· Updated · 4 min read · By the OptimaClip team
How much does it actually cost to turn a VOD into a week of clips? The real credit math
The most direct way to answer 'what does this actually cost' is to walk through one real job rather than quote an abstract per-credit rate. In OptimaClip's credit system, analysis (transcription and processing of the source video) costs 1 credit per minute of source video, rounded up, with a minimum of 1 credit — a 60-minute VOD costs 60 credits for that step alone, regardless of how many clips eventually get generated from it.
AI clip-candidate generation costs 1 credit per candidate clip the moment-detection step surfaces — a typical 60-minute VOD generating 8-10 candidate clips (a realistic range for an hour of solid content) adds roughly 8-10 more credits. Exporting a finished clip — the actual render, including captions burned in, which no longer costs extra as of OptimaClip's 2026-08-19 repricing — costs 1 credit per export.
Putting that together: a 60-minute VOD costs 60 credits to process, and every clip the AI finds and the first export of each format are free, so 8 candidate clips with 6 exported and published still totals just 60 credits for a genuine week's worth of published short-form content from one recording. That's comfortably inside the Starter plan's 300 monthly credits with room for several VODs a month, and well inside the Creator plan's 600 credits for a weekly cadence of similar VODs.
The comparison worth making isn't just against a competitor's per-credit rate — it's against the realistic alternative of doing this manually or paying someone else to. A freelance editor charging per clip in the $15-$50+ range for even 6 finished clips runs $90-$300+ for that same single VOD, one time, versus a flat $19-$39/month subscription that covers that job plus several more within the same billing period.
For anyone trying to plan a repurposing budget before committing to a plan, this same math scales linearly with source length and clip count — the full formula (analysis credits + candidate-generation credits + export credits) is documented in detail on the credits doc, so it's possible to estimate the real cost of a specific show's typical VOD length and clip volume before ever submitting a job.
The manual cost
Scrubbing a 3-hour VOD for moments, then cutting, reframing, captioning and exporting 7–10 clips easily takes several hours. At freelance editor rates, that's a meaningful weekly cost.
The AI-tool cost
With per-minute pricing, a 3-hour VOD uses 180 credits. On OptimaClip's Starter plan ($19 a month, 300 credits) that's within the monthly allowance; use the section picker to process only the best part of a stream to stretch it further. Review time drops to minutes.
What you still do yourself
Approve picks, fix the occasional caption, and decide the schedule. That's the part that benefits from your judgment.
Frequently asked questions
How many credits does a 3-hour stream use?
In OptimaClip, about 180 (1 credit per minute), unless you clip only a section.
Turn one long video into a week of clips
OptimaClip finds the best moments in your podcast, stream or webinar, captions and reframes them for vertical, and schedules them to 8 platforms. Free 3-day trial with 30 credits — no card needed.