Voiceover benchmarks worth checking before you trust anyone else's numbers

Build a baseline from paid invoices

Paid invoices offer the nearest practical baseline because they record completed payments rather than asking prices. Gather one year of invoices, then label every job by genre, client category, usage term and union status. Calculate each measure within its label rather than blending unlike assignments; track your own figures.

Distinguish calendar spikes from durable demand

Consider a narrator with a booth, an interface and a DAW, two agencies providing a steady base, and bookings that climb ahead of an advertising cycle.

Such a burst does not provide a reliable basis for next year's rate: the calendar may explain it, rather than the normal economics of that work.

A busy period alone is therefore a weak basis for raising rates for the following year. Check whether repeat-client share also improves or whether only the booking total changes. Compare returning clients and booked work over time, rather than measuring the busiest week against the previous rate.

An ordinary job is a stronger reference: price it from real costs, including the hours used, what the client valued and what the agreement required. Rates based on ordinary work tend to hold through a spike, while rates chosen from the spike may lose steady clients. A GVAA entry or SAG-AFTRA sheet can show a market floor, but neither reflects your repeat-client share.

Apply union schedules only where agreements cover the work

SAG-AFTRA makes its Commercials Contract rate sheet and Audiobook Agreement figures available on its contracts pages. For 2026, commercial session minimums generally sit in the high hundreds to low thousands per session, while audiobook minimums are about $200 to $300 per finished hour.

Because schedules receive annual increases, consult the current version instead of a saved copy. These minimums govern only work covered by a signatory agreement, not every booking. SAG-AFTRA determines eligibility and signatory obligations, so verify the current position with its contracts department before relying on a rate. To assess the broader opportunity, compare market fit.

Read GVAA bands against matching job terms

The GVAA Rate Guide sorts recommended fees by genre and usage term, which makes an entry useful only when those job conditions match. In 2026, local commercial entries often fall in the low hundreds, while national entries commonly exceed $2,000. Those figures describe market ranges, not guaranteed payments.

Set tagged results beside the SAG-AFTRA sheet, ACX minimums and Voices.com ranges, recording the source and date for each number. For a wider yearly frame, review benchmark categories, then interpret the figures before changing a rate.

Keep ACX compensation in its own category

ACX help material sets a $50 per finished hour floor for pay-for-time deals. With royalty share, the narrator and rights holder divide the 40% ACX royalty. These terms belong to that platform, not audiobook work generally, so match product, territory and payout method and check the latest help page.

Platform help documents give payout schedules that vary by product, territory and payment method. A payment arrangement and its stated minimum answer different questions from a narrator rate card; note both the source and date when putting ACX beside other work for comparison.

Normalize marketplace offers before comparing them

The Voices.com rate guide offers ranges organized by marketplace category. In 2026, e-learning work commonly falls between $250 and $500 per finished hour. Treat that as category-level context, not a standard quote: a separate rate card may describe another genre, market or usage term.

Fiverr and Upwork listings for short dry reads often begin between $5 and $50, and include no usage rights. Compare those amounts only after aligning the deliverable and usage terms with the job under review; the listed fee does not cover those rights.

For every comparison, match genre, market and usage term, and state the year. A category guide, another narrator's rate card and a listing price may rest on different bases. Use published ranges as context, then compare them with the return from similar booked work in your invoices.

Screen posts and screenshots before using their numbers

A narrator-group post can omit details that determine comparability: client, usage term, territory, exclusivity clause and year of the quote. Without that context, you cannot tell whether the number describes work like a paid booking or another published range being reviewed.

Two narrators may post the same amount while describing unlike assignments. If population and date are missing, the figure is a claim rather than a working benchmark. Even a named authority is insufficient alone; check current source material against the same usage, territory and job population.

A screenshot of a SAG-AFTRA schedule or GVAA entry dated 2021 has the same limitation: the figure may be genuine but old and detached from its conditions. Record its underlying source and date, then align usage, territory and work population before interpreting it.

Preserve the context needed to check each figure

A comparison can be repeated when it names and dates the source, identifies the population, and states whether the figure represents booked or quoted work. Another narrator's rate card may involve a different genre, market or usage, so an amount on its own cannot establish that two jobs match.

The FTC's Advertising FAQs: A Guide for Small Business says advertising claims must be truthful, and testimonials or client logos require disclosure of any material relationship. The FTC's consumer reviews and testimonials rule is an official regulator reference for related disclosure questions.

The IRS explains the records a business recordkeeping system should show in What kind of records should I keep?. Its small-business tax publication is another official reference for recordkeeping. Keep source, population and date beside each reported amount, plus whether it describes booked or quoted work, so another person can reconstruct the comparison.

When music or licensed audio is involved, the U.S. Copyright Office study Copyright and the Music Marketplace explains that performances and other uses can follow separate licensing paths. Preserve the relevant source and terms alongside the figure; do not assume one rate answers every kind of use.