RealTake publishes this guide and makes one of the tools in it. The figures for freelancers and agencies come from the published 2026 price guides listed under Sources.
The short version
If your videos are you or your team talking to camera, an AI video editor does the job faster and for a fraction of the price, and you can still change anything before it goes out. A human editor earns their fee on work that is different every time: a brand film, an event, a long interview that needs a story found in it.
| AI video editor (RealTake) | Freelance editor | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per video | About $2 on a paid plan | $50–150 per short (2026 guides) |
| Turnaround | Minutes | 2–5 days, plus revision rounds |
| What you send | One raw video | Footage plus a brief |
| Captions, b-roll, graphics, sound | All included, planned per video | Depends on the editor and the rate |
| Consistency | Same style every time | Varies between editors and weeks |
| Changes | Change anything yourself in the Studio | Send notes, wait for the next version |
| Best for | Weekly talking-to-camera videos at volume | Brand films, multi-camera shoots, long footage |
What an AI video editor does now
A good AI video editor no longer just adds captions. RealTake plans the whole edit before it builds anything: where the hook goes, the pacing, the style, where b-roll and camera moves land. Then it makes every one of those edits.
- Smart cuts. Stumbles, repeated lines, filler and dead air are removed, and the best delivery of each line is kept. You can record once and keep going when you trip over a sentence.
- Animated captions. Word by word, with the words that carry each sentence emphasised.
- Titles and hooks. A title written from what you said, on screen in the first second.
- B-roll. Cutaways that match what you are saying, from licensed stock, AI-generated visuals or your own uploaded footage.
- Motion graphics and camera moves. Numbers and lists become visuals, and punch-ins land on the key lines while the crop keeps you in the frame.
- Sound. Sound effects on the visual moments, with music ducked under your voice.
Styles are built from formats that are working on social right now, and new ones are added as formats change. That is the part of an editor's judgment most people pay for, and it is now in the software.
Cost: what each option runs per month
Published 2026 guides put a US or UK freelancer at $50 to $150 per short, a freelance retainer at $800 to $3,000 a month for about 8 to 12 videos, and an agency at $1,500 to $5,000 a month.
For 12 videos a month that is $600 to $1,800 with a per-video freelancer. RealTake's Presence plan is $49 a month for around 16 to 32 finished videos, about two dollars each, and the free plan gives you 5 watermarked videos a month to try it. The full maths is in what a short form video editor costs.
Try it on your own video
Free plan: 5 watermarked videos a month. No credit card.
Turnaround
Increditors' 2026 turnaround guide reports that mid-tier freelancers quote two to four days and deliver in two to five, usually with one or two revision rounds; premium agencies deliver in 24 to 48 hours. An AI video editor finishes in minutes, so you can record something about this week's news and post it the same hour.
Control
With a freelancer you steer through notes and wait for each new version. With RealTake you can change anything yourself, on one timeline in the Studio: every cut is labeled and reversible, every caption word is editable, and any b-roll clip can be swapped. By default RealTake goes straight to the finished video, so you only open the Studio when you want to.
If you work in a regulated profession, download the finished file and put it through the review your firm requires before posting.
When to hire a person
Hire a human editor for work that is different every time: a brand film, an event, a multi-camera shoot, a long interview where someone has to find the story, or footage that needs colour or audio repair. Many businesses use both: AI for the weekly videos, a person for the flagship pieces. Agencies increasingly use an AI video editor for the edit and spend their time on review. See RealTake for agencies.
A fair test
Take one raw video. Send it to a freelancer and run the same video through RealTake's free plan. Compare the two files, the cost and the time you waited. Our roundup of AI video editors for talking-head videos lists the other options.
Sources
Pages relied on for figures in this article, read on October 3, 2026.
- Increditors, Instagram Editing Services: 2026 Price Guide (updated September 30, 2026). Per-reel rates by provider type.
- Increditors, Video Editing Retainer Cost: 2026 Guide (updated September 30, 2026). Freelance and agency retainers.
- Increditors, Video Editing Turnaround Times (updated October 1, 2026). Quoted and actual turnaround.
- Pixflow, Video Editing Pricing Guide 2026 (updated August 18, 2026). Per-short rates by experience.
- Vendor pricing pages for entry plans: OpusClip, Submagic, Jupitrr, Descript, Captions.