Video pricing calculator what to charge, from your own hours and costs.
To work out what to charge for a video, add up what your month has to cover (your pay, overhead and gear wear), divide it by the hours you can actually bill, and multiply by the hours the job takes. Then add crew, expenses, taxes and margin. This calculator runs that math with your numbers and builds the quote.
Free, no sign-upExample numbers, only there to show the method. They are not market rates: swap in your own.
Your month
What your work has to pay for every month, even when the calendar is empty.
The job
Hours for each stage, from the first call to delivery.
The wedding
Hours on the day, editing each deliverable and revisions. Leave 0 for anything not in the package.
The subtitling job
Your pace: how many minutes of work each minute of video takes in each pass.
The clip package
Your pace per clip and the fixed monthly hours with the client.
Result
Fill in your month and the job's hours to see the price.
- Job price
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- Your hourly rate
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- With taxes and margin. This is the hour you charge.
- Cost of your hour
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- Job hours
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- Price per hour of this job
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- Jobs like this to cover the month
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Where the price comes from
- Gear wear per month
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- What the month has to cover
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- Your hours
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- Crew
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- Other expenses
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- Job cost
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- Taxes
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- Margin
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- Price
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Taxes and margin are a share of the price, not something added on top of cost: that's why the cost is divided by (1 minus taxes minus margin).
Quote for the client
The client sees the stages and the total. Taxes and margin sit inside each line.
Fewer editing hours lower the cost of every job. We transcribe, find the best moments and caption them for you. Try it with my footage
How to price a video job
- 01
Set up your month
Enter what you want to take home, your overhead, what your gear is worth and how many years it lasts. Add your tax share, your margin and the hours you can really bill.
- 02
Count the job's hours
Pick the type of job and fill in each stage: pre-production, shoot, editing, revisions and travel. Add the crew and expenses that only exist for this job.
- 03
Take the quote
See the price, your hourly rate and where every part comes from. Add the client's name and download a PDF quote with the stages and the total.
How to calculate your hourly rate as a videographer
Your hourly rate doesn't start with what other people charge. It starts with what your month costs. Add up three things: what you want to take home, your overhead (software, internet, phone, accountant, storage) and gear wear, which is the value of your kit divided by the months until you replace it. A kit that lasts four years has to be paid for over 48 months of work.
Then divide that total by billable hours, not hours worked. Someone who works 160 hours a month rarely bills 160: answering clients, writing quotes, posting on social, backing up and learning all take time nobody pays for directly. If you bill half your hours, each billed hour has to cost twice as much. That's the usual reason people feel busy and still end up short.
| Part of the math | How it goes in |
|---|---|
| Pay you want | Monthly, after costs |
| Overhead | Monthly total |
| Gear | Value ÷ (years × 12) |
| Cost of an hour | Month total ÷ billable hours |
| Hourly rate | Cost of an hour ÷ (1 − taxes − margin) |
How much to charge for a video: the method
Once you know what an hour costs you, a job's cost is the hours of every stage times that cost, plus whatever only exists for that job: a second shooter, an assistant, rentals, mileage, lodging, licensed music.
Taxes and margin come last, and they come in as a share of the price. If tax is a percentage of what you bill, adding that percentage to your cost leaves you short. Divide instead: price = cost ÷ (1 − taxes − margin). With a cost of 3,200, taxes at 6% and a 14% margin, the price is 3,200 ÷ 0.80 = 4,000. Six percent of 4,000 is the tax, fourteen percent is the margin, and the cost is fully covered.
Those numbers only illustrate the math. They are not market rates. Your price depends on your month, your pace and what your client gets.
- Pre-production: calls, script, scouting and the quote itself
- Shoot: from arrival until the gear is packed
- Editing: selects, assembly, color, sound and export
- Revisions: the rounds of changes you agreed on
- Travel: hours on the road are your hours too
Taxes, margin and rush fees: what goes into the price
Taxes depend on where and how you work. Freelancers often set aside a share for income tax and self-employment tax, and some places add sales tax on services. Put in the percentage your accountant gives you; the calculator doesn't assume any rate.
Margin isn't greed. It covers a month with no bookings, a lens that breaks the day before a shoot, or the course that makes your work better. Without it, every surprise comes out of your pay.
The rush fee is optional: a tight deadline pushes other work back and usually costs you nights. The calculator shows the regular and rush prices side by side, and you decide whether the rush fee goes into the quote.
How to cut editing time without cutting your price
There are two ways to earn more per hour: charge more, or spend fewer hours. The second one is about process. In interviews, testimonials, talks and weddings, a lot of editing is listening back to find the right lines. With a word-by-word transcript, timed and split by speaker, you read and search instead of scrubbing.
Run the numbers again after you change your process: if a job's edit drops from 16 to 10 hours, its cost drops too, and you choose whether to keep the difference or price more competitively.
More than a price. Fewer hours in every job.
See also
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate what to charge for a video?
Add up what your month has to cover (your pay, overhead and gear wear), divide by the hours you bill and multiply by the job's hours. Add crew and expenses, then divide the total by (1 minus taxes minus margin). The calculator does this with your numbers.
How much does a videographer charge per hour?
There's no single right number, and this page won't make one up. Your rate comes from your own math: the month you need to cover divided by the hours you can bill, plus taxes and margin. Two videographers with different costs end up with different rates.
Why divide instead of adding the tax percentage?
Because tax is charged on the price, not on your cost. Adding 6% to the cost gives a price where 6% of the total no longer fits. Dividing by (1 minus taxes minus margin) makes sure that, after paying tax and setting the margin aside, the whole cost is covered.
What are billable hours?
Hours you charge a client for: shooting, editing, revisions, project calls. Answering messages, quoting, social media and file management are work too, but they never show up on an invoice. That's why your monthly cost is divided by billable hours only.
What tax percentage should I use?
It depends on your country, your business setup and your income, and the rules change. Ask your accountant what share of your billing goes to taxes and enter it in the tax field. The calculator doesn't assume any rate.
Does the client see my margin on the quote?
No. The PDF quote lists the stages, crew, expenses and total. Taxes and margin are spread across the lines, like any service quote.
Charge for your time. And spend less of it on every video.
Upload the video or paste a YouTube link. We transcribe with speakers, split it into chapters, suggest clips and caption them. You review and finish in your editor.
See the result on your own recording before adding a card.