A rate is not compared with another rate. It is compared with what it includes, and with what is left to you once everything is paid.
The ranges by format
They only exist with a defined scope.
Five elements before any figure: number of videos, length of each, number of formats delivered, number of revisions included, duration of the rights.
Two quotes showing the same amount without those five lines do not describe the same service. It is that vagueness, and not the amount, that loses jobs and causes disputes.
In this market two factors move the ranges markedly: the city, because budgets and the cost of living differ strongly between north and south, and the sector, because a regulated category demands more preparation.
What really remains
That is the calculation few creators make, and it changes how a price is set.
What you invoice is not what you collect, and what you collect is not what you keep. In between sit your regime, your contributions, any withholding, and the costs linked to the activity.
Those elements depend on your situation, your regime and the type of client, and are checked with an accountant, before setting a price list. The practical point is simple: ask your accountant what average percentage will remain, then build your rates from that figure, not from the gross one.
Add the unbilled time: exchanges, chasing, tests, travel. A rate that looks correct becomes weak as soon as you divide by the real hours.
Usage rights
That is the line separating a correct invoice from a weak one.
The base price covers production. The rights cover the use: duration, territory, channels, paid advertising, exclusivity.
Three habits to adopt. Write the duration from a date, not from delivery. Price paid advertising separately, because it is the use that earns the client most. And fix the renewal price in advance, which avoids a negotiation at the moment the client most needs the video.
When and how to raise rates
On a fixed date, and on new clients.
The method that works: you choose a review month, you apply the new rate to every new request, and you warn existing clients with notice, applying the change to their next order.
Three signals say it is time. You have been turning down jobs for lack of time for several months. Your clients accept without discussion. And your real hourly rate has fallen while your turnover has risen.
Add the indirect method: at constant price, reduce what is included or lengthen the standard timescale, and sell the short deadline as an option.
When a price rise is justified
| Signal | What it indicates | Reasonable increase |
|---|---|---|
| Diary full three weeks ahead | Demand exceeds supply | 10 to 15 per cent |
| No refusal in six months | The price sits below the market | 10 per cent |
| One client in two comes back | The value is recognised | At the next order |
How to announce it without losing a client
Give a month's notice, apply the new price to subsequent orders, honour the old price on everything already agreed.
What is reviewed at the same time
The number of revisions included and the licence duration. A price that rises while those two lines stay put leaves the real value on the table.
The mistakes that cost most
Four, all frequent.
Quoting a price before knowing the intended use.
Including rights without saying so, which amounts to giving them away.
Accepting long payment terms with no deposit, which turns a profitable job into a cash advance.
And matching the cheapest visible creator, who delivers neither the same files nor the same rights, and who sometimes does not invoice at all.
A price is not defended with arguments: it is defended with the list of what is included.
Sources
Checked on 4 September 2026. Thresholds and rates change: where this guide and the official source disagree, the official source is right.
