Yes, and it is growing while everyone assumes it is not. Pinterest reported 640 million monthly active users in its Q2 2026 results, up 11% year over year and its eleventh consecutive quarter of double-digit user growth. The reason it works is that it is not really a social network. It is a search engine people use to plan purchases.
The platform gets dismissed because it is filed under social media, judged by social media standards, and found wanting. Judged as a search engine with commercial intent, it looks completely different.
Is Pinterest actually still growing?
By its own reporting, yes, and not marginally.
Pinterest's second quarter 2026 results reported 640 million global monthly active users, an 11% increase year over year, which the company noted was its eleventh consecutive quarter of double-digit user growth. Revenue for the quarter was $1,180 million, up 18%, with global average revenue per user of $1.86.
That last figure is worth sitting with. Pinterest monetizes each user modestly compared to Meta, which is a weakness for Pinterest as a business and an opportunity for advertisers, because it indicates an auction with less pressure on it.
These are company-reported figures from an earnings release rather than a third-party estimate, which makes them among the more reliable platform numbers available. They are also the numbers the company is accountable to shareholders for.
Why does it behave differently from other platforms?
Because the user is doing something different when they arrive.
On a feed platform, people are scrolling to be entertained and your content interrupts that. On Pinterest, people arrive with an intention: planning a kitchen, finding an outfit, working out what to cook, deciding on a venue. They are searching, and often searching well before they buy.
That produces three behaviors no feed platform reproduces.
They search rather than follow, which means your follower count matters far less than whether your content matches queries.
They save, which extends the life of a pin indefinitely. A saved pin resurfaces to that person later, and to people browsing that board.
And they arrive early in a decision. Pinterest catches people at the planning stage, which is exactly where influence is cheapest and most durable.
What kind of business does it suit?
Anything visual with a planning phase in front of the purchase.
Home, interiors, renovation and trades. Food and drink. Weddings and events. Fashion, beauty and jewelry. Gardening. Travel. Anything craft or DIY. Products people research before buying rather than grab impulsively.
It suits ecommerce particularly well because the path from pin to product page is short and the intent is already commercial.
It suits some service businesses better than people expect. A landscaper, a kitchen fitter, a photographer or a venue is selling a visual outcome that people plan for, which is precisely the behavior Pinterest captures.
Where it does not fit: B2B software, professional services with no visual component, anything sold on urgency rather than planning, and local businesses whose customers do not research at all before walking in.
How is it different from Instagram?
They look similar and behave nothing alike.
| User intent | Browsing, entertainment | Searching, planning |
| Content lifespan | Hours to days | Months to years |
| Discovery driver | Algorithm and following | Search and saves |
| Follower count matters | A lot | Much less |
| Links | Awkward and restricted | Native to the format |
| Best content | What is happening now | What someone is planning |
The link row is the one that changes the strategy most. On almost every other platform, sending people away is penalized, and I have written about that pattern repeatedly. On Pinterest, the link is the point. A pin exists to take someone somewhere.
That makes Pinterest one of the only places where "post a link to your site" is the intended use rather than a distribution mistake.
What actually works there?
Content built for search rather than for a feed.
Write for the query. Pin titles and descriptions are indexed. Describe what the thing is in the words someone would type, not in brand language. "Small galley kitchen with open shelving" beats "The Hartley collection".
Vertical images, consistently. A 2:3 ratio is the standard and non-standard shapes get cropped or downweighted.
Text on the image. Unlike most platforms, a short text overlay helps here, because people are scanning search results and need to know what they are looking at.
Multiple pins per destination. The same article or product can be pinned repeatedly with different images and different angles, targeting different queries. This is normal on Pinterest rather than spammy, provided the images genuinely differ.
Patience. Pins accumulate. A pin can be quiet for two months and then start producing steadily, which is unlike anything on a feed platform and completely breaks the usual feedback loop.
Is it worth paying for?
Often, and the arithmetic is more favorable than the volume suggests.
The lower average revenue per user tells you the auction is less contested than Meta's. For businesses in the categories that suit Pinterest, cost per click and cost per acquisition can compare very favorably.
The caveat is the same one that applies everywhere: you need enough conversion volume for the system to learn. A small budget spread across several campaigns fails on Pinterest for the same reasons it fails on Meta, and the same arithmetic applies, which I set out in the ad budget guide.
Start with the organic side. Pinterest is one of the few platforms where organic still genuinely works, which makes it a cheap place to find out whether your content resonates before paying for distribution.
Why do businesses ignore it?
Three reasons, all understandable and none of them good.
It does not feel current. There is no discourse about Pinterest, no algorithm drama, no one arguing about it. Attention follows controversy and Pinterest generates none.
It is slow to show results. A platform where content takes months to compound is hard to justify against a quarterly reporting cycle, even though slow compounding is the thing that makes it valuable.
And the audience is assumed rather than checked. Pinterest is widely assumed to be exclusively young women planning weddings. The user base is considerably broader than that, and the assumption stops people from looking.
What I see when businesses try Pinterest
They treat it as another Instagram and conclude it does not work.
The pattern is recognizable: square images, brand-language captions, no keyword thinking, posting on a schedule, checking results after three weeks and stopping. Every one of those is correct behavior for a feed platform and wrong here.
The businesses that succeed treat it as SEO with pictures. They think about what people search, they make images that answer those searches, and they leave the pins alone to accumulate.
What to do on Monday
Search Pinterest for the thing you sell, as a customer would phrase it. Look at what comes up, how those pins are titled, and whether any of them are yours. That takes ten minutes and answers whether there is demand to capture.
If there is, take five things you have already published and make vertical pins for them, with titles written as search phrases rather than headlines. Link each to the relevant page.
Then leave them for three months. Checking in three weeks will tell you it does not work, and that conclusion will be wrong.
FAQ
Does Pinterest still work for business? Yes, and it is growing. Pinterest reported 640 million monthly active users in Q2 2026, up 11% year over year and its eleventh straight quarter of double-digit growth. It works because users arrive searching with commercial intent rather than browsing.
What kind of business does Pinterest suit? Anything visual with a planning phase before purchase: home and interiors, food, weddings, fashion, beauty, gardening, travel, trades selling a visual outcome. It suits ecommerce especially well, and suits B2B software and non-visual services poorly.
How is Pinterest different from Instagram? Intent and lifespan. Instagram users browse and content lasts days; Pinterest users search and pins keep producing for months or years. Follower count matters much less, and links are native to the format rather than penalized.
How long does Pinterest take to work? Months. Pins accumulate rather than spike, and it is common for a pin to be quiet for weeks before producing steadily. Judging it on a three-week window will produce the wrong answer.
Are Pinterest ads worth it? For businesses in categories that suit the platform, often yes. Average revenue per user of $1.86 indicates a less contested auction than Meta's. The same volume requirements apply, so consolidate budget rather than splitting it.
About the author
Adam Palmer is President of Inertia Digital Marketing, the agency behind Social Fonts. He has spent 15 years running paid and organic campaigns for clients ranging from single-location small businesses to national franchise networks, and has managed over $50 million in paid digital spend.