Pinterest vs Snap: Revenue, Profit and Business Model
Pinterest reported $4.2B of revenue in FY2025 and $416.9M of net income. Snap reported $5.9B of revenue in FY2025 and a net loss of $460.5M.
Latest financial snapshot
Financial summary
Pinterest grew revenue from $1.69 billion in 2020 to $4.22 billion in 2025. After losses in 2022 and 2023, it posted GAAP net income of $1.86 billion in 2024 (lifted by a one-time deferred tax benefit) and $417 million in 2025. Cash generation is strong: 2025 Adjusted EBITDA was $1.27 billion and free cash flow $1.25 billion. 2026 has been mixed. Q1 revenue rose 18% to $1.01 billion but it posted a $74 million GAAP net loss; Q2 revenue rose 18% to $1.18 billion with a $47 million GAAP loss and $311 million of Adjusted EBITDA. Management lifted its full-year 2026 Adjusted EBITDA margin outlook to about 30%, guided Q3 revenue to $1.19-$1.21 billion and repurchased more than $2 billion of stock in the first half.
Snap
Snap's revenue grew from $404 million in 2016 to $5.93 billion in 2025. Growth stalled in 2022 and 2023, at $4.60 billion in each year, after Apple's privacy changes and a weak ad market, then picked up to $5.36 billion in 2024 and $5.93 billion in 2025. Net losses shrank from $1.43 billion in 2022 to $697.9 million in 2024 and $460.5 million in 2025. In the first half of 2026, revenue was $3.13 billion, up 15%. The net loss was $252.9 million, compared with $402.2 million a year earlier, and free cash flow was $406.5 million. Q2 2026 included $128.5 million of restructuring charges from the April layoffs.
Revenue and profit by year
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $4.2B | $416.9M | 9.9% | +15.8% | Source |
| FY2024 | $3.6B | $1.9B | 51.1% | +19.3% | Source |
| FY2023 | $3.1B | -$35.6M | -1.2% | +9.0% | Source |
| FY2022 | $2.8B | -$96M | -3.4% | +8.7% | Source |
| FY2021 | $2.6B | $316.4M | 12.3% | +52.3% | Source |
| FY2020 | $1.7B | -$128.3M | -7.6% | +48.1% | Source |
| FY2019 | $1.1B | -$1.4B | -119.1% | +51.2% | Source |
| FY2018 | $755.9M | -$63M | -8.3% | +59.9% | Source |
| FY2017 | $472.9M | -$130M | -27.5% | — | Source |
Snap
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $5.9B | -$460.5M | -7.8% | +10.6% | Source |
| FY2024 | $5.4B | -$697.9M | -13.0% | +16.4% | Source |
| FY2023 | $4.6B | -$1.3B | -28.7% | +0.1% | Source |
| FY2022 | $4.6B | -$1.4B | -31.1% | +11.8% | Source |
| FY2021 | $4.1B | -$488M | -11.9% | +64.2% | Source |
| FY2020 | $2.5B | -$944.8M | -37.7% | +46.1% | Source |
| FY2019 | $1.7B | -$1B | -60.3% | +45.3% | Source |
| FY2018 | $1.2B | -$1.3B | -106.4% | +43.1% | Source |
| FY2017 | $824.9M | -$3.4B | -417.6% | +104.0% | Source |
| FY2016 | $404.5M | -$514.6M | -127.2% | — | Source |
Where the revenue comes from
- US & Canada Advertising75
About $880 million of Q2 2026 revenue; the most monetized region.
- Europe Advertising18
$213 million in Q2 2026, up 12% year over year.
- Rest of World Advertising7
$87 million in Q2 2026, up 38%, helped by third-party demand partners.
Snap
- Advertising
Majority of revenue
Snap Ads, Sponsored Lenses, Sponsored Snaps, Story and Spotlight ads, and shopping and app-install formats, sold through a self-serve auction and direct sales. Advertising revenue grew about 9% year over year in Q2 2026.
