Finding an explainer video company isn’t the hard part. The challenge is choosing the right partner, one that truly understands your business, your audience, and your goals.
Picking the wrong partner is expensive. You lose time on revisions that go nowhere. You end up with a final product that looks polished but fails to communicate what your business actually does.
This guide gives marketing leaders a clear framework to evaluate their options, ask smarter questions, and make confident hiring decisions.
What Does an Explainer Video Company Actually Do?
An explainer video production company takes a complex idea and turns it into a short, clear, and engaging video that helps your audience understand what you do and why it matters.
The best companies handle the entire process: strategy, scripting, storyboarding, animation or live action production, voiceover, sound design, and final delivery. They are not just animators. They are communicators who happen to use video as the medium.
What separates a strong production partner from a vendor is what happens before the camera rolls or the animation starts. Discovery. Messaging alignment. Understanding your audience and your business goals.
A great explainer video does three things well:
- Simplifies complex ideas without dumbing them down
- Produces engaging explainer videos that hold attention from the first frame to the last.
- Moves the viewer toward a clear next step
If a company cannot speak to all three of those, they are a production house. Not a strategic partner.
Types of Explainer Video Companies
Not every explainer video production company operates the same way. Here’s what to know before signing any contract.
Animation-Only Studios
These companies specialize exclusively in animated content. If you need high quality animations with a specific style, they can deliver.
The limitation is scope. Most animation studios are not built for strategic storytelling. They execute what you hand them. If your script is weak or your messaging is unclear, they will animate it anyway and deliver exactly what you asked for, not what you needed.
They work well when you already have a strong creative brief and just need execution.
Pros:
- High-quality execution when you already have a script and creative direction
- Specialized craft, animation is their core focus, not an add-on
Cons:
- No strategy or scriptwriting included, you come prepared or you waste money
- Limited style range; you work within their aesthetic, not the other way around
- Revision terms and accountability vary widely, get it in writing
Full-Service Production Companies
A full-service video production agency handles everything from strategy through final delivery. That includes animated explainer videos, live action production, motion graphics, and marketing videos and multi-asset content built around your broader marketing efforts.
This model works best for companies that want a collaborative approach. You are not managing a script team separately from an animation studio. One team owns the entire process of creating explainer videos from brief to final delivery.
Pros:
- Strategy through final delivery under one roof, no juggling separate vendors
- Defined revision structure and high accountability baked into the process
- Broadest style range; they match the approach to your goals, not their portfolio
Cons:
- Higher investment than a studio or freelancer
- More process involved, not the right fit if you just need a quick turnaround on a simple asset
If you are still evaluating animation styles and costs, read our Animated Explainer Video blog before you start reaching out to companies.
Freelancers vs. Agencies
Freelancers can produce high quality content at a lower price point. The tradeoff is accountability. When a project grows in scope, hits tight deadlines, or requires multiple languages and revisions across stakeholders, a solo operator becomes a risk.
Agencies bring process, redundancy, and a proven track record. For one-off simple projects, a freelancer may be enough. For anything tied directly to conversion rates, pipeline, or brand, an agency is the safer investment.
Pros:
- Lower price point for small, well-scoped projects
- Can move quickly with less overhead
Cons:
- No redundancy, if scope grows or deadlines tighten, a solo operator becomes a liability
- Accountability is low; revision expectations are often undefined upfront
- Strategy and scriptwriting rarely included, and quality varies significantly person to person
What to Look for in an Explainer Video Company
Portfolio is the starting point. The best explainer video companies earn trust through process, range, and results.
Style Range and Quality Consistency
An animation studio that only shows one visual style is telling you something. It means they have one gear. Directories like G2 let you filter video production companies by industry and read verified buyer reviews, which gives you a more complete picture than a portfolio alone."
Your brand, your audience, and your message may require something different from what is in their highlight reel. Look for companies that can demonstrate range across whiteboard animation, 2D animation, motion graphics, and live action without a drop in production value.
Consistency across styles is the real signal. Anyone can produce one great video. The question is whether quality holds across various industries, formats, and complexity levels.
Industry Experience
Visual storytelling for a SaaS company looks different from a cybersecurity firm, a healthcare tech platform, or an industrial manufacturer.
A production partner with experience across industries understands how to translate complex concepts for different audiences. They know which metaphors land, how much technical detail to include, and how to keep the audience engaged without losing accuracy.
Ask to see work in your vertical or a closely adjacent one.
Process and Revision Policy
This is where most clients get burned.
A strong explainer video production process includes a discovery phase, script development, storyboard approval, final animation, and structured revision rounds with clear timelines. Each stage should have a defined handoff and sign-off point.
Red flags include vague timelines, no discovery call, and revision policies buried in the fine print. If a company cannot walk you through their process clearly before you hire them, that will not improve after you sign.
Pricing Transparency
Explainer video production costs vary widely.
