| How much does corporate motion graphics cost?
Corporate motion graphics costs $1,000 to $25,000+ for a 60-90 second video in 2026. Template-based work runs under $1,000. AI-assisted studio production runs $1,000-$10,000. Traditional custom studios charge $10,000-$25,000. Premium agencies start at $25,000. Price is driven mainly by animation complexity, video length, and how much strategy and scripting is included. |
Introduction
Almost nobody in this industry publishes prices. Ask a motion graphics studio what a video costs and you will usually get a discovery call invitation instead of a number, which is frustrating when you are trying to build a budget before you talk to anyone.
So here are actual numbers, including ours. We have run Gisteo since 2011 and delivered more than 3,000 projects for clients including Oracle, Intel, Roche, UPS, Pfizer, Harvard, Bill.com, Intuit and many more…and we compete against the same studios on most quotes, so we know roughly what the market charges. This breaks down what corporate motion graphics really costs in 2026, what drives the number up or down, and exactly what our own custom and traditional productions run.
Corporate motion graphics cost by tier
Four tiers cover essentially the whole market. The gap between them is not mostly animation quality, it is how much human process is wrapped around the animation.
| Tier | 60-90 sec cost | Turnaround | What drives the price |
| Template / DIY | Under $1,000 | Days | Pre-built templates, your logo and text swapped in |
| AI-assisted studio | $1,000-$10,000 | 1-3 weeks | Custom work, AI handles production-heavy stages |
| Traditional custom studio | $10,000-$25,000 | 6-10 weeks | Full manual pipeline, dedicated team, revision rounds |
| Premium agency | $25,000-$75,000+ | 8-16 weeks | Senior creative direction, original illustration, brand strategy |
Template and DIY tools: under $1,000
Platforms like Canva, Vyond, and similar template tools sit here, along with the cheapest Fiverr sellers. You get something watchable quickly. What you do not get is anything that looks specific to your brand, because the underlying template has been used by thousands of other companies. Reasonable for internal communications or a video with a two-week shelf life. Poor choice for anything customer-facing that represents the brand.
AI-assisted studio production: $1,000 to $10,000
This tier barely existed three years ago. Studios in this band use AI tooling for the stages where it genuinely performs, including certain animation tasks, voiceover, and first-pass assembly, then apply human writers, designers, and animators to strategy, brand fit, and finishing. The output can be close to traditional studio quality at a third of the cost, because you are not paying for 60 hours of manual keyframing. This is the tier Gisteo operates in, and the detailed pricing section below breaks down exactly what our work costs.
Traditional custom studio production: $10,000 to $25,000
Demo Duck, Wyzowl, Yum Yum Videos, Explainify, and similar studios sit here. You get a producer, a scriptwriter, a designer, an animator, defined revision rounds, and a fully manual production pipeline refined over hundreds of projects. Six to ten weeks is typical. Worth the money when the video is a durable asset and the messaging is difficult enough to need real strategic work. Notably, Gisteo also produces fully custom traditional animation in this style, at prices that start well below the tier norm, which we cover in detail below.
Premium agency: $25,000 and up
Senior creative direction, original illustration rather than adapted library assets, and often a broader brand engagement around the video. Studios like Epipheo, Thinkmojo, and Sandwich operate here. This is brand-level spending, and it makes sense when a single video will anchor a homepage or a funding round for years.
Gisteo pricing: what our motion graphics actually costs
Since we ask other studios to be transparent, here are our real numbers. We have run Gisteo since 2011, delivered 3,000+ projects, and structured our pricing into four clear paths so you can match budget to project type without a discovery call. Everything below is custom work, not templates.
| Gisteo production type | Starting price | Turnaround | Best for |
| AI avatar video | From ~$1,000 | 1-2 weeks | Talking-presenter explainers, training, spokesperson content |
| AI cinematic video | From ~$3,500 | 1-3 weeks | Cinematic brand films, ads, product launches |
| Custom animation | From ~$3,500 | 2-3 weeks | Traditional 2D motion graphics, explainers, character work |
| Unlimited subscription | Annual plan | Ongoing | Companies producing video continuously |
AI avatar video: from around $1,000
Our entry point. A realistic AI presenter delivers your script to camera, which works well for training content, internal communications, spokesperson explainers, and any video where a human face builds trust. Because the presenter is generated rather than filmed, you skip casting, studio hire, and reshoots, which is where the cost savings come from. Delivery typically runs one to two weeks. Price moves with script length, number of scenes, and how much supporting motion graphics or b-roll wraps around the presenter.
