The Five Best Pay-Per-View Writing Platforms (January 2024)
Ranked from best to worst
If you’re like me, you don’t love freelancing, marketing, or selling yourself online. To be honest, even hosting a blog feels like a lot of wasted effort.
You’d much prefer just to write and get paid for it.
So, I’ve gone ahead and researched every platform that pays writers for their words — without selling ads or promoting affiliate links.
They’re what I call “pay-per-view” platforms.
Starting with my personal favourite…
#1. Medium.com
Verified. ✅
If you’re subscribed to my YouTube channel, you know that Medium is my favourite writing platform.
And, I believe it’s the best place for developing writers to:
Start a consistent practice
Get paid for their words
Although it’s definitely a labour of love (especially at first), it’s a great place to house your writing. And, can act as a great leveraging tool when attracting freelance clients or building an email list.
Expected income:
If you dedicate yourself to learning Medium’s best practices, you can safely earn $100 - $1,000 USD+ per month, writing 1-2 articles per week.
How to get started:
I’ve been writing on Medium since 2019. And, have made tons of videos on Medium’s evolving best practices.
👉 How to get started on Medium (in 2024)
👉 How to scale your earnings to $1,000+ per month
#2. Newsbreak.com
Verified. ✅
One of my best pieces of advice for writing online is to diversify your income streams. If you write on pay-per-view platforms, you are beholden to the whimsy of each platform’s algorithm.
Newsbreak has been a saving grace for me, in the past few months.
In late 2023, when Medium’s algorithm went on a find-myself-journey, my earnings went caput. So, I merely focused my efforts on Newsbreak to make up for my lost income.
In my experience, Newsbreak has the highest earning potential of any current pay-per-view platform.
This is mainly because:
Articles go viral often
You can use A.I. (if you’d like)
Personally, I write on Newsbreak solely to earn money. It’s not as fulfilling as writing on Medium, but it pays the bills.
Expected income:
Once you get the hang of writing news articles (a.k.a. clickbaity headlines), you can earn anywhere from $500-$5,000 USD+ per month. My friend, Sara, devotes most of her time to Newsbreak and cleared $10,000 in one month, in 2023.
Personally, my highest month to date was $1,261.52, writing 27 articles, generated using A.I.*
*For reference, each article takes me 20-30 minutes to complete, from start to finish.
How to get started:
So, the kicker with Newsbreak is that you must gain 100 followers in order to get monetized. And, after applying for monetization, it can take 4-6 weeks to approve your application.
But, if you’re willing to put in a little up-front effort, here is everything you need to get started:
👉 How to get started (step-by-step tutorial)
👉 My exact process for using A.I. to write articles
#3. Vocal.Media
So, for transparency, I’ve never written on Vocal Media. The reason is, I have never heard of anyone making any substantial income on it.
Although Vocal holds contests and has cash incentives for active writers, there’s just not enough traffic to support monthly payouts in the hundreds or thousands.
Vocal gets about 2% of the monthly traffic on Medium. And, around 10% of Newsbreak’s monthly traffic.
Expected income:
I can’t give an exact number, as I’ve never tried it for myself. But, Vocal pays $3.80 per 1,000 views. And, from what I can see from users’ experiences, the average writer seems to earn anywhere from $5-$200 per month, barring any challenge prizes.
How to get started:
👉 This is the best beginner’s guide I found.
#4. HubPages.com
HubPages is very similar to Vocal in terms of its user base and pay.
The one caveat is that HubPage’s top referring social platform comes almost entirely from Pinterest.
This means, if you’re just looking for a place to host your blog and want to earn money from affiliate links, products, or services, HubPages can save you having to pay for a hosting fee.*
This works especially well if you write on lifestyle topics (health, wellness, travel, entrepreneurship, etc.), as Pinterest users are largely interested in these topics.
Expected income:
HubPages pays with Google Adsense, meaning reading time as well as the activity from readers play a part in how much you earn. As opposed to Vocal, for example, which pays purely for views.
To be honest, I couldn’t find many success stories, with the average writer claiming to only earn a few dollars per month.
In my humble opinion, HubPages seems like a starter pack for bloggers — it’s free, cheap, and easy. But, HubPages alone won’t supply you with enough traffic to make a substantial income.
How to get started:
👉 A complete breakdown, by HubPages staff.
#5. Twitter.com
I decided to rank Twitter (or “X”) at the bottom of this list, not because it’s the worst. But, simply, because it’s too new to tell where it will rank in the future.
The X Creator Program allows writers to earn through:
Revenue sharing for Tweets & videos
Paid subscriptions (offering premium content)*
Paid Spaces (creating premium tickets ranging from $1 - $999)
*Elon Musk has shared that creators will receive 97% of X’s revenue until they reach $50,000, at which point revenue sharing will be decreased to 90% (see example below).
Creators must also reach the following requirements to apply for monetization:
Be 18 years or older
Have at least 500 followers
Been active in the past 30 days
Expected income:
It’s hard to say exactly how. much you can expect to earn as the program is still evolving.
But, it seems like a promising way for creators to earn money for their content. If you currently write or promote your writing on X, I would definitely look into applying.
How to get started:
As more stories are shared on X’s creator program, more best practices will reveal themselves. But, as of now, these are the best resources I found:
👉 X’s creator monetization standards
👉 What creators are saying about the program
Platforms I did not include (and why)
So, if you Google “best alternatives to Medium” (for example), you’ll see a recurring list of platforms by various bloggers.
I did not choose to include the following platforms for the following reasons…
Steemit.com:
It has a tiny user base and all payments are made through cryptocurrency. It seems like a legitimate platform but anytime crypto is involved, my scam radar starts beeping.
Tumblr.com:
Yes, Tumblr is (apparently) still a thing. And, while it has a sizeable user base (around 200 million monthly users), it does not have a built-in monetization program.
Ghost.org:
Ghost is a blog-hosting platform, meaning it has no built-in audience. And, you have to pay a hosting fee. It’s not a pay-per-view platform.
Write.as:
Very small user base and I’ve never heard of anyone actually getting paid from it.
Before you go…
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, this topic was suggested by a fellow subscriber. So, if you want to read something specific, I’ll write it for you.
I want to hear your feedback. So, leave a comment, below. 🙂👇
And, if you know anyone who will benefit from this post, share it with them. 👇
That’s it from me.
Talk soon! 🙋♂️