Budget guide
Cheap teleprompter setups.
Rigs run from about $50 for a basic phone holder to $300 for a full glass setup. You may not need either.
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Quick answer
A teleprompter can cost nothing. A camera-behind-script setup renders your camera feed behind the words in software, achieving the same eye-line effect a glass rig achieves optically. A phone propped below the lens costs nothing. A DIY beam-splitter costs around twenty dollars in materials.
$0 — the one most people should use
If you are recording on a computer, put your live camera feed behind the script. Your own face fills the screen, the words scroll on top, and you are looking at the lens and the script at the same time. That is exactly what a beam-splitter achieves with angled glass, done in software, for nothing.
Most people who are about to spend money on a rig should try this first. A good number of them then do not spend the money, which is a strange thing for us to point out and is nonetheless true.
$0 — the other one
A phone propped directly below the lens. Books, a mug, a bulldog clip. Your eyes are a few degrees off axis, which is visible on a big screen and essentially invisible on a video call. It is not elegant and it works.
The only rule that matters: get it as close to the lens as you physically can. People put the phone flat on the desk and then wonder why they look like they are reading their lap.
$10 to $20 — build the glass
Beam-splitter glass, an eight-inch square is plenty. Foam board. A hot glue gun. Angle the glass at forty-five degrees over your phone, shroud it from stray light, and you have a rig. Turn on mirror mode or you will be reading backwards and blaming the glass.
It will be ugly. Optically it is doing exactly what the $200 one does.
$15 to $40 — the phone stand
Honestly one of the better small purchases. An adjustable arm that clamps to a desk and holds a phone right under the lens, stable, at the height you actually want. No glass, no shroud, no build. It just solves the placement problem properly instead of with a stack of books that slides.
When to spend the $150
A bought rig folds, mounts on a tripod without wobbling, and has a shroud that actually blocks light. If you are shooting weekly, that convenience compounds and it is worth it. If you are shooting once, it is a well-built object that will live in a cupboard.
Be honest with yourself about which you are. Plenty of people buy a rig, use it twice, and go back to a phone under the lens.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest teleprompter setup?
Nothing at all. Render your camera feed behind the script in software and you get the same eye-line effect a glass rig achieves optically, for free.
Is a DIY glass rig worth building?
It costs around twenty dollars in foam board and beam-splitter glass, and optically it does what a two-hundred-dollar rig does. It will be ugly. It will work.
What is the best cheap purchase?
An adjustable phone arm that clamps to the desk, around fifteen to forty dollars. It solves the placement problem properly, which is the problem that actually matters.
Should I buy a proper rig?
If you shoot weekly, yes, because the convenience compounds. If you shoot occasionally, try the free options first. A lot of rigs end up in cupboards.