Videos are integral to any marketing campaign; however, they can be tedious and difficult to create if you aren’t savvy with editing or are short on time.
Videos are integral to any marketing campaign; however, they can be tedious and difficult to create if you aren’t savvy with editing or are short on time.
Fortunately, you can leverage many AI video generators to streamline your video production and create content that engages your audience. But what’s the best AI video generator for your task at hand?
This article will explore 14 different AI video generators, their features, and how you can best use them in your next video marketing campaign. Time to press play on easier video creation.
Table of Contents
- Can AI make videos?
- Transforming Text to Video With AI
- What makes a great AI video generator?
- Best AI Video Generators
Can AI make videos?
Yes, AI can make videos.
AI video generators can instantly produce basic presentation slides with text, B-roll, and background music, all the way up to advanced videos of lifelike humans “speaking” to you (also known as AI avatars).
AI’s impressive — but it’s not perfect.
What works well with AI video generators:
- Video scripts. Being able to generate video scripts in a few seconds is incredible and saves so much time.
- Stock imagery, B-roll, and background music. Even though it still requires editing, having multimedia pulled automatically for you by the video generator makes it feel like you have an assistant.
- Video editing. The video editing capabilities are incredible and often beginner-friendly, which is a huge leap in the video editing world.
What isn’t working (yet):
- Believability. The realistic AI avatars are incredibly advanced, but most are still identifiable as non-human models. The eyes, mannerisms, and articulation give them away.
- Pacing. There’s been a lot of research done on how quickly a video has to move from scene to scene to hold viewers’ attention, and I found that not all generators factored this into their algorithm.
- Decision overload. The number of video templates, AI avatars, and effects at your fingertips can make the editing process feel overwhelming.
AI is rapidly advancing, and some of these quirks will soon be passé.
Transforming Text to Video With AI
When ChatGPT catapulted to popularity in 2022, I don’t think the average person had any idea just how quickly AI video would follow. It needs to be used ethically to be useful to society, but when leveraged correctly, it’s an incredible tool.
The most sought-after AI video feature is the text-to-video generator. This allows you to type in a sentence and, in a few seconds, be presented with an editable AI-generated video.
I tested this feature using two different prompts:
- A vague prompt: “I’d like to educate viewers about AI-generated video.”
- A specific prompt: “I’d like to inspire beginner marketers to try their hand at AI video generation. The video should explain the benefits of AI video generators and should inspire viewers to try this new video tool.”
As my pinky finger gently tapped the “enter” button on my keyboard, it felt more like a magic wand than a measly appendage. I used HubSpot’s free AI video generator Clip Creator, and here’s what I saw.
They were both high-quality videos. Both videos had appropriate stock images, music, and were tailored for human behavior. The content was very similar for both videos.
After testing many AI generators, I’ve found that a marketer’s time is better spent editing rather than making their prompt more specific. No matter how perfect your prompt feels, the end result will still require edits.
What makes a great AI video generator?
So, how does one evaluate all of the different software on the market? The best AI video tools all have a mix of these different features.
Intuitive User Interface
While most platforms go on and on about their list of fancy AI features, what users need first and foremost is an easy-to-use AI studio. This enables a quick editing process.
AI Scripts
Automatically-generated video scripts save an incredible amount of time when producing video content.
They turn written content (such as a blog post, email, etc.) or a prompt into spoken language. Sometimes, they even use an AI narrator to read it out loud for you.
Not all software can generate video scripts, but it’s an enormous time saver. To be fair to the software that doesn’t offer this: It’s replaceable with a few clicks in ChatGPT.
After trying more than a dozen AI video generators, I found the AI scripts were one of the features that made the greatest difference, along with the next feature.
Factoring in Human Behavior
Some software have tailored their AI to match human behavior, and some haven’t.
For example, humans prefer videos with a brisk pace and visuals that don’t stay on the screen too long. In the video world, this is referred to as “pacing.”
Not all software is tailored for this, and as a result, will produce slow, lengthy slides that feel like a bad PowerPoint presentation.
This isn’t a detail that software companies list on their “features” page, but it’s something that’s apparent based on the first draft of the video that the software gives you.
