Snapchat introduces ability for anyone to create custom geofilters, but it comes at a cost

In a blog post today, Snapchat has announced that it is expanding its geofilter feature to be open to all users, businesses, and brands. Previously, Snapchat’s geofilters were available to public places, such as cities, colleges, and neighborhoods. With today’s expansion, however, anyone can pay to create a custom geofilter.

For those unaware, geofilters are the things that appear in Snapchat when you swipe to the left on an image and you’re in a valid location. For instance, if you’re in Chicago, you can apply a variety of Chicago-exclusive filters to your snaps. Now, anyone can pay to create their own geofilters for private events, businesses, parties, and more.

Snapchat pitches on-demand geofilters as good for any business or private event. For instance, the company says that you could create your own geofilter for your wedding, party, or business. You simply design a filter, choose the area in which you want the filter to be available, and submit it to Snapchat for approval.

The minimum geofenced area starts at 20,000 square feet, which is good for businesses and small events like weddings, but you can expand that area up to 5 million square feet. The company says that should cover several city blocks. You can also chose a time period for your custom geofilter, with options ranging from an hour to 30 days.

Of course, creating your own geofilter isn’t free. Prices start at $5 and increase depending on the amount of time the filter is available and in how big of an area it’s available.

How it works:

• Design — Use your favorite image editor to create a filter. We’ve also provided some templates that are compatible with Photoshop and Illustrator to get you started :)
• Map — Pick a geofence where your filter will appear, then choose the time and dates you want your Geofilter to be available.
• Buy — Submit your Geofilter. Our team will quickly review it and, assuming all is well, get it up and running.

Snapchat has created a dedicated website for submitting on-demand geofilters and has also released a video showing off the feature:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_ZjEeEez_0