Ask what AI creative work costs and you’ll mostly get two useless answers: “it depends” from people who know, and “$30 on Fiverr” from people who don’t. Both are true and neither helps you budget a project.
We run The Promptists, a marketplace for hiring AI prompt artists. Earlier this year we surveyed our community, The Promptists Guild, asking its more than 3,000 practitioners what they charge in the open market, by deliverable type and experience level. The full results are published in our Client Pricing Guide; this article is the short version, with the numbers that matter most when you’re setting a budget.
One framing note before the figures: these are guideline ranges based on current market rates, not fixed prices. Tight deadlines, complex briefs, and broad licensing push quotes above them, and practitioners sometimes work below them for projects they particularly want.
Experience changes the price more than anything else
Our research grouped practitioners into three tiers, and the tier gap turned out to be the single biggest factor in what a deliverable costs.
Apprentices (roughly 0-18 months in) know at least one major generation platform well and produce clean output for straightforward, well-directed briefs. Artisans (roughly 18 months to 4 years) work across multiple tools and styles, interpret ambiguous briefs, and deliver with minimal revision. Maestros (4+ years) operate at art director level: shaping visual strategy, developing original styles, and delivering broadcast-, print-, and screen-ready assets, often for in-house teams and agencies.
Calibrate those year counts against the discipline’s age. The first generation of AI creative tools only reached the market in 2021, so the tiers measure experience with AI specifically, and a Maestro with 4+ years has been working with these systems for about as long as anyone alive has. Most practitioners also bring much longer careers in related creative fields (film, photography, retouching, graphic design, editing), which is where the art direction underneath the prompting comes from.
The same deliverable typically costs 4-6x more from a Maestro than an Apprentice. That multiple isn’t padding; it’s the difference between competent execution of your direction and someone who supplies the direction.
What static imagery costs
Representative ranges from the survey, per deliverable:
| Deliverable | Apprentice | Artisan | Maestro |
|---|
| Single social post image | $30-75 | $75-175 | $175-350 |
| Social content pack (10 posts) | $250-550 | $550-1,200 | $1,200-2,500 |
| Website hero banner | $80-180 | $180-420 | $420-1,000 |
| Product lifestyle set (5 images) | $280-600 | $600-1,400 | $1,400-3,500 |
| Single digital display ad | $60-140 | $140-300 | $300-600 |
| Billboard / OOH hero image | $120-280 | $280-650 | $650-1,800 |
| Full campaign suite (hero + ads) | $500-1,000 | $1,000-3,000 | $3,000-8,000 |
| Brand imagery library (20+ assets) | $800-1,800 | $1,800-4,500 | $4,500-12,000 |
Two patterns worth noticing. Packs are cheaper per asset than single commissions. A 10-post social pack from an Artisan runs $550-1,200 against $75-175 per single image, because style development happens once. And placement moves price at the same tier: a billboard hero costs about double a display ad from the same hands, since large-format resolution and paid-media licensing are part of the product.
What AI video costs
Video is the fastest-growing deliverable in the survey and prices well above static work: generation compute is billed per second on most AI video platforms, iteration cycles run longer, and consistent motion is harder than a consistent still.
| Deliverable | Apprentice | Artisan | Maestro |
|---|
| Single 15-30s social video | $200-450 | $450-900 | $900-2,000 |
| Single 30-60s social video | $350-700 | $700-1,500 | $1,500-3,500 |
| Short-form pack (3 x 15s) | $500-1,000 | $1,000-2,200 | $2,200-5,000 |
| Product showcase clip (10-20s) | $300-650 | $650-1,400 | $1,400-3,200 |
| Brand hero video (60s) | $900-1,800 | $1,800-4,000 | $4,000-10,000 |
| Broadcast TV spot (30s, AI-assisted) | $1,200-2,500 | $2,500-5,500 | $5,500-14,000 |
| Full paid media video suite | $1,500-3,000 | $3,000-7,000 | $7,000-18,000 |
For open-scope video work, hourly billing runs $35-70 for Apprentices, $70-150 for Artisans, and $150-350 for Maestros.
Video also carries add-ons that static work doesn’t: licensed or custom audio adds $150-800+ depending on scope, AI voiceover typically runs $100-400 per video, lip-sync and avatar work carries a 40-80% premium over equivalent motion content, and adapting one video across extra aspect ratios is usually billed at 25-40% of the base rate per variant.
The factors that move any quote
The ranges above assume standard commercial use and moderate complexity. Six factors shift them:
Licensing. The same asset costs more with broader rights. Global, perpetual, or exclusive licensing raises fees significantly over standard commercial use, and licensing is part of what you’re buying, which is why a professional quote names it.