A freelancer might quote under $2,000. A mid-tier agency typically ranges from $5,000 to $15,000. A full-service company with$15,000 to $25,000 and above depending on scope. high production value depth can run and strategic
What drives the price is animation complexity, video length, voiceover, licensing, number of revision rounds, and whether strategy and scripting are included.
Companies that hide pricing until the last stage of a sales call are usually not a fit for teams that need clear communication and budget predictability.
Levitate Media publishes transparent pricing guidance to help marketing leaders plan before they ever get on a call.
Questions to Ask Before You Hire an Explainer Video Company
Platforms like Clutch publish verified client reviews for video production agencies. Cross-referencing a company's portfolio with real client feedback is one of the fastest ways to separate polished pitches from proven results.
Score every company you evaluate against these nine criteria.
Can You Show Me Examples in My Industry or a Similar Vertical?
Relevant experience matters more than an impressive general portfolio. A company that has produced high quality explainer videos for SaaS platforms, healthcare organizations, or industrial manufacturers already understands how to communicate complex ideas to your specific audience.
What Does Your Discovery and Scripting Process Look Like?
The script is the foundation of every great explainer video. If a company skips discovery or treats scripting as a checkbox, the final product will reflect that.
How Many Revision Rounds Are Included and at What Stages?
Revision policy is where projects go over budget and over deadline. Get this in writing before you start and confirm which stages allow structural changes versus minor edits.
Who Specifically Writes the Script on My Project?
Ask whether a dedicated scriptwriter handles your project or whether it gets passed to whoever is available. For complex topics and technical products this distinction is critical.
What Animation Styles Can You Produce In-House?
Companies that outsource animation lose quality control. Confirm they can produce whiteboard animation, 2D animation, motion graphics, and live action under one roof without relying on external vendors.
How Do You Handle Feedback From Multiple Stakeholders?
Most marketing projects involve more than one decision maker. A company with a clear collaborative approach and structured feedback process will keep your project on track even when internal reviews get complicated.
What Is Included in the Final Deliverable Package?
Do you receive source files? Multiple formats optimized for landing pages, social media, and sales decks? A company that only delivers a single MP4 is not thinking about your broader marketing efforts.
What Is a Realistic Timeline From Brief to Final Delivery?
Ask for a milestone based timeline, not a best case estimate. On time delivery should be a standard expectation, not a premium feature.
How Do You Measure Success on a Video Project?
This question separates strategic partners from production vendors. A strong video production agency should be able to speak to conversion rates, engagement benchmarks, and how the video fits into your broader marketing goals.
Want a head start on your brief? Download our Explainer Video Brief Template and share it with any company you are evaluating to get consistent, comparable quotes.
How Levitate Approaches Explainer Video Production
Levitate Media, we’ve spent 16+ years creating high-performing explainer videos across industries like SaaS, AI, cybersecurity, healthcare, and industrial manufacturing. The process of creating videos starts with strategy, not animation.
We don’t just deliver videos, we deliver messaging clarity, buyer understanding, and measurable impact across your funnel.
CloudCover
CloudCover needed an animated video that could bridge that gap between technical complexity and buyer clarity. The goal was to make cloud security feel approachable and trustworthy without oversimplifying the product or losing credibility with a more technical secondary audience.
Levitate built an animated explainer that led with the business problem, not the technology.
Session AI
Session AI operates at the intersection of artificial intelligence and ecommerce, which means their audience spans marketing leaders, product teams, and technical buyers, all with different levels of familiarity with the underlying technology.
Levitate produced a 2D animated explainer video that made a sophisticated AI platform feel immediately clear and relevant.
Qventus
Qventus sells AI-powered solutions into healthcare, one of the most relationship-driven and regulation-sensitive industries in B2B. A single explainer video was never going to be enough.
Levitate developed a series targeting different audience segments at each stage of the buying process.
The result was a cohesive video content system that supported the entire buyer journey, from initial awareness through late-stage sales conversations.
DOD Technologies
DOD Technologies needed to demonstrate industrial inspection technology that was too complex to capture on camera. Levitate produced a high quality 3D animated explainer that gave their sales team a tool for every conversation.
Levitate produced a high quality 3D animated explainer that brought the product to life in a way that was both technically accurate and visually compelling. The video gave their sales team a tool they could use in every conversation with plant managers and procurement leaders.
Ready to Find the Right Explainer Video Partner?
Choosing the right video partner comes down to one thing: finding a team that understands your message, your audience, and your business goals before ever pressing record.
The best video production agencies do not just deliver a polished video. They deliver a strategic asset that works across your marketing funnel, supports your sales team, and drives real results.
Levitate Media has spent 16 years helping B2B companies, SaaS platforms, healthcare organizations, and industrial brands turn complex ideas into compelling videos that perform.
If you’re evaluating video as a growth investment and want strategic guidance from a full-service video production partner, schedule a free strategy call today!
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