Your numbers
Your rate
About video editor rates
Video editing eats storage, rendering time and revision rounds. Quoting by video length without knowing your hourly rate is a quick way to lose money on long projects.
Estimate editing hours per finished minute of video and log a few jobs so your quotes get more accurate.
Expenses to include
- Editing software, plugins and effects subscriptions
- A powerful computer, extra storage drives and backups
- Stock footage, music and sound licences
- Cloud transfer and review tools
- Monitors and audio equipment
Add these up for a full year and enter the total in "Yearly expenses".
How the rate is calculated
- Revenue needed = take-home ÷ (1 − tax rate) + expenses
- Billable hours per year = hours per week × (52 − weeks off)
- Hourly rate = revenue needed ÷ billable hours per year
This is a planning estimate, not tax advice. Tax rules differ by country, so check with a local accountant for exact figures.
Frequently asked questions
How should a video editor set an hourly rate?
Add your software, storage and equipment costs to the income you want to keep, then divide by the hours you can bill. File management, exports and review rounds take time even when the timeline work is quick.
Should a video editor charge hourly or per project?
Per-video and per-minute prices are popular. Use your hourly rate and your usual hours per finished minute to price consistently, and cap the number of revision rounds in the agreement.
How many hours per week can a video editor realistically bill?
Rendering can run in the background, but review rounds and file management still take time. About 22 to 28 billable hours a week is a reasonable planning range; refine it with your own timesheets.