Top Online Video Makers to Check out in 2020 [Include Free Plan/Trial]
- Social Media Marketing
- January 8, 2020
- By Arman
If you are searching for some reliable free online video makers for your business then you are in the right place. Video is the most anticipated and dominating content in 2020. 87% of marketers currently use video as a marketing tool for their business. Among all the social media trends in 2020, video is considered the most important one. I can’t stress enough the importance of video for business in 2020.
Whether you are new to incorporate video into your marketing strategy or looking for a new reliable and easy online video creating tool to try, this post is going to worth your time.
Before we begin, I would like to clarify something important. Free might sound very tempting, but often it comes with many caveats and it’s no surprise here either. Often I find the features are somehow very limited in free plans. So they might be apt for testing or educational purpose only. If you are looking to make professional videos for your business, I suggest purchasing a professional or premium plan suitable to your need. It will save you time and frustration in many ways.
These online video software are generally cloud-based. Most of them offer either a Free Plan or Free Trial with premium options. I attempted to pick only a few best to my knowledge. These are packed with many useful features and readymade templates for convenience. Some even offer graphics, stock videos and sounds to help you create your video easily. Since there are many types of video, some video tools might be best suited over one another.
The ideal would be to try and pick the one you feel best suited for your need. Most of these can be used for creating social media videos for any business and provide attractive pricing. Please note that my listing of the tools doesn’t denote their ranking/review nor I am affiliated with these in any way. I have only attempted to offer a guide to help you choose which you find suitable for your business. Here are the top online video makers with Free Plan/Trial.
Animaker
Animated videos are impressive and that’s an undeniable fact. The artistic visual illustration can easily draw attention. Moreover, it’s quite effective to explain complex stuff easily. Animaker is an animated video creating software that can help you create various types of video such as explainer, presentation, slideshow, info graphic, corporate, advertisement, commercial, social media etc. and many more.
Once you sign up, you might be asked to choose an industry but you can just ignore it choosing others and proceed to check out the interface.
A mega amount of templates will be presented to you to choose once you step forward which is impressive. There are also categories found on the left panel to help you find any specific one. If you don’t want to use any template, you can start with a blank one and create from scratch.
The interface looks pretty clean to me. The left panel contains scenes, the bottom contains a timeline and the right panel features characters, properties, text, backgrounds and other elements. It uses simple drag and drop interface to let you edit/add elements. Once you have done creating your video, you will find the export option on the top right corner. You can download the video with a watermark on Free plan a limited time and there’s an option to post directly to Facebook and YouTube.
The pricing starts from $19 monthly for the personal plan which is somehow limited for professional work. On further observation, it appears that whichever plan you pick, it’s comparatively cheaper on an annual subscription. Please visit the official site to test it out and know more in details at www.animaker.com
Powtoon
Powtoon seems to be similar to Animaker in a lot of ways and considered one of the top online video makers as well. Presentation, explainer, slideshow, social media, infographic and many other types of animated videos can be easily created with it. I think It’s one of the robust video creating tool out there that deserves your attention. Powtoon also offers a Free plan to create videos up to 3 minutes with their branding. You can’t download the video as MP4 but publish on Facebook or Youtube.
Once you have signed up for a free account, you will be asked some basic stuff and then taken to your dashboard where you can select a readymade template from stock or start with a blank template to create your first video. There are three categories of templates: Work, Education, and Personal. Moreover, some templates can be found that are for tailored specifically for ads such as Youtube.
The interface of Powtoon looks great to me. I feel it is very well thought out and presented nicely. If you somehow feel overwhelmed, don’t worry, they provide a nice introduction to get you started with different parts of the interface such as stage, slide panel, timeline, sound control button, tabs, stage tools, top bar etc. Media that can be changed in scenes of a template will have an option once selected. There are two modes, edit and create, presented with a toggle on the top left corner. Selecting create mode will let you drag and drop media and other elements from tabs on the right panel.
I like how Powtoon works, and the workflow feels intuitive to me. Although I wish the audio editing section was better which is somehow pretty basic in almost all online video makers. There’s a grid option to display guides to help you place element easily on a scene. You can make a video on horizontal (16:9), Square (1:1) and vertical (9:16) formats. It offers a vast amount of elements which I liked. There are also transitions to use between scenes. Overall, Powtoon seems to be in a leading position for its functions, features and offers.
