Published prices for a one-minute whiteboard animation run from about 500 dollars to 16,000.
That’s a thirty-fold spread for what looks like the same deliverable, and it isn’t explained by quality. It’s explained by what each studio counts as part of the minute.
The per-minute figure is the least useful number in the quote. What matters is the list of work sitting behind it, and that list is what you should be comparing.
Key Takeaways
- Comparing per-minute prices compares different scopes, not different value.
- Writing the script and drawing the illustrations consume most of the budget.
- Counting the included revision rounds predicts the final invoice better than the rate.
- Making it yourself costs a working week rather than a fee.
What Whiteboard Animation Is
A hand drawing on a white surface, filmed or simulated, with narration over the top.
The style earns its keep on explanation. Watching a diagram appear stroke by stroke paces the viewer through an idea.
That’s why it took hold in training and product explainers rather than in brand advertising.
Nearly all of it is now drawn in software rather than filmed, so “whiteboard” describes the look instead of the method. That matters to your quote, because the cost sits in illustration hours and not in studio time.
When the Style Fits
It suits a specific job and gets used well outside it.
Whiteboard works when the content is a process, a comparison or an argument that builds. The sequential reveal does real work there, holding attention on one point at a time.
It works poorly for anything that needs to look premium, for emotional storytelling, and for a product whose interface is the thing you’re selling. A screen recording beats a drawing of a screen every time.
What the Minute Contains
Eight distinct pieces of work hide inside a single quoted rate.
| Line item | Share of budget | Often excluded? |
|---|---|---|
| Script and messaging | 15 to 25 percent | Frequently |
| Storyboard | 10 percent | Sometimes |
| Illustration | 25 to 35 percent | No |
| Animation | 20 to 25 percent | No |
| Voiceover | 5 to 15 percent | Frequently |
| Music license | 2 to 5 percent | Usually |
| Revisions | Varies wildly | Partly |
| Source files | Flat add-on | Usually |
A studio quoting 900 dollars a minute and one quoting 4,000 can both be honest. The first is pricing animation against a script you supply, and the second is pricing the whole production.
The Money Goes Somewhere Unexpected
Not into the animating, which is the part everybody pictures.
The script decides whether the video works, and a good one takes revision with somebody who understands the product. Custom illustration is the other large share, because every character and prop is drawn once and used once.
Swapping custom illustration for a library style is the single largest saving available, and it typically halves the drawing line. It also makes the video look like other videos, which matters more for some uses than others.
The Revision Clause
This is the line that turns an agreed price into a larger one.
Two rounds is the common inclusion. A round means one consolidated set of notes, so five people sending separate comments after the deadline is usually counted as more than one.
Get the number of rounds and the definition of a round in writing. A quote that leaves both vague is not cheaper, it’s unfinished.
Length Is Not Linear
A two-minute video doesn’t cost twice a one-minute video.
Scripting, style development, voice casting and setup happen once regardless of length. Only illustration and animation scale with the running time.
Expect a second minute to add somewhere near 60 percent of the first, not 100. That also means cutting a video from 90 seconds to 60 saves less than people expect, so cut for attention rather than for budget.
Freelancer, Studio or Yourself
Three routes, and the right one follows the stakes rather than the budget.
| Route | Per finished minute | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| Do it yourself | Software plus about a week | Internal and low-stakes videos |
| Freelancer | 500 to 1,500 dollars | A clear script you already have |
| Small studio | 1,500 to 4,000 dollars | Customer-facing explainers |
| Large studio | 4,000 dollars and up | Campaign work with brand constraints |
The freelancer row assumes you bring the script. Hand a freelancer a vague brief and you’ll pay studio prices in revision rounds instead of in the quote.
Making It Yourself
The tooling route is real, and the cost is time rather than money.
A subscription to whiteboard animation software runs from about 20 to 80 dollars a month, and the libraries of characters and props are what you’re paying for. A first video takes most people the better part of a working week.
That maths works for internal training, process explanations and anything you’ll remake often. It works badly for a launch video, where a week of your time costs more than a freelancer would.
The same trade applies to the newer AI video generators. They produce something watchable in an afternoon, and they struggle to hold one visual style across a series.
Voiceover Is Priced on Its Own
It’s the line most often left out of a headline rate, and it’s easy to price yourself.
A professional voice artist charges 150 to 500 dollars for a 60-second script, with the range set by experience and by where the video will run. Broadcast usage costs more than a video living on your own site, and that distinction is written into the license rather than the recording.
Studios frequently mark this up, so ask whether their number is the artist’s fee or a rebill. On an internal video a synthetic voice costs a few dollars and is now hard to fault, and on a customer-facing one people still hear the difference.
Timeline, and What Rushing Costs
Three to five weeks is normal for a single studio-made minute.
Roughly a week goes to script and approval, a week to storyboard and style, a week to illustration and animation, and a few days to revisions. The approval steps are where most of the calendar disappears, and they’re yours rather than theirs.
Rush fees run 25 to 50 percent for compressing that into a fortnight. Before paying one, check whether the delay is on the studio’s side at all, because the common cause is a script waiting on somebody internal.
What to Send When Asking for Quotes
Vague briefs are the main reason quotes arrive unhelpfully far apart.
- Length in seconds, rather than a word like “short”.
- Script status, meaning finished, drafted, or wanted from them.
- Illustration style, custom or library, with a reference you like.
- Audio needs, including language and whether you supply the talent.
- Deadline, with any hard external date named.
Send that list to three studios and the quotes come back comparable. Send “we need a whiteboard video” and you’ll get three prices measuring three different jobs.
Location Changes the Number
The same brief prices differently by region, and the gap is roughly threefold.
North American studios sit at the top, European studios in the middle, and South and Southeast Asian studios at the bottom. The work is often produced in the same places regardless, because larger studios subcontract illustration.
What you’re paying the premium for is project management, timezone overlap and the ability to argue with somebody about the script. On a launch video that’s frequently worth it, and on an internal explainer it rarely is.
Getting the Script Right First
Nothing else in the budget survives a weak script.
A 60-second video is about 150 words, and those words carry the whole argument. Studios that include scripting are pricing the hardest part of the job, which is part of why their per-minute number looks higher.
Writing it in-house is a genuine saving if somebody there can write. Tools like AI script to video generators will draft one quickly, and the draft still needs somebody who knows the product to cut it down to what’s true.
Questions People Ask About Whiteboard Animation Cost
How much does a 60-second whiteboard animation cost?
Between roughly 1,000 and 8,000 dollars from a studio, depending on whether the illustration is custom or drawn from a library. The spread is about what’s included, not about quality.
Why do quotes for the same video differ so much?
Because studios count different work inside the per-minute price. One includes scripting, voiceover and three revision rounds, another quotes animation alone and bills the rest.
Is a two-minute video double the price of a one-minute video?
No. Scripting and setup happen once, so the second minute usually costs less than the first. Expect somewhere near 1.6 times rather than double.
Can I make a whiteboard animation myself?
Yes, with whiteboard animation software, and it suits internal or low-stakes videos. The time cost is real: a first video takes most people a working week.
What is the most common hidden cost?
The most common hidden cost is revisions beyond the included rounds. A quote that leaves the number of rounds unstated is the one most likely to grow after you’ve approved it.
Compare Scopes, Not Rates
Ask each studio which of the eight line items its number covers, and the thirty-fold spread collapses into something you can read.
Most of the gap between a 900-dollar minute and a 4,000-dollar one is script, voiceover and revisions moving between the quote and your own to-do list.
Add SocialAtoZ as a preferred source
See us more often in your Google results.
