How much does an animated explainer video cost?

Below we break down what drives the price, which style suits you and how long it takes, so you can judge any quote you get.

What animation costs in the UK in 2026

In our experience, most explainer videos for small and medium sized businesses come in between £1,000 and £5,000. Where yours lands depends on the style, the length and how much has to be drawn from scratch.

Bigger agencies often price per finished minute instead, and their rates can be several times that. If you are quoted a lot more than £5,000 for a short explainer, compare what is included: the style, how much original artwork, how many revisions and where you can use it.

Which style of animation is right for you?

The style you choose is the biggest single thing that moves the price, because some styles take far longer to make than others.

• Motion graphics. Text, icons, shapes and screens moving in your brand colours. Clean, clear and the quickest to make. Best for explaining a service, a process or how software works.
• Illustrated 2D. Drawn scenes that show a setting or a situation. Warmer than motion graphics, and good when you want people to picture themselves in it.
• Character animation. Characters that walk, talk and act out a story. Great for showing a problem and how you solve it, but characters take a lot of design and animation time, so it usually costs more.
• 3D. Products, machines or spaces modelled in 3D. The right choice when people need to see how something physical works from every angle, and usually the most expensive.

What our explainers cost

Ours start from around £750 plus VAT. A short, straightforward explainer built from clean motion graphics sits near that. A longer piece with high-end visuals and lots of custom illustration costs a lot more. 3 things move it:

• Length. More seconds means more scenes to design and animate. Shorter is usually cheaper, and people are more likely to watch to the end.
• How many assets need creating. Every illustration, character or 3D model drawn from scratch adds time. Anything we can use that already exists, like your logo, screenshots of your software, photos or licensed icons, keeps the cost down.
• The finish. A clean, simple look takes less time than detailed illustration and lots of movement in every frame.

We quote for the job, not per minute, so you know the full price before we start.

What you are paying for

Every explainer we make goes through the same steps.

• 1. Script. What the video says, in as few words as possible. This is the part that decides whether it works.
• 2. Storyboard. A sketch of every scene, so you see the story before anything moves.
• 3. Design. Every scene drawn in your brand.
• 4. Animation. Making it all move.
• 5. Voiceover, music and sound. We handle the music licensing, so you do not need to worry about it.

How long does an explainer take?

Ours usually take around 2 to 4 weeks from first call to finished video, depending on scope. The biggest factor is how quickly the script is signed off, because nothing gets animated until it is.

Roughly, it breaks down like this:

• Script: a few days, including your feedback.
• Storyboard and design: about a week.
• Animation, voiceover and sound: 1 to 2 weeks, depending on length and style.

Who writes the script?

We do, with you. We write the first draft from a call about what you do and who it is for, then send it over. You tell us what is missing or what does not sound like you, and we refine it together until it is right.

How to tell if an explainer is worth it

Take what it costs and divide it by the profit 1 new customer brings you.

• Say you sell software at £200 a month and a customer stays 2 years. That customer brings in £4,800, and say £3,000 of it is profit. A £1,500 explainer needs to win 1.
• Say you are a service business and a client brings you £2,000 profit. Same answer: 1.

Then put it where people are deciding: on your homepage, in your sales emails, on the page where people book a call. An explainer that sits on YouTube with no link to it does very little.

You can see one of ours from script to screen in the AppFox case study, or more on our animation page.