5 Best AI Video Generators 2023
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Artificial intelligence (AI) video creation and editing tools can now generate the footage and provide the other resources – templates, footage, automation – to create professional videos for varying enterprise and personal initiatives. Often called AI video generators because they use generative AI to help build content, these applications have advanced with remarkable speed.
In this guide, learn about some of the best AI video generator tools on the market today, their pros and cons, pricing, and what you should be looking for if you’re interested in using AI to improve your video workflow.
Table of Contents: Top AI Video Tools Top AI Video Generators: Comparison Chart Product Best for Free Trial Available? Starting Price Synthesia Best for AI Avatars One free demo video generation $22.50 per month, billed annually, or $30 billed monthly AI Studios Best for Text-to-Speech Quality One free demo video generation $24 per month, billed annually, or $30 billed monthly InVideo Best for Social Media and Content Marketing Videos Free plan option $0 Lumen5 Best for Ease of Use Free plan option $0 Pictory Best for AI Video Summaries and Highlights Yes $19 per month, billed annually, or $23 billed monthly
Synthesia: Best for AI Avatars
Synthesia is a leading generative AI startup that helps users transform text scripts and instructions into videos. The solution is particularly well-known for its AI avatars: Users can choose between more than 140 AI avatars — or create their own avatars — and generate audio in more than 120 languages.
Additionally, users have the option to customize backgrounds and branding colors, add soundtrack music and other audio elements, and insert markers to create simple animations.
Users often select Synthesia for its ease of use, full slate of features, natural-sounding AI avatars and extensive artificial intelligence avatar library, and collaborative elements.
For example, once a draft of a video is complete, the creator can easily share that internal link with other users and receive feedback directly on the video platform’s feed. From there, they can embed, download, or otherwise move the video to a new location once it’s ready to be shared more widely.
A look at Synthesia’s AI avatar and template library. Source: Synthesia. Pricing
The following two subscription plans are available for Synthesia users:
Personal: $22.50 per month, billed annually, or $30 billed monthly for one seat and 10 minutes of video per month. Enterprise: Pricing is customized based on the number of seats users need. Prospective buyers should contact Synthesia directly for pricing information.
Users also have the option to create one basic demo video for free or to receive a free personalized demo if they are interested in Synthesia for a larger enterprise.
Key Features More than 140 stock AI avatars and options for custom and branded avatars. AI script assistant and screen recorder. More than 65 stock templates as well as branded video template options and a media library. Auto-generated closed captions. MP4 downloads and video embeds. Pros Live customer support is available to all users. More than 120 stock languages and voices are available to users, which is more than nearly any other competitor. Customers overwhelmingly consider this an easy-to-use and easy-to-setup tool. Cons Personal plan users are limited to 10 minutes of video per month and one seat. Personal plan users cannot access branded templates or AI avatars. Some users have had difficulties with speech and audio quality in generated content, especially for less commonly used languages.
Also see: Best AI Writing Tools
AI Studios: Best for Text-to-Speech Quality
AI Studios from DeepBrain AI is a competitor of Synthesia for text-to-video and/or audio-to-video content generation. It has been particularly well received for its speech and audio quality, giving users the ability to easily mix audio and adjust tones and accents for AI avatars that better reflect what sounds natural to their audience.
DeepBrain also does a good job of showcasing how the tool can be used for different enterprise use cases, including education, sales, news and media, entertainment, retail and commerce, and financial services.
In financial services in particular, AI Studios and its avatars have been used by major enterprises to create virtual finance analysts for personalized videos and virtual lobby assistants for bank kiosks in South Korea.
An example of the interface where users can insert a text or audio script for AI avatar video generation. Source: Deepbrain AI. Pricing
AI Studios is available in three subscription options:
Starter: Between $24 and $144 per month, billed annually, or $30 and $180 billed monthly. Pricing adjusts based on the number of video minutes subscribers select per month. Users can choose either 10, 20, 40, or 60 minutes of video per month. Pro: Between $180 and $480 per month, billed annually, or $225 and $600 billed monthly. Pricing adjusts based on the number of video minutes subscribers select per month. Users can choose either 90, 120, 180, or 240 minutes of video per month. Enterprise: Custom pricing. The plan includes up to 50 scenes per video, custom AI avatars, and 24/7 priority customer support. Key Features More than 100 AI avatars in more than 55 languages. More than 500 prebuilt video templates for marketing, social media, and other business needs. Drag-and-drop video editor with closed captioning. Compatible with text and audio scripts. API access for Pro and Enterprise users. Pros Strong audio editing features for volume, pitch, pronunciation, and audio mixing needs. Text-to-video content generation can be completed in five minutes or less for most videos. Pricing is incredibly modular and allows users to select how many minutes of video they want to pay for each month. Cons Import maximums, especially for PowerPoint, can be limiting; in general, presentation tools are somewhat lacking. Extra video minutes do not roll over at the end of each month. Compared to some of its competitors, AI Studios is not as easy to set up and use from the outset.
