How much does a Content Writer earn in India?

8 min readOct 31, 2021

I asked content writers, conducted polls on LinkedIn, analyzed the data from Payscale and LinkedIn Salary Explorer, and Job posting websites like Naukri.com and MonsterIndia.com to uncover the exact data on the income of an Indian content writer.

Whenever I tell people that I am a content writer, they ask, “How do you earn money?”

And I think it’s obvious, because content writing is a new career in India, and very few people know about it.

If you are doubtful about content writing as a career, then I hope our data will help you to make a wise decision. So let’s dive into it.

How Much Does a Content Writer Earn?

A content writer in a fresher role on average earns 24,000₹ in India, whereas in senior positions, they can earn up to 47,000₹. The fresher and senior roles’ salary range can be 11K — 42K and 25K — 74K.

The term content writer here refers to the blog writers or long-form content writers. We will cover writing specializations like technical writing and copywriting in the subsequent sections.

To get a better understanding, I shared a poll on LinkedIn, where I asked my connections about the earning of a content writer per month in India. Here’s what I got as results.

The content writing career has no entry barriers because it doesn’t require any degree, and that’s why you’ll find so many content writers in India.

It can be frustrating as the competition is high for a fresher. So he won’t get paid much because many people are ready to work at a lesser price.

This data from payscale shows that the more experienced a content writer is, the more he’ll get paid.

The key take away is, start early to gain experience, work consistently, and develop expertise in a niche because nobody questions an expert for their high price.

How Much Does a Freelance Content Writer Earn?

An average Freelance writer gets between 1–4 ₹ per word in India. The price may increase depending on the expertise of the writer in a specific niche (technical writing), the form of writing (copywriting), or the amount of research involved in the process.

Freelance content writers don’t get a monthly salary. They get paid for the amount of work that they do.

In India, freelance writers charge based on rupees per word. Some content writers also charge on an hourly basis. We will cover both aspects in this section.

How do I know what freelancers charge in India? I found two polls shared by renowned content writers on LinkedIn answered by 600+ people, mostly writers, shown here.

Payscale data shows that a freelance writer gets an average 487.22₹ perhour in India. The value may vary between 98–1000₹ depending on the experience and expertise of the writer.

How Much Does a Copywriter Earn?

A copywriter in a fresher role on average earns 29,500₹ in India, whereas senior positions can earn up to 49,000₹. The fresher and senior writer’s salary range can be 15K — 59K and 28K — 76K.

The job of a copywriter is to craft persuasive content for ads, email, sales page, etc.

Average Salary of a Copywriter

How Much Does a Technical Content Writer Earn?

A technical writer in a fresher role on average earns 40,740₹ in India, whereas senior positions can earn up to 84,000₹. The fresher and senior writer’s salary range can be 18K — 83K and 44K — 160K.

Average Salary of a Technical Writer

Some answers from Content Writers

As I mentioned earlier that I contacted fellow content writers on LinkedIn and asked them about their income. Here are some answers that I think can solve a lot of questions that you may have.

Nobody can answer your question better than content writers who are practicing it daily. Some writers who answered my questions earn a decent income, whereas some of them are freelancers and freshers.

Note: For privacy reasons, I can not cite the names of my connections here. But at the end of this article, I have mentioned their names in random order.

Hi Harshit,
this is a good initiative and I would gladly share what I have been earning for some of my projects. I had a retainer agreement with a website wherein I would conduct and write four interviews for them, and write four short editorials (500 words) every month. I was getting paid 10k per month for the same.
I write case studies for a reputed brand and get paid 2k per case study (under 2000 words, includes research and several re-writes). I have been getting paid to the tune of 1500–2000 for technical write-ups (800 words) which require research.
Generally, my rate has been 1 Rs per word — but I only agree to a rate like this if the work comes in bulk (pre-agreed 4–5 articles per month terms) I think it is important that we are transparent about what we have been earning because even now I struggle with asking the right amount for my efforts.
I would be curious to know what your experience has been and what other content writers have been earning. I would, however, appreciate anonymity in the article since I have NDAs with some of my clients
Hi Harshit,
I’ll be glad if the info I know proves useful to those who read your article. Although, I haven’t talked to many writers about their salaries.
When I started out last year, I got into an internship. They paid me 10k per month. My senior was getting somewhere around 22k. She had completed a six-month internship at the same company and then got promoted with that salary.
The one and only job I did for four months was paying me 22500/- per month. One of my friends recently took up academic writing. She is a fresher and has been asked to complete 75k words in a month to get 15k.
That’s all I know 😬
Hello Harshit,
Yes, I am and hope you are also! That’s so thoughtful of you! Yes yes, even some of the freelancers do share about them in open but the rest depends on person to person!
At the initial level, people do earn a four-digit number But as soon your experience moves over, it comes to over five-figure of 50k and then gradually in lakhs too! People do earn in dollars depending upon clients and work which you can do
I hope it answers your question
Hi Harshit,
As I know one should charge according to their experience and quality of writing. Some experienced people in my connection earn Min 80k monthly. They mostly take high ticket clients and foreign clients.
But, for newbie writers, I don’t think one can earn that much at the beginning. However, a qualified newbie freelance content writer can earn a minimum of 20–30k per month.
Hope this helps 🙂
I know a lot of writers in Jaipur who charge 20–40 paise per word (ppw) as their standard rate. I’ve had a lot of companies ask me if I’d work for them as a freelancer for 20–50 ppw. So, for a lot of people, that’s the standard.
Personally, I’ve never charged below 80ppw, even as a fresher. Right now my starting rates are 1rs ppw and I have charged as much 7rs ppw for technical and legal projects.
Hii Harshit!!
I will definitely let you know! All the best for your blog!!
I used to earn 21k as a content writer in an e-learning company.
During lockdown I have expanded my skills and started freelancing ….currently charging 2rs per word for technical blogs
Hi Harshit,
I’ve done one Ghostwriting project in which I received 10,000 for a 10,000-word story, which means one rupee per word. And in two other projects, I did blog writing, charges were 450Rs. for one 450–500 word blog.
I am actually unsure about the same. Salary depends on your talent… I believe. Like it varies from 30 k to even 60k.
As a freelancer also. you might get 1to 2 rs per word for technical contents and for others..it depends on the industry I guess
Even I am working for 70ppw to 1re per word. Indian clients feel miserable paying even a rupee per word
I’m glad you brought this topic up. Please do mention the plight of Indian writers and their misuse by Indian clients.
Hi Harshit,
I work 6 days a week for near about 17–18 companies and I make it between 50–80k per month. I have a team member who is a fresher in content writing and make 20k per month easily by freelancing.
Sure, I personally charge 70 ppw minimum. As for my connections, it ranges from 50 ppw to 1 Rs.
Actually, I too didn’t know about the same so much but mostly If we talk about freelancing it goes from 50ppw to 1 Rs. for new writers as suggested by one of the known people.
The salary depends basically on the company and your job experience. It can be any 15k to whatever as a newbie.

Conclusion

I learned a lot about the income of a content writer in this article, and I hope you did too.

Remember, always that the data that we have presented here is just an average data. This is nowhere close to what you can earn as a content writer.

You can earn even ten or even a hundred times more than the maximum limit because, in the end, it all comes down to your skills, knowledge, and passion for writing.

At last, I would like to thank these awesome people for answering my questions and helping me in gathering data.

I’ll feel blessed if you share this article, my three weeks of hard work will definitely pay off.

At last, if you like this article then feel free to share it with your friends. Till then wish you very good luck!