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Contract terms
Should you sign an exclusivity clause?
Exclusivity is the only clause in a UGC contract that charges you money after the job ends. It is also the one most often agreed to for free, because it costs nothing on the day you sign it.
Last updated 7 September 2026
Everything else in a UGC deal is about what they can do with the video. Exclusivity is about what you are not allowed to do, with brands who have not paid you anything.
It is not a restriction on the content. It is a restriction on your next six months of income. That is why it prices per month, separately, and never as a throwaway line in the base fee.
The three words that decide the price
Every exclusivity clause is defined by three things. Nail all three down before quoting, because vague versions are always broader than you think.
| Term | Narrow, cheap | Broad, expensive |
|---|---|---|
| Category | "Oat milk" | "Food and beverage", "wellness", "beauty" |
| Duration | 30 or 60 days from delivery | 12 months, or undefined |
| Scope | Paid work only | Any mention, including your own organic posts |
The difference between "oat milk for 60 days" and "beverages for a year" is enormous, and both fit in the same sentence in a contract. A skincare creator who signs twelve-month "beauty" exclusivity has just made most of their pipeline illegal.
What to charge
Price it per month, on top of everything else. A common starting point is a percentage of the base fee per month of exclusivity, scaled by how much work the category represents for you.
The honest way to arrive at a number is to ask what you would realistically earn from that category in the window. If you do two beverage jobs a quarter at $500, then six months of beverage exclusivity is roughly $2,000 of foregone work, and that is the floor, not the ask.
If that number is bigger than the whole deal, the answer is not a discount. The answer is a narrower category or a shorter window.
The counter that usually works
Most brands asking for exclusivity do not actually want six months of it. They want to not be embarrassed by you appearing in a direct competitor's ad next week. That is a reasonable thing to want, and it is much cheaper to give.
Copy this
Happy to include exclusivity, I just price it separately since it affects work outside this project.
What I would suggest: 60 days, limited to direct competitors rather than the whole category, covering paid work only. That protects you where it actually matters and keeps it affordable. If you need the full category or a longer window, I can quote that too, it just moves the number meaningfully.
"Direct competitors rather than the whole category" is the single most valuable substitution in this entire negotiation, and brands agree to it more often than not, because it is what they meant in the first place.
When to refuse outright
- No end date. Perpetual exclusivity amounts to a career change, not just a clause. There is no correct price.
- Category undefined. If it does not name the category in writing, you are agreeing to whatever they later decide it meant.
- It covers your organic posts. Now you cannot mention a product you bought yourself, on your own account, for free. That is not exclusivity, that is a licence on your life.
- The fee is "included". Exclusivity bundled into the base at no uplift means they have valued it at zero. Correct that before anything else.
The quiet version to watch for
Exclusivity does not always announce itself. Look for phrasing like "creator agrees not to work with competing brands during the term", buried in a section about conduct or about the term of the agreement rather than in the money section. Same clause, no heading, no fee attached.
Search any contract you are sent for the words exclusive, competing and competitor before you sign. It takes ten seconds and it is the highest-value ten seconds in this whole process.
The rule: exclusivity is a product you sell, with a category, a duration and a scope. If any of the three is missing from the contract, it has not been agreed, it has been assumed, and the assumption will not be in your favour.
Price it before you reply
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Open the calculatorWritten for UGC creators in the US. Market-informed starting points, not fixed prices, and not legal or financial advice. Your market, niche and results should move them.