Podcast editors who publish their prices charge $40 to $160 an episode. KNVP Studios charges $40, $80 or $120 an episode depending on how much editing it does, and Next Day Podcast charges $160 for an episode of up to 30 minutes. Hourly work runs around $60 an hour, KNVP's published rate for work beyond its tiers.
Editing plus clips is priced in a different range. Podigy, a studio that sells clips alongside the edit, charges $2,500 a month for one full episode a month and nine clips. That gap, $160 for the edit against $2,500 for the edit with clips, is the most useful fact on this page if you are deciding what to sell.
How much do podcast editors charge per episode?
Published prices run from $40 to $160 an episode. KNVP Studios charges $40 to assemble a show without editing it, $80 to edit an episode of up to 60 minutes and $120 for a heavier edit with unlimited drafts. Next Day Podcast charges $160 for an episode of up to 30 minutes, with a 24-hour turnaround.
| Studio | Price | What the price buys | Episode length covered |
|---|---|---|---|
| KNVP Studios, Silver | $40 an episode | Assembly and basic audio processing, not editing | Unlimited |
| KNVP Studios, Gold | $80 an episode | Editing, up to 50% of filler words removed | Up to 60 minutes raw |
| KNVP Studios, Platinum | $120 an episode | Editing to your notes, up to 80% of filler words removed, unlimited drafts | Up to 60 minutes raw |
| Next Day Podcast, Audio Per Episode | $160 an episode | Edited audio, 24-hour turnaround | Up to 30 minutes raw |
| Next Day Podcast, Audio Unlimited | $480 a month | Unlimited episodes for one show | Up to 30 minutes raw each |
| Podigy, Growth | $2,500 a month | 1 full episode, 4 SEO clips, 5 vertical clips | Not stated |
Prices from each studio's own pricing page, 11 October 2026. US dollars.
Read the length column before the price column. Next Day's $160 covers 30 minutes and KNVP's $80 covers 60, so per minute of raw audio Next Day charges about four times as much. Speed is part of what it sells: a 24-hour turnaround.
Want the better-paid version of this business? The Podcast Amplification Service walkthrough lays it out step by step.
How much do podcast editors charge per hour?
The one published hourly rate we found is $60 an hour, KNVP Studios' rate for professional audio work beyond its per-episode tiers, with a two-hour minimum. Most studios do not publish an hourly rate at all, because clients buy episodes, not hours.
That is worth copying. An hourly price makes a client watch the clock and punishes you for getting faster. A per-episode price, capped by length, gives the client a number they can budget and lets every improvement in your speed become margin.
The hourly figure is still useful as a check. If an hour of raw audio takes you two to three hours to edit well, a $120 episode pays $40 to $60 an hour before tax. Our free freelance hourly rate calculator works out the hourly figure you actually need, with tax and unbilled hours included.
Why do podcast editing prices vary so much?
Because the same word, "editing", covers three different jobs: assembling a show ($40 at KNVP), cleaning up the audio ($80 to $160), and turning the episode into clips that bring in listeners ($2,500 a month at Podigy). The price follows the job, not the hours of audio.
KNVP's own tier names make the point plainly. Its $40 Silver tier says "I DO NOT EDIT YOUR SHOW. INSTEAD I ASSEMBLE IT FOR YOU", and its $80 Gold tier says "I EDIT YOUR SHOW ON MY OWN." The difference between those two sentences is $40 an episode.
Turnaround and length are the other two levers. Next Day Podcast charges more per minute and promises the episode back in 24 hours. Every studio in the table caps the episode length a price covers, because a 90-minute interview is a different job from a 25-minute solo show.
How much should a beginner charge for podcast editing?
$50 to $100 an episode for up to 60 minutes of raw audio is a defensible start, inside the published $40 to $160 range and below the studios with years of reviews. Price by length, put the cap in writing, and charge for anything past it.
The mistake to avoid is pricing below the assembly tier. KNVP charges $40 for a job it describes as not editing. A beginner charging $25 for a full edit is not winning on price, they are telling the client the work is worth less than assembly.
The case for raising the price comes quickly. After five or ten shows you have samples, a turnaround record and at least one host who will vouch for you. That is the moment to move new clients to the higher number, which is covered in how to raise your rates. If the first quote is the hard part, pricing with no track record is written for exactly that.
Is podcast editing still worth it as a business?
As editing alone, it is a crowded, per-episode business priced at $40 to $160 an episode. The published prices point somewhere else: Next Day sells clips at $50 each on top of the edit, and Podigy's cheapest plan is $2,500 a month with nine clips for a single episode.
The reason is what each one does for the host. A clean edit makes an episode better for the people already listening. A clip that travels on social media brings people who have never heard of the show. Hosts pay much more for the second, because it is the one that grows the show.
That is the business our walkthrough is built on: the edit is the entry ticket, and the monthly retainer is for the clips. The walkthrough prices that retainer at $1,500 to $3,000 per show, which is our model and sits below Podigy's published $2,500 starting plan. The clip-led version of this business, from the first sample to the first client, is in the podcast clipping business.
The honest hard part
The edit is the easy part to price and the hard part to differentiate. Audio clean-up tools get better every month, and a host comparing two editors on price alone will pick the cheaper one.
The second hard part is that clips are judged by results. A retainer for clips lasts while the clips bring listeners, and some months they will not. The editors who keep retainers report results every month, good or bad.
The third is what these prices do not tell you. Three studios is not the market. Many editors quote only after a call, and freelance marketplace prices move every day. Treat $40 to $160 an episode as the visible part of the market on one day, not all of it.
