Pinterest is a publicly traded visual discovery platform serving 631 million monthly active users globally, monetizing primarily through AI-powered advertising and affiliate commerce, with advertisers and brands as its enterprise customer base alongside SMB self-serve advertisers.
- Company typePublic
- Founded2010
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
What Pinterest does
Pinterest is a publicly traded (NYSE: PINS) visual discovery platform serving 631 million monthly active users globally, enabling consumers to save, organize, and search for visual inspiration across fashion, home, beauty, food, and lifestyle categories. Founded in 2010 and headquartered in San Francisco, the company's core product centers on Pins and boards, with Pinterest Lens providing visual search and over 80 billion monthly searches capturing high shopping intent — over 50% of users visit with purchase intent. The platform's technical foundation is the proprietary Taste Graph, a multimodal AI system trained on billions of images, videos, and text that powers personalized recommendations and ad targeting, currently contributing 30% of lower-funnel revenue.
Pinterest monetizes primarily through advertising, with self-serve Promoted Pins and Product Pins sold via Pinterest Ads Manager alongside managed services for enterprise advertisers; secondary revenue comes from affiliate commerce via creator storefront integrations, notably with Amazon. The company sells AI-powered advertising products including Performance+ Creative, Business Assistant, and Pinterest MCP — the latter connecting Pinterest ad data to partner AI agents at PMG, Pacvue, Innovid by Mediaocean, and Omnicom Jump450. Distribution operates through a hybrid model: consumer mobile apps and web for self-serve product-led growth, complemented by enterprise field sales targeting retail, beauty, and CTV advertisers.
In 2026 Pinterest announced a $4 billion AWS infrastructure commitment through 2031, acquired tvScientific to enter connected TV advertising, launched the experimental Ask Pinterest conversational shopping app, and received a $1 billion strategic investment from Elliott Investment Management supporting a $3.5 billion share repurchase. A January 2026 global restructuring eliminated approximately 15% of headcount to reallocate resources toward AI. The company maintains 80%+ gross margins and posted $1.007 billion in Q1 2026 revenue (18% YoY growth), with full-year 2025 revenue of $4.22 billion.
Pinterest firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Legal name
- Pinterest, Inc.
- Website
- https://pinterest.com
- Company type
- Public
- Founded year
- 2010
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Pinterest is a publicly traded visual discovery platform serving 631 million monthly active users globally, monetizing primarily through AI-powered advertising and affiliate commerce, with advertisers and brands as its enterprise customer base alongside SMB self-serve advertisers.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Pinterest industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Visual Discovery and Social Advertising Platform
- akta.pro primary industry
- Shoppable Video & Short-form Commerce Platforms (CRAFANAE)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Comparison Shopping & Price Discovery Portals (BPAMAAAJ)
Keywords
Where Pinterest is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Pinterest business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Advertising: Pinterest generates the vast majority of revenue through advertising, with advertisers paying for Promoted Pins, ad targeting, and AI-powered performance advertising products. Q1 2026 revenue of $1.007 billion with 18% YoY growth, driven by AI-powered ad targeting improvements including Performance+ product
- Affiliate Commerce: Pinterest earns affiliate revenue through creator storefront integrations with Amazon, where creators automatically apply affiliate links when tagging eligible Amazon products, creating a commerce ecosystem closer to purchase decisions
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free platform for consumers with optional promoted content for advertisers |
| Subscription | Pay-as-you-go | Pinterest Ads Manager for business advertisers |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels5 records
Pinterest product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Pinterest operates a visual discovery and bookmarking platform where 631 million monthly active users save, organize, and search for inspiration across fashion, home, beauty, food, and lifestyle categories via Pins, Boards, and visual search. The platform monetizes primarily through advertising sold via Pinterest Ads Manager, including Promoted Pins, Product Pins synced from retailer catalogs, and the AI-powered Performance+ suite. Secondary revenue comes from affiliate commerce via Amazon creator storefront integration and emerging connected TV (CTV) advertising through the tvScientific acquisition.
Product overview
Pinterest operates as a visual discovery platform offering a unified core product with multiple integrated modules and features. The platform serves over 630 million monthly active users and processes billions of searches monthly. The core Pinterest Platform enables visual discovery through Pins, boards, and visual search (Pinterest Lens). The AI infrastructure is anchored by the proprietary Taste Graph multimodal AI system. Shopping capabilities include Product Pins, Amazon Storefront linking, and the experimental Ask Pinterest conversational shopping app. Advertiser tools include the Performance+ advertising suite with AI-powered creative optimization, Business Assistant in Ads Manager, and Pinterest MCP for connecting ad data to partner AI tools. Pinterest has also acquired THE YES (AI fashion shopping, 2022) and tvScientific (CTV advertising, pending close).
