A studio that makes charming animated SaaS explainers is rarely the right team for a live-action product film with your CEO on camera. The reverse is just as true.

That mismatch is the whole problem with how this category gets shopped. Search for the best explainer video company and you get wall-to-wall animation studios. This is great when your idea is abstract and best drawn, but a poor fit when it hinges on real people or on-camera credibility. 

Fit comes first. Budget sets the tier after that. So this guide sorts the best explainer video companies by what they’re built for, not by who ranks highest on a directory page.

Key Takeaways

• Best overall: D-MAK Productions. The only pick here built for live-action and hybrid explainers, so it wins when the video needs real people, real products, or corporate credibility rather than animation alone.
• The field splits by what you’re explaining, not by who’s “best.” Animation studios own abstract and SaaS topics; D-MAK owns the live-action and corporate end. Match the studio’s core medium to your subject before anything else.
• Price tier is the fastest filter, and the floor-to-ceiling spread is wide. Creamy Explainers starts around $2,500, Explainly and most custom 2D work runs $10,000 to $15,000, and Epipheo sits at the top and actively turns away projects under $15,000. Place your project in a tier before you shortlist.
• Specialism cuts both ways, so read the caveat as carefully as the strength. What a Story is SaaS-only, Explainly is 2D-first, and Vidico is a content engine that’s overkill for a one-off. Each is excellent inside its lane and the wrong call outside it.
• Review scores barely separate this group. Most verified studios cluster at 4.8 to 4.9 on Clutch and DesignRush, so fit, medium, and budget decide it, not the star rating.

Explainer Video Production Companies at a Glance

Here is the short version before we explore the details:

Every company here is checked against its own current site and examples before it goes in. Anyone we can’t confirm gets left off rather than padded in.

Best Explainer Video Production Companies in 2026

D-MAK Productions: Best Overall Explainer Video Production Company

D-MAK Productions is the best overall explainer video production company for brands that want their message explained with polish, clarity, and real production value. The team is strongest for live-action, corporate, training, technology, and hybrid explainers, the cases where credibility matters as much as a clean script, and where a template animation would undersell the brand.

D-MAK is a full-service Phoenix production company that has made commercials, corporate videos, and social-first content for recognizable brands, and its explainer-style work includes a technology marketing explainer for SmartRent’s enterprise home automation system and project work with Root + River.

That matters here for a specific reason: most explainer SERPs are dominated by animation-only studios, so when your video needs real people, real products, or a credible corporate feel, a full-service team that can shoot and animate under one roof is a different kind of partner. The same people handle concept, production, post, and the campaign cutdowns, so nothing gets lost in a handoff.

Public review signal: D-MAK Productions has a strong but lean public review footprint, with a 5.0 Clutch rating from six reviews and feedback that points to high-quality work, professionalism, timeliness, communication, and well-organized projects.

Best for: brands that need a credible, polished explainer with live-action or hybrid production, not just animation.

See the video production services, the corporate video work, and the portfolio for examples.

Demo Duck: Best for Animated and Mixed-Media Explainers

Demo Duck is the strongest pick on this list for fully animated and mixed-media explainers. The studio started as an explainer video company in 2011 and has since widened into animation, live action, commercials, product sizzles, and mixed media, with work across healthcare, nonprofit, SaaS, and business education.

If your explainer is best told through custom 2D animation, or a blend of animation and footage, Demo Duck is built for it. Their range across formats also means they can recommend animation, live action, or a mix based on the message rather than defaulting to the one thing they sell.

Public review signal: Demo Duck has a compact but highly positive review profile, with a 5.0 Clutch rating from 10 reviews and recurring praise for high-quality work, project management, communication, creativity, and making complex ideas easier to understand.

Best for: companies that want a dedicated animation and mixed-media studio with a long explainer track record.

Explainly: Best for 2D Business Animation and Strategic Storytelling

Explainly is the strongest pick on this list for custom 2D animated explainers, the kind that turn a dense B2B or technical product into something a buyer can follow. It’s an animation-first agency built around messaging strategy rather than just visuals, which shows in a process that starts with ideation and research before anyone draws a frame.

Explainly is a global animation agency that runs the full lifecycle: scriptwriting, style frames, an illustrated storyboard, professional voiceover, music and sound, and two revision rounds per deliverable, with ownership of the illustrated art assets included.

