Explainer videos are extremely popular these days, but they’re not cheap. A 60-second explainer video created by a provider that specializes in creating animated videos for companies, brands, and websites can cost you anywhere from several thousands of dollars to tens of thousands of dollars depending on the features, customizations, and provider you choose.
An explainer video should be short, entertaining, and easy to understand. After all, the purpose of an explainer video is to quickly and easily explain what your company, mobile app, or product does. Explainer videos are typically 60 to 90 seconds and feature animated images and characters used to tell a story. They’re highly shareable and can improve conversion rates and Google search traffic to websites that use them.
Explainer videos are great—if you can afford to make one. However, there are some tools and services that offer explainer videos at lower price points than the high-priced providers that big brands and companies use. Following are a variety of do-it-yourself tools and explainer video providers to help you create your own animated video without breaking the bank.
Do-It-Yourself Explainer Videos
If you need the most cost effective solution, then you can try an affordable do-it-yourself tool and create your own animated video to explain what your company, website, app, or product does. You won’t get all of the bells and whistles that a professional video production company offers, but you can create a unique video on a tight budget.
Go!Animate: A free Go!Animate account enables you to create personal videos. For $50 per month, you can upgrade to a business account and create videos for commercial use. The video creator tool offers thousands of free backgrounds and characters, which you can customize, or you can upload your own. You can also add your logo and share your video on YouTube, Facebook, and other social media sites.
PowToon: A free account lets you create videos that include the PowToon branding, but you can get a paid account and use your own branding. A paid account also allows you to download your video to your computer and upload it to YouTube. Paid accounts start at $8 per video or $19 per month. PowToon offers an easy drag-and-drop video creator tool and a variety of characters and effects. You can also use it to create animated PowerPoint presentations.
Xtranormal: A free account gives you access to the Xtranormal online and desktop movie making tools. You need to pay to unlock characters and features such as downloading, voice recording, and more. You can upgrade to a professional account for $50 per month to get access to all of these features as well as character customization. A professional account also removes the Xtranormal brand watermark from your videos.
Explainer Video Providers
Finding an affordable explainer video company that creates high quality animated videos is possible. Following are several companies that might work for your video needs. Each provides quality services at a fraction of the cost that a company like Switch Video charges. Keep in mind, most video explainer companies require 50% of the payment when the project begins and the other 50% when the project is completed.
Wyzowl: A Wyzowl explainer video includes royalty-free music, voice recording, sound effects, and script writing. A one minute animated video without characters starts at $1,595. Each additional 30 seconds costs $475. Add characters and the price starts at $2,395 ($775 for each additional 30 seconds). Most videos are completed in approximately three weeks.
Gisteo: Gisteo offers explainer videos with scripts, voice recording, illustrations, animations, stock music, and sound effects. Pricing starts at $3,000 for a one minute video. Most projects take 4-6 weeks to complete, but a faster production schedule is possible for a higher fee. Each additional 30 seconds is priced at $500.
Flikli: Flikli explainer videos include scripts, illustrations, animations, custom music, voice recording, and sound effects. A one minute explainer video is typically completed in four weeks and prices start at $2,800. A 90-second video starts at $3,589. Faster turnaround times of three or two weeks are available, but the price goes up significantly. For example, the $2,800 price tag goes up to $3,789 for a three week turnaround and up to $5,289 for a two week turnaround.
Vismo Media: Vismo Media explainer video pricing starts at $3,600 for a 60-75 second basic video. A basic video includes two characters, basic animations, a plain background, two music options, and stock images. If you need more characters, more elaborate backgrounds, more elaborate transitions, or additional music options, you’ll need to pay for a standard video starting at $4,400 or a premium video, which starts at $7,000. All videos include scripts.
Easy Explain Video: The Easy Explain Video team is easy to work with and creates custom explainer videos complete with unique characters, stories, voice-overs, sound effects, and music. A 90-second explainer video costs approximately $5,000, but you’ll need to contact the company to get a quote for your specific project.
Most explainer video companies offer sample videos from prior clients on their websites, so take your time and research each before you commit to using one. Also, contact companies that have worked with each explainer video provider to get feedback on their experiences.