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Ask Pinterest: Experimental standalone AI-powered conversational shopping app that enables personalized product discovery through natural language interactions using Pinterest's Taste Graph data.
Products and services
- Pinterest Platform Core visual discovery and bookmarking platform enabling 631 million monthly active users to discover, save, and organize visual inspiration through Pins, Boards, and visual search. Free for consumers; monetized through advertising.
- Ask Pinterest Experimental standalone AI-powered conversational shopping app enabling personalized product discovery through natural language interactions, leveraging Pinterest's Taste Graph and users' saved Pins and Boards.
- Performance+ Advertising Suite AI-powered advertising suite for enterprise and self-serve advertisers featuring automated ad creative selection (Performance+ Creative), AI-driven targeting, and Taste Graph-powered optimization to improve click volume and reduce cost per acquisition.
- Pinterest Lens Visual search feature powered by computer vision, enabling users to discover ideas and products by pointing their camera at items or uploading images to find visually similar content on the platform.
- Product Pins Shopping integration feature displaying product information, pricing, and availability directly within Pins, syncing with retailer product catalogs to enable in-platform shopping discovery.
- Pinterest TV App Connected TV application enabling users to access Pinterest's visual discovery content on television screens.
- tvScientific (CTV Advertising Platform) Connected TV (CTV) performance advertising platform acquired by Pinterest to enhance CTV capabilities and integrate high-intent audience data into advertising tools.
- THE YES (AI Fashion Shopping) AI-powered fashion shopping platform acquired in 2022, offering personalized shopping feeds and brand relationships. Technology integrated into Pinterest's broader shopping initiatives.
- Pinterest Ads Manager Self-serve advertising platform where businesses create and manage Promoted Pins campaigns, use Product Pins synced from catalogs, and access AI-powered targeting tools including Performance+ and Business Assistant.
Quantifiable outcome
- Performance+ creative AI model demonstrated 7.5% increase in click volume during testing
- +6 more outcomes
Companies that use Pinterest
Customer profileNamed customers5 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Pinterest technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration12 records
AI capability8 records
Feature8 records
Pinterest partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Ten partnerships are on record, tiered minor, core and flagship.
- Adobe Express, Sephora, Clara ChuminorManifestival brand activation at Cannes Lions 2026 featuring offline experiences including Visual Search Studio powered by Adobe Express, hair and beauty installation with Sephora, and upcycled accessories with artist Clara Chu.
- The Estée Lauder Companies / Jo Malone LondoncoreExclusive partnership launching Scent Scanner, an AI-powered fragrance discovery tool on Pinterest analyzing users' visual preferences from boards to recommend personalized Jo Malone London scents. Rolling out in US and France, builds on Jo Malone's 2025 AI Scent Advisor.
- Pinterest MCP Partners (PMG, Pacvue, Innovid by Mediaocean, Omnicom's Jump450)coreAlpha partners for Pinterest MCP (Model Context Protocol) enabling external AI agents and copilots to connect to Pinterest ad data for automated campaign management and optimization workflows.
- Amazon (Creator Commerce)corePinterest expanded partnership with Amazon to launch creator storefront linking feature, automatically applying affiliate links when creators tag Amazon products. Enables seamless conversions and prominent storefront placement, deepening creator monetization and commerce credibility.
- Amazon Web Services (AWS)flagshipPinterest committed $4 billion to AWS through 2031 in its largest infrastructure deal ever, using AWS Trainium and Graviton chips for AI model training and inference. Partnership extends from 2010 and powers Pinterest's Taste Graph, visual search, and AI-assisted discovery for 600M+ monthly users. Pinterest migrating from EC2 to Kubernetes-based architecture on Amazon EKS.
- Levi Strauss & CominorFirst-time UK partnership on Summer 2026 Trend Report, bringing 'Off-Duty Summer Denim' edit to market. Collaboration positions Pinterest as trend authority while driving engagement with Levi Strauss & Co's fashion audience.
- Schultz Family FoundationminorCo-founding partner of Youth Mental Health Corps initiative expanding from 11 to 16 states for 2026-2027 school year, reaching 44,000+ young people since 2024 launch with positive behavioral and attendance outcomes.
- tvScientificcorePinterest announced acquisition of tvScientific, a CTV performance advertising platform, to enhance Pinterest's CTV capabilities and integrate high-intent audience data into its advertising tools. Transaction expected to close H1 2026, expected to contribute ~2 percentage points to quarterly top-line growth.
