An explainer video has a single job: to make people understand, in one or two minutes, what you do, how it works, or why it matters. Its price varies enormously depending on who makes it and how. Between a customised template in an online tool and a video written and animated to measure, the gap can be one to twenty.
Here is how to find your way, and what ours includes.
What is an explainer video?
A short video, usually animated, that explains an offer, a product, a service or a process to someone who does not know it. It almost always follows the same arc: the problem, the solution, how it works, the proof, the call to action. With us, it is the presentation video, 60 to 90 seconds long.
Motion design suits it particularly well: no shoot, diagrams and interfaces that come to life, brand guidelines respected, and easy updates if the offer changes.
Three ways to produce it, and what they cost
An online tool. Platforms offer animated templates to customise: a subscription from a few tens to a few hundred euros a month. It is quick and cheap, but you write the script, pick the scenes and make the adjustments. The result often looks like other videos made with the same tool.
A freelancer. An independent motion designer (see freelancer or studio) produces a custom video, from a few hundred to a few thousand euros depending on experience and length. Script, voice-over and music are not always included: check before comparing.
A studio. Script, storyboard, animation, voice and sound are handled by a team, with an approval process. It costs more than a tool, but it is the only option that takes care of the message itself, not just the animation.
What drives the price of an explainer video
- Script writing. It is the heart of an explainer: saying what matters in 150 words (see our timed script template). A script you supply costs less to produce, but that is often where the video is won or lost.
- Length. Every second is designed and animated. Ninety seconds is a sensible ceiling; beyond that, make two videos.
- Style. Animated shapes and text are faster than illustrated characters who move and talk, which are faster than 3D.
- Voice-over. A professional voice actor or a synthetic voice, and one version per language if you release internationally.
- Versions. One for your site, a vertical one for social media, subtitles.
- The number of rounds. A change to the script takes ten minutes; the same change to finished animation takes days.
Our price: a fixed-price explainer video
Our presentation video costs €2,250 excl. VAT, delivered in 28 days. The price is written down before we start and does not move.
It includes the script and storyboard approved in writing, 2D animation in your brand guidelines, a French voice-over, music and sound design, two rounds of revisions, exports for the web and social media, and subtitles.
Add-ons, such as an extra voice-over language at €300 excl. VAT or thirty more seconds at €450 excl. VAT, are priced up front. The full detail, format by format, is in our article on motion design video pricing.
Online tool or studio: how to choose
An online tool is enough if you already have a clear message, time to make the video yourself, and a one-off use, for a social post for instance.
A studio pays off when the video must convince a prospect, a committee or an investor, when it represents your brand on your site for months, or when several people must approve it. What you pay for is mostly the work on the message and keeping to the schedule.
Questions to ask before signing a quote
- Is the script written by the provider, and approved before animation?
- How many rounds of revisions are included, and at which stage?
- Are voice-over and music included, and can the music be used on all your channels?
- Who owns the rights to the video and the source files?
- Is the delivery time written in the quote?
In short
An explainer video costs anything from a few tens of euros a month with an online tool to several thousand euros with a studio. The real difference is not the animation, it is the work on the message. To see the price of yours with its add-ons, configure it, or read our guide to corporate motion design video for the big picture.