Template Library
Start from scratch? What is it, 2018?
There’s no need to start from scratch with video anymore, as most platforms have built-in template libraries. Bonus points if these libraries include variation in:
- Intended audience.
- Aspect ratio.
- Project type.
Editing Capabilities
It’s normal for different software to offer different editing options, but most AI studios will cover the basics, such as:
- Text.
- Fonts.
- Music.
- Colors.
- Timing.
- Transitions.
- Animations.
- Stock footage.
- Different video styles.
More advanced software will also include avatars, where you can edit an avatar’s:
- Face/body.
- Clothes.
- Accent.
- Tone.
Pricing Tiers (or Free Plan)
The cost of an AI video generator ranges from $0 to $50 a month (paid annually).
All of the paid software include a discount when purchasing an annual package, and the cost of month-to-month service is always higher.
I know you’re on a budget — all of the suggested AI tools below are either free or include a free trial/demo.
Multilingual
Look for software that supports multiple languages if your business requires it.
Best AI Video Generators
AI video generators have come extremely far in a short time. You can now make professional videos with the numerous text-to-video generation tools on the market.
I’ve tried all of the most popular AI video generators so that you don’t have to. Here’s what I found.
1. Clip Creator
Clip Creator is the best AI video generator for beginners. It can be used by someone with no video experience and walks you through the video creation process painlessly.
You start by answering a few basic questions (like video type and video tone), then provide a brief overview of the video you’d like to create.
You can choose from video templates, which are oriented for both landscape videos and vertical videos.
Then, Clip Creator uses AI to generate the text on your slides, plus the background imagery. You’re instantly given a video with editable text, stock images, background music, etc.
The video creation workflow is very intuitive (think: the ease of Canva, not the struggle of Adobe Premiere Pro).
My experience: I love how streamlined this software is. Instead of bombarding you with endless features, options, and pop-ups, Clip Creator starts simple and allows you to make any edits you need after it generates the video.
Pros: Incredibly intuitive user interface, great customization options, and makes for a very fast video creation process.
Cons: Smaller template library than paid AI video generators, and no advanced features like realistic AI avatars.
Best for: Video creation beginners and marketers on a budget. Most user-friendly interface and best free AI video generator.
2. Pictory
Pictory is an excellent AI video generator for creators and marketers who don’t have experience creating videos. All you have to do is provide a script or article to guide your video content.
For example, you can submit a blog post, and Pictory will create a video based on the post that can be used for social media or your website. Furthermore, you can edit videos in minutes by using text.
Pictory also includes a feature that creates shareable video highlight reels that can be used as a trailer or a short-form video for social media such as a Reel.
Even better, Pictory can automatically caption and summarize your videos.
My experience: I provided the same prompt for Pictory as I did for the Clip Creator video, and it initially generated much less content (only 1 slide).
I went back and instead provided a URL of a blog post and tested the blog-to-video generator. This feature automatically creates video scripts based on a blog post, and using their realistic AI voices, I could have it automatically narrated too.
The writing on every slide needed to be edited significantly to be useful, but I was impressed with the options. Pictory supports multiple languages (currently English, Spanish, French, and German) and has a huge library of AI voices.
Prices for Pictory start at $19 per month, and users can try a 2-week free trial.
Pros: Users have a lot of options for how to begin their AI-generated videos, and they can thoroughly customize the video output.
Cons: The first draft of the automatically-generated videos needs heavy editing. It may be faster to let ChatGPT write a script for you and use that.
Best for: Marketers and creators with limited video editing experience who want to convert content like blog posts or webinars into shareable video content.
3. Simplified
The Simplified AI video generator transforms a long-form video into multiple AI-enhanced clips with just one click. This allows users to create videos from text and make an entirely new video using its accessible editing interface.
Simplified simplifies the way we produce content by providing users with easy access to an expansive in-app library that hosts thousands of templates, all available for free.
I like that it not only does it guarantee exceptional video quality, but it also pairs this with an intuitive, user-friendly interface, ensuring that users can craft high-quality videos without sacrificing ease of use.
