Your cheap options, compared
| Option | Price signal | Your effort | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry-level Upwork freelancer | Upwork's entry tier is below $30/hr with a $10/hr median (Upwork) | High: hiring, briefing, reviewing | Quality and reliability vary |
| Fiverr gig | Seller's price plus a 5.5% fee and $3.50 under $200 (Fiverr) | Medium | Package limits, upsells |
| Per-video done-for-you service | Fixed price, e.g. DoneEdit at $27 founding / $67 | Low: upload and notes | Limited to supported formats |
| Free software (DaVinci Resolve, CapCut, iMovie) | $0 in money | Highest: you edit | Your time and learning curve |
| Friend or student | Varies | Medium | Deadlines slip |
The real price of a cheap editor
The hourly rate is only part of the cost. With a cheap editor you often pay in other ways:
- Rework: more revision rounds because the first draft misses the mark.
- Your time: writing detailed briefs, explaining the same preferences again, reviewing every cut.
- Delays: freelancers juggling many cheap jobs may miss your upload day.
- Disappearing: if an editor stops replying, you start the hiring process again.
None of this means cheap editors are bad. Many are talented and building a portfolio. It means you should plan for these costs and reduce them with process.
How to get good results on a small budget
- Pick a simple, repeatable format. Talking-head videos with captions and light b-roll are cheap to edit well. Story-driven videos with motion graphics are not.
- Send a reference video. One example of the style you want beats paragraphs of description.
- Write a one-page brief. Pacing, caption style, music mood, what to cut, intro and outro. See how to brief a video editor.
- Run a paid test. Give two or three candidates the same short clip. Judge the output, not the pitch.
- Agree the scope in writing. Number of revisions, turnaround, file delivery and who owns the project files.
- Batch your videos. Sending several videos at once can lower the price and keeps the editor's style consistent.
Red flags when hiring cheap
- No portfolio, or a portfolio of only templates and stock reels.
- Promises of "viral" results or guaranteed views.
- Refusing a small paid test.
- Asking to move payment off the platform early.
- Vague answers about revisions and turnaround.
When a per-video service beats a cheap freelancer
If your videos are simple talking-head uploads, a fixed-price service removes most of the hidden costs above: no hiring, no repeated briefing and a set turnaround. DoneEdit, our own service, is built for exactly this: one English speaker, up to 10 minutes of raw footage, edited with AI tools and checked by a person, back within 48 hours with captions, zooms, b-roll and music. It is new, so it doesn't have a long track record yet, which is why the founding price is low. If your videos are longer or need a unique style, a freelancer you train over time is the better long-term option.
When doing it yourself is the cheapest
If you have more time than money, free tools are a real option. DaVinci Resolve has a free version used by professionals, CapCut is quick for captions and short-form, and iMovie comes free on Apple devices. The catch is the learning curve and the hours per video. See best free video editing software for a full comparison.
A sensible budget path
- Starting out: edit yourself or use a low-cost per-video service while you test content ideas.
- Posting regularly: hire one freelancer you trust, or keep using a per-video service if your format fits.
- Scaling up: a subscription agency or a dedicated editor once you publish four or more videos a month.
Worked example: a $100 monthly budget
Suppose you have about $100 a month for editing. Here are three realistic ways to spend it, without guessing what any one freelancer will charge.
- One editor, a few hours a month. At the low end of Upwork's typical $6–$25 hourly range, you can buy several hours. That suits one or two simple videos if the editor works fast.
- Fixed-price gigs. On Fiverr, remember the 5.5% service fee plus $3.50 on orders under $200. Four small orders a month each carry that $3.50.
- Per-video service plus DIY. Pay for the videos that matter most, such as your channel trailer or a key tutorial, and edit the rest yourself with a free editor.
Step by step: how to hire cheap without wasting money
- Write a one-paragraph brief covering length, style, a reference video and what to cut.
- Post a small paid test, not a free one. Good editors rarely do unpaid tests.
- Use the same raw clip for every candidate so you can compare fairly.
- Score each test on pacing, audio, captions and whether they followed the brief.
- Hire the best one for a month before you commit to anything longer.