Explainer Video: Agency vs Freelancer vs DIY

Make your explainer video yourself if it is simple, internal or temporary and you have time to learn. Hire a freelancer if you have one clear skill gap, like animation, and can manage the rest. Work with a studio when the video represents your brand and you want one team for the script, design, animation and sound, at a price agreed upfront.

Below: the three options compared on cost, time and risk, what each one asks of you and the questions to ask before you hire anyone.

Studio, freelancer or DIY: cost, time and risk

	DIY with an online video maker	A freelancer	A studio
What you pay	a subscription, plus voiceover and music	rates vary widely with experience and country	a fixed price per project; at our studio, $150 to $600 for 30 seconds, voiceover included
Your time	all of it: script, design, animation, voice, edit	the brief, plus managing everything the freelancer doesn’t cover	the brief and an approval at each stage
Who writes the script	you	usually you	the studio writes or polishes it with you
Custom illustration	no, ready-made assets	depends on the person	yes, in your brand
Main risk	it looks like everyone else’s video	one person is a single point of failure: schedule, skills, availability	the highest upfront price of the three
Best for	internal, temporary or very simple videos	one clear task, like animating artwork you already have	the video on your home page, a launch or a pitch

For scale: Squideo’s 2026 study of 45 agencies put the average starting price of a 30 second explainer at £2,960. Our published prices start at $5 per second.

Making it yourself

Online video makers let you assemble a video from ready-made characters, backgrounds and transitions. They are a good fit for an internal update, a short social post or a test before you invest.

What you take on:

The script. The hardest part of any explainer, and the one that decides whether the video works. Our explainer video script template helps.
The visuals. You choose from a shared library, so the result can look like other companies’ videos.
The voice and the sound. A weak voiceover makes a video sound cheap, whatever the animation looks like.
Your hours. Learning the tool, assembling scenes and redoing them all come out of your week.

Hiring a freelancer

A good freelance animator can produce excellent work, often for less than a studio. It works best when the job is clear and you can fill the gaps yourself.

What to watch:

Coverage. An explainer needs a script, storyboard, illustration, animation, voiceover and sound. One person rarely does all of it at the same level, so you may end up hiring and coordinating two or three people.
Hand-offs. When the illustrator, the animator and the voice actor are different people, every change travels through you.
Availability. If your freelancer gets sick or busy, the schedule moves with them.
Revisions. Agree in writing how many rounds are included and what counts as a new request.

If you are comparing marketplaces, freelancers and studios in detail, see how to hire an animator.

Working with a studio

A studio puts the whole team under one roof and one price: script, storyboard, illustration, animation, music and sound. You trade a higher upfront price for less of your time and less risk.

What a studio should give you:

A fixed price before you start, for an exact length and scope.
A clear process, with approvals before each expensive step.
Custom illustration in your brand, not a shared library.
Written rules for changes: what is included and what becomes a new quote.

This is how we work: three stages you approve one by one. First the script and storyboard, so the message is right. Then the illustration, so the look is right. Then the animation. The voiceover is included, in English, Spanish or other languages on request. If the script changes after it is approved, we quote it as a scope change before doing anything, so there are no surprises on the invoice.

Questions to ask before you hire anyone

Who writes the script, and is that included in the price?
How many revision rounds are included, and at which stages?
What happens if I change the script after it is approved?
Who provides the voiceover and the music?
Which files do I receive, and are the source files included?
What is the schedule, and what does it depend on?
Can I see two or three videos in a style close to mine?

Frequently asked questions

Is it cheaper to make an explainer video yourself?

In money, yes. In time, rarely: the script, the visuals, the voice and the edit all come out of your hours, and the result can look like other companies’ videos.

Is a freelancer or an agency better for an explainer video?

A freelancer when you need one skill and can manage the rest. A studio when you want one team responsible for the whole video, from script to sound, with a fixed price and a process you approve step by step.

How much does an explainer video cost with a studio?

Squideo’s 2026 study found an average starting price of £2,960 for 30 seconds across 45 agencies. With us, $5 to $20 per second: $300 to $1,200 for 60 seconds. See how much an explainer video costs.

Can I write the script myself and have a studio animate it?

Yes. Send us your draft and we polish it with you before the storyboard. Writing or polishing the script is included in every explainer package.

How long does a studio take?

With us, delivery starts at 7 days for a 30 second video on Clean and Advanced, and 10 days on Premium, counted from the day we have everything we need.

Work with Arigato Studio

We are an animation studio with published prices: $5, $10 or $20 per second of finished video, a three stage process and revision rounds at every stage. Send us your script, a brief or just your website, and we reply with a plan and a price.

See our animated explainer video services, compare all our prices or ask us a question. We are rated 4.9 from 1,776 reviews on Fiverr, where a client wrote: “Really excellent quality work and a clear process.”

Next step: Explainer videos: packages and samples · All prices

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