Its comprehensive suite of features goes beyond basic editing options to include animation enhancements and multilingual translation capabilities, making it a versatile all-in-one tool for video creation. Users can save their brand settings in
Simplified’s “brand book” which I think is a great time-saving feature.
Whether you’re a seasoned professional or just starting, this platform equips you with everything you need to bring your vision to life. Brands like Bloomberg, DuckDuckGo, and Cashify use Simplified for their marketing needs.
My experience: I prompted Simplified the same way I prompted the other video generators, and I was immediately asked to describe my target audience in addition to providing my video topic.
This was a nice step to get more personalized videos but required more user-generated input than Clip Creator, which had a multiple-choice intake process.
If you stick to the free plan, it’s time-consuming to sift through all of the features to see what’s actually free to use.
Prices for Simplified include a forever free plan, paid plans start from $15.20 a month, billed annually.
Pros: If you pay for this software, you have many creation options at your fingertips that not all other platforms offer (AI meme creation, AI image generation, AI carousel maker, etc.).
Cons: Not the best free AI video generator; other platforms are more generous with their features. You’re not able to test the text-to-video generator without joining a paid plan, as you’re about to do with other features.
Best for: Creators who want to create, edit, and schedule videos for all social media platforms.
4. Synthesia
Synthesia is an AI video creation platform that can generate videos in more than 120 languages, accents, and voice tones.
Users can create custom AI avatars to represent their brand in videos or choose from more than 150 diverse stock AI avatars.
Other interesting features include text-to-speech, which allows users to type in their texts to be converted into professional voiceovers.
Users can also clone their own voice and pair it with their avatar. Brands like Nike and Google leverage Synthesia in their videos.
My experience: I tried the free video demo of Synthesia. Rather than using AI to write video scripts based on a prompt, you enter a script, and then an AI avatar reads it for you.
While it does generate very realistic AI avatars, they do have the mannerisms of video game characters and tech-savvy viewers would be able to spot that this is AI-generated.
Prices for Synthesia start at $22/month, and you can create a free AI video using their demo generator.
Pros: The realistic AI avatars allow you to choose the “model” and tone of your video.
Cons: The free version is more limited than the other AI video tools, and viewers will likely detect the unnaturalness of the AI avatars.
Best for: Brands looking to create videos that feature a host or stand-in for on-air talent.
5. HeyGen
HeyGen provides a variety of helpful tools and features for users to generate videos in minutes. Users can choose from 300+ voices available in 40+ languages.
They can also create a custom avatar that uses their own voice via uploaded recordings. Users can also personalize their avatar by using its face swap feature.
My experience: HeyGen offers many competitive features, such as voice cloning, realistic AI avatars, and even basic avatar animation.
The avatar voices have variety in their tone and intonation, which creates a very realistic experience for the listeners.
HeyGen auto-populates your video clips with background music, stock photos, and more, providing a really quick process for making professional videos.
I was surprised by how easy it was to generate videos and found it to have one of the smoothest interfaces.
HeyGen is free to use for one minute daily. For longer use, prices start at $48 per month, when paid annually.
Pros: HeyGen provides easy-to-follow video tutorials to explain its features further and answer common questions. The user interface isn’t overwhelming and guides you through creating videos.
Cons: The lowest pricing tier is more expensive than many other AI video tools.
Best for: Quickly produce professional videos with this fast and user-friendly AI video generation platform.
6. Movavi Video Editor
Rather than generating AI videos from scratch, the Movavi Video Editor uses AI to make video editing easier. Video editing can be a time-consuming chore, and for many, it’s the less enjoyable side of content creation.
However, with Movavi Video Editor’s nonlinear AI technique, you’re not just replicating traditional tool functions but also enhancing your videos through advanced AI video editing.
With AI background removal, you can cut out and replace backgrounds, adding a new dimension to your visuals.
Plus, the AI noise removal feature enhances audio quality by automatically eliminating unwanted sounds, ensuring your videos are of the highest standard.
The app also offers a host of advanced options like PiP, chroma-key, titles, keyframing, motion tracking, and more. Following the free 7-day trial, paid plans start at $49.95 per year.
Pros: The presence of built-in training rapidly familiarizes you with the software, and it has features that many other AI video editors don’t.
