We analyze the differential equations produced by the method of creative telescoping applied to a hyperexponential term in two variables. We show that equations of low order have high degree, and that higher order equations have lower degree. More precisely, we derive degree bounding formulas which allow to estimate the degree of the output equations of creative telescoping as a function of the order. As an application, we show how the knowledge of this formula can be used to optimize the runtime of creative telescoping implementations, and we deduce bounds on the asymptotic complexity of creative telescoping for hyperexponential terms.