How Much Does Video Editing Cost? (2024)

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of price calculations, let’s first clear up what we’re talking about when we say video editing.

Video editing isn’tjust cutting and clipping together raw footage into a final product.It also involves a massive range of post-production workflows, from creating motion graphics like titles and logos to adding music and voice-overs.

If the raw footage you shoot isn’t terribly high-quality, your video editor can polish it up. For example, they can fix issues related tocolor balance, contrast, brightness, and even audio volume.If your footage is shaky, your editor can apply stabilizationto make it easier on your viewers’ eyes.

Furthermore, if you want editing services specifically for YouTube videos, some editors also offer platform-specific services.

For instance, they may add subtitles, create thumbnails, and structure your video into chapters and key moments. They’ll be more than happy to use existing channel assets like intro and outro sequences, or create those for you.

Some video editors and video editing companies even offer channel management services. That means that they’ll upload your content once it is finished straight to your channel. They’ll also take care of setting thumbnails, video descriptions, tags and chapters.

As you can see, there’s a broad range of services that may be included in a video editing offer. Whenyou’re comparing actual offers, you need to be careful what servicesare included and which are paid extras.

First off, there is thelength and quality of your raw footage.

The larger the number of raw clips you send to your editor, and the longer they are overall, the more you will end up paying in the end. That’s because your editor will need to watch every single clip to identify the best ones to include in the finished video.

Similarly, the poorer the quality of your original footage, the higher your bill will be. It’s easy to see why – your editor will have to spend a few extra hours tobring your footage up to scratch.

In any case, you can save hard cash bypre-sorting your own footageand making sure that you shoot and submit decent-quality clips.

When vetting video editing offers, pay attention to the source footage length and size you’re allowed to submit. Many freelance video editors and video editing services impose limits on how many clips or GB of data you can submit for one order.

Next up, there’s the complexity of the editing workthat your footage requires. Since it’s better to illustrate this, we’ll compare two short clips for this. One is by foodie YouTuber Emmy and features a gorgeous Swedish chocolate cake, the other’s an action clip of a downhill ski run produced by Red Bull.

For thefirst example, put yourself in Emmy’s shoes: You’re either talking into the camera or showing your viewers how you’re putting all the ingredients together.

There are just two perspectives:Medium long shots featuring you, andoverhead shotsof what you’re doing. All youreditor has to do is to brush up the footage, cut silence and bloopers, and transitionbetween the two views. Then, they add the intro and outrosequences.

Let’s have a look at the result.

Example 1 – Emmy’s Swedish Chocolate Cake:

Editing the second videoof the ski run involves clipping together a fast-paced series of shots by multiple drones, footage of action cams worn by the skiers, and more traditional camera shots from the sidelines as well as close-ups of the participants.

There are several slow-motion close-ups, and also an animation of the race’s route, a voice-over, and background music.

Let’s see what it looks like.

Example 2 – Downhill Skiing:

How specific you are about what you want right off the bat is another factor in how much you’ll pay in the end. Unfortunately, it’s often overlooked. In short: The more details you give your editor, the more efficiently they can work.

For example, if you supply an annotated video script, they’ll be able to quickly get started on telling your story, rather than struggling to figure out a narrative structure themselves. If you have examples of the editing style you’d prefer, it’s a great idea to provide these as well.

Especially when you outsource to video editors that bill by the hour, being clear in your instructions can save you money big time.

Finally, how much you’ll end up paying depends on how manyrevisionsyou need. Usually, you won’t be 100% happy with a video editor’s first draft – that’s why it’s adraft.

There’ll be at least some minordetails you’d like changed, from fonts to the volume of background music.

The number of revisions included in the video editing offer is a major price factor, both in hourly and per-project pricing models. Careful – an offer that appears budget-friendly may only look that cheap because the editor requires revisions to be paid extra!

Also, a heads-up: theturnaround timein aneditors’ quoteis almost always thetime until the first draft, not the finished product after revisions. Obviously, extremely fast delivery – like overnight – is going to cost you extra.

All that said, we’ll now show you how to get a ballpark estimate of what video editing will cost you.

Based on your footage notes and ideas, guesstimate whether your needs are basic, advanced, or high.

• Basic edits involve cutting and polishing your footage and audio, and dealing with simple stories.
• Advanced edits may include animations, complex motion graphics, and dynamic storytelling.
• You can think of high-end edits as TV-grade and higher – and that kind of polish often requires an entire team.

