In-House Video Editor vs Outsourced Team: How to Work Out the Real Cost

"Should we hire an editor or outsource?" is one of the most common questions agency owners ask once video becomes a real part of their offer. The honest answer is that it depends on your volume, your formats and how predictable your workload is. But you can work it out properly instead of guessing.

This guide gives you a simple way to compare the two options using your own numbers.

Step 1: Work out what an in-house editor really costs

Most comparisons stop at salary. That's the biggest mistake. A full-time editor costs you:

• Salary, plus taxes and benefits where you're based
• Software: editing suite, stock music, stock footage, fonts, plugins
• Hardware: a machine that can edit 4K without struggling, plus storage
• Recruitment: time spent hiring, and agency fees if you use a recruiter
• Onboarding: the weeks before they're fully productive
• Management: someone reviewing their work and planning their week
• Downtime: holidays, sick days and the gap if they leave

Add these up for a year, then divide by the number of videos they'll realistically finish. That gives you your true cost per video.

Step 2: Be honest about capacity

An editor isn't editing eight hours a day. Briefs, feedback, file management, exports, meetings and revisions take real time. Measure how many finished videos of each type one person can produce in a normal week, not a perfect one.

Then look at your workload across the year. Agency video work is rarely flat. Launches, holidays and new clients create peaks. An in-house editor is sized for an average month, which means you're either overloaded in busy months or paying for idle time in quiet ones.

Step 3: Price the outsourced option the same way

For an outsourced team, the maths is usually simpler because most costs are included. Look at:

• The monthly fee and how many videos it covers
• What's included: revisions, captions, music, thumbnails, project management
• Turnaround times for each format
• What happens when you need more in a busy month

Divide the monthly fee by the videos it covers to get the outsourced cost per video. Now you can compare like with like.

Step 4: Compare the things that aren't on an invoice

Cost per video isn't everything. Score both options on these as well:

If you need someone in the office to shoot and edit on site every day, in-house wins. If you need reliable editing capacity across several clients and formats, outsourcing usually wins.

When hiring in-house makes sense

• You have steady, predictable volume that fills one person's week
• Most of your work is one format in one style
• You need someone on set or in the office regularly
• You have someone senior to manage and review their work

When outsourcing makes sense

• Your volume goes up and down month to month
• You need several formats: short-form, long-form, ads, motion graphics
• You're growing and don't want hiring to slow you down
• You want editing to stop being a single point of failure

A common middle ground

Many agencies keep one in-house creative lead for strategy, client relationships and quality control, and outsource the editing volume. The lead writes briefs and reviews the final work; the outsourced team handles production. You keep control without carrying the full cost and risk of an in-house editing department.

The bottom line

Work out your true cost per video for both options, then weigh flexibility, risk and speed. For most growing agencies, the deciding factor isn't the cheapest option. It's which one lets them say yes to new clients without breaking their delivery.

If you'd like a quote to compare against your own numbers, see our monthly plans or book a free call and we'll put together a plan based on your volume.