At Montagic, course video editing costs $25 to $40 per finished minute of video. A 40-lesson course with 8-minute lessons comes to about $7,200 to $11,500 in total, depending on the level of editing. Rush deadlines add about 20%, and bigger courses get a bulk discount.
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A course creator came to us with a folder of raw lessons and a problem. They had bought editing software, watched the tutorials, and spent days trying to finish their first lesson. They still didn't have one they were happy with. The audio sounded thin, the cuts felt jumpy, and every time they watched it back they found something else to fix.
Their first question to us was: "How much is this going to cost me?"
Almost every course creator asks that first, and most of the answers online are vague. So here are our real prices, a few worked examples, and the things that push a budget up.
The short answer
We price course editing per finished minute: the length of the final video your students watch. The amount of raw footage you send doesn't change the price.
Here's what we charge at Montagic:
| Level of editing | Price per finished minute | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Essential | $25 | Clean, simple lessons |
| Professional | $35 | Most online courses |
| Premium | $40 | Flagship courses and high-end programs |
So a single 10-minute lesson at the Professional level costs $350.
How editors price course videos
You'll see three pricing models out there, and it helps to know how each one behaves.
Per finished minute. You know the cost before work starts, and it scales with the size of your course. This is how we price, because course creators need to plan a budget for 30 or 40 lessons, not guess.
Per hour. Freelance editors on Reddit report charging anywhere from $20 to $100 an hour. The catch is that you won't know the final bill until the work is done, and messy footage takes more hours.
Per video. Common for YouTube, where creators talk about paying $150 to $300 per video. It works for a steady channel, but lesson lengths in a course vary too much for a flat price to be fair to either side.
What a full online course actually costs
Most of the courses we edit sit somewhere between 30 and 60 lessons. Here are three real-world sizes, priced with our standard 2–4 week timeline:
| Course size | Total finished video | Essential | Professional | Premium |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 lesson, 10 minutes | 10 min | $250 | $350 | $400 |
| 15 lessons, 6 minutes each | 90 min | $2,140 | $2,990 | $3,420 |
| 40 lessons, 8 minutes each | 320 min | $7,200 | $10,080 | $11,520 |
The bigger courses come out cheaper per minute because of bulk pricing:
- More than 10 videos: 5% off
- More than 30 videos: 10% off
- More than 100 videos: 15% off
You can play with your own numbers in the estimate calculator. It takes about 30 seconds.
What's included at each level
The price difference comes down to how much work goes into each minute.
Essential covers the basics done well: cutting out mistakes and long pauses, cleaning up the audio, correcting the colour, and smooth transitions between sections.
Professional is what most course creators choose. On top of the essentials, you get tighter pacing, motion graphics, captions, and branded elements like your intro, lower thirds and colours carried through every lesson.
Premium is for courses where the production itself is part of the product: cinematic styling, custom animations and full sound design.
Every level includes two rounds of revisions, and one editor stays with your course from the first lesson to the last, so the style stays the same throughout.
The two things that push budgets up
When a project ends up costing more than a client expected, it's almost always one of these.
Changes that arrive after editing starts
A client approves a simple, clean style, and we edit ten lessons that way. Then they see a course they love with animated diagrams and decide they want that too. Now the new lessons need the new style, and the first ten need to be redone to match.
None of this is wrong. Courses evolve. But a style decided on lesson 11 costs more than a style decided on day one. If you're not sure what you want, ask for one sample lesson in two styles before the full edit begins.
Tight deadlines
A launch date is a launch date, and we'll work to it. But anything due within five days goes to the front of the queue, and that adds about 20% to the price. Projects with more than an hour of total video needed in under two weeks get a custom quote, because they usually need more than one editor.
The flip side: if you can give us 30 days or more, you save 5%.
The real cost of editing it yourself
Editing your own course costs you hours, and they add up fast.
Creators on Reddit say they spend 5 to 15 hours per video once setup and post-production are counted. One developer who self-published a course spent more than 20 hours editing a single lecture and said afterwards it simply wasn't worth it.
Take the low end of that range. A 40-lesson course at 5 hours per lesson is 200 hours. That's five full working weeks you're not spending on selling the course, serving clients, or making the next one.
The creator from the start of this article handed their course over because they weren't happy with how their own edits looked and sounded. We edited the full course in batches, re-edited their first lessons so everything matched, and they launched on the date they had originally planned. They came back to us for their next course too.
How to keep your editing budget down
Most of the savings happen before you press record.
- Decide your style up front. Send two or three examples of videos you like before editing starts. It's the cheapest way to avoid paying for a re-edit.
- Record clean takes. If you fluff a line, pause, then start the whole sentence again. Clean restarts are quick to cut. Half-finished sentences are not.
- Get the audio right at the source. Clip a lapel mic close to your mouth and record in a room with soft furnishings. Fixing echo in the edit takes longer and never sounds as good.
- Give yourself lead time. Booking 30 days out saves 5%, and it means nobody is rushing your launch.
- Send the whole course at once. Ten lessons in one batch costs less per minute than ten single lessons booked separately.
- Approve a sample lesson first. Agree on one finished lesson, then let the rest follow the same template.
Is cheap editing ever worth it?
Sometimes, yes. If you're testing an idea with a short mini-course, an Essential edit is often all you need. Clean cuts and clear audio matter far more to students than fancy graphics.
What isn't worth it is paying twice. A rushed, inconsistent edit that you later pay someone else to fix costs more than doing it properly once. Before you hire anyone, ask to see a full course they've edited from start to finish.
Frequently asked questions
Is course editing priced on raw footage or finished video?
On finished video. If you send us 20 minutes of raw footage and the final lesson is 8 minutes long, you pay for 8 minutes.
How much does it cost to edit one course video?
A 10-minute lesson costs $250 at Essential, $350 at Professional and $400 at Premium. Most course creators choose Professional.
How much does it cost to edit a full online course?
A 40-lesson course with 8-minute lessons costs about $7,200 to $11,520 at Montagic, depending on the level of editing. That price already includes a 10% bulk discount.
Are revisions included in the price?
Yes. Every project includes two rounds of revisions on each video.
Do you offer discounts for bigger courses?
Yes. You get 5% off for more than 10 videos, 10% off for more than 30, and 15% off for more than 100. Booking 30 or more days ahead saves another 5%.
How long does it take to edit an online course?
Most videos are delivered within 3 to 7 business days. Full courses are delivered in batches, module by module, so you can review and publish as you go.
For a number based on your own course, try the estimate calculator, or book a call and we'll work it out together.
Want us to handle the editing?
Get a free estimate in about 30 seconds, or book a call and we'll talk through your videos, style and timeline.
See our course video editing service