Training video cost calculator

What does it cost to make training videos?

The cost of making training videos comes down to three things: how many finished minutes you need, what each minute costs to produce, and how often the videos have to be redone. A training video cost calculator puts those together so you can compare an agency, your own team and an AI tool on the same footing, including the updates and translations that most budgets forget.

Prices vary enormously by region, style and quality, so this video production cost calculator doesn’t pretend to know your rates. Every field starts with an editable assumption: replace it with a quote, a timesheet or your own estimate.

The formula

For each approach the calculator works out the cost of one video in all its languages, then the cost of all videos over a year:

• Agency, per video = minutes × price per minute + extra languages × minutes × price per minute for each language
• In-house, per video = (minutes × hours per minute + extra languages × minutes × hours per minute for each language) × hourly cost
• AI tool, per video = (hours per video + extra languages × review hours) × hourly cost, plus a share of the plan
• Per year = videos × cost per video × (1 + updates per year × share of the cost an update takes), plus 12 months of the plan for the AI tool

“Extra languages” means languages beyond the original. The calculator also shows the hours your team spends per year; for an agency that is zero in the model, though in practice someone still writes the brief and reviews the cuts.

What drives video production cost

How to fill in your numbers

1. Agency rates: ask one or two agencies for a quote on a typical video and divide by its length.
2. In-house hours: time your last video from script to final export, including reviews, and divide by its finished minutes.
3. Hourly cost: use a loaded cost (salary plus overhead), not just the wage.
4. AI tool: enter the plan price and the time you need to record and review one video. Try a real video on a free plan to get this number.
5. Updates: count how often the product or process in a video changed last year.

How to read the result

Look at the yearly figure first. A video that is cheap to make once but expensive to update can cost more over a year than one that costs more up front. Then look at the hours: an in-house team’s time has a cost even when no invoice arrives.

The calculator compares cost, not quality. A polished brand film and a narrated screen walkthrough do different jobs. For software training, which changes often and mostly shows screens, update cost tends to matter more than production polish.

Common budgeting mistakes

• Budgeting only for the first version and forgetting that software training needs re-recording.
• Leaving out translation until the videos are done, then paying for each language separately.
• Counting only the editor’s time and not the expert who explains the process or the reviewer.
• Making long videos people won’t finish. Short videos per task are cheaper to update and easier to find.

A short example

Say you need 10 software training videos of 3 minutes each, in two languages, and the software changes twice a year in a way that touches half of each video. With an agency, each video costs 3 minutes × its per-minute price, plus 3 minutes × its per-language price for the second language. Over a year, that per-video cost is multiplied by 1 + 2 × 0.5 = 2, because the updates cost as much again as the first version. The same update factor applies in-house and with an AI tool, which is why the cost of each update matters so much.