About ReelRate
ReelRate is a free tool that helps freelance video editors answer one deceptively hard question: what should I charge?
Why we built it
Most video editors set their rate by guessing, or by copying whatever number a competitor happens to post. Both approaches ignore the only figures that actually matter: your income goal, your expenses, and how many hours you can realistically bill. ReelRate was built to replace the guesswork with a rate that is grounded in your real numbers, so you can quote clients without second-guessing yourself.
How the calculator works
The calculator works backwards from the income you want to keep, rather than forwards from an hourly number pulled out of thin air. In plain terms, it:
- Adds your target take-home income and your annual business expenses (software, stock media, plugins, hardware, and storage).
- Divides that total by your real billable hours for the year — the weeks you actually work multiplied by the hours you can truly bill, which for most freelancers is 20–25 per week, not 40.
- Adjusts for the share of income you set aside for tax, then adds a 20% buffer to cover revisions, late payers, and the gaps between projects.
- Translates that recommended hourly rate into a day rate and a price per finished minute, using realistic edit-time ratios for YouTube, short-form, wedding, and corporate work.
The exact formula, a worked example, and the reasoning behind every assumption are published in full on our How We Calculate page.
Where the 2026 benchmarks come from
The Junior, Mid, and Senior ranges shown alongside your result reflect hourly rates commonly reported across freelance video editing communities and marketplaces in 2026. They are meant as a reality check — a way to see whether your calculated rate sits above or below what editors at your experience level typically charge — not as fixed prices. Your market, niche, and reel can move you up or down within (or beyond) these ranges. The key figures behind them, with links to every source, are collected on our rates statistics page.
How we research the pricing guides
Alongside the calculator, ReelRate publishes a library of researched pricing guides — by niche, by country, and by business topic. Every guide follows the same rules:
- Named, published sources only. Rates come from government statistics (like the US Bureau of Labor Statistics or gov.uk), industry surveys, marketplace and booking data, and studios' published price menus — each one linked inline where it's used, so you can check it yourself.
- Verified before cited. We read the original source before quoting a figure. If a number can't be verified at its source, it doesn't go in the guide — even when it would make a better headline.
- Internally consistent. New guides are cross-checked against the rest of the library: the same experience bands anchor every niche, and every worked example is arithmetic you can re-do yourself. If a source conflicts with the wider market picture, we say so.
- Dated and maintained. Each guide shows its "Last updated" month, and the benchmark figures on the statistics page are refreshed as new data is published, at least annually.
Who runs ReelRate
ReelRate is independently owned and operated by a solo publisher — it is not run by, or affiliated with, any editing marketplace, agency, or editing service, and no company featured in our guides has paid to appear in them. The site launched in mid-2026 with the calculator at its core, and the library has since grown to 28 researched pricing guides: editing niches from YouTube, short-form, and weddings to documentaries, podcasts, and gaming; country-specific rate guides for the US, UK, Canada, Australia, India, and the Philippines; and working-practice guides on pricing models, retainers, rush fees, and raising your rates. The full methodology behind the calculator is public on the How We Calculate page.
Who it's for
ReelRate is for freelance and aspiring video editors of every stripe: YouTube editors, short-form specialists cutting Reels and TikToks, wedding and event editors, and corporate video pros. Whether you are setting your first rate or reviewing an old one, the goal is the same — a number that is sustainable, not just survivable.
A note on independence
ReelRate is free to use and supported by advertising. The results are estimates for guidance only and are not financial, tax, or legal advice. For decisions about tax and business structure, please consult a qualified professional in your country.
Get in touch
Questions, corrections, or feedback? Email us at [email protected] or use the contact page — we read everything.