8 min read

The Best Video Editors: Free and Paid Tools for Catchy Content

Сontent creation demands effort and dedication. But you don’t need to be alone in this endeavor, as correctly chosen video editing software can become a great prop-up, shouldering a great amount of work.

“Easy to say!” you might object. “There are thousands of editing tools, and I’ll waste days just choosing one. And what if it turns out to be awful?”

We understand you completely! This is why we’ve made a list of 6 great video creation and editing tools for you to quickly scan through the text and choose the one that aligns with your needs and budget.

So, let’s cut to the chase and explore AI video editing software with its features and pricing!

AI video editing software: 6 powerful tools with pricing

Captions. The best for engaging videos for all social media platforms

Captions is a multi-purpose AI-powered video editor that is continuously fed with high-quality data to learn the latest trends. This allows the tool to auto-generate cool scripts for video content targeted at a diverse audience and quickly add subtitles with 96%+ accuracy.

You can ask the tool to create a script for, let’s say, a 1-minute Instagram reel about wild orchids and set a sarcastic tone of voice. In a couple of seconds, the text will be ready, and you can drag it to a teleprompter to conveniently record the video with the script flowing in front of your eyes.

As a free AI video editor, Captions can generate subtitles, which you can customize with a variety of stylish fonts, colors, and even animations to capture users’ attention.

Also, you can voice over your clips inside the app, either yourself or via an AI tool that can dub your videos in 100+ languages. So, in Captions, you can achieve the inclusivity of subtitles and reach an international audience via AI dubbing.

Desktop or mobile?

There’s a web app available for any browser on desktop and mobile devices.

Also, Captions has a mobile app for iOS and Android. As both versions have the same features, simply choose the one that is convenient for you to edit video files of any length.

Best features

  • Subtitle generation with 96%+ accuracy and adding eye-catching animations and fonts to them.
  • AI script generation according to your request.
  • The app doesn’t require previous editing experience and has a user-friendly interface.
  • Downloading of edited videos in any quality and aspect ratio.
  • Export of a separate subtitle file in any format (VTT, TXT, SRT).

Pricing

  • Free for most of the features, including AI subtitle generation and customization.
  • ~$17.50 per month, or ~$37.40 per year for unlimited AI script generation and fast video export without a watermark.

Descript. The best for podcasts

What is Descript and How Can it Be Used to Teach? | Tech & Learning

Descript was initially developed to create and edit podcasts; hence, its biggest advantage centers around refining this type of content. For example, it can remove video background and filler words. Also, it’s good at producing studio-quality audio, even if an initial audio track is of low quality. 

It’s easy to create professional-looking videos as Descript works robustly in browsers. There, you can edit videos via their transcripts, as the deleted textual elements will lead to the deletion of corresponding video fragments. 

One of the newest AI functionalities of Descript is creating an AI copy of your own voice. You can use it to quickly modify poor audio fragments without the need to re-record a short piece and suffer with gluing it naturally to the rest of the video.

Desktop or mobile?

Clips can be recorded and edited only via a browser because there’s no dedicated Descript mobile app. 

Best features

  • AI voice generation.
  • Audio quality enhancement.
  • Filler and repeated word removal. 
  • Multi-track audio editing. 
  • AI green screen (doesn’t require a physical green screen). 

Pricing

  • Free for 1 hour of auto-transcription, 720p file export, up to 10 min of AI green screen recording, and removing of “um” and “uh” only.
  • $15 per user/month for 10 hours of auto-transcription, up to 4K file export, and removing of “um” and “uh” only.
  • $30 per user/month for 30 hours of auto-transcription, removing 18 filler words, and unlimited usage of other features. 

Filmora. Best for marketing campaigns. 

Wondershare Filmora - Review 2024 - PCMag Australia

Filmora is a comprehensive software full of useful editing features. To trudge through the complexity of its functionalities, Filmora made its own YouTube channel where it explains how to enhance the content creation process via the app.

It has a lot of visual effects, stock photos, and audio tracks that you can use for creating engaging clips. 

Moreover, you can tap into Filmora’s AI tools, such as image, music, and video generators. It also has a so-called “co-pilot editing” feature that lets AI suggest how to edit content efficiently. 