- Emma ChamberlainminorCo-branded product partnership launched July 2025, integrating Chamberlain Coffee brand with Pinterest's visual discovery platform for lifestyle content collaboration.
- THE YEScorePinterest acquired THE YES, an AI-powered fashion shopping platform, to accelerate its vision of taste-driven shopping. THE YES's technology and team integrated into Pinterest's shopping initiatives, with potential expansion into home, beauty, and food categories.
Scale indicators12 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Pinterest competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Snap Inc: Snap operates a visual-first social platform with advertising as primary revenue and AR/shopping features layered on top. Both companies compete for the same advertiser budgets targeting Gen Z and millennial audiences with visual ad formats, and both are pursuing AR commerce initiatives.
- Houzz: Houzz is a vertical-specific visual discovery platform for home design and renovation, with similar board/save functionality and product marketplace. Both monetize through advertising and product referrals, with overlapping user intent around visual planning.
- Etsy: Etsy is a curated marketplace with strong visual discovery elements and seller/creator ecosystem. Both platforms serve high-intent shoppers seeking inspiration-driven purchases and compete for advertising and affiliate revenue from lifestyle brands.
- Poshmark: Poshmark is a social commerce platform with visual-first listings and a creator-driven seller ecosystem, monetizing via commerce fees rather than advertising. Both serve fashion and lifestyle shoppers with discovery-oriented browsing experiences.
- Depop: Depop is a social commerce marketplace focused on fashion resale with strong Gen Z penetration and visual-first product discovery. Both platforms share an emphasis on aesthetic curation, creator-driven content, and Gen Z shopping behavior.
Broad incumbents
- Meta (Instagram): Instagram is Pinterest's most direct visual discovery and shopping competitor, with Reels and Shopping features targeting the same high-intent audiences. Meta's scale dwarfs Pinterest, but Pinterest differentiates on positive-intent discovery vs. engagement-maximizing feeds.
- TikTok: TikTok competes for visual discovery and social commerce attention, particularly among Gen Z, and has rapidly built shopping and affiliate commerce capabilities. Both platforms monetize primarily through advertising with growing commerce integration.
- Google Shopping: Google Shopping and Google Lens compete directly with Pinterest for product discovery queries, capturing late-funnel purchase intent. Pinterest differentiates with curated, aspirational inspiration while Google captures transactional search.
Others
- Amazon: Amazon is both a strategic partner (Storefront integration, affiliate links) and a competitive force via Amazon Inspire and on-platform product discovery. Both compete for the same end-purchase and ad spend from retail brands, with complementary rather than fully overlapping offerings.
- Microsoft Bing Visual Search: Bing and Microsoft Designer offer visual search and discovery capabilities integrated with broader Microsoft advertising. They compete for product discovery queries and ad budgets but lack Pinterest's curated social/creator ecosystem.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Pinterest social profiles
Digital presencePinterest financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Pinterest leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles12 records
Pinterest subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries2 records
Pinterest funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds20 records
Investors34 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Pinterest M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A19 records
Investments2 records
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Pinterest
What does Pinterest do?
Pinterest operates a visual discovery and bookmarking platform where 631 million monthly active users save, organize, and search for inspiration across fashion, home, beauty, food, and lifestyle categories via Pins, Boards, and visual search. The platform monetizes primarily through advertising sold via Pinterest Ads Manager, including Promoted Pins, Product Pins synced from retailer catalogs, and the AI-powered Performance+ suite. Secondary revenue comes from affiliate commerce via Amazon creator storefront integration and emerging connected TV (CTV) advertising through the tvScientific acquisition.
Is Pinterest a public or private company?
Pinterest is a public company. It is classified as public and is currently operating.
When was Pinterest founded?
Pinterest was founded in 2010. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Pinterest based?
Pinterest is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does Pinterest make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Advertising is the primary driver. The others are affiliate Commerce.
Who are Pinterest's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Snap Inc, Houzz, Etsy, Poshmark and Depop. Broad incumbents are Meta (Instagram), TikTok and Google Shopping. Others are Amazon and Microsoft Bing Visual Search.
Does Pinterest have an API?
Yes. Pinterest MCP (Model Context Protocol) connects Pinterest's ad data to external AI agents and copilots, enabling automated campaign management and optimization workflows. It is designed to allow advertisers to integrate Pinterest data with partner AI tools including PMG, Pacvue, Innovid by Mediaocean, and Omnicom's Jump450.
What industry is Pinterest in?
Pinterest's product category is Visual Discovery and Social Advertising Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is CRAFANAE, Shoppable Video & Short-form Commerce Platforms, with a secondary code of BPAMAAAJ, Comparison Shopping & Price Discovery Portals.