Key points
- We give no market rate: prices vary too much from one provider to the next for a figure to be honest. Ask for quotes.
- Five things set the price: the length, the style, what you supply, the number of revisions and the deadline.
- A clear brief brings the bill down more surely than haggling.
- The real cost is counted per useful video: an expensive video published once costs more than a simple series published every week.
Why there is no single price
A motion design video is working time: writing, drawing, animating, adding the voice and the music, correcting. Two videos of the same length can need ten times more work one than the other, depending on whether you animate a few words on a plain background or characters drawn frame by frame.
That is why a price quoted “per minute” does not mean much. This guide will not give you a range: we have no official source to cite, and a figure read online is worth less than three quotes requested for your own project. What it gives you is what you need to read those quotes.
The five things that set the price
| Element | Pushes the price up | Brings the price down |
|---|---|---|
| The length | Two minutes and more | Thirty to sixty seconds |
| The style | Drawn characters, sets, 3D | Words, simple shapes, your screenshots |
| What you supply | Nothing: everything has to be written and created | The text, the logo, the screenshots, the colours |
| The revisions | Unlimited back and forth | Two rounds of revisions written in the quote |
| The deadline | For next week | A normal deadline, announced in advance |
The text is the element most often forgotten. A provider who has to understand your trade, find the message and write it charges for that time. If you arrive with a script of ten sentences, you pay for the animation and nothing else.
Four ways to get your video made
- Make it yourself with animation software. You pay for the software and above all with your time: learning it is counted in weeks. Reasonable if you plan to do it often and enjoy it.
- A freelancer. One contact, a personal style. Look at their past videos: you are buying what they already know how to do.
- An agency. A team: someone writes, someone draws, someone animates, someone follows the project. More safeguards, more people to pay.
- A tool that builds the video. You write the idea, you supply your screens, the tool does the rest. The price is known before you start. You have less freedom over the detail of the drawing.
Asking for quotes and comparing them, step by step
Write your brief on one page
Who the video is for, what it should make people understand, its length, where it will be published, and by which date. Send the same page to everyone.
Attach what you have
The logo, the colours, the screenshots, a script if you have one, and one or two videos whose style you like.
Ask for three quotes
A single quote teaches you nothing. Three show you what is usual and what is not.
Check what is included
The writing, the voice, the music, the subtitles, the number of revisions, the formats delivered. A low quote that includes neither the voice nor the vertical format is not the cheapest.
Ask who owns the files
Will you have the right to use the video everywhere, with no time limit? Will you receive the files that allow it to be changed later? Have it written down.
Approve the text before the animation
A sentence changed in a script costs a minute. The same sentence changed in an animated video costs hours.
A brief that fits in six lines
- For whom: owners of hair salons who still take bookings by phone.
- The message: with our app, customers book by themselves, even at night.
- The length: 45 seconds, vertical and horizontal formats.
- What we supply: the script, the logo, four screenshots.
- What we expect: the animation, the voice, the music, the subtitles, two rounds of revisions.
- The date: delivery on the 15th of next month.
Counting the cost per useful video
The price on the invoice is not the only cost. Count your time as well: the meetings, the reviews, the back and forth. And count what the video brings in: a video published once on an account with two hundred followers is expensive, whatever its price.
If your budget is very tight, begin with what costs nothing: a phone, a window and one question from a customer. Our guide to making videos for your business shows what that looks like. Keep the money for the day you know which message works.
The mistakes that make you pay twice
- Ordering without an approved script. Every change of text after the animation is charged.
- Trying to say everything in one video. The longer it is, the more it costs and the less it is watched.
- Forgetting the vertical format. Remaking a horizontal video for social media is a second job.
- Not fixing the number of revisions. With no written limit, the project never ends.
- Putting a price or a date in the video. The day they change, the video has to be remade.
Before you sign a quote
- Your brief fits on one page.
- The script is written, or its writing is included in the quote.
- The voice, the music and the subtitles are included or priced separately.
- The number of rounds of revisions is written down.
- The formats delivered are listed, including the vertical format.
- Your rights of use are written down.
Frequently asked questions
Why does this guide give no price range?
Because we have no official source to cite, and rates vary with the country, the style and the provider. An invented figure would mislead you. Three quotes on your real project are worth more.
Does a shorter video always cost less?
In general yes, because there is less to animate. But a highly polished thirty-second video can cost more than a one-minute video made of words and simple shapes.
Can a motion design video be reused?
Yes, and that is what makes it worthwhile: on your site, on your social accounts, in your messages, at a trade fair. Just check that the quote gives you that right.
What if I do not like the result?
Go back to the quote: it should provide for rounds of revisions. That is why you approve the script, then a few still frames, before the animation begins.
With Meratek
What a video costs with Meratek
Meratek works with credits. In the Motion tab, the Motion design mode starts from your idea and your screenshots, then writes the story, adds the voice and animates the film. Before you start, the price in credits of your video is shown: you confirm or you do not. One hundred and forty credits are offered when you sign up, and the plans are detailed on the pricing page.
Meratek does not replace a studio for a made-to-measure brand film. It suits you when you need clear videos, often, without waiting for a quote. You remain responsible for what the video claims.
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