Blog Income Calculator
Blog income never comes from one place. A typical blog earns from display ads, affiliate commissions, sponsored posts, digital products, and an email list at the same time, and each stream scales differently with traffic. Estimating the total means modeling each stream on its own terms, not guessing a single number.
The Blog Income Calculator below models all five streams. Enter your monthly page views and ad RPM for ad revenue, choose simple or traffic-based affiliate modeling, add sponsored posts, product sales, and email revenue, and it totals your monthly and annual income with each stream’s share of the mix.
Five revenue streams modeled separately, then totaled with the income mix.
Display ads
Affiliate income
Sponsored posts
Products and email
Estimates, not guarantees. RPM and conversion rates vary widely by niche. For profit after expenses, see our blogging profit calculator.
How blog income is estimated
Each stream has its own formula:
Display ads: (Monthly Page Views / 1,000) x Ad RPM
Affiliate (simple): your known monthly commissions
Affiliate (traffic-based): Visitors x Click-Through Rate x Conversion Rate x Average Commission
Sponsored posts: Posts per Month x Average Rate per Post
Products: your monthly product revenue
Email: List Size x Revenue per Subscriber
Total: the sum of all five, times 12 for the annual figure.
RPM (revenue per mille) is the standard ad metric: dollars earned per 1,000 page views. Typical blog RPMs run $5 to $25 depending on niche and ad network, with finance and business niches at the high end.
Worked example
A lifestyle blog with 100,000 monthly page views:
Ads: (100,000 / 1,000) x $12 = $1,200 (33.1%)
Affiliate: $800 flat (22.1%)
Sponsored: 2 posts x $300 = $600 (16.6%)
Products: $150 (4.1%)
Email: 2,500 subscribers x $0.35 = $875 (24.1%)
Total: $3,625 per month, $43,500 per year, or $36.25 per 1,000 page views.
The mix shows ads leading but email close behind: growing the list is the highest-leverage move here.
What competitors miss
The ranking tools each cover one stream: one does ads only (with a visits-to-pageviews derivation), two do affiliate only (one with traffic x CTR x conversion modeling). None combine all five streams, none show the income mix, and none answer “which stream should I grow first?” This calculator models every stream in one place, offers both simple and traffic-based affiliate math, and names your largest stream with its share so the next move is obvious.
Tips to grow each stream
Ads: grow page views and move to a premium ad network once you qualify; RPM rises with US and UK traffic. Affiliate: promote products you genuinely use, place links where buying intent is highest (tutorials, comparisons), and track earnings per click. Sponsored: build a media kit with traffic stats and charge by value delivered, not by follower count. Products: a simple ebook or template often out-earns ads per visitor. Email: the list compounds: capture 2 to 5% of visitors and monetize with your own offers first.
Frequently asked questions
How much traffic do I need to make $1,000 a month?
At $36 per 1,000 page views (the example above), about 28,000 monthly page views. At a leaner $15 per 1,000, about 67,000. The mix matters more than the raw number.
What is a good ad RPM?
$5 to $25 is typical for blogs. Finance, business, and SaaS niches often exceed $25; entertainment and general lifestyle sit lower.
What is the difference between CPM and RPM?
CPM is what advertisers pay per 1,000 impressions; RPM is what you actually earn per 1,000 page views after the network’s cut. Use RPM for income estimates.
How do I estimate affiliate income from traffic?
Use the traffic-based mode: visitors x click-through rate x conversion rate x average commission. Start with 2 to 5% CTR and 1 to 3% conversion as rough defaults, then replace with your real numbers.
Do I need a huge email list for it to matter?
No. In the example, 2,500 subscribers at $0.35 each produce $875 a month: nearly a quarter of total income. Small engaged lists outperform large cold ones.
When should I switch from AdSense to a premium network?
Most premium networks require 50,000 to 100,000 monthly sessions. Below that, optimize placement and content; the RPM jump from switching networks is usually 30 to 100%.
Is this income or profit?
Income. Hosting, tools, content costs, and taxes are not subtracted. For profit after expenses, use a blogging profit calculator.
How accurate are these estimates?
As accurate as your inputs. RPM and conversion rates are the sensitive ones: small changes swing the total, so use your own measured figures where you have them.