Cons: This AI video editor brings high-level tools (like color correction) to marketers’ fingertips, but total video newbies may be overwhelmed with some of the more advanced features.
Best for: Creators and marketers who already have video footage and want help editing videos to be more engaging (or who just need to speed up the editing process).
7. Deepbrain AI
With Deepbrain AI, users can create videos by uploading their script and using the text-to-speech feature. The platform will then generate a video in five minutes or less. You can manually type in the script or copy and paste it into the platform.
From there, you just need to select the appropriate language and AI model and finish editing. Deepbrain allows users to select a custom-made avatar that suits their brand.
My experience: New users are allowed to input a 300-character script, and using the Deepbrain AI text-to-video generator, an AI avatar will read your script.
I found the Deepbrain AI models to be less convincing than others; the mouths sometimes moved between sentences, and I think all viewers could identify these as non-human.
However, since the advent of TikTok’s text-to-speech narration feature, the public has become more accustomed to artificial narration, and there are many situations where this type of AI would work well.
Prices for Deepbrain start at $30 per month.
Pros: The platform’s intuitive features make it excellent for beginners with limited or no video creation experience.
Cons: The Deepbrain AI avatars are identifiable as being non-human.
Best for: Marketing videos that need text-to-speech narration and have visuals for B-roll.
8. Synthesys
A popular choice for brands looking to create videos for commercial use, Synthesys is an AI video generator that aims to enhance your content.
The platform uses its Synthesys text-to-video technology to turn scripts into engaging media.
With Synthesys, you can create video content without a camera or crew. Just choose an avatar and type in your script in one of 140+ available languages.
From there, the generator will create a high-quality video to be shared across multiple platforms.
My experience: I like that Synthesys allows you to try their video editor for free without signing up, which is a really user-friendly approach that allows you to test the product easily to see if it meets your needs.
You’re immediately offered a range of video templates, and can easily customize the text, narration, colors, and AI avatar. With the free plan, you can download AI-generated videos, images, and voiceovers.
After the free plan, prices for Synthesys start at $20 per month when paid annually.
Pros: The AI avatar options with this software are really diverse, allowing you to choose standing avatars, seated avatars, and even create a custom avatar to help distinguish your videos.
Cons: This AI video maker requires you to input your own text and doesn’t include language generation that some other platforms have.
Best for: Explainer videos, eLearning, product descriptions, and social media content, particularly across multilingual channels. Videos can be translated using AI.
9. InVideo
You don’t need a background in video editing or creation to use InVideo. Like many AI video generators on this list, InVideo creates video from input text.
Moreover, the platform has various professionally designed and animated templates that users can choose from.
To create your video, input your text, select or customize a template, and download the finished video. From there, you can share it directly to platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
My experience: I entered a short prompt, and it generated a video title. Then, InVideo asked me to select the audience, look and feel, and platform.
From there, the AI-generated a script, planned video scenes, generated video scenes, and created an outline for the video.
The AI-generated script was informative, thorough, and well-paced. It was narrated by a lifelike AI narrator and automatically paired with background music as well as background stock imagery and dynamic visuals.
In addition to being able to manually edit the video, I could also give commands, and AI editing would make my changes.
InVideo is free to use and has plans starting at $20 per month (when paid annually) if you’re a small business or creator looking to create watermark-free content.
Pros: The fastest AI video generator for creating and editing professional videos that check all the boxes (visuals, script, narration, and music).
Cons: The video editor has fewer controls than other platforms, as they’d rather you give commands and let the AI video editor handle the edits. You still have an incredible amount of control over the video generation and editing.
Best for: Quickly creating and sharing social media videos and making minimal manual edits.
10. Veed.io
With Veed.io, you can use custom text, colors, font, and music to create a unique video for your brand. One of its standout features is Auto Transcribe.
You can upload your video, hit the Auto Transcribe button, and immediately download the script. Even better, there is no software to download, and the platform is easy to use for those without video editing experience.
My experience: I entered my “Pinterest marketing for beginners” prompt, and Veed.io quickly generated a short vertical video.
The AI video generator automatically provided the script, AI narration, background music, stock videos, and close captioning.
