Calculator · 100% free, no signup · Updated September 2026
How much to charge for short-form video editing, built from your costs.
A free pricing calculator for short-form video packages. Enter clips per month, editor cost per hour, minutes per clip with and without a clipping tool, revision rounds, tool and overhead costs, and a target margin. It returns cost per clip, cost per client, a monthly retainer, a price per clip and hours saved, each with its formula.
Enter how many clips a client gets a month, what an editor hour costs you, how long a clip takes with and without a clipping tool, the revision rounds you include, your tool and overhead costs, and the margin you want. You get cost per clip, cost per client, a monthly retainer, a price per clip and the hours a clipping tool saves, each with its formula.
Suggested monthly retainer
$1,375
Cost per client ÷ (1 − target margin).
$550 ÷ (1 − 60 %) = $550 ÷ 0.4 = $1,375 a month.
Cost per client per month
$550
(Editing hours + revision hours) × editor cost per hour + tool cost + other overhead.
(8 h + 2 h) × $40 + $50 + $100 = $550.
Cost per clip
$22.92
Cost per client ÷ clips per month.
$550 ÷ 24 = $22.92.
Price per clip
$57.29
Monthly retainer ÷ clips per month.
$1,375 ÷ 24 = $57.29.
Hours saved per month with a clipping tool
10 h
Clips per month × (minutes without a tool − minutes with one) ÷ 60.
24 × (45 − 20) ÷ 60 = 10 h, worth $400 at $40 an hour — $350 after the tool's $50.
Margin vs markup
Margin = (price − cost) ÷ price. Markup = (price − cost) ÷ cost. Your 60 % margin is a 150 % markup: ($1,375 − $550) ÷ $550.
Who this is for
Social media agencies, SMMAs and freelance video editors quoting short-form packages: TikToks, Reels and YouTube Shorts cut from a client’s podcasts, webinars and long-form videos.
The problem this solves
Most short-form packages are priced by copying another agency’s number, and that number hides their cost line: their editor rate, their minutes per clip, their revision rounds. Build the price from your own cost instead, check which margin it really earns, and see what a clipping tool does to the hours behind every clip.
A 50 % markup is only a 33 % margin, and a 60 % margin needs a 150 % markup: margin divides the profit by the price, markup divides it by the cost.
Source: arithmetic: margin = (price − cost) ÷ price, markup = (price − cost) ÷ cost
How to use it
- 01
Enter the package volume and your editor cost
Clips per client per month, and what one editor hour costs you: salary or freelance rate plus overhead.
- 02
Time a clip twice
Minutes per clip with a clipping tool and without one. Time three real batches and use the median. The defaults are assumptions.
- 03
Add revisions, tools and overhead
Revision rounds included per month and the minutes each takes, the tool cost per client (Clipflow’s per-brand price by default) and anything else a client costs you.
- 04
Set a target margin and read the price
The retainer is cost ÷ (1 − margin), the price per clip is the retainer ÷ clips. Every output prints its formula with your numbers in it.
- 05
Pick the pricing model
Per clip, monthly retainer or per recording: the linked Clipflow playbook guide shows which model fits which client and what a package should include.
What you get
- ✓ Cost per clip and cost per client per month
- ✓ A monthly retainer and a price per clip at your target margin
- ✓ Hours a clipping tool saves per month against cutting by hand
- ✓ The formula behind every number, margin vs markup spelled out
- ✓ 100% free, no signup
Frequently asked
How much should I charge for short-form video editing?
Charge from your own cost, not from another agency’s number. Add up editor hours per clip, revision time, tool cost and overhead for one client’s month, then divide by one minus your target margin. This calculator does exactly that and shows the formula. Every default is an assumption to replace with your own timings and rates.
What is the difference between margin and markup?
Margin is profit divided by the price; markup is profit divided by the cost. They describe the same profit on different bases, so they are never equal: a 50 % markup is a 33 % margin, and a 60 % margin is a 150 % markup. Decide which one you mean before you compare packages.
Should I price per clip or as a monthly retainer?
Per clip suits a first project or a client comparing quotes like for like, but every rejected clip still cost you editing time. A monthly retainer for a stated number of clips and revision rounds gives the client one predictable number and rewards you for getting faster. The calculator gives both from the same cost.
Why does the tool cost default to Clipflow’s price?
It is the one real number in a sheet of assumptions: Clipflow’s Agency Flex price for one client brand, billed monthly, read from our pricing table. Replace it with whatever your clipping and captioning tools cost per client. The minutes, rates, revision rounds and overhead are assumptions you should replace too.
Does the calculator include market rates?
No. It quotes no averages or going rates, because a price copied from another agency hides their editor rate, minutes per clip and revision rounds. It builds a price from your inputs only. For the pricing models themselves, read the Clipflow playbook guide on how agencies price short-form video packages.
Related tools
Turn a video into clips — free, no signup
Author + maintainer
Adrian Berisha — Founder of Clipflow. Indie SaaS builder shipping creator tools full-time since 2024. All tools and benchmarks on this page are reviewed quarterly. Last review: September 2026.
@getclipflow on X · hi@clipflow.to
Want this baked into your workflow?
Clipflow runs the whole repurposing pipeline — clip-finder, brand-voice captions, one-click multi-platform publish — free for 7 days, no card.
Try Clipflow free