Software, fintech, and cybersecurity brands hire them often to make regulated or intricate ideas digestible, and the awards back the craft, with 17 Telly wins and 14 each at the Davey and Muse Awards, plus review scores around 4.9 out of 5 across the major B2B platforms.

This is a 2D-animation-first shop. They also offer 3D, mixed media, and live action, but if your explainer hinges on real people, physical products, or on-location credibility, a full-service production team is the safer call.

Public review signal: Explainly has a strong explainer-video reputation, with a 4.9 Clutch rating from 39 reviews and feedback that highlights timely delivery, clear communication, high-quality creative work, strong project management, and adaptability across complex industries.

Best for: B2B and SaaS brands that want premium custom 2D animation with serious messaging strategy.

Digital Brew: Best for Conversion-Focused Animated Explainers

Digital Brew is the pick for animated explainers built to convert, not just to look good. The Orlando studio describes itself as a marketing agency first and a video company second, which sets the tone: the work gets judged on whether it drives demos and sales, with the craft in service of that. They cover 2D, 3D, motion graphics, and live action with a small in-house team.

The team works in-house, animators, illustrators, and writers under one roof, and the process is structured around a creative brief that locks the message before anyone animates, then mood board and style frames, voiceover, storyboard, and animation.

Their 3D capability is a real differentiator for manufacturing and healthcare, where showing a product or process in three dimensions does what flat 2D can’t.

On recognition, they bill themselves as the only Emmy-winning explainer studio, with 22 Emmy, 15 Telly, and 24 Addy Awards by their own count, and they back the conversion angle with client-reported lifts in product understanding, traffic, and sales.

Pricing is project-based and custom, starting around $10,000, with most work landing between $10,000 and $50,000 and larger campaigns reaching into six figures.

Public review signal: Digital Brew has a strong public review profile for conversion-focused video work, with a 4.9 Clutch rating from 16 reviews and feedback that emphasizes timely delivery, communication, collaboration, creative execution, and high-quality production.

Best for: brands that want award-winning animation measured by conversions, across 2D, 3D, and live action.

What a Story: Best for SaaS, B2B, and AI Product Explainers

What a Story is the specialist to call when the thing you need to explain is software. The remote-first agency has focused exclusively on SaaS, B2B, and AI product video since 2019, and that narrowness is the point: they speak the language of funnels, demos, and onboarding, so you’re not paying them to learn what an API is.

Trusted by 650+ tech brands, What a Story runs a tight, predictable sprint: strategy and scripting, storyboard and design (including polishing your product UI so prospects focus on the right moments), then animation, voiceover, and editing.

Two things stand out for a SaaS buyer. The flat fee with unlimited revisions removes the meter-running anxiety that derails software projects with lots of stakeholders, and the whole catalog is built for the funnel, product-launch videos, founder pitches, demos, onboarding, and social ads, rather than a single one-off explainer.

Client reviews on Clutch are strong, and their work is featured on Y Combinator, Product Hunt, and HubSpot. The flip side of that focus. If your video isn’t a tech product, or you need broadcast-grade live action or a brand film, a generalist or full-service production company is the better fit.

Public review signal: What a Story has one of the strongest review counts in this group, with a 5.0 Clutch rating from 42 reviews and feedback that supports its reputation for high-quality SaaS, product, and business explainers with responsive service and strong visual storytelling.

Best for: SaaS, B2B, and AI companies that want a funnel’s worth of product video from a team that already speaks their language.

Epipheo: Best for Concept-Driven, Strategy-Led Explainers

Epipheo is the studio that arguably invented the modern explainer video, and it still leads with strategy over decoration. Founded in 2009 in Cincinnati, the team has made 6,000+ videos for 3,000+ enterprise brands, and the whole pitch is the “epiphany,” the moment a viewer finally gets it. If your explainer needs to crack a genuinely complex or abstract idea for an enterprise audience, this is the strategy-first shop to call.

Epipheo runs the full range of styles, 2D and 3D animation, motion graphics, whiteboard, and live action, but the differentiator is what happens before any of that: positioning workshops and narrative scriptcraft built for multi-stakeholder corporate approval chains.

They’re decorated, with a 2026 Gold Telly among the wins, and they’re unusual in also producing original entertainment, a series on Angel Studios, which says something about the storytelling muscle.

Pricing reflects the altitude: entry work runs $15,000 to $25,000, signature projects $25,000 to $75,000, and premium 3D or live-action films climb well past $100,000, with a retainer option that lowers per-video cost for ongoing needs.

