Two modules that both run for twenty minutes can cost very different amounts to build. Price follows effort, and effort comes down to a handful of decisions that are usually made before anyone opens an authoring tool (the software used to build the module).
This guide walks through those decisions. It will not give you a price list, because the honest answer is that it depends. It will help you see what it depends on, so you can brief a supplier, compare quotes and decide where your budget does the most good.
One question comes first: whether you need custom eLearning at all. For generic topics, an off-the-shelf course can be cheaper. Custom earns its cost when the content is specific to your organisation: your policies, your systems and your people.
1. Length: how long the learner spends
Seat time, the time a learner spends in the module, is the obvious driver. More minutes means more script to write, more screens to design and build, and more to review and test. It is also the easiest cost to reduce. Many first drafts try to teach everything the subject matter expert knows. Cutting the content back to what people need to do their job is the cheapest saving available, and it usually makes the learning better.
2. Interactivity: how much the learner does
A module where people read and click next is quick to build. A branching scenario, where each choice leads somewhere different and has a consequence, takes far more design and build time, because every path has to be written, built and tested. Three decision points with three options each can mean up to 27 different paths if the paths never rejoin. Simulations sit further along the same scale.
The useful question is where judgement matters. Use scenarios for the decisions people find hard at work, and simpler formats for the rest.
3. Media: video, animation and voice
Custom animation, filmed video, illustration and professional voice-over all add cost, and recorded media costs twice if the script changes afterwards. Stock imagery and on-screen text are cheaper. Decide early which ideas truly need motion or a human voice, and lock the script before anything is recorded.
4. Source content: what you can hand over
If you can provide current policies, procedures, slide decks and a subject matter expert who is available to answer questions, the instructional designer can start shaping the learning straight away. If the content has to be researched, written from scratch or argued over internally, that time lands in the project.
5. Assessment: what you need to prove
A short knowledge check is simple. Scenario-based assessment, randomised question banks or evidence of competence for accredited training take more design, and more care, because the result has to stand up to scrutiny.
6. Accessibility: built in or bolted on
Accessible eLearning needs, among other things, captions and transcripts, audio description for video, keyboard access, sufficient colour contrast, text alternatives and a sensible reading order. Planned from the first storyboard (the screen-by-screen plan), it costs far less than fixing it afterwards. Retrofitted after the build, it can mean reworking interactions and re-exporting media. Say in the brief which standard you need to meet. WCAG 2.2 AA is our default standard, not an add-on.
7. Review rounds: how many people sign off
Every review round takes time on both sides, and feedback from five stakeholders that arrives separately takes longer to resolve than feedback consolidated by one person. Agree how many rounds are included, who reviews at each stage and who has the final say. This driver is easy to underestimate, and it affects the timeline as much as the cost.
8. Delivery: where it has to run
A module has to be packaged for your learning management system (LMS), usually as SCORM, or as xAPI where your platform supports it. These are the standards that let a module report completion and scores (see Understanding SCORM and H5P). SCORM comes in more than one version, so check which one your LMS supports. The module is then tested on the devices your learners use and inside the platform itself. Tracking requirements, several versions of the same module for different audiences, or translation into other languages all add work, and translation adds it at every stage, not only here.
In short: what brings the cost down
- Cut content to what people need to do, not everything there is to know.
- Save scenarios and custom media for the moments that need them.
- Commission a series together, so the design, templates and interactions are built once and reused.
- Hand over organised source content and name one person to consolidate feedback.
- Decide accessibility, LMS and tracking requirements before design starts, not after.
How to brief for a quote you can trust
A supplier can only give you a firm price if they know what they are pricing. Send them:
- Who the learners are and what they should be able to do afterwards.
- The source content you have, and how current it is.
- A rough length, and an example of the level of interactivity you have in mind.
- Your LMS and its version, and which standard it needs: SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004 or xAPI.
- The accessibility standard you need to meet.
- Your deadline, and who signs off.
Comparing quotes like for like
When you compare quotes, check that each one prices the same thing: the same length and level of interactivity, the same accessibility standard, the same number of review rounds, testing in your LMS, and the source files. Check whether GST is included, how changes after sign-off are priced, and what is left out.
Ask about life after launch too: who can update the module when a policy changes, and whether you will need a licence for the authoring tool to open the source files.
How we price
At Skills Leap Australia we scope a fixed price up front, so there are no surprises mid-project, and we agree the timeline in a written Learning Strategy before development starts. A typical module runs four to eight weeks from kick-off to launch, depending on interactivity and review cycles. Every project hands over the full source files, and we embed and test the content in your LMS before launch.
To get a real number, send us one topic. We will show you how we would treat it and quote it. See how a project runs.