AI cinematic video: from around $3,500
Cinematic, filmic footage generated and composited into a branded piece: brand films, social ads, product launches, and anything that needs to look expensive without a film crew. This is the tier that most directly replaces a live-action shoot that would traditionally cost five figures. Starting around $3,500, with price scaling on runtime, number of distinct scenes, complexity of the visual concept, and the level of custom motion graphics layered on top.
Custom animation: from around $3,500
This is our traditional, fully custom motion graphics and 2D animation production, and it is the direct competitor to the $10,000-$25,000 traditional studio tier above. Same category of output, priced from around $3,500 rather than five figures, because our hybrid pipeline uses AI to compress the most labor-intensive production stages while our animators handle design, brand fit, and finishing by hand.
Because this is our closest equivalent to what the traditional studios sell, it is worth being specific about what moves the price within custom animation:
- Our starting price covers roughly 60-90 seconds. Fixed costs (scripting, style frames, voiceover) are front-loaded, so a 30-second piece is not half price, and each additional 30 seconds beyond about 90 adds incrementally.
- Animation style. Kinetic typography and icon or graphic-driven motion sits at the lower end. Full 2D character animation with rigged figures and lip sync sits at the higher end, since it is far more labor-intensive.
- Scene count and custom illustration. More unique scenes and more bespoke illustrated assets (versus adapted library assets) push the price up.
- Scripting depth. A finished script you supply keeps cost down; a full strategy-and-scripting engagement from a rough brief adds to it.
- Revision rounds. Two to three rounds are included; additional rounds are billed, and long internal approval chains are the most common reason a project needs more.
- Voiceover and music. Professional voiceover and licensed music can be included or passed through at cost, depending on the voice and usage rights you need.
For a typical business explainer at 60-90 seconds with a clear script and a graphic-driven (non-character) style, most custom animation projects land in the low-to-mid four figures. Character-heavy pieces, longer runtimes, or heavy bespoke illustration move toward the upper end of our range, which still generally comes in below where the traditional studios start.
Unlimited subscription: for continuous production
For companies that produce video regularly rather than one at a time, per-project pricing is the wrong model. Our unlimited annual subscription gives you ongoing production for a flat yearly cost, which typically works out dramatically cheaper per video than commissioning each one individually. This is the right path if you are producing social content, a video series, or a steady drumbeat of product and marketing videos across the year.
How Gisteo custom pricing compares to traditional studios
The core point: our custom animation is the same category of work as a traditional studio production, at a materially lower entry price and a much faster timeline.
| Traditional custom studio | Gisteo custom animation | |
| Starting price (60-90 sec) | $10,000-$15,000 | From ~$3,500 |
| Typical turnaround | 6-10 weeks | 2-3 weeks |
| Production pipeline | Fully manual | Hybrid human + AI |
| Scripting & strategy | Included | Included |
| Revision rounds | 2-3 included | 2-3 included |
| Best when | Long creative development runway | Quality on a tighter budget and timeline |
Where a traditional studio still earns its premium is a project with a long creative development runway, a highly distinctive original illustration style, or character animation as the centerpiece. For the far more common case, a professional, on-brand explainer needed in a few weeks, our custom animation delivers comparable results for a fraction of the spend.
What actually drives motion graphics cost
Five factors account for nearly all the variance in a quote, at Gisteo and everywhere else.
1. Animation complexity
The largest single driver. Simple kinetic typography and icon animation might be 15-20 hours of animator time. Full character animation with rigged figures, lip sync, and dynamic camera movement can be 80-120 hours for the same runtime. That difference alone can be $8,000 at a traditional studio.
2. Length
Cost scales with duration but not linearly. Fixed costs like scripting, style development, and voiceover casting are absorbed regardless of length. A 30-second video does not cost half of a 60-second video, usually closer to 70 percent. Beyond about two minutes, cost rises close to proportionally.
3. How much strategy is included
Some studios begin with stakeholder interviews, competitive positioning, and messaging workshops before writing a word of script. That work can be $5,000 on its own and it is often the most valuable part of the engagement. Other studios expect a finished script and quote animation only. Two quotes that look wildly different are frequently quoting different scopes.
