Instagram is trying out a subscription model with a small group of creators, who can choose their monthly subscription fee and add a new subscribe button to their profile. It is a way forward to allow a steady flow of income for subscribers.

Subscribers can get access to three core new Instagram features. Creators can broadcast exclusive Lives to their subscribers, allowing them to engage more deeply. Second, creators can create stories just for their subscribers, allowing them to share exclusive content and to use interactive story stickers with their most engaged followers only. Finally, creators will see a subscriber badge next to comments and messages so they can easily identify their subscribers.

Price tiers will range from $0.99 to $99.99 per month, and creators can select the price point for their subscriptions. For the moment, Instagram is not taking a cut of the creators’ revenues “until at least 2023”, Instagram co-head of product, Ashley Yuki, has told TechCrunch.

At launch, only 10 US creators have gained access to the new feature, as Instagram considers this an “alpha” test, which allows feedback from fans and creators alike. “This will help creators earn more by offering benefits to their most engaged followers like access to exclusive Lives and Stories,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has written in a Facebook post. Facebook already has its own version of a subscription programme for creators.

Besides Instagram and Facebook, last year Twitter introduced Super Follows, and some creators offer additional subscriber content off-platform on Patreon or Substack. If ever Facebook and Instagram subscriptions merge, fans would be able to sign up on the platforms — including via the websites, where no App Store commissions would need to be paid while those subscriptions could carry over to the respective mobile apps.