The only caveat is that they actively discourage projects under $15,000, so for a quick, high-volume, or budget explainer, they’re the wrong door.

Public review signal: Epipheo has a strong reputation for concept-driven explainer videos, with a 4.9 Clutch rating from 28 reviews and feedback that points to timely delivery, creativity, high-quality work, strong project management, and effective educational storytelling.

Best for: enterprise brands with a complex idea and the budget for strategy-first, broadcast-grade explainer production.

Vidico: Best for Startup and SaaS Product Explainers

Vidico is the pick for tech and SaaS brands that want explainer work from a team used to playing at the top of the market. Founded in 2015 by the Pirone brothers, the agency has produced video for Spotify, Square, Uber, Amazon, and TikTok, and it positions itself less as a one-video studio and more as a full-stack creative department you plug into, turning a single brief into a run of assets across the funnel.

Vidico covers animated explainers, product launches, software walkthroughs, live-action commercials, and social cutdowns, with a process built around proven storytelling frameworks and a storyboard for every concept.

Two things define them. The first is reach. They have 920+ brands and more than 1.5 billion views, with 35+ awards across Muse, B&T, and The Drum. The second is the content-engine model, a real advantage if you have ongoing volume needs and want one brief stretched into ads, cutdowns, and motion assets, and less of a fit if you only need a single one-off.

They’re premium and don’t take projects under $5,000, and a few clients note feedback can scatter across Slack and Figma. For a US buyer, note the company is Australia-based with a New York office.

Public review signal: Vidico has the largest Clutch review base in this group, with a 4.9 Clutch rating from 57 reviews and feedback that supports its positioning as a polished startup and SaaS product-video partner with strong communication, creativity, and organized execution.

Best for: funded startups and tech brands that want premium product video and an ongoing creative engine, not a one-off.

Creamy Explainers: Best for Full-Process Animated Explainers on a Mid-Market Budget

Creamy Explainers is the value pick for businesses and nonprofits that want a fully managed animated explainer without an enterprise price tag. Based in Vancouver as a division of Mammothic Group, the studio runs every stage in-house, strategy, script, storyboard, design, and animation, and is known for turning dense or technical material into clear, story-driven video.

A compact team handles the full five-step process, and the styles run wide for an animation shop: 2D, 2.5D, motion graphics, whiteboard, 3D, and live-action elements. The draw is value.

Clients consistently rate them highly for cost and for turning complex B2B and SaaS ideas into clear narratives, at budgets that start well below the premium studios.

The trade-off is the one common to mid-tier shops, where rush timelines and extra revision rounds can push the final number past the base package, so scope it carefully up front. For tech and nonprofit explainers where you want custom animation and a managed process without a five-figure floor, they’re a strong fit.

Public review signal: Creamy Explainers has a strong public review signal through its Creamy Animation profile, with a 4.9 Clutch rating from 22 reviews and feedback that supports its reputation for timely delivery, high-quality animated work, strong value, and clear communication.

Best for: B2B, SaaS, and nonprofit teams that want a fully managed custom animated explainer at an accessible price.

What Is an Explainer Video Production Company?

An explainer video production company helps a business explain a product, service, process, platform, or idea through a short, focused video. Depending on the studio, that work spans strategy, scriptwriting, storyboarding, design, filming, animation, voiceover, editing, motion graphics, sound design, and final delivery.

Some are pure animation shops. Others are full-service production companies that can shoot live action and blend it with motion graphics.

The common explainer formats are animated explainers, SaaS explainers, product explainers, corporate explainers, training and onboarding videos, live-action explainers, mixed-media explainers, whiteboard-style explainers, and motion-graphics explainers.

The right format depends on what you’re explaining and who needs to believe it, which is the thread running through the rest of this guide.

How We Chose the Best Explainer Video Companies

We chose these companies based on their ability to simplify a real message and produce work that holds up in front of customers. Our two-part verification process to keep this guide honest.

First, we verified every studio against its live site and third-party reviews on Clutch and DesignRush, filtering for verified agencies that cluster around a 4.8 to 4.9 rating. If we couldn’t confirm a company’s track record, we left them off. That is also why this list only includes actual, hireable production studios.