Check out hourly rates for editors or companies, then multiply that with the hours of editing time from above. For a first guess, you can assume:

• $20 per hour as a reasonable minimum
• $50 per hour for a decent basic edit
• $75 to $100 per hour for advanced editing

As an example, the editing cost for a 5-minute video would be in a range of $100 to $500, assuming that editing it takes about 5 hours.

Take a good look at the length and quality of your raw footage, and write down your observations.Watch out for footage that’s obviously unusable, or which will need extra editing to fit into your final clip.

Hourly rates are common if you decide to hire a freelance video editor, for instance through platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, or PeoplePerHour.

Even though you’ll certainly find offers as low as $15 per hour, expect at least $30 per hourfor quality work. Mostprofessional video editors base their rateson the complexity of the edits and the extent of their own experience. Some charge as much as $100 to $150 per hour.

According to Upwork, rates for basic video editing services on their platform range between $20 and $45. For intermediate work, including animations and montage sequences, you can expect to pay $45 to $100 per hour. And if you need pro services like storyboarding and live action video direction, you’ll end up paying at least $60 per hour.

Be wary of offers that look too good to be true. They usually are. Unless your video editor lives in a location with ridiculously low costs of living, there’s usually a catch.

Next, there are fixed-rate agreements, based either on projects or onpackages. Both deal, in principle, with a single piece of work.

Project-based pricing means that the editor or company you hire gives you a quote for the project.While this quote may be in “hours”, the important bit is thatthe price is fixed, however many hours the editor actually puts in. You’llpay the quoted amountin the end,no more, no less.

Of course, this doesn’t apply if you agree to modify the project. You might decide, for instance, that you want to shorten your video by a minute, or add a brief animation. You’ll get an updated quote in this case.

Package pricing, on the other hand,is often offered by video editing companies and sometimes by freelancers as well. The freelancer or company offers a specific kind of work at a set price, and you take it or leave it.

Usually, there are clear conditions for package pricing. They’ll specify the allowed length of original footage, file size, and the number of included extras such as thumbnail design. There’s also often a strict limit on revisions.

The upside of package pricing is that it’s often less expensive. This type of pricingallows for very good advance budgeting for both you and the editor or company (which is why they’re cheaper). Plus, you might even get a bulk discount if you buy credits for several edits in one go.

The maindrawbackis that these packages are oftenpretty bare-bones. Frequently, you’ll have topay extra for add-ons,like export into different formats. Shop aroundwith an eye on the fine print. If you’ve got a lot of special needs, this probably isn’t the model for you.

If you’ve got a predictable content volume, you could save costs and make sure that a video editor will always be available for you by opting for a subscription or retainer agreement. These are actually slightly different things.

Subscriptions are usually offered by video editing companies. You pay a monthly or annual fee and get a certain quota of videos you can have edited in return. The subscription price is fixed, whether you actually use your quota or not.

Here’s a typical example:

Video editing services sometimesadvertise these subscriptions as “unlimited video editing,” but there will be a lot offine print.

For example, most “unlimited” video editing offers only let you submit one project at a time. This can put a very inconvenient limit on your monthly video output.

For example, say a company has a set turnaround time of 48 hours – until the first draft. Depending on how many revisions you need, it may well take four or five days until you have the finished video. Consequently, you’d get about seven videos done every month.

That drops to four or five if the subscription company only works weekdays. We saw this in action during our review of Video Husky’s “unlimited” subscription.

Retainers, in contrast, are something you agree on with freelance editors. Here, you pay anup-front feefor a certain amount ofhoursthe freelancer sets aside to work for you. If you opt for a pay-for-work retainer, the editor willrefund you for what you don’t use.

If it’s apay-for-access retainer, it works more like a subscription. You’re paying the freelancer for the “access” to their work time, and you don’t get refunds for “unused” time. This isa bit like hiring them part-time, but much simpler, and without the commitment of an employment contract.

Calculating video editing costs is a complex business. Overall, you have to estimate the length of your raw footage and final product, as well as the complexity of your edits. Then, you need to decide which pricing model you want to opt for.

To minimize your costs, though, there are several things you can do in any case: provide clear instructions, pre-selecthigh-quality footage, and compare several offers by editors and video editing companies. Vet companies thoroughly to make sure that they produce high-quality results and you won’t have to haggle about extra revisions.

All this together goes a long way to making sure you’re getting the most bang for your buck.