Powtoon’s pricing starts from 19$ monthly for the pro plan in the annual subscription. If you make many videos frequently for your business and wish to download it instead of publishing from Powtoon, then this plan might not be enough for you. However, either for your business or personal need, I strongly recommend to test it yourself. I think It’s a great animated video creating tool. More details and info can be found on its official site at www.powtoon.com
Moovly
Moovly is a great online-based video making and editing tool. It’s not mainly focused on animation. It still offers elements such as images, videos, sounds etc. for creating your video for your need. Training, Education, Explainer, HR, Promo, Advertising, Social Media, Presentation and various other types of videos can be made using it. Moovly offers a Free plan or trial for an unlimited period to test out the tool.
I always sign up to test any tool before writing even a brief description as It helps to present the tool as accurate as possible. Once you have signed up for a Free plan you will be prompted with a window to select a template or a blank canvas to start your project. There are many templates available for you to choose from, though the number is not impressive compared to what I have seen in some other video making software. Once you proceed, you will be taken to the studio with a pop-up window.
The interface is a bit different than other tools mentioned here so far. I feel It resembles more like a Nile video editing software such as Camtasia, Adobe Premiere Pro. It can be a positive or negative side depending on your preference. I am familiar with Adobe Premiere Pro so I find the interface more intuitive to me. Nonetheless, there is a help section and many resources available on their official site to in case you need.
The left panel has the stock media library from where you can find/search or even upload elements and drag them to the canvas. On the bottom, there is a timeline to arrange and work with objects, and on the right-side there are properties. On the top, there’s a toolbar with many important functions. You can easily select any object and change properties, animation and colour etc. For the templates, I feel there are only a few options. Probably you should use them to get ideas and then create your own from scratch.
After finished creating your video, you can save it on the top right corner and exit the editor to your dashboard. You will find the options to download and share your project depending on your plan. Moovly starts from about 25$ monthly on the Pro plan and there is also an educational plan available for non-profit usage. I like how it differs a bit from other online video making tools and there are some nice integrations also available to note. I suggest you test it out yourself and know more details from its official site at www.moovly.com
Wave.video
Wave.video is a popular online video maker. Like the other tools, it lets you create social media, text, advertising, story, business videos etc. It offers a huge range of stock templates to help you started easily. Wave.video is greatly optimized and tailored to create short and fast videos for social media and publish it. It also offers a Free Plan with limited functionality highlighting access to 300 million stock videos, images and audio clips for unlimited use in unlimited projects, instant resize to 30+ most popular video format for premium plans.
It takes a few seconds to sign up for the free plan to get started which surprised me. Often It is seen some software require not only to sign up by providing much information but also ask for a credit card which discouraged me to exclude one tool from this list even. Alright, so once you have signed up, it will take you to the dashboard where you can choose a template, upload your media and start from scratch to create your first video.
I liked the organized template section and it will instantly give you the feeling that this tool is purely aimed at creating short and fast videos for social media platforms. The editor is quite clean and intuitive. The left panel provides a wide variety of formats, graphics, audio and video library to find stock elements and upload option on top. On the bottom, there is a timeline like some other online video makers consisted of many scenes and an audio section.
The Right panel presents properties for elements and the workflow is quite friendly I think. You can drag any object on a scene, replace it, change animation and size etc. Any scene’s duration, background etc. can be changed as well. There are also option to add transitions between scenes and edit the duration. Overall, I feel it was quite friendly to create short videos on it. A great number of stock elements and templates are very welcoming.
Once you’ve finished creating your video, you will need to render the video on the publishing tab and find options to share it online in different social platforms. Unless you are on a pro plan, you will not be able to download the video and be limited to only 15 seconds for creation. The creator plan starts from $25 monthly. If you are wanting to create some easy and short videos focused on social media, I highly recommend visiting their official site to know more details about pricing and to test out the tool yourself at www.wave.video
Biteable
Biteable is supposedly one of the popular online video makers used by over 5 millions of marketers worldwide. Business, corporate, slideshow, educational, infographic, explainer, training, presentation, animation etc. and many types of videos can be created using it. Almost all video makers provide some sort of tutorials and resources to get you started along with customer support but biteable is just a step ahead. Not only the software tutorial but also video marketing tutorials and a great blog with fresh contents are amazing.
Biteable offers a Free plan limited to 10 video shares per month with no export. Although it’s quite limited but sufficient to test the capability of the video creating tool. Once you’ve signed up you will be asked for some basic info and upon proceeding to the dashboard, you will find a get started button. There you can select what kind of objective and type of video that you want to create and clicking on find template will show you some related templates to use. You can start from scratch as well.