Beyond that, every agency had to clear a strict set of standards:

• Genuine Explainer Specialization: We looked for companies that have treated explainer videos as their core business for years (i.e. Epipheo since 2009 and Demo Duck since 2011) rather than generalist agencies that just added explainers to a long menu of services.
• Proof with Complex Subjects: They had to prove they can make hard ideas land, demonstrated through a portfolio of work in unforgiving verticals like SaaS, fintech, cybersecurity, and healthcare.
• Strategy-First Processes: We prioritized studios that lead with ideation and positioning workshops over template decoration and art styles. A strong script and clear strategy always take precedence over flashy animations.
• Enterprise-Grade Validation: Every studio features named client proof you can easily verify, with brands like Cisco, Google, Microsoft, Spotify, and Uber appearing across their portfolios.
• Production Rigor: We looked for a transparent workflow, explicit revision policies, and the ability to deliver campaign-ready social cutdowns.

Finally, we deliberately spread this list across distinct price tiers. Budgets here range from Creamy Explainers starting near $2,500 to Epipheo’s enterprise campaigns scaling past $150,000. This ensures that whether you are a scrappy startup or a global brand planning a flagship launch, you can find a team built for your exact scale.

What Types of Explainer Videos Can Companies Create?

Explainer videos come in a handful of formats, and the right one is decided by what you’re explaining and who has to trust it. Here’s how the common types break down.

Animated Explainer Videos

Animation is best for abstract ideas, SaaS products, technical workflows, financial products, healthcare education, and anything hard or expensive to film. It can show a process that doesn’t physically exist yet, and it ages well. The risk is that weak animation with a weak script looks generic fast, so the writing has to carry it.

Live-Action Explainer Videos

Live action wins when trust, people, physical spaces, products, or credibility matter. Seeing a real team or a real product does something animation can’t, which is why this is where a full-service production company tends to outperform a pure animation studio.

SaaS Explainer Videos

A SaaS explainer’s job is to show what the platform does, who it helps, and why the new way beats the old one. The best ones resist feature-listing and instead make one workflow obviously better in 90 seconds.

Product Explainer Videos

Product explainers carry launches, sales pages, landing pages, ecommerce, demos, and paid campaigns. They usually need a hero version plus cutdowns sized for each channel.

Corporate Explainer Videos

Corporate explainers cover internal communications, investor messaging, training, HR, onboarding, and enterprise sales. Polish and clarity both count, since the audience is often skeptical and time-poor.

Training Explainer Videos

Training explainers standardize a process, cut down repetitive questions, and make dense information easier to absorb. A short series often beats one long video, since people can find the module they need.

Mixed-Media Explainers

Mixed media is the answer when a single video needs real people, screen recordings, animation, icons, motion graphics, and branded visuals together. It’s the most common fit for corporate, product, and technology explainers, and it requires a team that can run both a shoot and a motion-graphics pipeline.

How to Choose the Best Explainer Video Company

Choose an explainer company by matching its core strength to what you need to explain, then judging the script before the visuals. The studios all show pretty reels; the differences that matter are harder to see, so work through these in order.

Choose Based on What You Need to Explain

Start from the subject, since it points straight at the right kind of studio. A complex software product points to a SaaS or product explainer specialist. An internal process points to a corporate or training video company.

A brand story points to a full-service production company. An abstract concept points to an animation studio. A physical product points to a live-action or hybrid team. An enterprise platform points to a studio with real technology-explainer experience.

Review the Script Quality, Not Just the Visuals

Judge the writing first, since most explainer videos look fine and say very little. The best companies simplify the message before they decorate it, which means they can tell you, in one sentence, what your video is about and what it asks the viewer to do.

If a studio wants to talk about animation style before it understands your message, that’s the wrong order.

Decide Between Animation, Live Action, and Mixed Media

Ask About the Production Process

A real studio can walk you through discovery, messaging strategy, scriptwriting, storyboarding, visual direction, production or animation, voiceover, editing, sound design, revisions, and final delivery without scrambling. The fluency of that answer tells you whether they do this every week.

Look for Industry or Audience Experience

A great healthcare explainer is not a great SaaS explainer, and a training video is not a paid ad. The portfolio should prove the studio understands your audience, not just that it can animate. Ask for the closest example to your project, not the highlight reel.

Confirm Final Deliverables

Name the deliverables in the contract: the main explainer, a 15-second teaser, a 30-second cutdown, vertical and captioned versions, a thumbnail, a website-embed file, paid-social versions, a sales-enablement cut, and the raw files if they’re in scope. Settling this up front avoids the “that version was extra” conversation after delivery.

How Much Does Explainer Video Production Cost?

Explainer video production typically costs between $3,000 for a simple animated explainer and $75,000 or more for a mixed-media or live-action explainer, with most custom business explainers landing between $10,000 and $30,000.

