How much does video editing cost?

The four common ways editors charge

1. By the hour

A freelance editor tracks their time and bills an hourly rate. It's fair for messy or open-ended projects, but you don't know the final cost until the work is done. Ask for an estimate of hours up front, and ask whether changes are billed too.

2. Per finished minute

Some editors price by the length of the finished video. A 10-minute final edit costs ten times the per-minute rate. This is easy to understand, but watch out: an editor who has to cut two hours of raw footage down to ten minutes does far more work than one trimming twelve minutes to ten, and the price may not show that.

3. Per project or package

A flat price for a job, like "one YouTube video" or "a pack of Shorts". Simple to budget, but read what the package covers: the maximum raw footage, how many changes you get, and what counts as extra.

4. By the length of the footage you send

The price is set by how much raw footage goes in. This is how clipTin's prices work: for example, up to 10 minutes of footage with the Simple edit is £6.99, and up to 20 minutes with the Heavier edit is £16.99. You know the price before you pay, and trimming your footage first makes it cheaper.

What makes an edit cost more

• Amount of raw footage. More footage means more to watch, sort and cut.
• Style. A clean cut with captions is quicker than an edit with zooms, b-roll, graphics, sound effects and animated captions.
• Resolution. 4K files are bigger and slower to work with than 1080p or 720p.
• Several cameras or audio tracks. Syncing and switching between angles takes time.
• Speed. Rush delivery often costs extra.
• Rounds of changes. Unlimited changes are usually priced in somewhere.
• Extras like thumbnails, scripts, colour grading or custom motion graphics.

How AI changes the cost

Much of editing is repetitive: finding silences, cutting mistakes, writing captions, levelling audio. AI tools can now do a lot of that quickly, which is why AI-assisted editing services can charge less than fully manual editing. The trade-off to look for is quality control. Ask whether a person checks the edit before you get it, and whether a round of changes is included.

Questions to ask before you pay

1. Is the price fixed, or an estimate?
2. Is it priced on the raw footage or the finished length?
3. How many rounds of changes are included?
4. What resolution do I get back?
5. Is the music licensed for YouTube and TikTok?
6. Who owns the finished video?
7. How long is my footage kept, and when is it deleted?