Desktop or mobile?

It’s available as a web app accessible through browsers and as a native app for Mac, iOS, and Android. 

Best features

  • AI co-pilot and text-based editing. 
  • Speed ramping.
  • Merging a few videos into one. 

Pricing

Free for auto-reframe, audio stretching and detaching, and keyframing.

$29.99 quarterly for exporting files without a watermark and unlimited usage of AI features. 

Topaz Labs. Best for safe offline editing 

Topaz Labs has very advanced AI algorithms that know exactly how to denoise, deinterlace, and stabilize footage. Its main function is to optimize video quality, and this AI-powered editor claims to know exactly what details of an image need to be sharpened, enhanced, or shaded.

Topaz Labs is offline desktop software, and it provides a great layer of security as the app doesn’t communicate with third-party servers and stores all the data inside your computer.

Desktop or mobile?

Topaz Labs doesn’t have a mobile app or a web app, so it’s only available as an offline desktop software program.

Best features

  • Enhancing video quality up to 16K.
  • Secure data storage on your own device.
  • Video stabilization in postproduction. 

Pricing

  • A free trial only allows for a quality evaluation of your own footage.
  • One-time payment of $299.

Opus Clip. Best for social media clips

Opus Clip: A Revolutionary Leap in Video Editing Unveiled | by Cem Ozturk |  Medium

Opus Clip uses the API of OpenAI, the company responsible for ChatGPT creation. It uses its algorithms to cut long videos into ~20 short clips, and, as claimed, they will be divided into meaningful and logical units.

If you’re unsatisfied with the final video shorts, you can cut and extend them manually, apply subtitles, and even remove filler words.

In this AI-powered tool, it’s not necessary to upload a whole video, but you can simply paste a link from Zoom, LinkedIn, or Google Drive to trigger the tool’s main functionality. Moreover, you can create videos by using a preset of viral templates or even create your own. 

Pay attention that the video editing tool won’t change your video’s aspect ratio, so you need to take care of it before cutting it into shorts. 

Desktop or mobile?

There’s no Opus Clip native mobile app, so it can only be reached online through a browser.

Best features

  • Virality prediction of your content.
  • Making shorts by pasting a link from other platforms.
  • Creation of up to 3-minute-long b-rolls, aka AI-generated video clips. 

Pricing

  • Free 7-day trial that allows for processing 90 minutes of video footage.
  • $19 per month for 300 minutes of video footage.

Capsule. Best for marketing teams

Capsule Video - YouTube

Even though this video editing software is still under development, its existing and upcoming features make it one of the top tools for AI video editing. Capsule claims to work 9x faster than Adobe, one of the big players in the niche. 

Moreover, it promises marketing teams that they will be able to add motion graphics without the help of a UI designer, as the tool’s learning curve is steep. 

Capsule allows for online collaboration and adjusting the footage’s speed by shortening or eliminating pauses via AI. Also, you can create AI-generated videos in the app and insert them into your footage as b-rolls. 

Desktop or mobile?

There’s no Capsule mobile app. It works online through any browser (Google Chrome, Safari, etc.) to facilitate collaboration. 

Best features

  • A steep learning curve and detailed guidelines for non-experts in motion design.
  • Possibility to create custom reusable templates for all video content types.
  • Integrated AI video generator to intercut your main footages.

Pricing

  • Free to export a max of 3 videos. 
  • $99 per month to export video files without limits. 

What is the best AI video editor?

Editing video content for social media and business is daunting when an inefficient tool drags you down. It’s often the result of blindly believing ad campaigns and installing the allegedly “best” AI video editing tool.

With so many “best” but complex AI tools on the market, it may turn out that a simple video generator will be just perfect for your needs. To find your personal match, you need to identify the properties of the tool that are essential to you and the final result you expect.

Captions is the video editor that can deliver a swift and accurate generation of scripts, subtitles, dubbing, and voice-overs. It’s free, so give it a try, and maybe your goals will align with the tool’s capability of creating top-performing content.

FAQ

Is Captions AI video editor free?

If you go for creating videos via Captions, you won’t be in a hurry to edit them within a 3-day trial. Most of the features of our software are free, and you can enjoy them for an unlimited amount of time.