For resellers and agencies running Threads alongside Instagram and Facebook for clients, the Threads API opened to broader third-party access in 2024 and has continued to expand, but it comes with real constraints worth planning around before promising a client real-time Threads management. Per-profile publishing is capped at roughly 250 posts and 1,000 replies in a rolling 24-hour window, keyword search is capped at around 500 queries per rolling seven days, and general API call volume scales with an account's impression count, with a floor of roughly 48,000 calls for brand-new accounts. Access tokens are short-lived (about one hour) with long-lived tokens lasting around 60 days, requiring a refresh cycle an agency has to build into its own tooling rather than assume away. App review for each permission scope typically takes several working days with a meaningful first-round rejection rate, so a production integration touching several permission scopes can realistically take three to six weeks of review time before it is live. None of this blocks the core, well-supported use cases — scheduled publishing, inbox and reply management, and basic analytics dashboards are all viable and already used by mainstream social tools — but bulk content extraction, large-scale listening, or cross-platform search are deliberately restricted, and an agency selling "full Threads monitoring" on the strength of the public API alone is overselling what it can actually deliver.

Methodology, E-E-A-T and Disclosed Bias

This article discloses a direct financial interest: IndianSMMServices.com sells the Threads follower service referenced in Rung 1 above, among 800-plus other services across 70-plus platforms, and this post is written by the platform's own Manager. Every figure describing what Threads pays creators, when ads rolled out, and how the API is rate-limited comes from named third-party sources checked this session, not from the panel's own marketing material: the Threads ads rollout timeline and Andromeda ad-system details come from reporting on Meta's January 2026 announcement; user and engagement statistics were cross-checked across two independent trackers (Sprout Social and Business of Apps) alongside a third source (ppc.land's coverage of the rollout); creator brand-deal practices came from a 2026 creator-marketing guide; and Threads API rate limits came from a developer-focused 2026 API reference. Only the Threads Followers price and delivery limits were pulled directly from IndianSMMServices.com's own live services catalog, fetched during the same research session as everything else in this piece, and are labeled as such rather than blended in with third-party figures.

Limitations

Three honest caveats. First, Threads user and engagement statistics conflict across sources and Meta has not published a single authoritative 2026 figure: one tracker's own comparison table cites 400 million monthly active users in one place and roughly 450 million as an "early 2026" estimate elsewhere, daily active user figures range from about 100 million to 150 million depending on the source and month cited, and one otherwise-useful tracking site's "2026" data page was still quoting November 2024 numbers at the time of this research. Treat every Threads user figure in this piece, and everywhere else, as a directional estimate rather than an exact count. Second, Meta's own newsroom archive for the January 2026 Threads ads announcement could not be directly retrieved during this research session; the rollout details here are sourced from independent reporting that cites Meta's statements rather than from Meta's original post itself, and a reader relying on this for a compliance or legal decision should verify directly with Meta's current Business Help Center. Third, brand-deal rates, typical contract terms and India-specific Threads sponsorship pricing are not publicly documented anywhere in aggregate, so this piece describes deal structure and screening criteria, not typical payment amounts, because no credible source for average Threads brand-deal rates could be found this session.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Threads pay creators directly in 2026?

No. Meta's Threads creator bonus program ran from 2024 into early 2025 and was discontinued around March 2025. As of 2026 there is no ongoing native pay-per-view or revenue-share program for individual creators on Threads.

When did Threads start showing ads to everyone?

Meta expanded Threads advertising to all users globally starting the week of January 26, 2026, following limited regional testing that began in January 2025 and an expansion to all eligible advertisers in April 2025.

How many users does Threads have in 2026?

Independent trackers put Threads in the 400 to 450 million monthly active user range in 2026, with reported daily active users ranging from roughly 100 to 150 million depending on the source and measurement window. Meta has not published a single official 2026 figure, so treat any exact number as an estimate.

Is it safe to buy Threads followers?

Buying Threads followers from a panel that delivers gradually, without requiring your password, and without promising fake engagement metrics carries low platform risk and is commonly used to remove the new-account credibility gap. It should support, not replace, genuine posting and reply activity, since brands screen for both.

What is the fastest realistic way to earn from Threads without a creator fund?

Brand partnerships negotiated off-platform, affiliate links or promo codes, and cross-promotion into an already-monetized Instagram or YouTube account are the three paths creators are actually using in 2026, since Threads itself pays creators nothing directly.

Who founded IndianSMMServices.com?

IndianSMMServices.com was founded by Kelvin Mark, who continues to lead the platform today as Manager. The panel has operated since 2019 across 73+ countries with 800+ services.

Build the Credibility Layer While You Wait for Threads to Pay Creators

Threads is not going to hand individual creators a payout button in 2026, and pretending otherwise wastes time better spent on the things that do work: a consistent posting habit, a real follower base that clears a brand's first-glance filter, and traffic pushed toward a platform that actually pays. IndianSMMServices.com has run real, gradually-delivered social growth services since 2019 across 73-plus countries, including the Threads follower package referenced above alongside Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok growth services. Check the full services catalog for current Threads pricing and limits, or browse the IndianSMMServices blog for platform-specific monetization guides before deciding where to put the next hour of growth effort.

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