Cohley Review for UGC Creators: What 2 Campaigns Paid Me ($175 and $50) and How to Get Picked

Is Cohley worth it for a new UGC creator? My short answer: yes, as one of two or three platforms, not as your whole plan. In my first four months Cohley paid me for two campaigns, $175 and $50, at roughly one hire per ten applications, and the $50 one was a choice I’d make differently today. Here’s the full picture: how Cohley works from the creator side, what I actually got, how I apply now, and which briefs I skip.

What is Cohley and how does it work for creators?

Cohley is a creator marketplace. Brands post campaigns (a product, the deliverables they want, a budget), creators apply, and the content, the approval and the payment all happen inside the platform. You don’t hunt for a marketing manager’s email and you don’t chase an invoice.

From my side it looks like this:

1. Profile. Niche, location, a few sample videos, the basics brands filter by.
2. Brief feed. A list of open campaigns. Each one tells you the product, what they want (how many videos, how long, which format) and what it pays.
3. Apply. Cohley applications usually ask a few questions and want a sample post, meaning a link to a video of yours that proves you can do what the brief describes.
4. Get picked, get the product, film, upload inside the platform.
5. Approval and payout. The brand approves (or asks for a revision), and the payment comes through the platform.

The thing that took me a minute to accept: on Cohley the price is set by the campaign’s range, not by me. My rate card never enters the conversation. That cuts both ways, and honestly it’s what this whole review is about.

What Cohley paid me (and why I took a $50 job)

Two paid jobs so far: $175 and $50.

The $175 one is what I’d call a normal Cohley job. Clear brief, one short video, product shipped, approved without drama, paid.

The $50 one needs explaining. I took it early, when I had a handful of gifted collabs and very few paid videos. The product was something I’d have bought anyway, the brief was simple, and I wanted a paid job on my portfolio page with a real brand name next to it. For $50 I got all three. So no, I don’t regret it.

Would I take it now? No. Four months in, with 15 gifted and more than 15 paid videos behind me, $50 for a scripted, filmed and edited video doesn’t cover my afternoon. It only made sense because of where I was at the time. That’s the gifted-first ladder in practice: early on, gifted and low-paid jobs buy you a portfolio and a track record; a few months later you stop taking them because you don’t need to anymore. The trap is not noticing when you’ve crossed that line.

For scale: platforms gave me seven paid jobs in four months, and Cohley is two of them, the two smallest in dollars. Still, that’s two paid jobs I never had to pitch for.

How to get picked on Cohley

My conversion across platforms is about one hire per ten applications, and Cohley sits right around that. So rule one: apply to more briefs than feels comfortable, and don’t read a no into silence. Nine quiet applications is normal, not a sign your videos are bad.

What’s actually made a difference for me:

• Pick the sample post for the brief, not your prettiest video. If the brief wants a 30-second talking-head skincare video, send a talking-head skincare video, even if your best-looking clip is candle ASMR. The brand is asking “can she do this exact thing?” and the sample is your answer. Most of the clips I use as samples are already on my Instagram.
• Answer the questions like someone who read the brief. Two or three specific sentences each. “I’d open on the texture shot because the brief leads with the gel formula” beats “I love skincare and would be so excited” every time.
• Show more than one format on your profile. Talking head, unboxing, a texture or ASMR clip. One format reads as one trick.
• Deliver what they asked, a little early. My process on every job, Cohley included: I always write a script before I film, even for a 15-second clip; I shoot one to three hooks; I edit in CapCut; and I deliver a 15 to 30 or 30 to 60 second video depending on the brief. Approvals go faster, and platforms show brands how a creator worked before, so every clean delivery makes the next yes easier.

Which Cohley campaigns to skip

Because the price is fixed by the brand, screening the brief is where you protect your time. I skip when:

• The math per video doesn’t work. Three videos, each with multiple hooks, for a price that would be fine for one video? Divide the total by the deliverables before you get excited. My rates article has what a single video is worth at different stages, so you have a number to compare against.
• The product is outside my niche. Low chance of being picked, and a wasted application still costs the time it took to write.
• The brief needs something I don’t have. A car, a backyard, a kid, a specific kitchen setup.
• It’s on my won’t-film list. I don’t put my face next to weight-loss, before/after skin-flaw content and a few other categories, no matter the price.

The one exception, and I’ll say it plainly because it’s exactly what I did: a low price can be worth it if you genuinely love the product and the video fills a gap in your portfolio. Just know that’s what you’re buying, and do it once or twice, not as a habit.

Cohley vs Insense vs Aspire

I use all three at the same time, and they’ve behaved differently for me.

Platform	What it paid me (first 4 months)	How the price works	What it’s been good for
Cohley	2 paid jobs: $175 and $50	Set by the campaign’s range, not your card	Quick, smaller paid jobs; applications with questions and a sample post
Insense	3 paid jobs: $300, $150 and $500	Set by the campaign’s range, not your card	Mid-size briefs that usually come with the brand’s own script or shot list
Aspire	About 5 gifted collabs, then paid jobs at $500 and $600	Started gifted for me; paid invites followed	The gifted-first ladder inside one platform

Cohley is the smallest of the three for me in dollars, which is why I’d never make it the only account you have. The longer breakdown of all three, including how I’d set them up from zero, is in my platforms overview.

Is Cohley worth it for beginners?

Yes, with three conditions.

One: it’s a side door, not the house. Platforms got me paid fastest, but they’re one applicant among many and the brand relationship belongs partly to the platform. Direct pitching is slower and brings the repeat clients. I did both from the start, never joined an agency, and that mix is what got me to 15 gifted and more than 15 paid videos in four months. The six routes that got me my brand deals ranks them.

Two: decide your floor before you open the brief feed. Write down the lowest price per video you’ll accept this month and the one or two reasons you’d go under it (product you love, portfolio gap). Then the $50 campaign becomes a decision instead of a temptation.

Three: treat every application as practice. Reading briefs taught me what brands actually want, and answering application questions taught me to pitch in two sentences, which is the same skill a cold email needs. For the direct side, my list of 30 beauty brands that take creator applications is free at the bottom of this page, with the form or creator inbox for each one.

So: make the account, apply to the briefs you genuinely fit, take one small job if it earns its place on your portfolio, and know when to stop saying yes to those.