Rush turnaround. Work needed in under 48 hours (static) or 72 hours (video) typically carries a 25-60% premium.
Revisions. One round is included as standard in any engagement on The Promptists. Additional rounds are billed hourly or per round, at $75-250 per round on video, depending on tier, so build extra rounds into the budget if you expect them.
Consistency at volume. Holding exact visual consistency across a large set is extra QA time, and it’s priced in.
Finish requirements. Print, high-DPI, and broadcast-spec output means upscaling, cleanup, and delivery-spec compliance (frame rates, codecs, loudness standards) beyond a web-ready file.
Sector sensitivity. Regulated industries (legal, medical, finance) may carry compliance-related premiums.
Ongoing work: retainers
Clients running always-on content typically move to retainers, which the survey priced from $400-900/month at the low end (Apprentice, 8-12 static assets) up to $9,000-22,000/month for a Maestro full-service static pipeline, and $15,000-35,000/month for Maestro full-service video (20+ videos). Retainer clients typically pay 10-20% below per-asset pricing on static work and 15-25% below on video, and get style continuity across everything the practitioner produces.
Three worked budgets
To make the tables concrete, here’s what the ranges say three common projects should cost:
A DTC brand refreshing product pages. A 5-image product lifestyle set plus a website hero banner from an Artisan: roughly $780-1,820 all-in, with one revision round included.
A funded startup launching with paid social. A social ad video in 3 variations plus a 10-post static pack, Artisan tier: roughly $2,350-5,200. The same package from a Maestro, if the campaign carries real spend behind it: $5,200-11,500.
A brand building its foundational library. A 20+ asset brand imagery library from a Maestro: $4,500-12,000, which typically replaces a traditional shoot that would carry studio, photographer, and location costs before a single usage license.
How this compares to traditional production
The honest comparison isn’t “AI is cheaper.” It’s that AI moves cost from logistics to expertise. A traditional product shoot pays for studio, equipment, photographer, and often talent and location; the AI equivalent pays for one specialist’s skill and time. For product, brand, and concept imagery the total usually lands well below a shoot, and the gap widens with every logistic the AI route deletes. Where photography keeps the advantage: work needing real people with likeness rights, recognizable real locations, or categories where regulation requires it.
One warning about cheap quotes
Quotes dramatically below these ranges should raise questions rather than excitement. In our research, unsustainably low pricing most often signals one of four things: no commercial licensing attached, output generated without real craft or curation, stolen or third-party work, or deliverables that won’t survive a revision cycle. In a craft where skill is the scarce input, a deep discount is usually pricing something in.
Setting your budget
On The Promptists, clients set a fixed budget when posting a brief, and practitioners decide whether to apply based on the brief, the budget, and the work itself, so pitching the budget at the right level is what attracts strong applicants. Scope the deliverable first (asset count, formats, licensing, revision rounds, deadline), find your project in the tables above, and set the number against the tier your stakes require. The full pricing guide breaks every category down further, and posting a brief is free.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a single AI-generated image cost?
For commercial use, from around $30 at entry level to $350 from an expert practitioner for a single social image, and up to $1,800 for large-format work like a billboard hero. The spread reflects experience tier, licensing scope, and finish level, not the generation itself.
How much does AI video cost?
A 15-30 second social video runs $200-2,000 depending on the practitioner’s tier; a 60-second brand hero video runs $900-10,000; an AI-assisted 30-second broadcast spot runs $1,200-14,000. Audio, voiceover, lip-sync, and extra aspect ratios are priced on top.
Why does AI creative work cost anything if AI does the generating?
Because generation is the visible tip. Anyone can prompt a passable image; what you’re paying for is control of the tools. That means the taste and judgment to develop a specific look that differentiates the work instead of defaulting to the generic output everyone else gets, and the technical command to hold that look consistently across every frame, image, and asset in a set, which is among the hardest problems in the medium. A professional quote covers that direction plus the labor around it: brief interpretation, style development, running and curating dozens or hundreds of iterations, revision rounds, post-processing, commercial licensing, and delivery in the right formats. The model produces options; the practitioner produces the deliverable.
Is AI imagery cheaper than a photoshoot?
Usually, for product, brand, and concept imagery: a Maestro-built 20+ asset brand library at $4,500-12,000 typically undercuts an equivalent shoot once studio, crew, and location are counted. Photography keeps the edge where real people, real places, or regulation require it.
What’s a fair payment structure for AI creative work?
Milestone protections: fund each stage before work begins, with the money held in Stripe and only released when you approve the work. It’s the standard structure on The Promptists, and every engagement includes one revision round.