The interface is clean with a timeline on the bottom consisting a few scenes. I started with a template which already had a few scenes. You can add a new scene too and then upload your elements or choose from a huge stock library. It’s impressive the number of stock animations and other elements that are included. Although I wished they had colour and audio on the same tab as scenes.
Also, you have to build the video on the preview tab before you can see a scene which I didn’t like. I didn’t know my scene was a video before building and previewing it as it only showed me a single-image preview.Once you’ve finished creating your video, you will find the publish option in the preview tab and to download your video you will need to have pro plans.
The pricing starts from 15$ monthly on the starter plan which lets you download only a single video but share unlimited videos with its watermark. Except for the Unlimited plan, all the other plans felt quite limited to me for the downloading preference. Please feel free to check their official site to test it out and know more details at www.biteable.com
Vyond
Vyond is a, formerly known as Goanimate, online animated video making software. It is aimed at a small business to enterprise-level for creating different types of professional videos with a minimum level of skill. It lets you tell your compelling story beautifully and visually through video. Rich animations and characters and friendly interface to help you get started with video creation for your business. Unfortunately, Vyond doesn’t offer any Free plan but a 14-days of a trial to let you test the tool if you like.
Once you signed up providing with the necessary information, you will be taken to the dashboard where you will be presented with a button “make a video” to proceed. after you will need to select a style to get started with creating your first video. The interface is similar to other animated video tools except It offers a bit more functionalities and a mega number of templates, characters, props, audio etc. Of course, you can upload your elements too.
The interface is clean and contains a timeline consists of scenes. you can add template in each scene or start with blank and add elements as you like. On the top left corner, you will find elements’ library and top right corner will have a background, base colour, camera and scene-setting and options when an object is selected. You can edit scenes, change the duration, change audio, add transitions as you like. You can change the character’s action, expression and add dialogue to make life-like. Vyond probably offers the best functionality and customization among any other online video makers.
Another notable thing that I liked about Vyond is its autosave feature during video creation. Once you have finished creating your video, on the top right corner, you will find a preview option to watch it. Beside it, there are also options to share the video with a link or to download it. It’s not a surprise that Vyond provides some great features and exciting functionalities but it comes with a premium price too. The essential plan is quite limited and premium plan starts from 89$ monthly price which is a lot.
Although there’s a discount on an annual subscription, I recommend you to test the tool yourself. Later you can decide if it suits your need and fits in your budget. More details and info can be found on its official site at www.vyond.com
Animoto
Animoto is a cloud-based online video creating software that helps you create professional videos. It offers promo, slideshow, tutorial, social media, personal video etc. in different industrial categories. Although it doesn’t offer a Free plan it does offer a free trial of a professional plan to let you test it for 14 days. The video maker lacks animation but comes with many stock elements to get you started.
Once you sign up and proceed with your account, you will be greeted with many templates to choose from. You can start from scratch as well and then it will take you to the interface. It is a storyboard based interface presented with many blocks for scenes. Each block is like a scene where you can set a timeframe for it. There is a stock library where you can search for photos, videos, illustrations.
The audio section is separated from media and includes an audio library as well. I am not hugely familiar with such interface and so it was a bit challenging for me to work. I found the audio section a bit lacking as it only presents two options to modify such as trim and volume. To my observation, the software is greatly suitable for fast and quick promo, slideshow, text-based videos etc.
Once you finished creating your video, click Preview on the top and then click Produce to export your video. Notable that you probably have to replace all sample media from a stock template before export. I only changed a single image and I found the Produce button is greyed out. Exporting a video was quite faster and I didn’t face any render queue although It was fairly a simple video with a few images and audio.
The good thing about Animoto that the pricing is reasonable for the starting plan at 9$ monthly. If your business needs a lot text-based short videos or slideshows, this can be worth checking out. More details about features and testing purpose, please check out their official site at www.animoto.com
I am sure, there are many other online video editing and making tools out there which I have not mentioned here. I always encourage you to test out and find the one that suits your need the best. No matter which tool you choose, please check for the resource and tutorial available for it first so that in case you get stuck somewhere in future, it will be easy to sort it out without knocking the customer support. Don’t forget to check out my Mega Guide to Social media video and Video marketing tips and best practices for any business to skill up yourself.
