--- title: "Why Per-Minute Pricing Saves High School Football Programs Money" author: "Cutsio Team" date: "2026-05-25" lastmod: "2026-05-25" category: "Pricing" excerpt: "Per-minute pricing saves high school football programs money because game footage bitrates vary wildly — a single 4K game can be 50-100 GB while a compressed broadcast recording of the same game is 5-10 GB — and per-minute pricing ensures a 3-hour game costs the same regardless of file size, eliminating surprise storage bills." tags: ["Pricing", "Game Film", "High School Football", "Budget", "Storage"] --- ## What is per-minute pricing for game film software? Per-minute pricing means you pay based on the duration of your footage, not the file size. A 3-hour high school football game costs the same whether it was recorded at 10 Mbps (roughly 3 GB) or 100 Mbps (roughly 50 GB). This is fundamentally different from per-gigabyte pricing, where a high-bitrate 4K game can cost 10 times more than a compressed recording of the same game. Cutsio charges $59 per month for the Pro plan, which includes 30 hours of storage. The storage cost does not increase based on video resolution, bitrate, or format. A 3-hour game in 4K at 60 Mbps uses the same 3 hours of storage as a 3-hour game recorded on a smartphone at 10 Mbps. The bitrate difference is invisible to the pricing model. ## How does per-gigabyte pricing hurt high school football programs? Per-gigabyte pricing hurts high school football programs because game footage is recorded at increasingly high resolutions and bitrates. Most programs now film in at least 1080p. Many use 4K cameras or broadcast-quality equipment. A single Friday night game can produce 50 to 100 GB of footage. Consider a high school program that films 10 regular season games plus 2 playoff games. At 50 GB per game, that is 600 GB of footage for the season. If a platform charges $0.02 per GB per month, the monthly storage cost for the full season archive is $12. But that cost compounds as footage accumulates across seasons. After 3 seasons, the monthly storage bill hits $36. After 5 seasons, it is $60 per month just for storage — before any indexing, tagging, or per-seat fees. The problem is worse for programs that film from multiple angles. Sideline cam and end zone cam double the footage. Some programs now use drone footage for kick coverage. Each additional angle multiplies the storage cost under per-gigabyte pricing. ## How does Hudl's pricing model compare to per-minute? Hudl uses a hybrid pricing model. There is a free Basic tier with limited storage (typically 1 GB for uploading, more for downloaded footage). Paid plans have storage allocations that depend on the subscription tier. Most high school programs using Hudl pay $800 to $3,000 per year, with the variation driven by storage usage and the number of coach seats. Hudl Pro starts at approximately $100 per month and includes storage for a single team. Additional storage costs extra when the program uploads high-bitrate footage or archives multiple seasons. Hudl also charges per coach seat — adding a defensive coordinator or offensive line coach increases the monthly cost. A staff of 5 coaches on Hudl Pro could cost $1,500 to $2,000 per year before storage overages. Read the full [Hudl pricing vs Cutsio breakdown](/blog/hudl-pricing-vs-cutsio-high-school-football) for a detailed comparison with specific plan prices. | Cost factor | Hudl | Cutsio | |---|---|---| | Base monthly | ~$100 (Pro) | $59 (Pro) | | Per-seat fees | Yes ($15-30/coach) | None | | Storage pricing | Per-GB with limits | Per-minute (included) | | 4K game surcharge | Higher cost (larger file) | Same as compressed | | Multi-season archive | Increasing cost | Same monthly rate | | Annual total (typical) | $800-$3,000 | $708 | ## What makes per-minute pricing better for archiving historical footage? Per-minute pricing makes archiving historical footage affordable because past seasons do not generate additional storage cost. A program that stores 5 seasons of footage under per-minute pricing pays the same monthly rate whether they have 1 season or 10 seasons stored. Under per-gigabyte pricing, the cost increases linearly with the amount of footage stored. This is critical for high school programs that want to build a searchable historical archive. The ability to search for specific plays, players, and formations across multiple seasons provides a tactical advantage. A team facing an opponent they last played 3 years ago can pull up every snap from that previous matchup in seconds. Under per-gigabyte pricing, maintaining that archive would become prohibitively expensive. Cutsio's per-minute pricing means a team's entire footage history fits within the same plan tier. The Pro plan holds 30 hours (roughly a full season). The Studio plan holds 150 hours (roughly 5 seasons for a single team). The Enterprise plan provides unlimited storage for athletic departments managing multiple sports. ## Does per-minute pricing benefit all types of football footage equally? Yes. Per-minute pricing treats all footage equally by duration regardless of format, resolution, or bitrate. This is advantageous for several types of football footage. Practice film is often recorded at lower bitrates on older equipment. Under per-gigabyte pricing, practice film is cheap to store. Under per-minute pricing, practice film costs the same per minute as high-bitrate game film. Since practice film is typically shorter (1 to 2 hours per session), the cost remains low in absolute terms. Broadcast footage from local TV stations or streaming services is recorded at professional bitrates with high production value. A broadcast recording of a game might be 30 to 50 GB for 3 hours. Under per-gigabyte pricing, this is expensive. Under per-minute pricing, it costs the same as any other 3-hour game. Sideline footage from smartphones or tablets varies wildly in bitrate. An iPad recording at the highest quality setting produces a much larger file than the same footage recorded at a standard setting. With per-minute pricing, coaches can use the highest quality setting without worrying about storage costs. ## How does Cutsio's per-minute pricing work for high school football? Cutsio's pricing tiers are designed around the actual needs of high school football programs. | Plan | Monthly price | Storage (hours) | Indexing (hours/mo) | Best for | |---|---|---|---|---| | Pro | $59 | 30 | 5 | Single coach, one team, part-time | | Studio | $249 | 150 | 25 | Full season, 1-2 teams, active scouting | | Enterprise | $999 | Unlimited | 100 | Athletic departments, multi-sport | Storage is measured in hours of footage. A 3-hour game uses 3 hours of storage regardless of file size. Indexing hours are the amount of footage the AI processes each month. Most high school programs on the Pro plan index 5 hours per month (roughly 1 to 2 games per week) and store the entire season without additional cost. Indexing hours are separate from storage hours. Footage can be stored indefinitely once indexed. Programs that need to index a large amount of backlog footage can purchase additional indexing hours or upgrade to a higher tier for the initial processing.
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## FAQ ### How is one hour of storage defined in Cutsio? One hour of storage equals one hour of video duration, regardless of resolution, bitrate, or format. A 30-minute game film uses 0.5 hours of storage. A 3-hour game uses 3 hours. The storage cost of a file is determined solely by how long it plays. ### What happens if I upload both sideline cam and end zone cam for the same game? Each camera angle is billed separately by duration. A 3-hour game filmed from two angles uses 6 hours of storage (3 hours per angle). The per-minute pricing still applies equally to both files. ### Can I switch between plans mid-season? Yes. Plans can be upgraded or downgraded at any time. Upgrading takes effect immediately. Downgrading takes effect at the next billing cycle. There are no long-term contracts. ### Does per-minute pricing apply to footage I already have stored? Yes. All stored footage is billed at the per-minute rate included in your plan. There is no separate charge for historical footage beyond the storage allocation of your plan tier. ### Is there a limit on how much I can store on the Pro plan? The Pro plan includes 30 hours of storage. If 30 hours is not enough, upgrading to Studio (150 hours) or Enterprise (unlimited) provides additional capacity without changing the per-minute pricing model.

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