# How much to charge as a clipper for streamers: rates and formulas

Source: https://rushilo.com/blog/how-much-to-charge-clipping-streamers
By om.assets, Rushilo. Updated 2026-10-31.

> Most direct clipping deals with streamers land around $5 to $20 per finished short, or about $10 per hour of VOD watched plus a few dollars per minute of final clip, based on streamer and editor threads on Reddit. A monthly package such as 6 shorts for about £100 is common for small creators. Per view deals pay $0.50 to $1 per 1,000 views and only suit clippers who already get reach.

You can cut a great clip. A streamer in your Discord likes your edits. Then they ask the question that freezes most new clippers: "So what do you charge?"

There is no public rate card for this. Marketplace campaigns publish a price per 1,000 views, agencies publish brand budgets, and the pages that rank for this question are mostly selling a tool. So we went to the threads where streamers and editors talk money with each other, and pulled out the numbers they actually quote.

This guide covers the main pricing models, a formula for your own rate, how to tell whether a streamer can afford you, and the terms to agree before you start.

## How much should a clipper charge a streamer?

**For a direct deal, a fair starting point is $5 to $20 per finished short, or about $10 per hour of VOD you watch plus a few dollars per minute of final clip.** Those ranges come from streamers and editors in r/Twitch and r/TwitchStreaming, not from a survey, so treat them as anchors, not rules.

A **direct deal** here means a streamer pays you for clips, as opposed to a **clipping campaign**, where a marketplace such as Whop pays per 1,000 verified views from a shared budget. The typical Whop campaign pays about $1 per 1,000 views, with live campaigns ranging from about $0.20 to $6, according to the OpenClip earnings calculator.

| Pricing model | What threads report | Best when |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Per clip, streamer picks the moment | About $4 to $5 for a 30 second trim with light edits | You are new and the work is simple |
| Per clip, you find the moment | About $10 per VOD hour plus a few dollars per finished minute | You watch the stream yourself |
| Monthly package | £100 a month for 6 shorts from existing clips | Small streamers who want a fixed bill |
| Long video from a stream | $15 to $30 for beginners, $75 to $150 for basic edits | You also do YouTube highlights |
| Per view | $0.50 per 1,000 engaged views, with minimums | You already get reach |
| Hybrid | Base price plus a cut, for example 5% for a year | Bigger clients who will stick around |

> **Watch out:** Agency pages quote retainers of $2,000 to $10,000 or more a month (LuvKaizen, 2026). Those are brand marketing budgets. Quoting them to a 50 viewer streamer ends the conversation.

## What pricing models do streamer clippers use?

**There are five common models: per clip, per VOD hour, a monthly package, per view, and a hybrid of a base fee plus a bonus.** Which one you pick decides who carries the risk if clips flop.

### Per clip

The simplest offer. You quote one price per finished short. One r/Twitch editor said 3 minutes of footage trimmed to 30 seconds with minimal editing is worth about $4 or $5, scaling up as the job grows. The risk: a clip where you have to scrub through a whole VOD to find the moment takes far longer than one where the streamer sends a timestamp.

### Per VOD hour plus per minute

This is the formula that fixes the scrubbing problem. A r/TwitchStreaming reply summed up what workers in older threads supported: "double digits per VOD hour plus a few bucks per minute of final clip." Their example: a 3 hour VOD cut into 5 minutes of clips starts at 3 x $10 + 5 x $1 = $35. The same reply noted that clippers and agencies exist who bid about half that.

### Monthly package

A fixed number of clips for a fixed price each month. One streamer paid their editor £100 a month for 6 shorts made from clips the streamer had already marked, and said a set rate was good for both of them. Packages are easy for small creators to budget and give you predictable income.

### Per view

You get paid from the views your clips earn, usually on your own TikTok or Shorts page. A real hiring post in r/VideoEditors offered $0.50 per 1,000 engaged views, counted only on posts that pass 1,000 views, with a 25,000 view monthly minimum. That means zero pay until you clear both bars, and $12.50 if you only just clear the monthly one.

### Hybrid

A base price plus a performance kicker. An editor in r/Twitch who clips for several clients offers per video, per batch, or, for bigger clients, a base price plus a 5% cut for a year. Hybrids reward you when clips work without leaving you unpaid when they do not.

## How do you work out your own rate?

**Start from the hourly rate you need, multiply by the real time a clip takes, then sanity check it against what the streamer can pay.** Here is the process.

