How much do creators actually earn on Hive? Everyone asks, few answer with data. We index every author_reward and curation_reward operation on the chain, so we published the numbers for every quarter since Hive's first full quarter after the fork (Q2 2020), in one permanent place:
https://ecency.com/creator-economy
Highlights from Q2 2026:
5,144 authors received on-chain payouts: 777k liquid HIVE plus 932k staked HP, roughly $99,000 at quarter-average prices
11,362 curators earned 2.8M HP just for voting. On Hive, more people earn from curating than from writing
119,762 posts and 743,630 comments published
The most active communities by distinct authors: Actifit, Ecency, Worldmappin, LeoFinance, Photography Lovers
The six-year arc, honestly told:
Roughly $18 million has been paid to authors since the fork
The peak: $2.28M in a single quarter (Q4 2021, 19,288 authors earning) during the bull market
The present: $99k in Q2 2026, with HIVE at six-year price lows
Measured in HIVE instead of dollars, rewards stayed far steadier than the USD chart suggests
The quiet constant: curation has paid 2.3M to 3.3M HP every single quarter for six years, through a 20x price swing in both directions
More honest parts, because credibility matters more than hype:
The median earning author made about 18 HP this quarter. The top 10 percent earned over 463 HP, the top 1 percent over 2,160 HP. Earnings are top-heavy here, like on every creator platform. The difference is you can verify every payout on-chain.
USD value tracks HIVE's market price far more than platform activity: the fall from the 2021 peak is a price story, and the recent quarters are too.
Methodology in short: figures are what was actually credited to authors (net of beneficiary redirects, excluding curation, which is reported separately). Posts and comments exclude edits. Full methodology is on the page.
The data is licensed CC BY 4.0: quote it, chart it, build on it, just link back. The page updates every quarter.
If you write about Hive stats (looking at you, statisticians of the chain), consider this a standing source you can cite.
Interesting metrics, I would do an Infografic on those stats, put it through NotebookLM.
Nice don’t forgot to reference Ecency page link from post into infographic
Yeah, @jza might understand that :)
I did on my wave...
https://ecency.com/waves/jza/wave-202677t12348900z
Thank you for doing that! I meant on image itself though usually images could get distributed wider that original location or content page.
I thought it turned out pretty well.
Yeah I applied a different theme.
https://ecency.com/waves/jza/wave-202677t12348900z
Curators earn more HIVE, but they also lost more in USDT terms over the year, since HIVE fell by 77% during that period.
Now that you mention it, that seems pretty true.
Hive is down horribly in any period not cherry-picked. Even going by just bear low of .25 cents in 2022, the precious cycle low it’s 80%. That’s avoiding how much higher it was most of that year. 77% is an extremely low number to cite. Anyone here 5 years is down 90% on average in there rewards earned in HP since when earned.
Thats some fun stats! :D
The million-dollar question is: how do I become a curator and receive benefits? I have already been a curator, but as an apprentice; therefore, I did not receive rewards for exercising that work.
!ALIVE
Curating actively and having Hive Powered up will gradually scale but if you are not sure you will be actively curating daily then delegation is better if delegator returns you back your curation rewards 100% like we do with Ecency delegations
If it is by delegation, I am already doing it, specifically to the Ecency account. I actually recently increased the HP. Thanks for replying.
!ALIVE
Having hive powered up has lost value in real terms any period in a previous year you go by. The drop in value exceeds any possible earnings by dramatic levels. Don’t need to cherry pick tops in 2021 or smaller pump to .68 on January 2025, but only going by the absolute low of each of year for example 2022 bear cycle low of .25 , well any period the drop in dollar terms in ugly and way more a loss than if they just held that value in cash earning no interest. Unless they did partial power downs Along way.
I have regardless of seeing writing on the wall continuously invested time here and do so knowing it’s not going to earn me value but I do so for personal enjoyment. But I did power down above .40 cents average in early 2025 a majority my stake. I’ll never understand not taking profits during artificially obvious pumps like going to .40 in January and seeing volume spike 100X clearly showing actors purposefully moving it and manipulating it. when the trend proves we were going to keep going lower. But again I have love for hive and community. But ignoring these extra data points of how I’m spending power rewards earned over 12 months ago and all under water on average even if here from day after 2020 fork, it’s just not honest take to not dig into that fact.
That's exactly type of discussions we should be having, hence the data is public and shared. Community, ownership and engagement is most important beside monetary rewards but shouldn't ignored as well.
Wow 😮 great For me, it's not even worth counting how much money you earn from the hive because there are so many people who have earned a lot from the hive. Millions of dollars in a year.
Anything earned and not powered down, is down huge. 2022 the low was .25 cents so average rewards earned in 2022 are all down 80% minimum in dollar terms. I purposely avoid using 2021 bull year and picked 2022 , a bear cycle year to underestimate and avoid picking any period of pumps that would show even more extreme drop. Anyone here for years is holding rewards in HP and watched real value drop dramatically. Unless they took some profits during higher periods.
Thank you for the explanation and for the address of the data reporting site.
Anyone who never took some profits who’s been here over a year , especially those here since 4 years ago plus are down dramatically. Rewards earned from 2021-2025 are worth so much less now if they never did partial power down to take some profits. Ignoring this fact that the hive collapse on value has dramatically reduced that value means this data is lacking real look.
We are sharing data, not look or our opinions or consequences of that data. It is there to spark discussion and ways to show people perhaps some changes are necessary or not. Regardless, some more risk taking and experimentations could be beneficial on core economics or incentives.
Those who never powered down like me, took a bit hit