Tutorials Voice Over

Voice Over Rates: How to Price Your Work

Beginner · ~25 min

Overview

Underpricing is one of the most common mistakes in voice over. This guide breaks down the components of a professional VO quote so you can calculate rates that cover your time, equipment, and usage rights, and say no to work that doesn't meet your floor.

What You Need

The project brief (word count, usage type, usage territory, duration of use)
Our VO Rate Calculator
A rate card or reference to GVAA, Gravy for the Brain, or your union rates if applicable

Steps

Understand the components of a VO quote

A professional VO quote has three parts: session fee (your time to record), usage fee (how and where the audio is used), and production fee (editing, noise reduction, and delivery). Many beginners only charge a session fee and forget usage, which is where the real value of commercial work lives.

Set your session/studio rate

Your session rate is what you charge per hour or per finished minute of audio. Typical non-union rates for e-learning are £150 to £250 per finished hour. Corporate narration: £200 to £400/hour. Broadcast commercial (national TV): £500+ per spot. If you have a home studio, include it, "studio fee" is legitimate and expected by professional clients.

Calculate usage fees

Usage fees account for where, how long, and how widely the audio is used. A 30-second web-only ad for a local business is worth far less than a 30-second national TV campaign. Usage multipliers range from 1× (internal corporate use only) to 10×+ (national broadcast, multi-year). When in doubt, ask the client for the media buy budget. VO talent typically charges 10 to 15% of that.

Account for revisions

Always include one round of revisions in your quote and state that clearly. Additional rounds cost extra. Define "revision" explicitly: a direction change is a new session. A re-read of one line is a minor revision. Scope creep, where a "quick fix" becomes a full re-record, is the most common cause of underearning in VO.

Use a rate calculator to build your quote

Open our VO Rate Calculator. Enter your word count, WPM, studio rate, expected takes, editing time, and usage uplift percentage. The calculator shows a recommended minimum quote and a full cost breakdown. Use this as your floor, never quote below it without a strategic reason.

Pro Tips

Always quote in writing and include a brief scope description, "30-second web commercial, one round of revisions, delivered as 44.1kHz 24-bit WAV."
Rates for AI voice synthesis usage rights are a separate, emerging category, if a client wants to use your voice to train a model, that requires a buyout fee, not a usage fee.
The GVAA (Global Voice Acting Academy) rate guide is free and updated annually, bookmark it as a reference point.

Knowledge Base

What You'll Learn

Understand voiceover industry rates and how to price your services. Learn factors that affect pricing and how to negotiate confidently without underselling.

Pricing Tiers

Beginner ($25-75/hour): Building portfolio, no commercial work yet.
Intermediate ($75-200/hour): Some commercial credits, established skill.
Professional ($200-500+/hour): Union, broadcast experience, major brands.
Celebrity ($1000+): A-list talent or actors.

Project-Based Pricing

30-60 Second Commercial: $500-2000 (buyout) or $100-300 (non-union).
Corporate Video (5-10 min): $300-800.
Audiobook (per finished hour): $0.04-0.10 PFM.
E-learning (per finished minute): $0.05-0.15 PFM.

Usage Rights Impact Price

Buyout: Client owns forever. Highest price.
Broadcast: Commercial TV/radio. Premium pricing.
Web/Online: YouTube, website, social media. Lower rate.
One-time Use: Single project, limited time. Cheapest option.

Negotiation Tips

Quote your rate confidently. Don't immediately drop price. If client says "too expensive," ask what budget they have. Sometimes they'll go higher. Always get 50% upfront, balance on delivery.

Where This Fits

This guide covers one specific part of the creator business. The wider picture, how the revenue streams fit together, what each demands, pricing from real operating costs, and the rights that decide whether work keeps earning, is in The Creator Business, End to End, which frames the discipline as a whole and links out to the detailed guides underneath it, including this one. If you are starting from scratch rather than solving a specific problem, read that first and come back here.

FAQ

Q: Should I ever lower my quoted rate immediately if a client says it's too expensive?
A: No. Ask what budget they actually have first. Immediately dropping your rate signals it wasn't a real number to begin with, and many clients have more flexibility than their first pushback suggests.

Q: What's the biggest rate mistake new voice actors make?
A: Not accounting for usage rights, quoting the same rate for a one-time web-only spot as for a national broadcast buyout undervalues the broadcast usage significantly, since usage rights, not just recording time, drive most of professional VO pricing.