Ask five studios what an explainer video costs and you'll get five answers between $100 and $50,000. The range is real. It depends on length, style and who makes it. This guide lays out what each option typically costs in 2026, where the numbers come from, and how short-form reels change the maths.
A quick note on sources: there's no independent industry survey of video prices, and most published figures come from studios and tool vendors. We link every number to its source so you can judge it. Our own prices are on our home page.
The short version
| Option | Typical price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| DIY with AI or template tools | From about $15 a month, plus your time | Tools, not videos. One guide estimates 10 to 20 hours for a non-designer to make something usable |
| UGC creator | About $150 to $1,200 per video | A real person on camera, a few videos per brief |
| Freelance animator | About $500 to $5,000 per 60-second video | A custom animated explainer |
| Specialist studio | About $3,000 to $10,000 per minute | A polished animated explainer |
| Full-service agency | $10,000 to $50,000+ | Strategy, script, production, often a campaign |
| Done-for-you reels (Chisel) | $199 for 30, $450 for 75 | Finished 20 to 25 second reels with captions, ready to post |
Long-form explainer videos
The classic explainer video is 60 to 90 seconds, animated, and lives on a homepage. Published ranges:
- Freelancers: most guides land around $500 to $3,000 per finished minute, and 60-second projects on marketplaces like Upwork and Fiverr are quoted at roughly $500 to $5,000. You manage the brief and the feedback rounds yourself.
- Specialist studios: about $3,000 to $10,000 per minute in most guides. Pixune quotes $3,000 to $8,000 per minute for 2D and $15,000 to $30,000+ for 3D at established studios (Pixune).
- Typical total: Vidico puts the average professional 60-second explainer at $2,500 to $10,000 (Vidico).
These prices make sense for one hero video that will sit on your site for years. They make no sense for a feed that wants something new every day.
Short-form reels
Reels, TikToks and Shorts work differently. One video does very little. What works is volume: many short videos, each with its own hook, posted often, with the winners turned into ads. So the number that matters is the cost per reel at the volume you need.
UGC creators
UGC rates vary widely. Influee's 2026 guide puts an average single video at roughly $150 to $212. JoinBrands says most professional creators charge $500 to $1,200 per video. Rights to run the video as an ad often cost extra. UGC is strong when a real face matters. For a comparison with our format, see Chisel vs UGC creators.
AI and template tools
Self-serve DIY tools start at about $15 to $25 a month (Pexo), and Vidico puts AI and template tools anywhere from $99 to $1,500 (Vidico). The tool is cheap. The hours aren't: someone still writes, edits and checks every video. See Chisel vs AI avatar video tools.
Done-for-you reels
This is what Chisel does: we write the scripts from your docs, you approve them, and we deliver finished reels with captions.
- Pilot: 30 reels for $199, about $6.63 a reel.
- Launch pack: 75 reels for $450, $6 a reel.
Each reel is 20 to 25 seconds, vertical, with a scored hook, AI voiceover, captions on every word, your real UI and your logo.
What 30 reels a month costs each way
Short-form works on volume, so price it at the volume you'd actually post. Here's 30 reels, roughly one a day for a month, using the ranges above:
| Option | Per reel | 30 reels |
|---|---|---|
| UGC creators (entry level, per Influee) | $150 to $212 | $4,500 to $6,360 |
| UGC creators (professional, per JoinBrands) | $500 to $1,200 | $15,000 to $36,000 |
| In-house, 3 hours a reel at $40 an hour (example) | about $120 in time | about $3,600 in time |
| Chisel Pilot | about $6.63 | $199 |
The in-house row is an example, not a market rate. Swap in your own numbers: how long a good reel takes your team, and what an hour of that person's time is worth. Most teams underestimate both.
Where the money goes in a good reel
Knowing what you pay for makes quotes easier to compare. In any short explainer, the cost sits in five places:
- The idea. Picking a topic a stranger cares about. Cheap to do badly, expensive to do well.
- The hook and script. About 50 to 60 words, and the first eight decide whether anyone hears the rest.
- The visuals. Filming a person, animating, or capturing your product's real screens.
- The edit. Pacing, captions on every word, a frame change every few seconds, your brand.
- The rounds of changes. Every round costs someone time, so every quote limits them somewhere.
A cheap quote usually saves on the first two. That's the expensive mistake, because a well-edited reel with a weak hook still loses viewers in the first three seconds.
Questions to ask before you pay anyone
- Who writes the script, and do I approve it before production starts?
- How many rounds of changes are included, and what counts as a change?
- Can I run the videos as paid ads, and is that included in the price?
- Who owns the files once they're paid for?
- Are captions included, burned in or as a separate file?
- What's the turnaround from brief to finished files?
- What formats do I get? (For short-form you want 9:16 MP4.)
- Do you check product facts against our docs, or is that on us?
If a provider can't answer all eight in one message, expect surprises on the invoice.
How to make the budget go further
- Test cheaply, then spend. Make many short reels, see which hooks hold attention, then put ad money or a pricier production behind the winners.
- Post one file everywhere. A 9:16 reel works on Instagram Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts and LinkedIn. Four channels for one cost.
- Plan topics from your changelog. Every feature, use case and objection is a reel, so you never pay someone to think up topics from scratch.
- Keep a hook library. Save every opening line that worked and reuse the shape for new topics.
What drives the price up
Whatever option you pick, these add cost:
- Length. Longer videos cost more, though not in a straight line. One guide suggests about 1.5 times the 60-second price for each extra minute.
- Style. 3D and character animation cost far more than screen-based motion graphics.
- Rounds of changes. Unlimited revisions are rarely unlimited. Check what's included.
- Usage rights. Especially with creators, paid-ad rights are often priced separately.
- Your time. Briefing, reviewing and posting. The cheapest option in cash is often the most expensive in hours.
How to choose
- You need one homepage video that will last years: a specialist studio or a good freelancer.
- You sell a consumer product where a face sells it: UGC creators.
- You have a writer and an editor in-house: AI tools can save them filming time.
- You need many short reels explaining a software product: a done-for-you reel service. That's what Chisel does.
FAQ
Is $6 a reel too cheap to be any good?
It's cheap because of how the reels are made, not because steps are skipped. Chisel reels are faceless: an AI voiceover, your real product UI and captions, built on a fixed structure. There's no filming, no actors and no studio time. What you don't get is a human face on camera. If your product needs one, budget for UGC as well.
Do I still need a long explainer video?
Maybe one, for your homepage. A 60 to 90 second explainer helps visitors who already landed on your site. Short reels do a different job: they reach people who've never heard of you. Most software companies need far more of the second kind.
Can I run the reels as ads?
With Chisel, yes. You own the reels once they're paid for, ads included. With creators, check the usage rights before you assume the same.
How many reels do I need to see results?
Enough to learn which hooks work for your product. That's why our Pilot is 30 reels: one reel tells you almost nothing, and thirty tells you which angles to double down on.
Prices in this post were checked in October 2026. We'll update them as the sources change.
Sources: Vidico, Pixune, Twine, Knowlify, Pexo, Influee, JoinBrands.