If you want to make money on Pinterest in 2027, here’s the part most guides skip: Pinterest isn’t social media. It’s a search engine. People don’t come to Pinterest to see what you had for lunch. They come looking for ideas (gift guides, recipes, decor, crafts, outfits, planners), and when they find something they like, they click out to buy it, make it or read more. That click is where the money lives.
I’ve been earning from Pinterest since 2017, and I’m a Certified Pinterest Media Buyer. In the last 90 days, my account did this:
No dancing on camera. No viral moment. Just pins that answer what people are already searching for, working quietly while I do other things.
This guide is for beginners. You don’t need a blog to start. You don’t need a big following. You don’t need to show your face. You need to understand how Pinterest actually pays, pick one way to start, and stay consistent long enough for it to compound.
How to Make Money on Pinterest: How It Actually Works
Every dollar earned on Pinterest comes from the same chain: a search, then your pin, then a click, then an action. The action is what pays you, and there are five of them.
1Affiliate Sales
Someone buys a product through your affiliate link, and you earn a commission.
2Blog Traffic
Someone clicks through to your blog, and you earn from the ads and affiliate links on the page.
3Digital Products
Someone buys your printable, template, guide or book, and you keep the sale.
4Sponsored Income
A brand pays you, or sends free products, to feature what they sell.
5Services
Someone hires you for Pinterest management, design or consulting.
You don’t need all five. Most people start with one, and the smart ones add a second once the first is working. That’s exactly how I built mine: affiliate income first, then blog income, then products, then brand deals and design work. Today I earn from all of them, and I teach every one inside the Multi-Passionate Income Collective.
Let’s walk through each way, in the order I’d start them.
1. Affiliate Pins: How to Make Money on Pinterest Without a Blog
This is the fastest way in, and the one most beginners should start with. You create pins that link straight to products through affiliate networks: Amazon, LTK, Awin, Impact and brand programs. When someone clicks your pin and buys, you earn a commission. No blog posts to write, no website to maintain, no camera required.
A holiday shopper searches Pinterest for “Christmas gift ideas for women.” Your pin shows a red light therapy wand from a skincare gift guide. She clicks, buys the wand she’d been considering anyway, and you earn a commission on the sale. Multiply that by the thousands of searches happening every day in December, and you start to see why this works.
My first affiliate campaign, back in 2017, made me over $3,000, enough to help renovate our kitchen. That was the moment I knew this was real, and I’ve been earning from affiliate marketing ever since.
The networks are free to join, and approval is straightforward once you have a Pinterest business account with a few boards filled in. Pick products people are already searching for (gift guides, decor, kitchen tools, craft supplies) and pin them with titles that use the words people actually type into the search bar.
I don’t want you starting on a false promise: Pinterest grows through consistency over months, not overnight. My own guide says so. But a pin you publish in December can still be earning next Christmas, and the year after that. That’s the trade that makes it worth it.
My step-by-step guide to affiliate income on Pinterest without a blog. A 75-page PDF with 10 modules, a done-for-you AI prompt library, trackers and a weekly batch-day workflow. Instant download, so you can be pinning tonight.
Get Pins That Pay, $47 USD2. How to Make Money With Pinterest and a Blog (Ads + Affiliate Links)
If you have a blog, or want one, Pinterest is the best free traffic engine for it, because Pinterest traffic is search traffic. People arrive already interested in your topic, which makes them far more likely to click an affiliate link or read to the end of a post.
My blog earns through Mediavine display ads and affiliate links, and Pinterest is the engine that feeds it. A single post can bring in traffic for years. My air dry clay tutorials and low carb recipes still get pinned and clicked long after I published them, and every click is another chance for ad revenue and affiliate income.
You don’t need a huge blog to start. You need a few posts that answer real searches, each with affiliate links and a clear next step for the reader. I wrote the full story of how I built mine here: How to Make Money Blogging: My Proven Pinterest Strategy.
