How much does a freelance copyeditor cost?

If you’re planning to hire a freelance copyeditor, you may be wondering what it will cost. All editors set their rates differently, so there is no simple answer to this, but there is some useful information out there to help you understand how these prices are set and what you can expect.

Working with a freelance copyeditor – what influences the price?

Copyediting is a huge investment in your text or publication. It’s a special skillset requiring focus, attention to detail, accuracy, and knowledge of professional editorial style guides, as well as the different variations in the English language. Copyeditors have a strong command of language and grammar, and are also trained to look out for problems involving consistency, clarity, and even layout and design. They can catch and highlight a lot of issues before a piece of text is published.

It’s important to understand that there are a wide variety of things that can affect the price when you work with a freelance copyeditor, since it involves so much attention to detail. These may include:

• The word count or length of the text/publication
• The time the copyeditor expects to spend on the work
• The subject matter (if you require the editor to have specialised knowledge of something complex, such as medical knowledge, rather than simply focusing on the text more generally, this can raise the fee)
• The level of editing required (a heavier copyedit will be more expensive)
• The turnaround time (if you’d like the work delivered very quickly, there may be a rush fee)
• Editorial experience (editors who are new to the field may charge less than their more experienced counterparts)

Is there industry standard pricing for a freelance copyeditor?

There is no standard price for a freelance copyeditor, since they are individuals who set their own rates. That being said, there are several editorial organisations for editors that have suggested rates or median rates, which can give you an idea of what a professional copyedit could cost.

The Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP), which is a non-profit membership organisation for editorial professionals, has a suggested minimum rates table. While these aren’t firm and are just an indication of the rates a freelancer might charge, they’re a good benchmark, because they consider a whole range of costs faced by freelancers, including pensions, office costs, equipment, and taxes.

As the organisation rightly points out, market forces can impact rates too, so a freelancer may raise their rates yearly in line with inflation so they can continue to run their businesses.

The CIEP lists the following suggested hourly rate as of March 2026:

• Copyediting: £37.11 per hour (minimum)

As this is a minimum rate suggestion, some editors may charge a higher or lower rate than this.

The Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA) is another professional organisation for editors. They publish median editorial rates, which tend to be updated regularly.

The EFA is unique in that it splits its median rates into subject categories, rather than being more general, so it accounts for the editing of complex subject matter too. It also provides median rates based on the experience of the editor.

The current EFA median rates for copyediting are as follows – these are based on a survey of members from November 2025 to January 2026:

• Per hour:
  • Academic humanities: $55–$58 an hour (more experienced editor), $47–48 an hour (less experienced editor)
  • Business material: $57.75 an hour (more experienced editor), $47.14 an hour (less experienced editor)
  • General non-fiction: $55.13 an hour (more experienced editor), $44.99 an hour (less experienced editor)
  • Technical material: $68.25 an hour (more experienced editor), $55.71 an hour (less experienced editor)
• Per word:
  • Academic humanities: $0.038–$0.050 per word (more experienced editor), $0.039–$0.043 per word (less experienced editor)
  • Business material:s: $0.035–$0.040 per word (more experienced editor), $0.030–$0.034 per word (less experienced editor)
  • General non-fiction: $0.035–$0.040 per word (more experienced editor), $0.030–$0.034 per word (less experienced editor)
  • Technical material: $0.039–$0.044 per word (more experienced editor), $0.033–$0.038 per word (less experienced editor)

Remember that these are median rates following a survey, so they aren’t necessarily the ranges that all editors will charge, but they can still be useful for getting a rough idea.

Other associated costs

If you have additional text or material you’d like checking alongside the main publication, such as references, bibliographies, or footnotes, these can change the price you’ll pay the copyeditor as well, depending on how in-depth you’d like the copyeditor to be with their checks.

Make sure you communicate with your copyeditor beforehand about whether they’ll simply check that the references have been formatted properly, or if you also want them to do an in-depth accuracy check.

Some copyeditors offer reference or bibliography editing as a separate service, so it is possible to have this done separately at another time. But it can be more cost-effective to do everything together if you aren’t planning on adjusting your references or bibliography later.

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There’s a lot to consider when hiring a freelance copyeditor, and pricing is one of those factors. Most freelance copyeditors will request a sample of your text to help them put together a quote, so you can be sure that the price is tailored to your needs and the level of editing your text requires before you go ahead.