Paying per video is cheaper when you publish a few pieces a month. A full-time editor becomes the simpler bill when your own per-video spend passes about $1,800 a month, which is the starting price on Rekruuto’s video editor role. The break-even is your rate times your volume, not a number copied from a forum.
See finished work on the video editor portfolio page, then price the brief you actually publish.
How much do freelance video editors charge per video?
Editors charge by the video, by the finished minute, by the hour, or on a small retainer. The number moves with length, revision rounds, motion graphics, and how organized your footage is. The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook puts the median wage for film and video editors at $70,980 a year in May 2024. On that page the lowest 10 percent earned less than $39,170 and the highest 10 percent earned more than $145,900. That is a US wage, not a per-video fee.
Ask two or three editors to price the same brief: runtime, number of cameras, whether you send a rough cut, how many revision rounds, captions, thumbnail, and vertical cuts. If you change the brief between quotes, you cannot compare them. Write the agreed rate at the top of the worksheet below and ignore everyone else’s anecdote.
What you are buying is also the wait. A per-video editor fits you in around other clients. A deadline in the contract is worth more than a low unit price that slips a week. Ask what “a video” includes before you celebrate the fee.
For how to brief an editor, use hiring an assistant video editor and video editor virtual assistant. This article is the cost model. Those are the working relationship.
How much does a full-time dedicated video editor cost?
On Rekruuto, the video editor page uses the same starting price as most full-time roles: $1,800 a month. Twelve months at that price is $21,600, if the price does not change. That is the staffing line. Software, music licences, and stock footage are extra unless your contract says otherwise.
The person is full time and vetted, based in the Philippines, with a published start of about 14 days and a 1-week trial with replacement or refund. They work on your channel or your clients. Put the hours in the agreement, and use those hours if you want an hourly comparison.
A US in-house editor is a salary plus overhead. The BLS median for film and video editors was $70,980 in May 2024, about $5,915 a month of wages before benefits. If you have a US salary offer in hand, add benefits and recruiting and put that number in the worksheet as a third column.
Compare the invoices you actually pay. Leave slogans about time saved out of the spreadsheet.
At how many videos a month does full-time become cheaper?
When videos per month, times your per-video rate, is higher than $1,800, the flat seat costs less on paper. Put your own rate in the worksheet. The rows show the shape of the comparison.
| Videos in the month | Your per-video rate | Per-video bill | Rekruuto full-time starting price | Lower staffing bill |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | your rate | 2 times your rate | $1,800 | Whichever is smaller |
| 4 | your rate | 4 times your rate | $1,800 | Whichever is smaller |
| 8 | your rate | 8 times your rate | $1,800 | Whichever is smaller |
| 12 | your rate | 12 times your rate | $1,800 | Whichever is smaller |
Worked example: if your rate is $R and you ship N videos, the per-video path costs N times $R. Compare that with $1,800. If you also buy thumbnails and three vertical cuts as separate invoices, add those invoices before you decide the per-video path is cheaper. A full-time editor who includes those cuts in the month changes the comparison even when the long-form count looks small.
The paper comparison ignores quality, speed, and the hours you spend re-briefing a new freelancer. Add a line for your management time if it differs between the two models. A cheap per-video rate that needs a full re-brief every Monday is not the number in the left column.
If N times $R is under $1,800 and you are happy with the turnaround, stay per video. Revisit when the calendar fills up. The point of the table is to stop arguing from someone else’s invoice.
What does a full-time editor handle beyond the main video?
Often the cuts that per-video pricing treats as extras: captions, a thumbnail, vertical clips, and a light tidy of the project files. Confirm the list. Do not assume it.
A practical monthly inventory to agree in week one:
- Long-form edits, with a written cap so “unlimited” does not mean a new brief every evening.
- A named number of revision rounds.
- Captions checked by a person, not only auto-generated and forgotten.
- Thumbnails, if you want them from the same person.
- Short-form cuts from the long video, with a count.
- A folder structure you can open after they are away.
- A backup export, not only a link inside one editor’s account.
A sample week you can use as a starting cap: two long videos in progress, one published with captions and a thumbnail, and a handful of vertical cuts from last week’s piece. Your niche, your footage, and your revision habit will change that sketch. Use it to start the conversation, then replace it with the cap you both sign.
If your work is heavy motion design or a broadcast finish, say so before you hire a general editor at the standard rate. Premium work can sit outside $1,800. Ask.
How do you keep quality and turnaround consistent?
Write the standard, keep the files in your accounts, and review a sample on a rhythm you can sustain. A full-time person makes that easier because the context stays. It does not remove the need for the standard.
- A one-page style note: pacing, words you do not want on screen, how you handle music, where the logo sits.
- A folder they can use without your password. Project files, exports, and thumbnails live there.
- A definition of done: captioned, exported in the sizes you named, thumbnail attached, link in the tracker.
- A standing publish day, so the queue is not renegotiated every week.
- One person who gives feedback. Five people in the comments is how a three-day edit becomes three weeks.
- The trial week used as a real edit, not as a vibe check. The terms are on the 1-week trial with replacement or refund page.
Per-video editors can hit the same standard if you pay them to learn it and you accept that some of the learning walks out of the door between projects. Full-time is you paying once for that context. Neither model fixes footage that arrives with no brief.
Handover, so the edit does not live in one laptop
Per-video or full-time, the project file has to open on your side. Agree this before the first invoice.
- Project files and exports live in your drive, in a folder named by the publish date.
- Fonts, logos, and music notes sit in a kit they can download. You hold the licences.
- A “current” cut is labelled. Old cuts stay, so you can step back.
- Comments live in one place, not in three email threads and a text message.
- When the contract ends, they export a final master and leave the project, the same week you remove their user.
A full-time editor makes this cheaper to maintain because they already know the folder. A freelancer can do it if you pay for the tidiness and you check the folder before you release the last payment. Either way, “the edit is on my computer” is a failed handover. Count that risk when a low per-video rate looks like the winner on the worksheet.
Frequently asked questions
What is the market rate per video?
Editors price the brief: runtime, cameras, revision rounds, captions, thumbnail, and vertical cuts. The US median wage for film and video editors was $70,980 in May 2024. For a per-video fee, use the quote you would actually sign and multiply by your monthly volume.
What does Rekruuto charge for a full-time video editor?
The video editor page starts at $1,800 a month, in line with most full-time roles. Software and licences are separate unless the contract includes them.
When is full-time cheaper?
When your per-video invoices for the month, including the extras you currently pay for separately, go past about $1,800. Run the multiplication with your numbers.
Will a full-time editor also cut shorts and thumbnails?
Agree the list. Many teams include captions, thumbnails, and a set number of vertical cuts. Get the cap in writing so the month has an edge.
How should I use the sample week?
As a starting cap for the conversation: two long videos in progress, one published with captions and a thumbnail, and a handful of vertical cuts. Replace it with the cap you both sign.
Get matched with your hire
Put your rate and your monthly count on the worksheet, then get matched with your hire if the flat seat wins. Look at the video editor role and the portfolio before the call. The 1-week trial with replacement or refund should be a real edit against your style note.