A micro influencer has 10,000 to 100,000 followers and a macro influencer has 500,000 to 1 million. On X, the bigger account gets more total views, and the smaller one gets far more views for every follower it has. Engagement per view is close to identical across the two.
The figures below come from 2,095 AI and technology launches in the Doomers AI launch directory, posted on X between 7 January and 23 October 2026 by 1,419 accounts. They are launch posts from companies and founders. A sponsored post meets the same ranking system, so account size does the same thing to its reach.
What is the difference between micro and macro influencers?
The difference is follower count, and with it the trade between total reach and reach per follower. A micro influencer is an account with 10,000 to 100,000 followers. A macro influencer is an account with 500,000 to 1 million.
Here is how the two tiers compared on X launch posts.
| Measure | Micro (10K to 100K) | Macro (500K to 1M) |
|---|---|---|
| Launches measured | 572 | 59 |
| Median followers | 24,700 | 730,000 |
| Median views | 760K | 1.04M |
| Median views as a multiple of following | 27× | 1.8× |
| Engagement per view | 0.53% | 0.54% |
| Bookmarks per 10,000 views | 14.3 | 12.1 |
| Share passing 1M views | 43% | 54% |
| Typical sponsored rate on X | $250 to $5,000 | $2,000 to $10,000+ |
The macro account had about 30 times the followers and got about 1.4 times the median views. That gap is the whole micro vs macro question on X. Followers raise the floor of a post, and the feed decides most of what happens above it.
How many followers is a micro influencer?
A micro influencer has 10,000 to 100,000 followers. That is the range used by Sprout Social and Shopify, and the one most brands mean when they use the word.
The full five-tier system looks like this.
| Tier | Followers |
|---|---|
| Nano influencer | 1,000 to 10,000 |
| Micro influencer | 10,000 to 100,000 |
| Mid-tier influencer | 100,000 to 500,000 |
| Macro influencer | 500,000 to 1 million |
| Mega influencer | 1 million and up |
Some guides use a simpler three-tier version, where macro covers everything from 100,000 to 1 million. Shopify starts the nano tier at 500 followers. When a rate card or a brief uses one of these words, check which version it means.
What is the difference between nano and micro influencers?
A nano influencer has 1,000 to 10,000 followers, and a micro influencer has 10 times that or more. On X, nano accounts reached the most views per follower of any tier above 1,000, and micro accounts reached more than twice their total views.
Nano launch posts had a median of 349K views, 97 times the account's following. Micro launch posts had a median of 760K, 27 times following. Engagement per view was 0.53% for nano and 0.53% for micro, and bookmarks ran at 14 per 10,000 views in both.
The difference that matters for a launch is the floor. 26% of nano launches passed 1M views, against 43% of micro launches. A micro account gives a post a larger audience to start from, and the rest of the reach is earned the same way at both sizes.
How does follower count change reach on X?
Follower count raises median views at every step, and the multiple of following falls much faster. Across the six bands, median views rose about 19 times from the smallest accounts to the largest. Followers rose more than 4,000 times.
| Account size at posting | Launches | Median views | Multiple of following | Passed 1M views |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 1,000 | 245 | 117K | 274× | 13% |
| Nano, 1K to 10K | 662 | 349K | 97× | 26% |
| Micro, 10K to 100K | 572 | 760K | 27× | 43% |
| Mid-tier, 100K to 500K | 326 | 1.01M | 4.7× | 50% |
| Macro, 500K to 1M | 59 | 1.04M | 1.8× | 54% |
| Mega, 1M and up | 231 | 2.16M | 0.63× | 72% |
The median mega account had 2.08M followers, 84 times the median micro account. Its launch got 2.8 times the views. Above 1M followers, the typical launch post was seen by fewer people than follow the account.
Small accounts reach past their following because the For You feed shows posts to people who do not follow the author. Once a post holds attention with its first viewers, X keeps showing it, whoever posted it. What predicts a big launch covers which signals carry it.
The spread inside each band is wider than the gap between bands. The middle half of micro launches ran from 186K to 2.00M views. The middle half of mega launches ran from 817K to 7.22M.
201 launches from accounts under 10,000 followers still passed 1M views.
Do micro influencers get higher engagement than macro influencers?
Per follower, yes, by a wide margin. Per view, on X, no tier from 1,000 followers up stands out: engagement sat between 0.49% and 0.54% of views in every band.
| Account size at posting | Engagement per view | Engagement per follower |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1,000 | 0.41% | 113% |
| Nano, 1K to 10K | 0.53% | 40% |
| Micro, 10K to 100K | 0.53% | 9.4% |
| Mid-tier, 100K to 500K | 0.53% | 2.2% |
| Macro, 500K to 1M | 0.54% | 0.7% |
| Mega, 1M and up | 0.49% | 0.2% |
Most engagement benchmarks divide by followers, and that is where the familiar claim comes from. On X a small account's post can reach 100 times its following, so dividing by followers inflates its rate. Divided by the people who actually saw the post, the tiers look alike.
Engagement here means likes, reposts, replies, quotes and bookmarks, divided by views, using the public counts under each post. X's own analytics panel adds clicks and media plays and reports a higher rate. X analytics explained covers the difference.
Other platforms may behave differently. In OpenSponsorship's study of 1,527 paid deliverables, published July 2026 and weighted toward sports, wellness, food and lifestyle, engagement per view fell from 4.6% for nano creators to 2.6% for creators with 250K to 1M followers.
