Are Twitch Mods Paid? How to Make Money as a Twitch Mod

Twitch is a top-rated and widely used streaming platform for gamers. Content creators can make decent revenue through affiliate marketing, sponsorships and other methods, but what about stream moderators? Are Twitch mods paid? The short answer is yes and no. 

Do Twitch Mods Get Paid?

Twitch does not require its streamers to pay moderators, so there are no guarantees. In fact, most mods are unpaid, though some may get “paid” in the form of gifted in-game purchases, streamer merchandise, or other perks. However, some mods get payments directly from the most popular streamers to manage their large group chats. Here’s how a stream gains moderators and how moderators make money for their services.

How Streams Gain Moderators

Every stream has at least one mod, but mods for small streams are usually volunteers. The real moderating work gets done on the popular channels. A stream’s group chat reaches a certain size where volunteers and Twitch admins can no longer supervise the chat by themselves, leading the streamers to pay independent mods.

To help its creators, Twitch put together a simple guide for determining how many mods a stream should have:

• Small Channels: group chats average less than one line per second, requiring just two or three active volunteer mods at one time.

• Medium Channels: group chats average less than five lines per second, requiring an active mod for roughly every 200 viewers.

• Large Channels: group chats average more than five lines per second, requiring an active mod for roughly every 600 viewers.

Once a streamer hits it big, they can hire additional moderators at their discretion to manage their chats and ensure that they don’t break the Twitch terms of service. Twitch isn’t afraid to enforce the rules, as the platform has banned many popular streamers for minor infractions.

How Much Do Twitch Mods Make?

The streamer and moderator negotiate a flat pay rate, which means a mod’s income has a vast range of outcomes. Ninja rumoredly pays each mod $50 per stream, while Ludwig paid his mods $5,000 per day during his 31-day Subathon event in 2021. We don’t know every streamer’s exact pay rate, but it’s safe to say that Ninja’s pay rate is closer to the average.

Some larger streamers might hire stream assistants; for example, Wipz receives a salary working for TimTheTatman. However, Wipz’s role encompasses far more than just moderating a Twitch chat and is essentially full-time work, so it’s disingenuous to say he receives a salary for being a Twitch moderator.

If you’re still thinking about becoming a Twitch mod, it’s extremely beneficial to have a personal connection to a streamer with a decent following. Otherwise, you have work harder to get noticed. Here are some things you can do to increase your exposure:

• Get active in many group chats.
• Follow the rules and don’t start trouble in group chats.
• Build rapport with multiple streamers.
• Ask for mod opportunities, when appropriate.

To become a relevant moderator, you need to act like a relevant moderator. They don’t have any special qualifications. They just enforce Twitch’s rules and help streamers manage their chats. A streamer might notice your activity and invite you to join their mod team.

Twitch Mod Responsibilities

A Twitch mod’s responsibilities primarily depend on the streamer’s priorities. Some streamers don’t care about vulgarity, while others like to keep things PG and have their mods automatically ban anyone who uses foul language. If you choose to start moderating Twitch streams, expect to do some mixture of the following tasks:

• Delete explicit messages
• Ban viewers for breaking chat rules or Twitch T.O.S.
• Process unban requests
• Update titles or on-screen content
• Interact with viewers
• Help solve technical problems
• Create clips from the stream

Some of the more tech-savvy Twitch moderators become editors or managers for a streamer’s other platforms, including their YouTube channels and social media accounts. If you’re an editing whizz, you could turn a moderating position into something greater.

Don’t Count on Getting Rich

So, do mods get paid on Twitch? Yes, but only if you work for one of the big guys. Even then, a streamer might take a few days or weeks off, leaving you without money for long stretches. A handful of people might make a living as Twitch moderators, but you shouldn’t count on it becoming your primary income source. Consider it a part-time way to make extra money along with another full-time job.