The price is driven by length, style, script complexity, animation quality, any live-action filming, voiceover, sound design, revisions, and the final deliverables list.

Here are typical US market ranges by explainer format, useful for calibration rather than as any single studio’s rate:

As you compare, remember that the cheapest template-grade animation is getting cheaper every year as tools improve, which is exactly why the explainers worth paying for are the ones where a sharp script, real production, and on-camera credibility can’t be faked.

Animated Explainer Video vs Live-Action Explainer Video

Animated explainers are usually best for abstract, software, or technical topics, while live-action explainers are better when the audience needs to see real people, products, spaces, or proof. For many corporate, product, and technology explainers, mixed media is the strongest option, since it pairs credibility with visual clarity.

Questions to Ask Before Hiring an Explainer Video Production Company

Ask the questions that expose how a studio works, not the ones their site already answers:

• Have you made explainer videos for companies like ours, and can you show a full one, not the reel? 
• Who writes the script, a human strategist or a template? 
• Do you offer animation, live action, or both, and which would you recommend for our subject? 
• Do you storyboard and lock the script before any animation starts?
• How many revision rounds are included, and what does an extra one cost? 
• Are social cutdowns and channel versions planned from the start, or added after? 
• Who owns the final video, the source files, and the illustrated art assets?
• What’s the timeline, and what do you need from us to hit it? 
• How would you measure whether this video worked? 

Which Explainer Video Company Should You Hire?

If your explainer hinges on real people, a physical product, or a highly credible corporate feel, you need live-action or mixed-media video. In that category, D-MAK Productions is the best overall choice because they are the only team on this list built to handle both complex live shoots and high-end animation under one roof.

On the other hand, if your idea is abstract, data-heavy, or software-shaped, you are firmly in animation territory. You can map those needs across the specialized studios:

• Demo Duck: Best for a blend of animated and mixed-media projects.
• Explainly: The top choice for premium, custom 2D animation.
• Digital Brew: Built specifically for conversion-led marketing work.
• What a Story & Vidico: The go-to specialists for SaaS and product walkthroughs.
• Epipheo: The enterprise choice when the concept requires heavy upfront strategy.
• Creamy Explainers: The reliable option when the budget is exceptionally tight.

Once you know the medium, the math sorts out the rest. Match the medium to your message first, place the project in its correct financial tier, and your vendor shortlist practically writes itself.

Ultimately, for most brands, the deciding factor is whether the finished video makes your company look trustworthy while it explains. That is the exact bar D-MAK is built to clear.

Need to explain a product, service, process, or campaign clearly? Contact D-MAK Productions to plan your explainer video.

For related comparisons, see the best commercial video production companies and the best event video production companies.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is the Best Explainer Video Company?

The best explainer video company depends on the type of video you need. D-MAK Productions is a strong overall choice for live-action, corporate, product, training, and hybrid explainers where credibility matters. Animation-focused studios like Demo Duck are often the better fit for fully animated explainers.

Who Makes Animated Explainer Videos?

Animated explainer videos are usually made by animation studios, dedicated explainer video companies, or full-service production companies with motion-graphics capability. These teams typically handle scripting, storyboarding, illustration, animation, voiceover, sound design, and final delivery.

What Does Explainer Video Production Include?

Explainer video production usually includes discovery, messaging strategy, scriptwriting, storyboarding, visual design, filming or animation, voiceover, editing, motion graphics, sound design, revisions, and final delivery. Full-service studios can also produce cutdowns and channel-specific versions.

How Much Does Explainer Video Production Cost?

Explainer video production typically costs $3,000 to $15,000 for a simple animated explainer, $10,000 to $30,000 for a custom 2D animated or live-action explainer, and $15,000 to $75,000 or more for 3D or mixed-media work. The price depends on length, style, animation complexity, live-action needs, voiceover, revisions, and final deliverables.

Are Animated Explainer Videos Better Than Live-Action Explainer Videos?

Neither is better outright; they fit different jobs. Animated explainers are better for abstract ideas, SaaS workflows, and technical topics that are hard to film. Live-action explainers are better when trust, people, physical products, locations, or brand credibility matter. Mixed media can combine the strengths of both.

How Long Should an Explainer Video Be?

Most explainer videos work best when they’re short and built around one clear message. Website and sales explainers usually run 60 to 120 seconds, while training or internal explainers can run longer when the topic genuinely needs the detail.