1. **Time three clips end to end.** Include downloading the VOD, finding the moment, editing, captions, rendering, uploading and messages. A r/Twitch editor broke down a 3 hour stream into a 10 minute video at 5 to 6.5 hours of work, most of it watching.
2. **Pick an hourly floor.** Cover your software, computer and internet, as one r/Twitch reply put it, and set a one hour minimum per order.
3. **Multiply.** Example: if a short takes you 40 minutes and your floor is $15 an hour, your price is about $10 per short. This is our illustrative arithmetic, not a market rate.
4. **Compare with the ranges above.** If your number is far above them, speed up with templates and timestamps before raising the price.
5. **Check Fiverr for your quality level.** Threads suggest using it as a gauge, with the caveat that prices trend low and Fiverr fees sit on top.

> **Tip:** Ask the streamer to drop stream markers or timestamps during the stream. It can cut your watch time from hours to minutes, which lets you charge less per clip and still earn more per hour.

## Can the streamer actually afford a clipper?

**Usually only streamers with around 1,000 or more average viewers can pay a real rate.** That threshold came from a r/TwitchStreaming reply, and a second streamer's numbers explain why.

That streamer has 80 to 200 viewers per stream and 600,000 to 5,000,000 monthly YouTube views, mostly from Shorts, and does all their own clipping. Their verdict in r/Twitch: paying a clipper would likely cost more than the revenue the clips generate, and the conversion from Shorts viewers to Twitch viewers is very low. Another reply said small and mid sized channels often use competent community members for free.

What that means for your pricing:

- **Big streamers** (1,000+ viewers, sponsors, YouTube revenue) can pay per clip or a monthly retainer, and want reliability over a low price.
- **Mid streamers** can often afford a small monthly package. Offer a fixed number of clips so they know the bill.
- **Small streamers** rarely pay much. A per view or revenue share deal on your own page, or a short trial for portfolio, are the realistic options.

## Should you charge per clip or per view?

**Charge per clip while you are building a track record, and add views based pay once you can prove reach.** The comparison:

| | Per clip | Per view |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Who carries the risk | The streamer | You |
| Income when a clip flops | Your full price | Often zero |
| Income when a clip goes viral | Same flat price | Can be large |
| Needs your own audience | No | Yes, usually your own page |
| Good for beginners | Yes | Rarely |

Per view sounds generous because "get paid for millions of views" is the pitch. But one r/passive_income clipper called the space a mess of flagged content, banned accounts and "pennies more often than not". A flat fee pays you for the work you control.

## What should you agree before you start?

**Agree the price, the number of clips, the turnaround, revisions, payment timing and whose channel the clips go on, in writing.** The r/Twitch editor who works with several clients signs a contract at every new service or renewal and tracks each video, price and date in a spreadsheet.

Here is a short quote you can adapt:

```
Hi [name], here is what I can do for your stream:

Package: 8 vertical shorts per month from your VODs
You send: timestamps or stream markers (or I find moments: +$X per VOD hour)
Turnaround: within 48 hours of each stream
Revisions: one round per clip included
Price: $[X] per month, paid at the start of each month (PayPal or invoice)
Posting: clips go on your channels / my clip page with your permission
Trial: first 2 weeks, 4 clips at half price, then we decide
```

Also settle permission. A direct deal is the clean way to clip legally, because the streamer is giving you the right to use the footage. If the clips go on YouTube, remember the reused content policy applies to the whole channel; YouTube allows clips where you add commentary, a storyline or edits, but can remove monetization when it "cannot clearly tell that you made the content."

## What mistakes leave clippers underpaid?

**The common ones are pricing by the clip length instead of the work, open ended free trials, and per view deals with minimums you cannot hit.**

- **Pricing a 30 second clip like 30 seconds of work.** Finding the moment in a 3 hour VOD is most of the job. Charge for watch time or ask for timestamps.
- **Unlimited revisions.** One editor in a r/Twitch thread said they do not re-edit for free unless they made an obvious mistake. Put one round in the quote.
- **Free work with no end date.** Threads show streamers often get volunteer clippers, so free labor sets your price at zero. Offer a dated trial with a price for afterwards.
- **Accepting per view terms blind.** Read the per post and monthly minimums. Under that r/VideoEditors offer, a month of clips that each stall at 900 views pays nothing.
- **Pitching streamers who cannot pay.** Check viewer counts first; the 1,000 viewer rule of thumb saves weeks of pitching.

