Summary: This article outlines how earnings work for Envato Elements, including when you can see your full report and what’s included in the calculations.
We pay Authors 50% of the net subscription revenue from the base subscription price of each customer’s plan, where their items have been downloaded during an earnings cycle. This amount is split among eligible authors using the subscriber share model.
This means that Envato Elements takes the total downloads of an item (per customer) for a subscription that starts on any day in the calendar month and reports them on the next available earnings report.
Here are some example scenarios:
Scenario 1: A customer starts their subscription on November 1. Any download for the next 30 days are included in the November earnings.
Scenario 2: A customer starts their subscription on November 30. Any download for the next 30 days are included in the November earnings.
In scenario two, even though most of the downloads happen in the month of December, they are counted as part of a November subscription because the first day of the subscription was in that calendar month.
When Should I Expect to See My Full Earnings Report?
We aim to get results in front of Authors as quickly as possible, however due to our revenue share methodology, there is a necessary delay of up to two months before we can provide you with your final monthly earnings amount.
So, using the example above, because November earnings need to wait until the end of the very last November subscription period (end of December) to be finalized, the earliest that earnings can be paid and reported on is in January.
Displaying partial earnings for a month
To help you make better decisions about the content you have on Elements, we are making daily calculations visible for your item earnings to provide you with partial earnings information as early as possible. This means that your item earnings will visibly accumulate daily over the course of the month, until the entire month has been calculated.
When will my first day of earnings become available?
We aim to publish your first earnings amount once 40 days have passed. Before this time, the month will not be available in the drop down menu on your earnings report. For example, for the June earnings month, you will be able to select June on your earnings report in mid-July. This initial calculation will cover the first week of June.
What if my item earnings don’t change day after day?
There are a couple of scenarios that will result in your subscriber share earnings remaining unchanged from day to day:
- Above your earnings, a date will be displayed indicating the latest calculated day. If this has not been updated, then no new calculations have occurred. We will attempt to inform you if there is a long delay in performing a new daily calculation.
- If the calculations are up-to-date and your earnings haven’t changed, this may mean none of your items were licensed on the day we have just published earnings for.
- If the calculations are up-to-date and your content bonus hasn't changed, this may mean you’re ineligible and may need to upload fresh content. For more information on content bonus eligibility please read this article.
Don’t forget to enter your payment details to your account via the Elements dashboard (if you haven't already) so that you can get paid on-time each month!
Where Can I View my Earnings?
Envato Author Dashboard
Once you’ve started publishing regularly, you’ll be able to view a detailed earnings report on your Envato Author Dashboard.
This dashboard will help you to better understand your Envato Market and Envato Elements income, and the top-performing items in your portfolio. It includes detailed earnings data for your top 100 performing items, custom filters, and a historical view of your income.
Important information about our data processing timeline
- Elements insights will move from a 33-day to a 40-day delay from March 1 2025
- Market insights will move from real-time to a 7-day delay from March 1 2025
Please note: Your statements remain the source of truth for accurate earnings and payout information. The earnings insights should be used for indicative performance only.
For more information on the dashboard features, please read the article on Managing Your Sales at Envato.
Tax Differences between Market and Elements
It's important to note that there may be differences in the amount of tax that is withheld when you are selling content across both Envato Market and Envato Elements.
Please review our article, which outlines the difference between the rate of withholding tax on Envato Market and Envato Elements.
We know it may seem a bit confusing at first, so please check out the Earnings Category in full and how to evaluate an Earnings Report.