The 10 Best Freelance Video Editors for YouTube
As a YouTube creator, outsourcing your video editing is a fantastic way to reclaim your time and get your creative groove back.
But what kind of editor should you hire? A company or a freelancer? Someone on a per-project basis or on a retainer?
If you’re leaning more towards freelancers, we’re here to help you decide. We’ve rounded up ten of the best freelance video editors for YouTube, along with their portfolio pieces and hourly rates.
To give you a better idea of what those rates mean for you, we’ll assume you want a 5-minute video edited. Since 1 minute of finished video takes roughly 1 hour of editing, your editor will need around 5 hours to work on it.
So, in addition to the hourly rate, we’ll also tell you how much you can expect these editors to charge for a typical 5-minute clip with 5 hours of editing time.
With that out of the way, let’s get on with it! Here’s the run-down.
Calvin West
Based in Spain, Calvin specializes in animated lyric videos for artists and record labels. They are published on YouTube and Instagram, and sometimes played at live shows.
Calvin has been working on lyric videos for ten years — since he made one of his own songs and got the ball rolling. He works in After Effects.
You can find him on his website, Twitter, and Instagram.
Hourly rate: $80 +
Video price: $400 +
Alexandra Goodwin
Alexandra Goodwin specializes in YouTube and all things social media. Apart from running her own YouTube channel for the past five years, she’s worked together with numerous other video content creators and companies to give their channels a boost.
In addition to video editing, Alexandra knows social media inside out, and can ease along workflows from idea generation and filming to marketing and analytics.
Find Alexandra on LinkedIn.
Hourly rate: $80 +
Video price: $400 +
Michael Nguyen
Michael Nguyen specializes in professional video editing for YouTube and animations. In addition to video post-editing, he can also offer advice on content generation, marketing, SEO, and finding your ideal niche and target audience.
Find Michael on LinkedIn.
Hourly rate: $150 +
Video price: $750 +
Clément Letourneur
Clément is a YouTube and social media editor who makes it his mission to deliver high-quality videos to boost your retention rate. Whether it’s a travel vlog, a documentary, or a cooking video, he can make your footage stand out.
In terms of software, Clément works with Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Audition. In addition to post-editing, he also offers personalized intro and outros sequences, sound and video effects, and motion graphics.
Find Clément on Upwork.
Hourly rate: $70 +
Video price: $350 +
Matt Murray
Matt Murrey is a highly successful video editor from London who’s worked for YouTube channels such as Thoughty2 and Factfaction, with several million subscribers. He specializes in scaling channels through his fresh editing style.
Plus, Matt also works as a creative content director and video editor alongside TikTok stars, and with brands such as Red Bull, Fortnite, and Kellog’s.
Find Matt on Upwork.
Hourly rate: $80 +
Video price: $400 +
Magela Crosignani
Magela Crosignani has over 15 years experience as a professional editor. She prides herself on her knack for visual storytelling and perfectly tailoring content to your audience and your goals.
Furthermore, Magela has extensive experience with helping to design educational video content, alongside entrepreneurs, coaches, and academies.
Find Magela on LinkedIn.
Hourly rate: $75 +
Video price: $375 +
Tim Bridgewater
Tim Bridgewater can boast over 15 years’ experience creating digital content and editing videos. He’s proficient in Final Cut Pro, and uses the Adobe Creative Suite.
Overall, he’s worked on over 1000 YouTube videos and won the Award of Merit at IndieFest for an experimental stop motion music video. He also produces and hosts a weekly podcast.
Find Tim on his website.
Hourly rate: $75 +
Video price: $375 +
Lucas Blaise
Lucas edits custom-tailored videos for small businesses and YouTubers to help them engage and grow their audience. He’s also worked with big-name brands like Apple and Dropbox.
His range of video flavors is broad, spanning from promotional, testimonial, and corporate video to vlogs and highlight reels.
Find Lucas on LinkedIn.
Hourly rate: $70 +
Video price: $350 +
Lisa Mogol
With over 20 years of experience, Lisa is a veteran commercial editor.
She’s got extensive experience working with AVID and Adobe Premiere and prides herself on her sense of visual aesthetics and storytelling.
Find Lisa on LinkedIn.
Hourly rate: $130 +
Video price: $650 +
Nelson James
Nelson James is a top-rated video editor and graphic designer with over 10 years of experience as a freelancer.
Working with the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite, Apple’s Motion, and Final Cut Pro, he edits a broad range of content, including commercials, wedding reels, YouTube series, vlogs, tutorials, and training videos.
Find Nelson on Upwork.
Hourly rate: $80 +
Video price: $400 +
Finding the Right Video Editing Professional For Your Needs
Finding the perfect YouTube video editor to work with takes some time and effort.
You need to vet your candidates carefully, study their portfolios, and see how their offers compare with those of video editing companies, some of which have rates starting at $195 per video and offer package discounts.
Then, you’ll need to reach out and see how well you get along on a personal basis.
Once you’ve found the right fit though, your content production is bound to increase in terms of both quality and quantity. And you’ll have a fantastic partner to help you reach your creative goals.
