Video production cost calculator
This prices the post-production half of a video: the edit. Editing is billed by the hour, so cost follows length, raw footage and how much happens on the timeline. Enter yours below for a figure at our flat rate: $14 an editing hour for creators, $18 for agencies.
Production cost versus editing cost
A finished video has two bills. Production is the shoot: crew, camera, location and the day rate, priced per day. Editing is everything after the footage lands, priced per hour. This calculator gives you the second bill. If you already have footage, it is the whole cost. If you do not, either add a shoot or skip it: our AI video production service makes the video without one, and the cost guide has every editing rate creators report, so you can check ours against the market.
What moves the number
An 8 minute talking-head or simple multicam edit runs about seven editing hours, which is close to $100. The same length with B-roll, captions, sound design and motion graphics can take twice that, because length is the figure people quote and complexity is the one that decides. Forty minutes of raw footage for an 8 minute cut is a reasonable planning assumption if you have never timed your own.
Three worked examples at the creator rate
| Video | Editing hours | At $14 an hour | Four a month |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 minute talking head, cuts and captions | about 7 | $98 | $392 |
| 10 minute vlog with B-roll and music | about 10 | $140 | $560 |
| 15 minute tutorial with graphics and sound design | about 20 | $280 | $1,120 |
Agencies pay $18 an hour, so multiply the third column by about 1.3. The hours are planning figures from the turnaround guide: about an hour of editing per finished minute for a basic cut, and roughly double once graphics and sound design are involved. Your own footage sets the real number, which is what the free first video is for.
What about the shoot?
A traditional shoot is priced per day, not per hour, and the AI production guide puts the figures creators and media buyers report at $3,000 to $15,000 for one short video with post-production included. If the footage does not exist yet, add that bill to the editing figure above, or skip it with AI video production, which is billed at the same $18 an hour with generation shown as one total on the quote.
Nothing is billed from this page and no account is needed. If the estimate looks workable, your first video is free up to four editing hours, which is enough to check the figure against your own footage rather than against an estimate.
Not seeing the calculator above? It is an embedded form, so an ad blocker or a company network will sometimes stop it loading. Send us the video length, roughly how much raw footage it comes from and how many you publish a month on a call and we will price it with you directly.
Comparing suppliers rather than pricing one video? Best video editing services for YouTube creators prices seven options side by side for ten videos a month, and white label video editing compares supplier rates per editing hour for agencies reselling them.