If you are still choosing between direct deals and campaigns, our breakdown of [how much clippers make](/blog/how-much-do-clippers-make) has the campaign side of the math, and [what UGC creators make per video](/blog/ugc-creators-make-per-video) is a useful comparison for flat fee short form work.

## Where to go from here

1. Time three clips end to end and set your hourly floor.
2. Pick one model, per clip or a small monthly package, and write your quote.
3. Shortlist streamers with roughly 1,000+ average viewers in a niche you watch.
4. Offer a two week trial with a set price for afterwards, and track views per clip.
5. Use those numbers to raise your price or add a view bonus.

The [Clipping pack](/clipping) turns this into a full plan: lessons on landing creators who pay directly, the pitch and trial templates, campaign checklists and the policy rules, for $19, or all 16 Money Printer packs for $39.

## Frequently asked questions

### How much should I charge per clip as a beginner?

Start around $5 to $10 per short when the streamer gives you the moment, and more when you have to find it in the VOD. One r/Twitch editor quoted about $4 to $5 to trim 3 minutes of footage into a 30 second clip with light edits. Raise the price once you can show view numbers from your own clips.

### Is it better to charge per clip or per 1,000 views?

Per clip is safer for beginners because you get paid for the work whether or not the clip takes off. Per view deals, such as one streamer's $0.50 per 1,000 engaged views with a 25,000 monthly minimum, only pay well if you already know how to get reach. A hybrid, a small flat fee plus a view bonus, splits the risk fairly.

### How much do streamers pay clippers per month?

Small streamers who pay at all usually pay a fixed monthly package. One r/Twitch streamer paid an editor £100 a month for 6 shorts made from clips the streamer had already marked. Brand clipping agencies quote $2,000 to $10,000 or more a month, but those are company budgets, not what a single streamer pays.

### What size streamer can afford to pay a clipper?

Threads suggest streamers with about 1,000 or more average viewers are the ones who can pay a real rate. A streamer with 80 to 200 viewers and millions of monthly Shorts views said a paid clipper would cost more than the revenue the clips bring in. Smaller streamers usually rely on volunteers or revenue share.

### Should I clip for free to get started?

Do a short, defined trial rather than open-ended free work. A two week trial of about 10 clips, with the streamer approving each one and a price agreed for afterwards, gives you samples and view data. Free work with no end date mostly teaches the streamer that your time costs nothing.

### What is the best way to learn clipping for streamers?

The Rushilo Clipping pack is the best place to start if you want direct streamer deals, because it covers finding creators who can pay, a pitch and trial plan, hook-first editing and the YouTube policy rules, for $19. It is built from 65 clipper threads, so the rates and traps come from people doing the work.

### Is it legal to clip streamers?

It is safe when the streamer gives you written permission, which is exactly what a direct deal does. Clipping without permission risks copyright claims and takedowns. On YouTube, the reused content policy also applies to the whole channel, so clips need real edits, commentary or story to stay monetizable.

## Sources

- [How much do you pay clippers? (r/TwitchStreaming)](https://www.reddit.com/r/TwitchStreaming/comments/1vhvfkn/how_much_do_you_pay_clippers/)
- [How much to charge for editing? (r/Twitch)](https://www.reddit.com/r/Twitch/comments/1dvga3d/how_much_to_charge_for_editing/)
- [Streamers who work with editors/clippers, how do you manage paying them? (r/Twitch)](https://www.reddit.com/r/Twitch/comments/1rpg420/streamers_who_work_with_editorsclippers_how_do/)
- [How much would you pay an editor to make a video from one of your streams? (r/Twitch)](https://www.reddit.com/r/Twitch/comments/ipegpq/how_much_would_you_pay_an_editor_to_make_a_video/)
- [[Hiring] Clippers for stream $0.50 per 1,000 views (r/VideoEditors)](https://www.reddit.com/r/VideoEditors/comments/1pvvrf1/hiring_clippers_for_stream_050_per_1000_views_or/)
- [Video clipping isn't profitable as social media makes it seem (r/passive_income)](https://www.reddit.com/r/passive_income/comments/1qf1hjj/video_clipping_isnt_profitable_as_social_media/)
- [Clipping earnings calculator (OpenClip)](https://openclip.app/tools/clipping-earnings-calculator)
- [Clipping agency pricing 2026 (LuvKaizen)](https://www.luvkaizen.com/blogs/clipping-agency-pricing-comparison)
- [YouTube channel monetization policies](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1311392)