How much it costs to make Shorts depends on who does the work: you, a video editor, or a service. Doing it yourself has no contractor fees but takes hours at every stage; a freelance editor charges their rate multiplied by the hours per video; at Telematic, a 60-second Short costs 112–150 ₽, and you see the amount before launch. Below you'll find what makes up the price of a single video, a formula for your own calculation, a comparison table, and a monthly budget.
How Much Shorts Cost: What the Price Consists Of
Whoever makes the video, it goes through the same six stages. Each one costs either money or your time.
- Topic and script. What the video is about, the first line that holds the viewer, the text for 60 seconds.
- Visuals. Footage for each scene: filming, stock video, or AI images.
- Voiceover. Your voice, a narrator, or speech synthesis.
- Subtitles. Shorts are often watched without sound, so subtitles are almost essential.
- Assembly. Editing to 9:16, motion, transitions, music, export.
- Thumbnail and publishing. Title, description, posting time.
Stages 2 and 5 tend to get the most expensive: finding footage and assembling take the most hours. Stages that repeat from video to video get cheaper: one voice, one subtitle style, one format.
Formula: How to Calculate the Cost of Shorts Yourself
Calculate your case using this formula:
Cost per video = footage × price per clip + voiceover + assembly + review time
How to fill in the values:
- If an editor does it: their rate × hours per video, plus revisions. Clarify in advance how many rounds of revisions are included in the price.
- If you do it yourself: your hourly value × hours per video, plus subscriptions (editor, stock, voiceover) divided by the number of videos per month. Subscriptions are a fixed cost: with four videos a month, each one comes out noticeably more expensive than with thirty.
- If a service does it: the price per video plus your time to review the script and the finished video.
A common mistake is counting only money. If you spend an evening on one Short and your hour is worth more than a finished video from a service, self-editing ends up being the most expensive option.
We covered a detailed calculation for long videos with a studio and AI in the article "How Much Does a Video Cost: Studio vs. AI".
Editor, DIY, or Service: What to Choose
| DIY in an editor | Freelance editor | Service (Telematic) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Money per video | subscriptions ÷ number of videos | rate × hours | 112–150 ₽ per 60 seconds |
| Your time | all six stages | brief and revisions | topic, review of script and video |
| Visuals | filming, stock | any | AI images with camera motion |
| Price predictability | low, depends on hours | negotiated | amount visible before launch |
| Weak spot | time | deadlines and dependence on one person | no live filming or generated video |
In brief:
- An editor is needed if you have live footage, complex editing, or videos with a face.
- DIY works if you make few videos and enjoy editing.
- A service fits if Shorts are made from text: articles, posts, scripts, and you need many videos every month.
How Much Shorts Cost per Month
The price of one video says little until it's multiplied by frequency. Here's the budget at Telematic's price of 112–150 ₽ per 60-second Short:
| Frequency | Videos per month | Budget |
|---|---|---|
| 2 per week | 8 | 896–1,200 ₽ |
| 1 per day | 30 | 3,360–4,500 ₽ |
| A "3-minute video + Short" pair once a week | 4 pairs | 1,792–2,280 ₽ |
For an SMM specialist, this is the cost price: if a client needs 8 Shorts a month, your expense is up to 1,200 ₽ per client, and your time goes to topics and review rather than editing.
How to Lower the Cost of Shorts Without Losing Quality
- Make Shorts from what already exists. An article, a post, or a long video is a ready-made script. We explained how this works in the article "Short Videos from an Article".
- Batch your work. One format, one voice, one subtitle style for a series means fewer decisions for each video.
- Edit the script before assembly. Rewriting text is cheaper than redoing a finished video. At Telematic, editing the text and script is free.
- Don't skimp on the first seconds and the thumbnail. They determine whether people watch to the end. For previews, see the article "YouTube Thumbnails That Get Clicks".
- Check price against results. Once a month, look at video statistics and drop topics that aren't working, so you don't pay for repeating weak formats.
How Much Shorts Cost at Telematic and What's Included
At Telematic, a Short is made from a link or text: script → scene images → voiceover (AI voice or yours) → subtitles (26 styles) → thumbnail → publishing. Formats are 9:16, 16:9, or a "long + Short" pair. Autopilot assembles a batch of up to 20 materials.
Price. A 60-second Short costs 112–150 ₽; a 3-minute video costs 336–420 ₽. There is no subscription: 1 token = 1 ₽, and you pay for the videos you make. The exact amount is shown in the "Cost calculation" block before launch. Registration gives 50 tokens, and video becomes available after the first top-up of at least 100 ₽.
What's left to you. Choosing a source or topic, reviewing the script (you can pause at this step), and approving the finished video before publishing. Video autopilot starts with one click, while the Short's thumbnail on YouTube is set manually in YouTube Studio.
What the service can't do. A video is a slideshow of AI images with camera motion, voiceover, and subtitles, not generated video like Sora. It doesn't replace live filming. Videos aren't published to VK, in TikTok they go to drafts, and there's no Instagram.
What it looks like in practice. In our case, a science-popular YouTube channel run on this pipeline has about 400 videos and ≈2.27 million views, while an English-language channel on the same pipeline has 38 videos and ≈9.5 thousand views. Results depend on the niche; there are no view guarantees.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make Shorts for free?
Yes, if you edit yourself in a free editor, but then you pay with your time. At Telematic, registration gives 50 tokens, but video becomes available after the first top-up of at least 100 ₽.
Why is a 60-second Short priced from 112 to 150 ₽ rather than a single figure?
The amount depends on the settings of the specific video. The exact price is shown in the "Cost calculation" block before launch, so there are no unexpected charges.
How much does it cost to make Shorts from a long video?
At Telematic you can order a "long video + Short" pair at once: a 3-minute video costs 336–420 ₽, and a 60-second Short costs 112–150 ₽.
How much should I budget for Shorts for an SMM client?
Calculate frequency × price per video: 8 Shorts a month at Telematic come to 896–1,200 ₽. Add your own time for topics and review.
You can calculate your first Short and see how the path from text to video looks on the Shorts from text page.