What does it really cost to turn your recordings into clips?
Most teams never add it up. Put in how you make clips today — and see the real number: the editor time, the rework, and the backlog you're sitting on.
4
1 hrs
8
cutting, captioning, reframing — your blended rate
$25
back-and-forth with your editor — wrong moment, cut too early, “can you fix the start”
2
7 days
Your clip production today
$1,440 / mo
≈ $17,280 a year
Base editing$800
Rework — 2 rounds of back-and-forth+$640
Clips / month
32
Editing hours / mo
29
Turnaround
7d
The inference
Now — what would that cost with Montage?
$49 / mo
You'd save $1,391/mo (≈ $16,692/yr) — and the $640/mo you burn on revision rounds goes to zero. You find the right moment, cut on a complete thought, and approve each clip yourself before it ships: no round-trips, no re-explaining the brief.
Your 4 hrs/mo of footage fits the Pro plan — $49/mo, no per-clip charges.
By hand
$1,440/mo all-in — including rework
2+ rounds of back-and-forth per clip
Re-explain the brief every time
Generic AI clippers
30 clips — you sort them
Cuts mid-thought, misses the moment
Generic, off-brand output
Montage
Only the clips worth posting — matched to your brief
Clips end on a complete thought, right speaker framed
You approve each one before it ships — no round-trips. Export, or XML to Premiere / Final Cut / DaVinci
How much does editor back-and-forth actually cost?
More than the clip itself, often. Each revision round — wrong moment, cut too early, re-explaining the brief — adds editor hours and days of delay. For most teams the rework runs 40–80% on top of the base editing cost. It's the hidden line nobody adds up.
How much does it cost to turn a podcast into short clips?
Doing it by hand runs into the hundreds per episode in editor time (roughly $15–$50 per finished clip, before revisions). With Montage it's a flat $19–$49/month with no per-clip charges.
Is Montage cheaper than hiring a video editor?
For most teams, yes — and the gap widens the more clips you make, because Montage is flat-rate while editors bill per clip or per hour.
How is Montage different from generic AI clippers?
Generic clippers cut on timestamps, so clips start mid-thought. Montage cuts on complete thoughts, keeps the right speaker in frame, and lets you approve every clip — nothing auto-publishes.
Estimates use your own inputs: base = clips × your editor rate; rework = each round ≈ 40% of base; editing hours assume ~30 min per clip. Montage pricing (real): Free · Starter $19/mo (2 hrs) · Pro $49/mo (4 hrs) · Agency from $199/mo.