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Video Production Cost Calculator

Compare freelancer, agency, in-house hire, offshore, and subscription pricing for your country — with real local salary data, reliability scores, and the hidden cost of your management time.

Your Situation

Talking-head + B-roll edit, 8–20 min

6 videos
$80/hr

Used to calculate the hidden cost of managing each vendor.

🇺🇸 Video Editor Salary — United States

Base salary / yr

$55K

Total cost / yr

$78K

Break-even: in-house beats ContentBuck at 9+ videos/mo for this video type.

Cost Comparison — 6 YouTube Videos/mo

All prices in USD

Local Freelancer

Per-video
2.5/5

Production cost

$2,520/mo

Per video

$420

Mgmt time

24h/mo

True total cost

$4,440/mo

On-time: ~55% on first deadlineRevisions: 2–5 daysQuality: High variance

Agency

Project-based
4/5

Production cost

$11K/mo

Per video

$1,800

Mgmt time

9h/mo

True total cost

$12K/mo

On-time: ~88% on first deadlineRevisions: 1–3 daysQuality: High & consistent

In-house Hire

1 editor
4.5/5

Production cost

$6,528/mo

Per video

$1,088

Mgmt time

3h/mo

True total cost

$6,768/mo

On-time: ~95% on first deadlineRevisions: Same dayQuality: Consistent (brand voice)

Offshore Freelancer

Low-cost
2/5

Production cost

$630/mo

Per video

$105

Mgmt time

36h/mo

True total cost

$3,510/mo

On-time: ~45% on first deadlineRevisions: 3–7 daysQuality: Low — high rework rate

ContentBuck

Flat monthly✓ Best value
4.5/5

Production cost

$2,800/mo

Per video

$467

Mgmt time

3h/mo

True total cost

$3,040/mo

On-time: ~92% within 48-hour SLARevisions: 24 hoursQuality: Consistent — same team

True total cost = production cost + your management time ($80/hr × hours/month). Freelancers and offshore often look cheap until management time is included.

Full reliability comparison

Cost is only one variable. Reliability, turnaround, and quality consistency determine whether you actually ship videos on time.

OptionReliabilityOn-time rateRevision speedMgmt hrs/video
Local Freelancer2.5/5~55% on first deadline2–5 days4h
Agency4/5~88% on first deadline1–3 days1.5h
In-house Hire4.5/5~95% on first deadlineSame day0.5h
Offshore Freelancer2/5~45% on first deadline3–7 days6h
ContentBuck4.5/5~92% within 48-hour SLA24 hours0.5h

What video talent earns across markets

Mid-level video editor annual salary + total employment cost (salary + benefits + software + equipment).

All-in cost = salary + benefits/NI/super + Adobe CC + equipment amortised. Click any country to update the calculator.

Video production cost questions

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