A blog raises your earning ceiling, because every visitor can earn you money from ads and affiliate links at the same time. Setting up a blog that earns from affiliate links, display ads and your own products is Module 2 inside the Collective. But start with affiliate pins first. They’re faster, and they teach you what people actually want before you write a word.
3. Make Money From Pinterest by Selling Your Own Digital Products
This is where Pinterest income gets exciting, because you keep nearly all of it. Once you know what your audience searches for, you can make the thing they’re looking for: a printable, a template bundle, a guide, a journal, a coloring book. I sell digital products through my shop, and I publish coloring books and journals on Amazon KDP, with seven published so far and more on the way.
The formula is simple: your pins already tell you what people want. The product is just the answer, packaged. My air dry clay audience wanted templates, so I made a template bundle. My Pinterest audience wanted the affiliate system, so I made Pins That Pay. Listen to the searches, then build the product.
Digital products also fix the biggest weakness of affiliate income: you don’t control the commission. With your own product, you set the price and you keep the sale. That’s why this is the stream I’d add second, right after affiliate pins are working.
4. Brand Deals and UGC: Get Paid to Feature Products
Once your pins are getting seen, brands start noticing, and they’ll pay you to feature their products or send you free products to promote. This year alone, brands have sent me thousands of dollars in free products to promote, over $1,200 in a single month, just from finding my pins.
You don’t need a huge following for this. Brands care about reach in their niche and pins that convert, not follower counts. A small account with 20,000 monthly views in the home decor niche is more valuable to a decor brand than a big account with no focus.
- Tag brands you already use and love in your pins
- Keep a simple media kit
- List your monthly views and niches
- Show a few of your best pins
When a brand reaches out, you’ll be ready. The Collective includes a brand pitch swipe file with copy-and-paste pitches, and a whole module on where to find deals and how to package sponsored blog and Pinterest bundles.
5. Sell a Pinterest Service
This is the fastest money on Pinterest, because you’re selling your time and skill, not waiting for clicks to compound. If you can design pins, manage a Pinterest account, write pin descriptions or do keyword research, someone will pay you for it.
I earned over $100,000 from custom graphic design (oracle decks and graphics), built almost entirely from work that started on Pinterest. And Pinterest management is one of the most in-demand freelance services for bloggers and small businesses right now, because most of them know they need Pinterest and don’t have time to do it themselves.
You don’t need a portfolio to start. Your own account is the portfolio. When your pins are getting impressions and clicks, that’s the proof a client wants to see.
How to Make Money on Pinterest for Beginners: Your First Two Weeks
If you’re starting from zero, here’s the exact order I’d do it in.
- Week 1: Set up. Switch to a Pinterest business account (it’s free). Write a bio that says what you pin about in plain words, because Pinterest reads it like a search engine reads a website. Create 5 to 8 boards around the topics you’ll pin, one per niche or product type, with keyword-rich names and descriptions. Fill each board with 10 to 20 pins, a mix of your own and others’, so no board looks empty.
- Week 2: Publish your first pins. Join one affiliate network. Amazon is the easiest start, and Amazon.ca has a Canadian program too. Pick 10 products people are already searching for and make one pin each: a clear image, a title with the search words in it, and a description that says what the product is and who it’s for. Then do it again next week. One focused batch session a week beats posting a little every day.
- Then: track what earns. Watch which pins get clicks and saves, and make more of what’s working. That’s the whole game. The creators who earn on Pinterest aren’t the ones with the prettiest pins. They’re the ones who publish consistently and double down on winners.
The keyword strategy, board setup, pin design, scheduling and monetization behind the account at the top of this post. Over 1,400 students have taken it.
Get Pinning for Profit, $697 USDWhat to Pin on Pinterest in 2027
Pinterest rewards two kinds of content: seasonal and evergreen. You need both.
1Evergreen: The Backbone
Topics people search for all year. “How to make money on Pinterest” is one. Air dry clay tutorials, low carb recipes, home decor ideas, gift guides and organization are others. These pins build slowly and then pay for years.
