Explainer video cost and timeline: what to expect
What an animated explainer video costs, where the money goes and how long it takes, worked through the real 98-second Italian explainer we made for Labseven.
Founder & Creative Director
Key takeaways
- Our animated spots start from $1,500; a 60- to 120-second explainer is scoped above that, by its script.
- The script is the biggest lever on both cost and schedule. Lock it before any design starts.
- Plan for two to four weeks of production; approval speed decides where in that range you land.
The short answer
Explainer video cost depends mostly on two things: how many seconds of finished animation you need, and how many distinct scenes those seconds contain. At DawnWire, animated spots of 6 to 60 seconds start from $1,500 and take two to four weeks. A full explainer of 60 to 120 seconds sits above that starting price and is quoted on its script, because the script decides how many scenes have to be designed and animated.
Across the wider market, quotes for a 60- to 90-second animated explainer run from a few hundred dollars for templates and marketplace gigs, through a few thousand at small studios, to tens of thousands at large agencies. The difference is mostly custom design, the depth of the animation, and who writes the script.
Where the money goes
Every explainer passes through the same stages. Knowing what each one involves makes quotes easier to compare, and shows which choices move the price.
| Stage | What happens | What makes it cost more |
|---|---|---|
| Script | The message, cut to the length of the video, read aloud and timed | Writing from scratch instead of editing your draft; many stakeholders |
| Style frames | Two or three finished-looking stills that set the visual language | Custom illustration or characters instead of shapes and type |
| Storyboard | Every scene sketched in order and timed to the script | More scenes; script changes after it is drawn |
| Animation | The scenes built and moved, with transitions between them | Character animation, 3D, complex camera moves |
| Voice and sound | Voiceover, music and effects mixed to picture | Professional voice talent, extra languages, licensed tracks |
| Delivery | Final masters in every size and length you need | Vertical and square re-compositions, short cut-downs |
A worked example: Labseven’s 98-second explainer
Labseven offers an online-growth service: helping businesses get found when customers search, instead of losing those customers to competitors. That is hard to film, so we made it as a 98-second flat-motion explainer in Italian. It moves from the problem (customers search for your products and find your competitors’ sites) to the pitch: “Espandi il tuo business”, “Più ordini”, “I tuoi traguardi”.
Three decisions in that video are the ones that matter most for the cost of any explainer:
- One idea per scene. The script was broken into single-idea scenes, each with its own background color: magenta, white, yellow, slate and blue. A change to one idea touches one scene, not the whole film.
- Simple, reusable props. A laptop showing a site, a search bar over competitor results, a sales chart and a stopwatch carry the points. Flat props animate quickly and keep the style consistent.
- Headlines that work on mute. The Italian headlines are short and boxed, so the video still makes its case with the sound off.
What was delivered
The explainer was delivered as a 1920×1080 master and a 1280×720 cut: a lean delivery for a landscape video on a website or YouTube. If the same video also had to run in social feeds, vertical and square versions would be re-composed scene by scene. That is a separate line in a scope, and much cheaper to plan from the start than to add later.
Scoping a video like it
If you are planning an explainer of similar length, two rules of thumb help you sanity-check a quote. Voiceover runs at roughly 130 to 150 words a minute, so a 98-second video carries a script of about 210 to 245 words. And most explainer scenes hold for somewhere between five and ten seconds, so a video of that length has roughly ten to twenty scenes to design.
Language matters too. Labseven’s video was made in Italian for an Italian audience. If yours speaks another language, set the text in that language before animation starts, with boxes sized for it; translating a finished video means re-timing scenes around longer or shorter lines.
How long an explainer takes
Our animated spots take two to four weeks. For a longer explainer, plan for the upper end of that range, with approval speed as the biggest variable. A typical schedule runs like this:
- Week 1: discovery, then the script, drafted, read aloud, timed and approved
- Weeks 1–2: style frames to set the look, then the storyboard
- Weeks 2–3: animation, scene by scene, shared as work in progress
- Weeks 3–4: voice and sound, revisions, then the final masters and any extra cuts
What slows it down
Almost never the animation. The usual causes are a script that keeps changing after the storyboard is drawn, feedback that arrives from several people separately, and missing brand files. A script approved once, with one person signing off each stage, is the fastest route to a finished video.
How to keep the cost down
Most of the savings come from decisions made before animation starts:
- Lock the script before design starts. Every script change after the storyboard means redrawing scenes.
- Cut seconds, not quality. A 60-second version of the same story has fewer scenes to build than a 98-second one.
- Choose a flat style. Shapes, type and simple props animate faster than characters or 3D.
- Reuse what you already have: brand colors, icons, product screens and existing illustrations.
- Order every cut at once. Designing for the 9:16 crop from the start costs less than re-cutting a finished landscape video; the reasoning is in designing motion that works on mute.
Questions to ask when you compare quotes
Two explainer quotes are only comparable if they cover the same work. Before you choose, ask each studio the same six questions:
- Who writes the script, and how many drafts are included?
- How many style frames will I see before animation starts?
- Is a voiceover included, and in how many languages?
- Is the music licensed for paid ads, or only for organic posts?
- Which sizes and lengths are in the delivery, and what does an extra cut cost?
- Do I receive the project files at the end?
When an explainer is the wrong format
Not every product needs 90 seconds. A physical product often sells better in a short product video: our 15-second page-turn video for a personalized storybook shows five spreads with the child’s name in the verses, the one thing a cover photo cannot show. A single feature can be a 6- to 21-second spec animation, like the Steralth fit and fabric piece. And if you are weighing animation against filming, we compare the two in motion graphics vs live-action video for ads.
You can see these formats side by side on our explainer and product videos page, or read what the motion graphics service includes. To get a number for your own script, book a free call.
Frequently asked questions
How long should an explainer video be?
Long enough to make one argument. Many explainers land between 60 and 120 seconds; Labseven’s is 98. For ads, a 15- to 30-second cut-down of the same story is easier to place.
Does an explainer need a voiceover?
Not necessarily. Most social video is watched without sound, so the on-screen text should carry the message either way. A voiceover adds warmth and pacing on a website or YouTube, and it adds cost, more again for each extra language.
Can you make an explainer in another language?
Yes. Labseven’s explainer is in Italian. Setting the text in the target language before animation starts avoids re-timing scenes later.
What files will I receive?
At minimum, a 1920×1080 master. Smaller cuts, vertical and square versions and caption files are added to the scope as needed. Labseven’s delivery was a 1920×1080 master and a 1280×720 cut.
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