Over one-tenth (12%) of US adults consider being a TikTok creator their full- or part-time job, per March 2024 CivicScience data. But most creators are active on other platforms, and many have started urging their fans to follow them on YouTube and Instagram. Still, there’s no replacement for TikTok, especially for small or up-and-coming creators who rely on TikTok to build an audience and start monetizing.

Creators strongly favor Instagram for audience growth. TikTok lowered the barrier to entry to becoming a creator, and its algorithm allows any user to go viral and build an audience. In April 2024, Instagram tweaked its algorithm to prioritize Reels from smaller accounts, likely in an effort to attract TikTok creators. Discoverability is a big challenge for creators on YouTube, particularly for long-form video.

YouTube could be better for monetization. The end goal for creators is to make money off their content. YouTube’s ad revenue sharing program, including on Shorts, is much more robust than that of Instagram: YouTube pays out 45% of ad revenues to Shorts creators who participate in the YouTube Partner Program and said that over 25% of Shorts creators were making money as of March 2024. Snapchat could also be a strong contender for large creators, thanks to its Snap Stars monetization program.

Audience demographics and creator tools also help determine which platform is the best alternative. Creators will go where their primary audience is. But they will also consider which platforms have strong, easy-to-use content creation tools. Both YouTube and Instagram have recently invested in generative AI (genAI) tools for creators and updated their analytics to better match what TikTok offers to creators.

Read the full report, TikTok Ban 2025.