- Compare
- GetReelCom vs hiring an animation studio
Comparison
GetReelCom vs hiring an animation studio
A studio delivers a bespoke film in four to eight weeks for a production budget. GetReelCom delivers animated scenes in your brand in minutes for a subscription. Which job each is for, with studio numbers from 2026 price guides.
Side by side
| Criterion | GetReelCom | An animation studiotypical quotes |
|---|---|---|
| Lead time | Minutes. A frame in about 30 seconds, a scene in a minute or two, a 30-second video in an afternoon including rewrites. | Four to eight weeks from kick-off to delivery for a 60 to 90 second explainer; a 2026 survey of 125 studios found a median of seven weeks. |
| Cost | A finished scene is 11 credits. On Starter (€29.95 a month) a 30-second video works out at about €15; the first one is free. | Published 2026 guides put studios at $3,000 to $10,000 per finished minute and a 60-second explainer at $5,000 to $15,000; a survey of 61 quotes found a median of $9,680. |
| Changing it afterwards | Rewrite the scene and generate again. A failed generation costs nothing. | One or two rounds included in the base price; more costs more and adds days. |
| Consistency across pieces | The same brand kit, cast and venues every time, saved in your Director's Guide. | Excellent within one film. The next film starts from a new brief, often with a new team. |
| What it looks like | Cinematic 3D animation based on your photos. It is animation, not a recording of your premises or team. | Any style you commission: 2D, 2.5D, 3D, whiteboard. Bespoke artwork drawn for you. |
| Length | Ten seconds per scene. A 30-second company video is three scenes, downloaded separately and cut together in your editor. | Any. Most studios quote in 30 or 60-second blocks. |
| What you need to bring | One clear paragraph per scene. No brief, no crew, no editor. | A brief, a budget holder, someone to give feedback on time. |
See it on your own website: create your free company video →
Who each one is for
A studio is for the film you will be judged on: the brand film, the campaign hero, the piece that opens the conference. You bring a brief and a budget holder, they bring a producer, a designer, an animator and an editor, and over several weeks and a couple of revision rounds you get a bespoke piece in a style drawn for you. The numbers in the table are what published 2026 price guides report, not a quote; a good studio will tell you its own.
GetReelCom is for the videos that never got made because they could not justify that process: the product launch next week, the scene per audience, the portrait cut for Instagram, the LinkedIn post that should look like your brand and not like stock. You paste your website, GetReelCom drafts your Director’s Guide and a script, you approve a still frame per scene, and the video is there in minutes.
When should you hire an animation studio?
Hire a studio when the film needs a point of view. A distinctive visual style, a story that needs a director’s judgement, a script that goes through legal, a piece of two or three minutes that has to hold attention on its own: that is craft, and it takes people and time. Hire one too when the point is the real thing rendered beautifully, a product’s mechanism, a process, a place, because a studio draws exactly what you need and GetReelCom generates a cinematic interpretation of your photos.
When should you use GetReelCom instead?
Use GetReelCom when the schedule or the budget would otherwise mean no video at all. A studio quotes in 30 or 60-second blocks and four to eight weeks; a launch that is a fortnight away does not fit. Use it when you need many pieces that must look like one company: five audiences, two formats, a new scene every week. Your Director’s Guide, brand kit and cast are saved, so the tenth video is as consistent as the first and costs the same 33 credits. And use it for the first draft even when a studio will make the final film, because a 30-second animated version of the story is a better brief than a paragraph.
Can GetReelCom replace a studio?
For the company video, the explainer and the social pieces, yes. For a brand film with a director, no, and it does not try to. The output is ten-second animated scenes that you cut together yourself; there is no timeline editor, no music and no colour grade in the product today, and the look is cinematic 3D animation based on your photos, not artwork drawn from scratch. If you are choosing between “a studio in eight weeks” and “nothing”, GetReelCom is the third option. If you are choosing between “a studio” and “GetReelCom” for the flagship film, choose the studio.
How do the costs really compare?
Published 2026 guides put a 60-second animated explainer from a specialised studio at $5,000 to $15,000, agencies higher, and a survey of 61 quotes found a median of $9,680 with a median lead time of seven weeks. On GetReelCom a finished scene is 11 credits, a 30-second company video is 33, every new account gets 40 credits free with no card, and Starter is €29.95 a month for about two company videos. The gap is two orders of magnitude, but it is a gap between different things: one is a bespoke film, the other is a subscription that lets a marketing team make video the way it already makes slides. Sources for the studio figures are listed below.
Sources
Every cell about another tool comes from that vendor's own pages on the day shown, and prices are as listed there in the currency shown. Our own cells describe the product as it ships. If something here is out of date, mail [email protected] and we will correct it.
An animation studio (published price guides, not a quote)
- Cost per finished minute by provider type, seven-week median, median quote of $9,680 (survey of 125 studios, 61 quotes): yumyumvideos.com checked 23 September 2026
- $3,000 to $10,000 per minute for studios, four to eight weeks, one to two revision rounds: vidico.com checked 23 September 2026