How much does it cost to hire a video editor?

The costs of hiring a video editor vary widely. If you look on Upwork or Fiverr you’ll notice rates as low as $20 for a finished edit and as high as $1000. The difference between those estimates has to do with the footage you provide, the finished length of your video, what kinds of technical aspects will need to be addressed such as sound and color correcting and where you plant to show off your video once it’s done. Green editors tend to bid low because they are building up their portfolio. More experienced editors tend to bid higher.

A polished thirty second commercial costs somewhere between $1500 to $2000. This price includes a comprehensive team of people to address sound and color as well as the edit.

An edit with ten cuts per minute takes less time than an edit with twenty cuts per minute.

If you plan to have somewhere between 5 cuts per minute - which works out to be a change in the video every 12 seconds - then plan on about 1.5 hours of editing time per minute of finished video.

A good rule I like to follow whenever I’m hiring someone to do something for me is to pick the person with the rate that is the most in the middle, when I’m in new territory. While it can seem like a bargain to hire the person with the lowest rate it hasn’t been my experience that it actually works out that way. [One unfortunate incident ended with a rather burned up garage full of storage items for having went with the lowest cost roofer!] Whether it’s a roof, a video edit, or a new pair of pants, you’ll probably end up with exactly what you paid for. Go for the middle.