Put an Instagram creator and a TikTok creator side by side and the TikTok engagement rate will look three to five times higher. That is not a sign one is better. TikTok's feed is built to show videos to people who do not follow the creator, and the like button sits under the thumb for the whole video. The benchmarks have to be different, and they are.
The formula
Engagement rate = (likes + comments) / followers x 100
Average it across the last 10 to 12 videos. TikTok has no free public API, so the Passive Array calculators use the numbers you type in.
Some agencies calculate TikTok engagement against views instead of followers, because so many views come from non-followers. That is a fair method, but it is not comparable across platforms and it is not what most brand briefs mean. The tools use followers so the number lines up with the way deals are discussed.
Typical rates by account size
| Tier | Followers | Typical engagement |
|---|---|---|
| Nano | under 10K | 12% |
| Micro | 10K to 100K | 8% |
| Mid | 100K to 500K | 6% |
| Macro | 500K to 1M | 5% |
| Mega | over 1M | 4% |
Compare that with Instagram's 4.0% for nano accounts sliding to 0.8% for mega accounts. A TikTok account at 3% is doing badly for its size; an Instagram account at 3% is probably doing well.
Grading against the tier
As on the Instagram tools, the grade is the ratio of your rate to the typical rate for your size: under half is Low, up to 85% is Below average, up to 125% is Average, up to 160% is Good, and above that Excellent. A 100K-follower account at 9% (1.5x the 6% typical for mid tier) grades Good. The same 9% on a 5K account (0.75x of 12%) grades Below average.
Why the rate falls with size, faster than on Instagram
TikTok's For You feed gives every video a test audience regardless of follower count, so small accounts get likes from people who never followed them, and those likes count against a small follower base. As the account grows, the follower base catches up with the reach and the ratio falls toward the platform's floor. This is also why a brand-new account can show an engagement rate above 20% for its first few weeks. It is real, and it will not last.
What the audit looks at beyond the rate
- Likes to followers. Total profile likes divided by followers. A long-running account with many videos accumulates a high ratio; a young or bought account does not.
- Comment share. Comments under 0.3% of likes is the same paid-likes fingerprint the fake-follower checker uses on Instagram, and it applies here.
- Consistency. Rate on the best video versus the median. A single viral video can double the average; the median tells you what a sponsor should expect.
For brands
Screen with the rate and tier grade, then look at views per video, which on TikTok often bears little relation to followers. A 40K-follower account averaging 300K views is the account you want, and a 400K-follower account averaging 20K views is the one to price down. The pricing calculator on this site starts from followers and engagement; adjust the result with the actual average views before you send an offer.