4. Revision rounds
Most studios include two or three rounds. Additional rounds are billed, commonly $500-$1,500 each. Projects with many internal stakeholders blow through the included rounds regularly, so factor this in honestly if your approval chain is long.
5. Voiceover and music licensing
A professional voice actor runs $200-$800 for a corporate video, more for a recognizable voice or broadcast usage rights. Music licensing runs $50-$500 depending on the library and license type. Some studios include these, others pass them through at cost. Ask which.
How to get quality motion graphics under $5,000
This is the most common question we get, and it is achievable. Five things reduce cost without visibly reducing quality:
- Keep it under 90 seconds. Most corporate videos are too long anyway, and shorter is usually more effective as well as cheaper.
- Bring a finished script. If you can write it internally and have the studio edit rather than originate, you remove a large cost block.
- Choose kinetic typography or icon-based animation over character animation. Enormous cost difference, and for most B2B messaging the simpler style performs just as well.
- Consolidate feedback. Collect all stakeholder notes into a single response per round. Scattered feedback burns revision rounds and creates rework.
- Look at AI-assisted studios. This tier exists precisely to serve the sub-$10,000 budget with custom work that does not look sub-$10,000. Our AI avatar and custom animation tiers both start within this range.
Is motion graphics worth the cost?
The honest answer is that it depends entirely on distribution. A $15,000 video that 400 people see is a bad investment. A $3,500 video that runs on your homepage for two years and is watched by every prospect who evaluates you is an excellent one.
Before approving any motion graphics budget, work out how many people will actually see the finished video and what a converted viewer is worth. That calculation tells you which tier you belong in more reliably than any studio comparison will.
Frequently asked questions about motion graphics cost
How much does a 60-second motion graphics video cost?
A 60-second corporate motion graphics video costs between $1,000 and $25,000 in 2026. AI-assisted studios like Gisteo typically charge $1,000-$10,000, traditional studios charge $10,000-$25,000, and premium agencies start above $25,000. Animation complexity is the largest cost driver at any length.
How much does Gisteo charge for motion graphics?
Gisteo pricing starts at around $1,000 for AI avatar video, around $3,500 for AI cinematic video, and around $3,500 for fully custom 2D animation and motion graphics. Companies producing video continuously can use an unlimited annual subscription instead of per-project pricing. All work is custom, and most projects deliver in one to three weeks.
Why is traditional motion graphics so expensive?
Traditional motion graphics is labor-intensive. A 60-second animated video can require 40-120 hours of skilled manual work across scripting, design, animation, and revisions, plus voiceover and music licensing. Traditional pricing reflects that hourly reality. Hybrid AI-assisted production, like Gisteo custom animation, reduces the hours in the most labor-heavy stages, which is why it prices from around $3,500 for comparable output.
Can I get custom motion graphics for under $5,000?
Yes. While traditional studios typically start at $10,000+ for custom animation, AI-assisted studios deliver genuinely custom work below that. Gisteo custom animation starts at around $3,500, and AI avatar video starts around $1,000, both fully custom rather than template-based.
Do motion graphics studios charge hourly or per project?
Nearly all studios quote per project rather than hourly, because clients want budget certainty. The quote is still built from an internal hourly estimate, which is why complexity affects price so heavily. Gisteo also offers an unlimited annual subscription, which suits companies producing video continuously.
Is AI-generated motion graphics cheaper than traditional animation?
Yes, generally 50-70 percent cheaper for comparable output, because AI tooling compresses the most labor-intensive production stages. The strongest results come from hybrid studios like Gisteo that use AI for production and humans for strategy, scripting, and brand consistency, rather than fully automated output.
The bottom line on corporate motion graphics cost
Budget $1,000-$10,000 for most corporate motion graphics projects in 2026. Go higher when the video is a long-lived brand asset that justifies a full traditional creative process. Go lower only for internal or genuinely disposable content.
Gisteo has spent 14 years and 3,000+ projects, for clients including Intel, Harvard, and Bills.com, proving that professional custom motion graphics does not require an agency budget. Our custom animation starts at around $3,500 against a traditional-studio norm of $10,000+, and delivers in a fraction of the time.
If you want a real number for your specific project rather than a range, send us the brief and we will quote it directly or don’t hesitate to schedule a free consultation to discuss your project.
