One question that we get asked all the time is “How much does an explainer video cost?”.
It’s a very common doubt that comes into people’s mind if they haven’t used an explainer video for their business before.
But the problem is, It’s not an easy task to find out the actual cost of an explainer video.
Because the cost of an explainer video varies a lot depending upon the animation style, length, script, delivery time, and the explainer video company that you’ll choose.
As per my research, I found out that the biggest factor that affects the cost of an explainer video is the explainer video company you’ll select.
Some explainer video companies might charge $3000 for a one-minute explainer video while on the flip side, some companies might charge $50,000 for the same one-minute explainer video.
That’s being said, I also won’t deny that the quality of work you’ll get for $50,000 will be way superior to the $3000 video.
But one question that pops up again is, “How much does an average explainer video cost?”
Want to know the answer?
Keep reading…
In this post, I’m not only going to tell you how much does an explainer video cost on an average but I’ll show you different pricing range for different types of explainer videos and the major factors behind the cost of an explainer video.
So without wasting any further time, Let’s jump in.
How Much Does Explainer Video Really Cost? [Market Research]
Before I tell you the pricing of an explainer video, let me tell you one thing.
The pricing that I’m about to show you is not pulled off from Google search results.
Instead, over the last few days, our research team has contacted near about 46 explainer video production companies so that we can provide you with more accurate data.
One thing that we have done differently is rather than just contacting known BRANDS, we have also contacted small size explainer video production companies that many people don’t know about.
The simple reason for that was, we wanted to conduct a fair research and it will also help us to know the lowest cost of an explainer video.
Before I tell you the results of the experiment, remember that in order to stay on the same page, we have sent the same requirements to each of those companies.
Now tell me, are you excited to know the results?
Through our research, we got to know that on average, an explainer video costs around $3000 – $8000 for a 60-second video.
The lowest price we got was $900 and the highest price we got was as high as $56,000 for a 60-second video.
Keep in mind that we have not contacted all the functional explainer video companies in the world. The data we have presented is just from 46 companies.
So the highest and lowest pricing may vary but the average cost that we’ve told is almost correct.
How Much Does A Freelancer Charge For a 60 Second Explainer Video?
We know how much an explainer video production company charges for a 60-second video.
But do you want to know how much a freelancer charges for the same?
To get the appropriate answer to this question we have reached out to a few of our freelancer friends.
And not only that but we have also reached out to the freelancers in the freelance marketplace like UpWork and Fiverr.
Some Freelancers quoted us a full project price while some quoted an hourly rate.
So overall, on average a freelancer charges anywhere between $400 – $5000 depending upon the expertise and work portfolio.
If your budget is too short and the video is not that complex then hiring a freelancer is a good option for you.
However, if you have some budget ($1000+) then I would highly recommend you to go with an explainer video company rather than a Freelancer because you’ll get way superior quality of work compared to a freelancer.
What is The Cheapest Option For Creating an Explainer Video?
The cheapest option for creating an explainer video is to do it by yourself.
If you’re a startup or just started your business and don’t have any budget for an explainer video then the option for you is you have to create the video on your own.
If you have some basic design knowledge then this won’t be much difficult for you.
You can use any explainer video software like Vyond or Animaker for creating beautiful explainer videos.
But keep in mind that the video you’ll create using explainer video software will be purely template based and you won’t have much design flexibility over your video.
So unless you have a $0 budget for an explainer video, I would highly recommend you to go with a professional explainer video company if you have some budget in your pocket.
5 Major Factors Behind The Cost of An Explainer Video
As you know, the cost of an explainer video varies a lot.
Some companies charge $2000 for a one minute video, while some companies charge a whopping $50,000 or more.
Have you ever thought what is the reason behind this fluctuating and different pricing?
The reason is simple.
The cost of an explainer video basically depends upon 5 major factors.
- Type of explainer video
- Custom artwork and graphic style
- Length of video
- The script of the video
- Size of the production house
Let’s discuss each of these factors in detail.
Type of Explainer Video
The pricing of an explainer video mainly depends upon the type of video you want.
Explainer videos are divided into many types of styles.
Some of the popular types of explainer videos are:
- 2D Character animation
- Motion graphics
- Whiteboard Animation
- 3D Explainer Video
- And more…
Each type of explainer video has different pricing because each one of these types of videos takes different effort and resources to create.
For example, a Whiteboard explainer video costs around $1000 – $5000 for a 60-second video while on the other hand, a 3D explainer video costs between $4000 – $8,000.
Custom Artwork And Graphic Style
Most of the cheap explainer video companies provide ready-made template-based explainer videos. That’s why you’ll see the majority of the low-cost explainer videos have almost the same kind of graphics and artworks.
The truth is, if you go with the low-cost explainer videos then you can’t expect 100% uniqueness.
