Animation studios in the UK: what each kind of animation costs, and four agencies clients rate for motion work

Searches that reach this page ask for “animation agency”, “animation companies” and “motion graphics agency”. These are different crafts, and the studio you need depends on the format:

On Sortlist, each of these has its own listing: animated video, motion graphics and 3D animation. The four agencies ranked below cover the advertising, brand and social uses.

Prices depend on length, style and the number of revision rounds, and most studios quote on request. Sortlist’s local expert for the UK gives three bands, and Sortlist’s own data from 11 published works gives a typical figure for motion design:

Entry budgets on the listing are lower: of the 211 UK profiles we evaluated, 139 state a minimum, and 103 start at €1,000, 3 below that, 2 between €1,001 and €2,999, 13 between €3,000 and €4,999 and 18 at €5,000 or more. They are starting points for a first project, not the price of a finished film.

1. 1

   Write the one-line goal and the audience

   What should the viewer do or understand after the last second? Say where the animation will play: website, social, conference or ad network.

2. 2

   Lock the length and the formats

   Ask for the length in seconds and the aspect ratios you need (16:9, 1:1, 9:16). Cutting a 90-second film into social clips is a separate task.

3. 3

   Approve the script before any drawing

   Changes are cheap on a script and expensive on finished animation. Sign off the script, then the storyboard, then the style frames.

4. 4

   Ask for an animatic

   A rough timed version with placeholder visuals shows pacing before production begins.

5. 5

   Agree the revision rounds

   Ask how many rounds are included and when each is due. A round at animatic stage costs far less than one at final render.

6. 6

   Plan sound and accessibility

   Voice-over, music licence, subtitles and a version that works muted. Ask who delivers each.

Tip: ask the studio for a project where the client changed their mind after approval, and how they handled the cost.

The leaders matrix gives a summary view of the strongest animation agencies in this ranking. Each of the 4 agencies is placed on two axes and falls into one of four quadrants: Leaders, Proven, Specialists or Emerging. The size of each dot reflects the size of the agency’s team.

Horizontal axis – track record: the number of verified client reviews, on a logarithmic scale. Vertical axis – focus on animation: the share of the agency’s reviews that describe animation work. The dashed lines mark the median of the agencies shown.

They have a UK office and at least three verified reviews, but fewer than two describe animation. Several are strong design or branding agencies. If one is on your shortlist, ask for an animation reel and a reference.

7 well-rated agencies appear on the UK listing without a UK office. ADVIDS, based in San Francisco, has the strongest animation evidence of the profiles we evaluated (20 animation reviews of 23), but it is not ranked because it has no UK office.

Search results for UK animation are dominated by directory pages, many run by video vendors. They repeat these names:

• Squideo (London): custom animated content and character-driven explainers.
• Venture Videos (London): 2D explainers, e-learning and e-commerce product animation.
• Jelly (London): motion graphics for SaaS explainers and product demos.
• MNFST (London): 2D character animation and animated explainers.
• Hatch Studios: 3D animation and explainers from concept to render, founded in 2006 by its own account.
• Hocus Pocus Studio: described as a BAFTA-nominated studio in London and New York.
• Kilogramme and Mighty Giant (Manchester): 2D and 3D, and motion design and animation.
• XO3D (Liverpool): 2D motion graphics and educational animation; on Sortlist with one review.

Descriptions come from those directories and studios themselves, checked on 20 October 2026; they are not Sortlist assessments. The same directory, ADVIDS, publishes many of the lists and also appears in them, so its rankings are not independent.

1. The sample

Sortlist lists 409 animation providers on this page. We evaluated the 220 agencies on the first three pages of the listing, in its relevance order. 30 of them have at least 3 verified client reviews – our threshold for a rating to be meaningful. 1 of those also pays for a sponsored placement and was set aside, leaving 29. Of these, 4 agencies with a UK office and at least 2 client reviews that describe animation or motion work (animated banners, motion design, animated video) were ranked, with 79 verified reviews between them and an average rating of 4.82; the 25 others are listed separately.

2. The score

3. Independence

• Sortlist is a marketplace, not an agency: it does not appear in its own ranking.
• Agencies cannot pay to enter the ranking or to move up. Agencies with a sponsored placement on this listing are excluded from scoring and shown separately.
• The order of the listing page, subscriptions and badges play no part in the score – only the three criteria above.

4. Limits

Reviews reflect each agency’s work across all its services, and agencies with few reviews may be excellent but are not yet scored. That is why every entry says what it is best for – and when another agency would suit you better. The ranking is updated regularly.