An independent publication for creators who actually read the math.

What we publish

Four calculators (Brand Deal Rate, Multi-Platform P&L, Full-Time Leap, and YouTube Earnings) and a blog called The Ledger that unpacks the numbers behind specific creator-economy questions. Everything is free. No email signup. No paywall. No “get your rate card” email capture.

How the math gets made

Every calculator on this site is a pure function — a set of clearly defined inputs, a visible formula, and an output that can be re-derived from either of the above. The logic lives in plain TypeScript files, and the assumptions behind each multiplier (tax brackets, platform rev shares, niche CPMs, usage-rights premiums) are printed directly on the calculator page, in the margin.

Sources that inform the models:

• Tax math: Current IRS publications for federal brackets, standard deductions, and self-employment tax (with the 92.35% adjustment and the Social Security wage-base cap). When tax year changes, we update.
• Platform rev shares: The platforms’ own published creator terms — YouTube Partner Program, Patreon tiers, Substack pricing, Twitch Affiliate/Partner agreements, TikTok Creator Rewards.
• CPM and engagement ranges: Public reporting from creator economy research (Influencer Marketing Hub, Kajabi, Statista), backed against the ranges creators publicly disclose in earnings breakdowns.
• Brand deal multipliers: Standard industry framework — CPM baseline × niche factor × engagement factor × usage rights stack. Calibrated against published rate cards from talent agencies and creator collectives.

What we refuse to do

• We don’t lock calculators behind an email. Every tool on the site gives a full result without asking for anything.
• We don’t recommend specific financial products. No affiliate links for “best tax software,” no referral kickbacks for “creator-friendly banks.” When we link to a specific product, it’s because it’s relevant to the math, not because we’re paid to.
• We don’t use black-box numbers. If a multiplier is in the calculator, it’s printed on the same page. If a tax rate applies, we show the bracket. If a CPM is niche-specific, the range is visible in the dropdown.
• We don’t pretend to be a CPA. See the Disclaimer for the full list of what the calculators are and aren’t.

Corrections policy

If a number on the site is wrong — a stale tax bracket, a shifted platform rev share, a miscalibrated CPM — we want to know. Email hello@creatordecide.com. Substantive corrections are made in the next deploy and flagged in the relevant calculator’s assumptions block or, for blog posts, in a dated correction footer. We don’t ghost-edit articles; if a published post changes in a way that affects the argument, we say so.

How we’re funded

The site is planned to run on display advertising — standard, non-intrusive, served through major networks. That means you may see ads, but you’ll never see sponsored tool results, inflated “recommended rates” to please an advertiser, or an email wall in front of a number.

Future revenue, if it happens, will come from optional premium features (saved rate cards by brand, historical tracking, exports for your CPA) — not from compromising the free tools that exist today.

Data sources & limitations

Clarity on where the numbers come from, and — more importantly — what we don’t model. Everything on the site is a transparent estimate based on the references below.

Sources we pull from

• US federal tax brackets, standard deductions, and SE tax: IRS Rev. Proc. 2024-40 (2025 inflation adjustments) and Schedule SE instructions. Brackets update annually around Q1 of the new tax year.
• Social Security wage base ($176,100 for 2025): SSA Fact Sheet 2024-10.
• Platform revenue shares: YouTube Partner Program terms (55/45 ads split), Patreon pricing page, Substack Pro terms, Twitch Affiliate/Partner agreements, TikTok Creator Rewards documentation. Rechecked against the platforms’ own current pages on each site update.
• Advertiser CPM ranges by niche: a blend of Influencer Marketing Hub’s YouTube CPM report, Kajabi creator-earnings research, and public earnings breakdowns from creators who disclose screenshot-level CPM data (Graham Stephan, Coffeezilla, Linus Tech Tips, and similar).
• Audience geography multipliers: Google Ads documentation on advertiser targeting, and industry reports on US vs. APAC vs. LATAM ad demand pricing.
• Seasonal CPM patterns: Google Ads auction data and aggregate reports from YouTube partner networks. Q4 spike and Q1 crash are well-documented and consistent year over year.
• Brand deal multipliers (usage rights, exclusivity): industry-standard frameworks published by talent agencies (Night Media, Amp Studios) and creator-economy publications.
• ACA health insurance baselines: HealthCare.gov average benchmark silver plan premiums for 2025, unsubsidized.

What the calculators explicitly don’t model

We try to be upfront about this rather than pretending the model is more than it is:

• Quarterly estimated tax payments. The P&L shows annual tax, not due-date scheduling. The IRS requires four quarterly payments — use Form 1040-ES or your CPA for those.
• Specific itemized deductions beyond the business-expense line item. Home office simplified method, vehicle mileage, retirement contributions, QBI deduction, HSA contributions — all can materially reduce your federal bill and none are modeled explicitly.
• State-specific tax nuances. State tax is a flat rate input; in reality most states have brackets, their own deductions, and their own rules on SE income. For precise state math, use a state-specific tool.
• Non-ad YouTube revenue streams: Channel Memberships, Super Thanks, Super Chat, YouTube Premium revenue share. These can add 10–30% on top of AdSense for some channels; we don’t include them in the YouTube calculator to keep the CPM → RPM math clean.
• Watch time / retention effects on RPM. Longer videos with mid-roll ads monetize differently than short long-form pieces. We abstract this into the “% monetized views” input, but we don’t model video-length economics explicitly.
• Algorithm changes or platform risk. We can’t forecast a TikTok ban, a YouTube demonetization wave, or an Instagram Reels payout shift. The Full-Time Leap calculator includes a stress-test card that models a 40% creator-income drop for that reason.
• Entity-structure comparison beyond the S-corp threshold. The P&L flags when an S-corp election might pay off; it doesn’t model LLC vs. S-corp vs. sole prop vs. C-corp at the level a CPA would. A dedicated tool for that comparison is on the roadmap.
• Negotiation leverage. The Brand Deal calculator prices deliverables based on data-backed multipliers, but a creator with an agency, a bidding war between two brands, or a long-standing client relationship can get meaningfully above the mid-market number. The calculator’s output is a defensible baseline, not a ceiling.

If any of these gaps are blockers for your decision, talk to a professional who does model them. If you think one of our sources is wrong or out of date, email hello@creatordecide.com.

Technical details

The site is a statically exported Next.js application deployed to Cloudflare’s global edge network. Every calculator page ships with the interactive tool server-rendered so the content is readable by search engines and AI crawlers without executing any JavaScript. The structured-data exposure (Organization, WebSite, SoftwareApplication, BlogPosting, FAQPage, BreadcrumbList) is intended to make the site legible both to Google and to LLM-based search systems.

There’s an /llms.txt manifest and a full /llms-full.txt content dump for LLM ingestion. Citations, linkbacks, and corrections are all welcome.

Contact

hello@creatordecide.com — for corrections, questions, and “hey, you missed a scenario” notes. See also the Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, and Disclaimer.