How much does a video editor cost? In-house vs freelancer vs subscription (2026)

How much does a video editor cost per month and per hour?

At 40 editing hours a month, video editing cost per hour lands between about $25 and $196 across the three options. Most of the spread is idle time: an in-house salary is paid whether or not there is footage to cut, while a freelancer bills only the hours worked.

Cost per editing hour decides most of it. If your edit volume swings between a packed October and a dead February, the hourly rate you actually pay in-house is far higher than the salary suggests, because the salary is paid in the empty weeks too.

What does an in-house video editor really cost?

An in-house editor costs about $7,850 a month loaded: the median salary plus about 25% overhead. The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook puts the median annual wage for film and video editors at $75,420 as of May 2025, which is $6,285 a month in salary alone.

The overhead covers payroll tax, benefits, a workstation that can handle 4K multicam, storage and backup, software seats for Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve, and paid time off. 25% is a conservative figure for a US hire; a studio that pays health insurance will come out well above $7,850.

Hiring also takes two to four weeks of your time before the editor's first day, and when they are sick or on vacation the timeline moves, because nobody covers for them.

In-house makes sense at 160 or more hours of editing a month, every month, or when the editor has to be on site, for example for same-day edits at a venue. At 160 hours the loaded cost works out near $49 an editing hour; at 40 hours it is about $196.

What does a freelance video editor cost?

A freelance video editor costs $25 to $150 an hour depending on experience. Twine's video editor rates guide (September 2026) puts beginners at $25 to $30 an hour, intermediate editors at $30 to $60 and advanced editors at $60 to $150 or more.

The hourly rate leaves out your own time. A portfolio shows an editor's best work, so you only find out how they handle your footage on the first paid job. Each time you change editors you explain the project structure, LUTs, music rules and your client's preferences again. Revisions are billed by the hour, and a client who changes the music three times adds hours to the invoice. And sometimes an editor stops answering while holding your footage, with the client deadline four days away.

Jesse Ovalles, founder of Impact Stories, describes the cost that never shows up on an invoice: "It felt like I was hopping around testing out different editors all the time, and it seemed like no one could get it right. No one understood the voice of my brand or what our standards were." Once he moved his editing to Mooncut, that changed: "I'm not just getting an editor, but also getting a team that's behind this whole post-production process. It frees me up to do other things, like get more clients or film more, which is the side of the business that I want to focus more on." (Watch Jesse's story)

For low or one-off volume, a freelancer is usually the better choice. If you deliver two or three edits a quarter, or need one specialty job such as color on a short film or a complex title sequence, hiring per project is cheaper and simpler than a monthly plan.

Should you outsource video editing, and how does a subscription work?

A video editing subscription is a fixed monthly price for a set number of editing hours, delivered by the same team on every project. You upload footage and a brief, the hours come out of your plan, and delivery and revisions go through one portal instead of a chain of WeTransfer links.

On all three Mooncut plans (prices as of September 2026), an editing hour costs about $24 to $25. Paid quarterly, the plans cost $2,835, $5,550 and $9,300, which saves $150, $300 and $450.

Every plan includes a standing team of three: a video editor, a creative producer and a project manager. Revisions are not capped in number, but each one uses plan hours. We work inside your software: Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro or After Effects.

Hours are capped at the plan, and if a month runs long you buy more or upgrade. Unused hours don't roll over to the next month, so treat the plan as that month's budget. If you would rather not commit to a plan, one-off projects are $35 an hour and include two hours of revisions.

How many editing hours will my projects take?

A reel takes 2 to 5 editing hours, a promo 14 to 18, an event highlight 14 to 25 and a documentary 27 to 35. These are the per-format estimates we publish.

They are estimates, not quotes. Multi-camera gala footage and a brief that changes after the first cut push an event highlight toward 25 hours; a single camera with a clear selects list keeps it closer to 14.

Example: two event highlights and six reels a month

Two highlights take 28 to 50 editing hours. Six reels take 12 to 30. So that month needs somewhere between 40 and 80 hours, depending on the footage.

That's eight videos. In a light month, each one costs you about $124 with Mooncut, or $150 to $300 with a freelancer. In a heavy month, it's about $244 with Mooncut and $300 to $600 with a freelancer. In-house, it's about $981 a video either way. Take that off what you charge your client and you have your margin per video.

If a month runs 10 or 15 hours over your plan, you can top up instead of upgrading.

What if my workload is seasonal?

You can pause the plan for up to a month in your slow season and top up hours when a month runs long. Our records show that uneven workload, more than quality, is the main reason videographers leave a fixed plan, and clients put it in these words: "End of March and April are my slow season so I would like to 'pause' the subscription," and "I prefer to manually re-up based on workload for the month," and "Don't have enough work right now. Will be coming back soon."

You can start any day, and renewal falls on that same date each month. When a month runs long you can top up 10 hours for $275 or 15 for $375. You can pause for up to a month if you tell your project manager before your next billing date. You can cancel no later than 5 business days before the next charge and keep access until the paid period ends. There are no long-term contracts.

A salaried editor costs $7,850 in a quiet month whether or not there is work; a paused subscription costs nothing that month. If your volume is steady all year and above 160 hours a month, in-house comes out cheaper.

What do videographers say after switching?

Our client testimonials are videos. Below are quotes from three of them, with a link to each person's own work.

In the same video he describes how it works for him: "I drop them the footage I take, and then they put it together into a project that is honestly better than what I could do."

Delivery itself has no fixed number of days: you upload the project, and within 24 to 48 hours you get an estimated delivery date to approve against your deadline.

Mooncut has edited 350+ projects since 2025, and our sister company Bride&Groom.video has delivered 12,400+ films since 2018.

How many editing hours do I need per month?

Count your editing hours per month from last year's delivered projects, using the format estimates above. A total near 40, 80 or 130 hours matches one of the plans; steady volume above 160 hours points to an in-house editor, and a few projects a quarter to a freelancer. If you want help pinning it down, bring your typical month to a call and we will estimate the hours with you.