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InVideo: Best for Social Media and Content Marketing Videos
InVideo is a video-making platform with AI features that support everything from script generation and avatar generation to slideshow design and YouTube video editing. Its template library is one of the most extensive in the market, covering topics and format types for advertising, slideshows, memes, YouTube, Instagram, music videos, breaking news, and logo videos.
With InVideo AI, users can make content that is tailored to specific platforms, such as YouTube, or to specific looks and feels that match a brand’s identity or goal for the video. Additionally, users can input a target audience when generating a video, ensuring the AI picks design elements and other features that fit that buyer persona’s expectations.
InVideo can be used to make custom videos for different platforms, including Instagram. Source: InVideo. Pricing
InVideo is available in three subscription plans:
Free: $0 per month for unlimited team members and some limited features. Business: $15 per month, billed annually, or $30 billed monthly. Unlimited: $30 per month, billed annually, or $60 billed monthly. Key Features More than 5,000 project templates; additional premium templates for Business and Unlimited plan users. AI script generation. Team sharing and shareable links. Customizable intros and outros. Event and social-media-calendar-driven project templates. Pros All users are given access to branding tools for brand presets, intros, and outros. Even InVideo’s free plan supports unlimited team members and users, making it a great tool for affordable collaboration. The Social Media Calendar feature is a unique way to make videos based on the most popular social media holidays; in general, this platform offers a range of useful features for social media content creation. Cons Free plan users are not able to export any of their video projects or access the mobile app. Some users have commented on difficulties when working with customer support. While the template library is extensive, it lacks useful search and save functionalities, making it harder for users to find and save the templates they want to use most.
Also see: Best Artificial Intelligence Software
Lumen5: Best for Ease of Use
Lumen5 is an AI video generation tool that is most commonly used for text-to-video content generation from long-form blogs and news articles. Companies with limited digital marketing prowess frequently select this tool because it is easy to use, offering users a drag-and-drop editing tool, maker templates and tools, and the ability to automatically generate videos from blogs and RSS feeds.
While the platform may not be the best for a larger creative team that wants to make videos collaboratively, it is a strong contender for individuals and solopreneurs who are managing content for multiple brands.
Users have the option to upload multiple brand kits with certain plans; create multiple workspaces; and upload custom colors, fonts, and watermarks. The free Community plan is also a generous option, giving individuals the bandwidth to create up to five videos per month at no cost.
This is the drag-and-drop interface Lumen5 users to help users easily edit their media, music, and more. Source: Lumen5. Pricing
Lumen5 is available in five plan options:
Community: $0 for up to five videos per month. Basic: $19 per month, billed annually, or $29 billed monthly. Starter: $59 per month, billed annually, or $79 billed monthly. Professional: $149 per month, billed annually, or $199 billed monthly. Enterprise: Custom pricing. Key Features Smart Summarization feature for blog-to-video content transformations. Automatic language detection and matching. Built-in photo, video, audio, and AI voiceover media library. Automated video generation from RSS feeds. Custom branding and brand kits. Pros Although it has limitations, the free Community plan still gives users the opportunity to work on up to five videos per month, which is much more than most free plan and trial options. All paid plans allow users to create unlimited videos per month. Lumen5 is generally considered an easy-to-use tool; its video tools and maker tools walk users through the steps for varying drag-and-drop video editing tasks. While many similar platforms only support one brand per account, the Professional and Enterprise plans for Lumen5 allow users to work with up to three brand kits. Cons Template options are somewhat limited for Lumen5 users; users also cannot access AI avatars or most speech synthesis tools. Only the expensive Lumen5 Enterprise plan supports more than one user per account. The Starter, Professional, and Enterprise plans are fairly expensive compared to similar packages from competitors.
Also see: The Benefits of Generative AI
Pictory: Best for AI Video Summaries and Highlights
Pictory is another AI video generation platform that is best suited for content marketing and social media video projects. It is a particularly effective solution for creating micro-content, or shorter clips and highlight reels from existing long-form content.
The platform is designed to automatically generate these shorter snippets, making it possible for users to get more content, engagement, and reach from a single project.
While the platform is most frequently used by digital creators and marketers, it can also be used by e-learning teams, coaches, and other users who need an accessible video format. Its auto-generated summaries are especially helpful to teams that want to offer more digestible ways to consume video content.
Pictory’s AI tools enable users to generate AI summaries and easily transcribe video content without filler words. Source: Pictory. Pricing
Pictory is available in three subscription plan options:
Standard: $19 per month, billed annually, or $23 billed monthly. Premium: $39 per month, billed annually, or $47 billed monthly. Teams: $99 per month, billed annually, or $119 billed monthly.
The platform can also be tested through a free trial option, which gives users the opportunity to create up to three video projects, each up to 10 minutes long.
