Short answer
Backstage is a casting site that lists UGC briefs under a Content Creator profile, in the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. You need a paid subscription to apply (from $7.08 a month billed yearly on its welcome offer, or $24.95 month to month after the first month). When a brand pays through Backstage you're paid by Stripe after approval, minus a 2.5% fee, and the brand gets a time-limited license: 6 months of paid ads and 12 months of organic use.
What does Backstage UGC involve, at a glance?
| Backstage | |
|---|---|
| How work is offered | Brands post UGC briefs or send you requests; you apply with your Content Creator profile |
| Pay, as the platform states it | Set per listing; Backstage doesn't publish typical UGC pay |
| How you're paid | Stripe after the brand approves (up to 7 days), or off-platform if the brand pays elsewhere |
| Cost to creators | Paid subscription to apply ($7.08 to $24.95 a month); 2.5% fee on secure payments |
| Who can join | US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand; 18+ (or a parent-run profile) |
| Follower minimum | None stated |
| Where you use it | Web (backstage.com) |
What does it cost to apply on Backstage?
A subscription. Applying to casting calls and jobs is a subscriber benefit, and even invitations in your dashboard need a paid plan before you can apply (subscription benefits). No other platform in our UGC jobs guide charges creators to apply.
| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| Yearly (welcome offer) | $7.08 a month, billed yearly (normally $16.66) |
| 6 months | $19.99 a month, billed twice a year |
| Monthly | $18.95 the first month, then $24.95 a month |
Plans renew automatically. Monthly plans aren't refunded; the help center says you can get a full refund if you cancel within 30 days of a renewal. At $7.08 a month, the yearly plan costs about $85 up front, so one paid brief usually covers it; month to month, it's $24.95 whether or not you book anything.
How do UGC briefs work on a casting site?
Backstage, run with its sister sites Mandy and StarNow, lists influencer and UGC work next to acting, modeling and crew jobs; it's one of the freelance routes on our map of content creator jobs. You make a Content Creator profile: confirm you're over 18, add your rates under Content Pricing, connect your social stats and pick your platforms. No follower minimum appears on the pages we read. A profile for someone under 18 has to be run by a parent or guardian.
- Find briefs
Find Jobs → Influencer/UGC Jobs, filtered by location, project type, product category, platform, pay, deliverables and expiry (applying to briefs).
- Apply, then get booked
A brief moves from Applied to Booked to In Progress to Closed. Accepting a booking means agreeing to Backstage's UGC License & Content Usage Agreement.
- Answer direct requests within 72 hours
A brand can also send you a UGC request. You have 72 hours to accept and must deliver by the due date; revision requests send it back to you.
- Get paid on approval
Payment is released to your Stripe account once the brand approves the deliverable.
Backstage says a casting team reviews every notice. New posts go live at once with a banner saying they're still under review, and it asks you to take extra care with those (beware of scams).
How are you paid, and when does Backstage's protection stop?
Pay is set per listing, and Backstage publishes no typical UGC rates. It encourages employers to list pay but says listings can change and aren't a binding contract, so agree rates and terms in writing (pay transparency).
| Item | What Backstage says |
|---|---|
| Through Backstage | Secure Payments via Stripe Connect, released when the brand approves |
| Your fee | 2.5% of the amount you receive (brands pay 3%) |
| Timing | Stripe payouts can take up to 7 days |
| Currency | Non-USD amounts go through a USD processor, so exchange rates apply |
| Off-platform | Brands can pay another way and mark the job paid; turning down an employer's method may cost you the job |
Why is Backstage's license the shortest we found?
Because it expires. When the brand pays through Backstage you keep the copyright, and the brand gets an exclusive license for 6 months of paid ads (Spark Ads, Meta ads) and 12 months of organic use (website, email, social), counted from when payment is released to you. After 6 months it must pay you again to keep running ads. It may keep your name, voice and face in assets it already posted, so old posts don't have to come down (UGC requests and pay).
Compare that with Billo, where the brand owns the video outright, or Insense, where the license is perpetual. On a direct deal you'd have to negotiate a window like this yourself; the rate calculator prices paid usage by period.
What do Backstage reviewers say about UGC jobs?
Backstage's claimed Trustpilot page scores 4.2 from 227 reviews, split sharply: 53% five stars, 39% one star. Most are about acting and casting, so the score says little about UGC on its own.
Among the 23 reviews on its first page on October 14, 2026, two mention UGC by name, both five stars: one (September 2026) says applying to UGC gigs was easy from application to payment. About six more read like creators paid by a brand through Backstage, praising clear guidelines and on-time payment. Three object to paying a subscription to apply, though the one we read closely was about a casting role.
Is a Backstage subscription worth it for UGC alone?
Only if you'll apply often enough to book a brief or two a year, or you already act, model or host and the subscription covers that work too. If UGC is all you want, try the free platforms first and come back for the license terms.
In its favour
- A time-limited license (6 months paid, 12 months organic) with paid renewals, when paid through Backstage.
- Written payment rules: Stripe on approval, a published 2.5% fee.
- Postings reviewed by a casting team, with a banner on ones still under review.
- One subscription covers acting, modeling and UGC work in five countries.
Against it
- You pay before you can apply to anything.
- Pay isn't required on listings, and no typical UGC rates are published.
- Jobs paid off-platform lose the license terms and dispute handling.
- Its public ratings are mostly about casting, not UGC.
Free to join instead
- Billo review: fixed pay per video and the product shipped to you, but the brand owns the result.
- Insense review: you set your price, in 22 countries, with a perpetual license.
- Sideshift review: free posting campaigns with view bonuses, in the US, Canada, the UK and Australia.
- Kora review: a job board with a free tier of 3 applications a day instead of a subscription to apply.
What a subscription would show us
- How many UGC briefs are open at once, and what most of them pay.
- Whether every UGC listing shows its pay.
- Which features each plan includes: the pricing page doesn't say.
- Whether the refund window also covers a first purchase, not only a renewal.