The on-screen captions were really engaging, using color-changing text and emojis — perfect for social media.
Veed.io is free to use for videos under 10 minutes. To access more features, prices start at $18 per month (when billed annually) and go all the way up to enterprise custom pricing.
Pros: The pacing, on-screen captions, slang, and tone were very engaging.
Cons: The stock video that was automatically inserted into the video was off-topic at times but can be easily edited.
Best for: Short-form videos designed to hold attention on social media.
11. Elai.io
Elai is simple and requires no video editing skills. To use Elai, copy and paste a blog post URL or HTML text, choose a template from its library, and let the generator do the rest.
This AI video maker is specialized in corporate learning. Once the video is complete, review it to make any changes before rendering and downloading it.
My experience: I found that the format that Elai uses is unique. Even though the AI avatar doesn’t pass as a real human, the small display size of the avatar makes it feel less distracting.
The avatar compliments these videos instead of dominating them. I also really like the audio options: you can upload an audio file of you speaking, and Elai will generate a realistic AI avatar to narrate the text.
Elai has over 60 languages and 25 avatars to choose from. You can use Elai for free with a 1-minute credit. For more features, Elai’s plans start at $23 per month (billed annually).
Pros: As a specialized AI video generator, this tool allows you to quickly create training videos for new hires or product onboarding videos.
Cons: Being a platform specialized for educational videos, it would be more time-consuming to create general marketing videos.
Best for: Generating videos at scale and creating training videos and product videos.
12. Colossyan
Colossyan provides a diverse range of avatars who can recite your script in a variety of accents and languages.
You can also customize your avatar’s outfit. Colossyan’s key features are auto translations, subtitles, and the ability to enhance messages via screen recording.
My experience: The AI avatar options from Colossyan are advanced. You can add multiple AI avatars to a single video screen in the video creation workflow, starting a “conversation.” You can even customize the pauses between speakers.
There’s a free trial, and the prices start at $19 per month (when billed annually).
Pros: The advanced avatar options make this a highly customizable AI video generator.
Cons: The sound of the AI narrators isn’t the most natural-sounding.
Best for: Creating training videos and explainers for workplace learning.
13. FlexClip
This AI video generator features hundreds of video templates, AI-generated subtitles, background remover, and a text-to-speech engine. And its intuitive interface makes it simple for creators at any skill level.
My experience: I created my video by inputting a URL and letting FlexClip automatically pull content from my website.
The AI generator took an enormous amount of work out of the video creation process, but still required editing. The pacing of the video was slower than other AI tools, but I was able to easily customize all elements of the video.
After the free plan, pricing starts at $9.99 per month (when billed annually, which saves 50%).
Pros: The price point of the basic plan makes this a very budget-friendly AI video generator, and this is a great straightforward AI video generator for beginners who don’t want to feel overwhelmed.
Cons: The AI-generated first draft requires more editing than some of the other platforms.
Best for: Creating videos for internal communication and product promos.
14. Wave Video
Wave Video is a popular choice among content creators thanks to its many tools, which include image and video assets, text overlay effects, audio, and captions.
The platform also provides a variety of video formats for Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and website-based applications.
Other key features are:
- Text-to-video AI.
- Video hosting.
- Voiceovers.
- Text-to-speech.
- Millions of stock assets.
My experience: I tested Wave Video by inserting a blog post URL and letting the AI video generator populate text and graphics based on the content.
The video background graphics, pacing, and text populated on the slides needed significant editing to be ready for viewers.
I like how easy it is to change the video format and edit any of the content. Wave Video also has many live-stream video tools.
Wave Video is free, with monthly plans starting at $16 (paid annually).
Pros: The features on this software are very beginner-friendly, and the user interface doesn’t feel overwhelming.
Cons: The stock images it pulled were of lower quality than some of the other AI tools. The images were blurry and stayed on screen much too long before switching slides (video pacing needed editing).
Best for: Livestream videos.
Making the Most of AI Video
How will AI-generated video help your brand? You can create amazing videos in just a few clicks, which is something that felt unimaginable a few years ago.
Now that you know what AI video generators are available, you’re ready to find the right one to leverage for your next video.