Key Features AI summaries and transcriptions; users can also remove filler words from scripts and spoken audio. AI voice narration and voiceovers with support from ElevenLabs. Highlight reel and short clip creation. Academy for video marketing masterclasses and other learning resources. Hootsuite integration for social media projects. Pros Users can easily transform a blog post or other long-form written content into video content that removes filler words and any text that doesn’t make sense in the new format. In addition to highlight reels and video summaries, videos can be auto-captioned and auto-transcribed, making this a great tool for greater accessibility. The vendor offers video marketing masterclasses, case studies, a blog, and a creator community to give users the resources they need to make more engaging video projects. Cons Pictory does not offer AI avatars to its users. No account option allows more than three users per account, which can be incredibly limiting for video team requirements. Compared to many other competitors, Pictory is fairly expensive.
Also read: Generative AI for Business: Top 7 Productivity Boosts
Key Features of AI Video Generation Tools Text-to-Video Content Generation
Many users do not have coding experience and/or the time to learn the finer details of video software.
That’s why many AI video generation tools include text-to-video content generation capabilities, allowing users to easily turn their scripts or other written text into video content that may include human-looking AI avatars, AI voices, and other elements that create a professional-looking and sounding video.
Video Templates
A number of AI tools now give users a baseline video template from which to build their video content. These templates may focus on specific industry use cases, a certain social media or digital platform, or a video format with animation or transitional elements.
Users can often customize these templates and add their own branding, but the video template gives them the creative ideas and basic design to get started.
AI Avatars
Many businesses do not have the budgets to pay actors or employees to act as talking heads for brand videos, but they nonetheless want the personal touch of an onscreen personality. AI avatars can be developed to match different appearances, genders, and other expectations, with personalities, tones, accents, and other unique features added to synthetic voices.
The best AI avatar solutions create natural-looking avatars and give users the ability to custom-create their own avatars. These avatars can be used for personalized sales and marketing videos, e-learning and training videos, and other forms of media that benefit from a friendly face.
Speech and Audio Synthesis
With an AI video tool, AI speech and audio synthesis make it so any number of videos can be made without a human actor or voice. These platforms take text or rough spoken recordings and transform them into video-ready voices that are synthetically generated.
These voices should be available in a variety of languages and, in most cases, users are able to adjust the tone, pitch, accent, and other elements of speech to make the voice sound more believable.
Low-Code/No-Code Usability and Video Editing
Regardless of how much work AI features can do to put together the final product, users typically want some hands-on control over the video creation process.
To make this as simple as possible, most AI video generation tools provide a low-code/no-code user interface, giving customers the ability to move around slides, audio and visual elements, and other pieces of their video with a drag-and-drop editing tool.
On a related topic: What is Generative AI?
How We Evaluated the Best AI Video Generation Tools Ease of Use – 30%
Most people using an AI video generation tool have little to no experience with traditional video software and its complex features. AI should handle the most difficult aspects of video generation, especially for users looking to create a range of videos at scale; this is why we’ve decided to give “ease of use” a larger weight in our evaluation.
Customer reviews that comment on ease of use, strong customer support, low-code/no-code interfaces, and strong collaboration features all contribute to the ease of use score for each of these tools.
Enterprise Use Case(s) – 30%
The best AI video generation tools give users the extensive capabilities and features necessary to create enterprise-ready marketing, sales, training, and customer service videos.
Although many other AI video generation tools exist for casual mobile users and use cases, we mostly steered away from those tools in favor of platforms that offer enterprise features such as video embeds and exports, useful integrations, business templates, advanced AI avatars and audio synthesis, and other features that support an enterprise video-making workflow.
Video and Audio Quality – 20%
To do enterprise-level projects and create humanoid voices and avatars, it’s important to invest in AI video generators that emphasize high video and audio quality.
While compiling our list, we searched for tools that supported high-resolution video uploads and downloads and audio mixing and synchronization capabilities. We also looked for tools that received favorable customer reviews for AI avatar and sound quality performance and that include basic transition, animation, and intro and outro functionalities.
Cost – 20%
When considering the cost of video generation tools, we looked for both affordability and a range of subscription options. In terms of affordability, we sought out tools that offered free versions and/or useful demos and trial periods.
However, we paid even closer attention to tools that offered a range of subscription options, from free or low-cost to enterprise-level subscriptions and features. We focused heavily on tools that came at a variety of price points, identifying solutions that both small businesses and enterprises could use, as well as tools that smaller businesses could stick with even as their needs scale up.
Also see: Generative AI Companies: Top 12 Leaders
Bottom Line: Top AI Video Generators and Tools
AI video generators simplify a digital marketing and communication practice that has long been considered the realm of expert creatives: video editing and creation.
With the help of an AI video tool, users can now take on many of the most complicated video tasks, ranging from editing footage and audio to creating shorter clips and summaries from long-form content.
Especially with so many affordable AI video generators on the market today, marketing and sales professionals in particular should incorporate this type of software into their digital toolset for accessible video creation and better customer engagement results.
Read next: Top 9 Generative AI Applications and Tools
