Every November we see the same podcast production budget. It is one line on a spreadsheet. It says “podcast editing,” and there is a number next to it that somebody found on a pricing page in about four minutes.
That line is not wrong. It is just a sixth of the picture. Editing is the biggest single job in getting an episode out, but it is not the only one, and everything the budget leaves out still happens. It just gets paid for in somebody’s evenings, usually the host’s, or it quietly stops happening and the show goes from weekly to “most weeks.”
So here is the budget we would write if it were our show, line by line.
Line One: The Edit
This is the line everyone already has. Cleanup, leveling, cutting the dead air and the false starts, pacing the conversation so it moves.
For a weekly audio show, the honest range is wide. Solo freelancers run roughly $50 to $200 an episode, boutique agencies $200 to $400, and full production from $400 to $1,000 and up. We broke down what each tier actually buys in our podcast editing cost guide, so we will not repeat it here. The short version: the cheap tier is usually about an hour of work, and the middle tier is three to five.
Line Two: Show Notes, Titles, and Transcripts
Somebody has to write the episode title, the description, the timestamps, and the transcript. Hosts underestimate this one more than any other, because each piece is small. Together they are often an
hour a week, and they decide whether a stranger ever presses play.
Some editors include it. Many do not. Ask, and put it on its own line either way, so you can see what you are paying for.
Line Three: Video, If You Have It
If the show goes to YouTube, the video edit is its own budget line, not a rounding error on the audio. Multi-camera cuts, framing, thumbnails, chapters. It can easily cost as much as the audio edit, sometimes more. If your plan for next year says “we will also do video,” this is the line that makes or breaks it.
Line Four: Clips
Short clips are the most requested add-on and the most commonly wasted. Budget for the number you will actually post, not the number that sounds good in a planning meeting. Three clips a week that go out beat ten that sit in a folder.
Line Five: Publishing and the Boring Jobs
Uploading to the host. Scheduling the release. Posting the YouTube version. Checking that the episode went live on the right day with the right artwork. None of it is hard, and all of it is tedious, which is exactly why it is the first thing skipped on a busy week.
Line Six: Someone Who Is Responsible
This is the line almost nobody writes down, and it is the one that matters most. When the guest’s audio is broken, or the host is sick, or the file arrives two days late, who makes sure the episode still goes out?
If the answer is “the host,” that cost is real. It is just hidden. A full-service retainer for a weekly show commonly lands somewhere around $800 to $3,500 a month, and most of the difference between the low and high end is how much of this responsibility you are handing over. Our breakdown of what a podcast producer costs goes into that split in more detail.
Putting the Podcast Production Budget Together
Add the six lines up and you will usually land in one of three places.
You only need line one. A monthly show, a host who likes doing the rest, no video. Budget the edit and keep it simple.
You need lines one to five. A weekly show that feeds the business. This is where most companies actually sit, and where the one-line budget fails worst.
You need all six. The show is a marketing channel, more than one person relies on it, and nobody internal has the hours to own it. This is where a production company or agency earns its fee, and we wrote about what a B2B podcast production agency actually does if your show sits here.
The useful trick is the same whichever group you are in. Write all six lines down before you get a single quote, then ask every editor or agency to price that same list. It is the only way you end up comparing like with like. If you want a starting list of providers to send it to, we kept an honest shortlist of podcast editing services, including several that are not us.
Where We Fit
Bias declared: we are one of the companies you might send that list to, so read this with that in mind. But the six lines are the same no matter who you hire, and plenty of shows genuinely only need line one.
If you want a second opinion before the budget is locked, send us an episode and ask for the free 15- minute audio check. No pitch. We will tell you which lines your show actually needs and which ones you can leave off.
Podcast Engineers has been supporting podcasters since 2013. We’ve produced over 35,000 episodes across 350 plus shows.
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