Clips & editing for creators
A short clip can cost $15 or $500. A YouTube video anything from under $100 to well over $1,000. The spread is huge because very different work is sold under the same name. Here are the usual market rates by format and by who does the work, what's behind them and how to get affordable video editing without getting burned.
On freelance marketplaces, video editors often charge roughly $15–100 an hour, more for specialists. A Short, Reel or TikTok typically costs $30–150 per clip from a freelancer, with budget gigs starting lower. A 10–20-minute YouTube video often runs $200–1,200. Monthly short form retainers for 20–40 clips often cost $800–3,000. A full-time editor costs a salary, with a US median of $75,420 a year for film and video editors (May 2025), before benefits. What matters most is not the rate but what's included: who picks the moments, how many revisions you get and how fast it arrives.
| What you need | Typical market price | What drives the price |
|---|---|---|
| Short, Reel or TikTok (under 60 seconds) | roughly $30–150 per clip; budget gigs from about $15 | who picks the moment, captions, hook, revisions |
| YouTube video, 10–20 minutes | roughly $200–1,200 per video | length of the raw footage, storytelling, graphics |
| Podcast episode, about 60 minutes | roughly $50–200 (freelancer) to $400–1,000+ (full service) | audio only or video, number of cameras, extras |
| Monthly short form retainer | roughly $800–3,000 for 20–40 clips | volume, delivery time, posting |
| Full-time in-house editor | US median $75,420 a year (May 2025) | plus benefits, software and hardware |
Rough market ranges, as of October 2026, from marketplace rate pages, pricing guides published in 2026 and, for salaries, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Most price figures come from providers themselves. Individual quotes are higher or lower.
Freelancers price their work in three ways, and each one hides something different:
The hourly rate is the least useful number to compare. The most time-consuming part of a good clip is not the cut, it's the search. Going through a four-hour stream or a one-hour podcast for the best moments often takes longer than editing them. An editor at $40 an hour who has to watch your whole stream first can end up more expensive than a $100 flat fee per video. Or you send the timestamps yourself, pay only for the cut and put your own hours in.
There's no option that's best for everyone. It depends on how much you post, how much time you want to spend managing editors and how consistent the result has to be.
| Option | Good for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Freelancer you hire directly | a clear style, a long-term working relationship, direct contact | availability: if they get busy or move on, you start searching again |
| Fiverr gigs | quick one-off jobs at fixed gig prices you see up front | quality varies a lot between sellers; revisions, captions and rush delivery are often extras |
| Upwork | finding editors for longer projects, hourly or fixed-price contracts | you write the brief, compare proposals and manage the work yourself |
| Agency | strategy, filming and editing from one source | highest price, often minimum terms |
| Editing service with fixed packages (like ours) | a steady flow of clips or videos every week at a known price | less custom than a dedicated editor; check the scope of each package |
On both marketplaces, service fees can come on top of the price you see on a profile, so compare the total at checkout. Be honest about your own time too: briefing a new freelancer, reviewing test edits and replacing someone who drops out all take hours that never show up on an invoice.
When a freelancer is the better choice: you post rarely, you enjoy working closely with one person, or you need a very specific style such as heavy animation. When a service is the better choice: you post several times a week, you don't want to depend on one person's schedule, and you want a fixed price per clip or per video.
Say you want about 12 Shorts a month from your streams or long videos. At the market rates above, a freelancer at $30–150 per clip comes to roughly $360–1,800 a month, and at the low end you often pick the moments yourself. A retainer with an agency is often more.
With us, Start is $159 a month for 8 clips, around $20 per clip, and Growth is $299 a month for 16 clips, around $19 per clip. Picking the moments, vertical crop, hook, captions and post caption are included. These are founder prices, locked for 6 months from your start. All prices excl. 19 % VAT. A YouTube video cut from your stream is $75, an edited podcast episode $85.
A simple test: write down how many hours you spent editing last month. If those hours are missing for streaming, recording or your actual business, or if your videos come out late or not at all because editing is the bottleneck, it usually pays to hand it off. If you enjoy editing and post once a week, it may not be worth it yet. Either way, start with one small paid test rather than a long contract.
For podcasts in particular, see Podcast editing cost. If you're looking for someone right now, see Video editor for hire.
You pay for finished results, not hours: clips for TikTok, Reels and Shorts from $159 a month for 8, a YouTube video from your stream for $75, a podcast episode for $85. Up to two revisions are included, and clips arrive within up to 72 hours. These are founder prices, locked for 6 months from your start. To test us first, the Pilot is $19 for 3 clips from your own footage, credited when you book. All prices excl. 19 % VAT.
On freelance marketplaces, roughly $15–100 an hour, more for specialists. Per deliverable, a Short or Reel often costs $30–150 and a 10–20-minute YouTube video $200–1,200 (market ranges, as of October 2026). What's included matters more than the rate.
Smaller channels usually pay per video, often a few hundred dollars for a 10–20-minute video. Large channels that post daily often employ editors full time. In the US, the median salary for film and video editors was $75,420 a year in May 2025.
Both have very cheap and very expensive editors. Fiverr sells fixed gig packages you can book right away, Upwork is built around proposals and hourly or fixed-price contracts. Compare the total including fees, revisions and extras, and test with your own footage.
Across the market, $30–150 per clip is common for freelancers, with budget gigs below that. A fair price includes picking the moment, captions, a hook and at least one revision. If you send timestamps yourself, expect to pay less.
Batch your work, use one template, repurpose long videos into several clips and book a monthly package instead of one-off orders. Always start with a paid test on your own footage before you commit.
Clip packages start at $159 excl. VAT ($189.21 incl. VAT) a month for 8 clips at founder price, around $20 excl. VAT ($24 incl. VAT) per clip. A YouTube video from your stream is $75 excl. VAT ($89.25 incl. VAT), an edited podcast episode $85 excl. VAT ($101.15 incl. VAT). The Pilot with 3 clips is $19 excl. VAT ($22.61 incl. VAT).
See also: Video editor for hire · Short form video editing · Podcast editing cost · Social media manager cost · All packages
Share one stream, video or episode. You get 3 finished clips for $19 excl. VAT and see exactly what you get before you book anything.
No contract, no sales call. First we check together whether it is a fit.