A great explainer video involves the creation of custom graphics, custom characters, icons, background images which help it to stand out in this huge crowd.
While choosing template-based ready-made graphics takes less than an hour, creating custom graphics and artwork from scratch takes hundreds and hours of time.
Even the most time-consuming process of an explainer video is the creating of custom artworks and graphics.
Length of Video
The second most important factor behind the pricing of an explainer video is the length of the video.
In simple words:
More lengthy video = More costly.
For example, if a 60-second video costs $4000 then a 120-second video would cost $8000.
Even if you contact any explainer video company today then the first thing they’ll ask is the length of the video you want.
Because overall the whole cost of an explainer video mainly depends upon the length of the video.
However, some companies even offer a massive discount on cost beyond 60-seconds time.
The Script of The Video
The script is the main element of an explainer video.
In simple words:
It’s basically the backbone of any video.
But if the script is complex and demands a high level of detailed elements and scenarios, the effort increases by double.
On top of that, if the script has many characters and scenes then it puts on extra work on the shoulder and because of this, it affects the cost of the video.
Size of the production house
Now here comes the most important factor behind the cost of an explainer video.
The size of the explainer video production company you’ll choose will have a huge impact on the cost of your explainer video.
As I told you earlier, each and every production company charges differently.
Some companies charge $3000 for a 60-second video while some charge more than $50,000.
So you have to keep your budget in mind whenever you choose any explainer video company.
5 Most Popular Type of Explainer Videos and How Much They Cost?
As you know, explainer videos have many different types of styles.
And each style costs differently.
Because each explainer video style takes a different time, effort, resources, and artwork to create.
But if you don’t have any prior experience with explainer videos then you might have to struggle a lot for figuring out the right explainer video style under your budget.
That’s why to give you a basic overview of how pricing works for different types of explainer videos, I’m going to show you how much the 6 most popular types of explainer videos cost.
2D Character Animation
2D Character animation is the most popular type of explainer video.
And not only that, but it’s also the most used type of explainer video in the whole world.
But do you know how much this kind of explainer videos cost?
On average, a 60-second 2D animated explainer video cost between $2000 – $4000.
If your video goes beyond 60-second then most of the companies will also give you a huge discount as well.
3D Explainer Videos
A 3D explainer video is one of the most costly and demanding types of explainer videos.
On average, most of the companies charge anywhere between $4000 – $8000 for a 60-second video.
But if the video involves many characters and elements then the price will also go up.
Motion Graphics
The current price point of Motion Graphic videos is between $2000 – $4000 for a one minute video.
If your character and story are a bit complex then the price can go as high as $6000.
But if your video needs simple animation, then the cost won’t exceed $4000 for sure.
Whiteboard Animation
Whiteboard animated explainer videos are the best and cheapest options to go with if your budget is a bit tight.
Usually, a whiteboard animated explainer video costs between $1000 – $3500 for a 60-second video.
But remember that whiteboard-style videos are not for everyone.
It might cost less but these kinds of videos are used for certain types of needs only.
For example, whiteboard videos are great for teaching, demonstrating any subject or storytelling.
Live-Action Explainer Video
The most costly type of explainer video is the Live-Action explainer videos.
On average, 60-second Live Action explainer video cost between $35,000 – $250,000.
These kinds of videos are great for a product demo or commercial ads.
Since these types of videos are too costly, it wouldn’t be a great fit for startups or small businesses.
FAQ Related to Explainer Video Pricing
How much does a 1-minute explainer video cost?
According to our research, on average, a usual 1-minute explainer video would cost between $3000 – $8000.
How much does a 30-second animation cost?
Normally a 30-second animated video would cost around $1500 – $4000.
Why are explainer videos so expensive?
First of all, if you compare the cost of explainer videos to other types of commercial videos then you won’t say that explainer videos are expensive. And still, if you think that explainer videos are expensive then let me tell you, it takes weeks and months to create a single 60-second explainer video and it takes lots of effort, detailing work, manpower, time, and creativity for a single project.
Conclusion
Spending $3000 – $8000 for a one-minute explainer video might seem expensive but trust me if you go out and see the cost of other types of commercial videos then you won’t consider this as expensive.
And on top of that, the ROI you’ll get using the explainer video is just mind-blowing.
So if you want to grow your business to the next level, spending this much money is totally worth it.
How we can help
At PixelGenio we hold an experience of over 10 years in creating business explainer videos. And guess what, we can customize your video according to your budget without losing quality.
We know the exact ingredients through which we can make your video super-profitable and engaging while using cost-effective design techniques.
Starting at just 700 USD per minute, we are very much within your pocket.
I hope you found this post useful and now you know how much does an explainer video cost.
Have any video ideas or projects in mind? Feel free to contact us.