2Seasonal: The Spike
Christmas, Valentine’s Day, spring cleaning, summer, back to school, fall decor. Seasonal pins earn fast but fade. The trick is publishing them 45 to 60 days before the season, while Pinterest is still indexing them. My extra money for Christmas post went up in November for exactly that reason.
Aim for about 70% evergreen and 30% seasonal. The evergreen pins build your base. The seasonal pins catch the waves.
Can You Really Make Money on Pinterest? Realistic Expectations for 2027
Let me be straight with you, because the internet is full of people who won’t be.
You will not earn in your first week. Pinterest takes weeks for new pins to gain traction, and months for an account to build momentum.
Your first month is for learning what gets clicked, not for counting commissions.
The people who earn are the ones still pinning in month three, when everyone else quit in week two.
What I can tell you is what the upside looks like when you stick with it. My account sends over 1,000 clicks a day to products and websites. Affiliate pins I published years ago still earn. And every stream I added (blog, products, brand deals, services) started with the same thing: a pin, published consistently, answering a real search.
Your 2027 Plan: Do It With Me
If you want 2027 to be the year Pinterest actually pays you, don’t try to piece it together from free tips. That’s what I did for years, and it cost me more time than any course ever did.
The Multi-Passionate Income Collective is my new program for exactly this. It has eleven modules covering every income stream I earn from: blogging, keyword research, Pinterest traffic and sales, affiliate marketing, brand deals, Amazon KDP, AI, graphic design, digital products, and the weekly workflow that keeps them all running in small pockets of time.
Founding members lock in $197 USD before doors open in January 2027. When doors open, the price goes up to $397. Want the full Pinterest course too? The Collective + Pinning for Profit bundle is $597, less than Pinning for Profit’s regular price.
Join the Collective, $197 USDDoors open in January, and the founding price ends when they do. If you start pinning now, in December, you’ll walk into January with an account that’s already moving, and a plan for turning it into income.
How to Make Money on Pinterest: Questions I Get Asked
Do I need a blog to make money on Pinterest?
Not to start. Affiliate pins link straight to products, no blog required. A blog raises your earning ceiling later, because it adds ad revenue and a home for your own products, but it’s not how you start.
Do I need a big following?
No. Pinterest is a search engine, not a social feed. People find your pins through search, not because they follow you. A brand-new account with good keywords can outrank an old account with a big following.
Do I need to show my face?
No. My pins don’t feature me, and most of my account’s growth came from pins that never show a face. People are looking for ideas, not influencers.
How long until I earn?
Honestly, it depends on how many pins you publish and how consistently you pin, and I can’t guarantee any amount. What I can tell you is that the people who earn are the ones who start now and are still pinning in three months. The pins you publish in December are the ones earning in January.
I’m Canadian. Does this work in Canada?
Yes. I’m based in Canada and built my whole Pinterest income from here. Amazon.ca has its own Associates program, LTK, Awin and Impact all accept Canadians, and most of my audience is in the US. My guides and courses are priced in USD, so you’ll see the converted amount at checkout.
I’m a complete beginner. Where do I start?
Affiliate pins. It’s the lowest barrier, the fastest feedback, and it teaches you what people actually want. Start with Pins That Pay if you want the steps laid out, or follow the two-week plan above and start today.
The Bottom Line
Pinterest pays beginners in 2027 the same way it paid me: not with a viral moment, but with pins that answer real searches, published consistently, in topics people already care about.
Pick one way to earn. Set up your account this week. Publish your first ten pins. Then do it again next week. And if you want the whole system (every stream, every template, every prompt, and the weekly routine that holds it together), I’ll see you inside the Collective in January.
Pin this for later so you have the two-week plan handy when you sit down to set up your account.
Earnings and results mentioned here are my own and are not a guarantee. Results vary based on effort, niche, product selection, experience, and other factors.