Which tier gets its posts saved most?
Nano and micro accounts. Their launch posts drew about 14 bookmarks per 10,000 views, against 7.5 for accounts over 1 million followers.
A bookmark is someone keeping the post to come back to, which makes it the closest public sign of buying intent on X.
Accounts from 1,000 to 1 million followers stayed between 12.1 and 14.3 per 10,000 views. The drop comes at the very top and the very bottom. Accounts under 1,000 drew 9.2.
The likely reason is audience. A mega account reaches a wide general audience, and a smaller account in a niche reaches people who work on the problem. For a B2B or developer product, those are the views most likely to turn into trials.
How much do micro and macro influencers cost on X?
On X, tech creators with 10,000 to 50,000 followers typically charge $250 to $5,000 per sponsored post. At 50,000 to 250,000 it is $500 to $5,000 and up, and above 250,000 it is $2,000 to $10,000 or more. Per thousand views, founders, engineers and technical creators usually price at a $40 to $50 CPM.
Those are the rates Doomers AI sees on X, and B2B creator rates breaks them down. The CPM is the fairer way to compare tiers, since it prices the views a post gets. At $40 to $50 per thousand, a $2,000 post should deliver 40,000 to 50,000 views from the right audience.
Consumer-category deals priced lower at the bottom. OpenSponsorship's study found a median fee of $134 per deliverable for nano creators, $150 for 10K to 50K followers, $417 for 50K to 250K, $517 for 250K to 1M and $2,727 above 1M. What to charge for a sponsored post covers the creator side of the same numbers.
Should you use micro or macro influencers for a launch?
For most AI and B2B launches on X, start with micro and mid-tier accounts whose followers are your buyers, then add one or two large accounts to carry the post out of its niche. The data supports that order.
- Buy views, priced per thousand. Compare creators on the median views of their recent posts and the CPM that implies. Follower count is the number rate cards are built on, and the table above shows how loosely it tracks reach.
- Use micro accounts for the buyers. They get more views per follower and more bookmarks per view, and their audiences are narrower, which is what a technical product needs.
- Use macro and mega accounts for the ceiling. 18% of launches from accounts over 1M followers passed 10M views, against 3% of micro launches. If the goal is the biggest number on the day, a large account raises the odds.
- Put them in the same window. Several accounts of different sizes posting about one launch in the same hours reach overlapping audiences, and a reader who sees it from three people they follow treats it as news. Tech influencers covers how a launch casts them.
The starting account can be tiny. TypeSafe AI launched from an account with 1,500 followers and reached 40M views, and Pine reached 24M from 1,200, both with Doomers AI carrying the post through its creator network.
How we measured it
Every launch in the directory has its views, likes, reposts, replies, quotes and bookmarks read from X. We grouped launches by the posting account's follower count, using the count at the moment of posting where we know it and the current count otherwise. We report medians, so one 100M-view post cannot move a band.
The directory has limits worth stating. Launches we find in bulk come in at 500,000 views or more, and launches sent to us by hand can be any size, so 43% sit under 500,000.
Launches nobody saw are missing, which means every median here is higher than an ordinary post would get. Read the pattern between bands, which is where the data is strongest.
Follower counts are mostly read after the launch, and a big launch grows a small account. That pushes some small accounts into a higher band and makes their multiples lower than they really were.
These are also launch posts, and 92% of them carry a video. Read the absolute numbers as the bar for an announcement, and the shape across tiers as the part that carries over to a sponsored post.
Questions people ask
How many followers is a micro influencer?
10,000 to 100,000 followers. Below that is a nano influencer, 1,000 to 10,000, and above it is a mid-tier influencer, 100,000 to 500,000. Some brands cap micro at 50,000, so check the definition in any brief or rate card.
What is a macro influencer?
An account with 500,000 to 1 million followers in the five-tier system, or 100,000 to 1 million in the simpler three-tier one. On X, macro launch posts had a median of 1.04M views, 1.8 times the account's following.
What is a nano influencer?
An account with 1,000 to 10,000 followers. On X, nano launch posts had a median of 349K views, 97 times the account's following, and drew 14 bookmarks per 10,000 views, the joint highest of any tier.
Is 100K followers a micro influencer?
100,000 is the top edge of micro and the start of mid-tier. In the five-tier system an account at 100,000 counts as mid-tier, which runs from 100,000 to 500,000 followers.
Are micro influencers better than macro influencers?
They are better per follower, and macro influencers are better for total reach. On X, micro launch posts reached 27 times their following against 1.8 times for macro, while macro posts had higher median views and a higher chance of passing 1M.
Do micro influencers have higher engagement rates?
Per follower they do: 9.4% for micro accounts against 0.7% for macro on X launch posts. Per view the rates are almost the same, 0.53% and 0.54%, because a small account's post reaches many people who do not follow it.
How much do micro influencers charge on X?
Tech creators on X with 10,000 to 50,000 followers typically charge $250 to $5,000 per sponsored post, and $500 to $5,000 and up at 50,000 to 250,000. Per thousand views, the usual range is a $40 to $50 CPM.
Should a B2B startup use micro or macro influencers on X?
Start with micro and mid-tier accounts whose followers are your buyers, then add one or two large accounts for reach. Micro accounts drew about 14 bookmarks per 10,000 views against 7.5 for accounts over 1 million, and bookmarks are the nearest public sign of buying intent.