- Other revenue (Snapchat+ and subscriptions)
Fastest-growing line
Mostly Snapchat+ subscriptions, plus higher tiers such as Snapchat Platinum and Lens+. Subscription-related revenue grew about 85% year over year in Q2 2026, according to Snap's earnings call.
- HardwareMinor
Sales of Spectacles camera glasses since 2016. Consumer SPECS AR glasses, priced at $2,195, are scheduled to ship in fall 2026 in the US, UK and France.
Business model and strategy
How it makes money
Pinterest makes money by selling ads. The app is free; brands and retailers pay to place Promoted Pins, video, carousel, collections and shopping ads in the home feed, search results and related Pins. Most spend is performance-oriented: merchants upload product catalogs, and Pinterest turns them into shoppable Product Pins billed when users click or convert.
Growth strategy
Under Bill Ready, Pinterest is pursuing three levers: make every Pin more shoppable, automate advertising with AI (Performance+ campaigns, generative creative tools and the Pinterest Assistant shopping agent), and raise revenue per user outside North America through direct sales and third-party demand from Amazon and Google.
Competitive advantage
Pinterest's edge is intent. Users come to plan a kitchen, an outfit or a wedding, and most searches are unbranded, so advertisers reach people before they have chosen a product. More than a decade of users sorting images into boards gives Pinterest a large human-labelled dataset for visual search and recommendations, and its positive, largely apolitical feed is attractive to brand-safety-conscious advertisers.
Snap
How it makes money
Snap makes most of its money by selling ads inside Snapchat: full-screen vertical video Snap Ads, ads placed between friends' Stories and in Spotlight and Discover, Sponsored Lenses, and shopping and app-install formats sold through a self-serve auction. The second line is what Snap calls Other revenue. This is mostly Snapchat+ subscriptions, plus Snapchat Platinum and Lens+ tiers.
Growth strategy
Snap's strategy has three parts. The first is to make ads perform better: machine-learning ranking, Sponsored Snaps in the chat inbox, and tools for small and medium businesses. The second is to grow direct revenue from Snapchat+ and higher tiers. The third is to build AR computing through Specs Inc., formed as a separate subsidiary.
Competitive advantage
Snapchat's edge is close-friend messaging. People open it to talk to people they know, not just to watch content, which drives habits like Streaks and daily camera use among 13-to-34-year-olds. Snap also has one of the largest consumer AR platforms. Lens Studio, Bitmoji and years of camera and computer-vision work, including the WaveOptics waveguide display purchase, give it technology that few social apps own.
Questions about Pinterest vs Snap
Which company has higher revenue — Pinterest, Inc. or Snap Inc?
Pinterest, Inc. reported $4.2B (FY2025), while Snap Inc reported $5.9B (FY2025). By last reported revenue, Snap Inc is the larger business, with Pinterest, Inc. reporting a smaller revenue base.
What is the market cap of Pinterest, Inc. vs Snap Inc?
Pinterest, Inc. has a market capitalisation of $10.5B. A public market cap figure for Snap Inc was not available (it may be privately held).
Which is more financially efficient — Pinterest, Inc. or Snap Inc?
Pinterest, Inc. generates $802k / employee in revenue per employee, while Snap Inc generates $1.10M / employee. Snap Inc shows higher revenue efficiency per headcount, though this reflects business model differences — capital-light software companies routinely outperform labour-intensive manufacturers on this metric.
How do Pinterest, Inc. and Snap Inc make money?
Pinterest, Inc. and Snap Inc generate revenue in fundamentally different ways. Pinterest, Inc.: Pinterest makes money by selling ads. Snap Inc: Snap makes most of its money by selling ads inside Snapchat: full-screen vertical video Snap Ads, ads placed between friends' Stories and in Spotlight and Discover, Sponsored Lenses, and shopping and app-install formats sold through a self-serve auction.
Is Pinterest, Inc. bigger than Snap Inc?
By last reported revenue, Snap Inc ($5.9B (FY2025)) is the larger company compared to Pinterest, Inc. ($4.2B (FY2025)). Revenue scale is one dimension of size — market capitalisation, employee count, and geographic reach are also relevant depending on the context.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the Pinterest vs Snap overview