The Best AI Video Generators in 2025: The Ultimate Guide

I’ve been working in video for over seven years, from film and TV to digital, and now as a Video Editor at Synthesia I spend most of my time experimenting with AI.

My content has reached millions across TikTok, LinkedIn, and YouTube, so I’ve had a front-row seat to how these tools are changing video.

Here’s my ultimate guide to the best AI video generators you can use right now.

Best AI video generators at a glance

• Best for business: Synthesia
• Best for creative filmmaking/storytelling: Runway
• Best for social media: Veo 3
• Best for content repurposing: OpusClip
• Best for AI video editing: CapCut
• Best budget option: Freepik

My testing process

I put more than 20 of the top AI video generators to the test to see which ones actually work for different needs, including business, filmmaking, social media, content repurposing, video editing, and budget-friendly options.

I tried both free and paid versions of every tool, exploring their text-to-video, image-to-video, and video-to-video features. Where appropriate I used the same prompts across platforms so the comparisons are fair.

Most tools give you free credits to experiment without entering a credit card, although the free tiers are usually limited and a few platforms are paid-only.

When testing, I focused on a few key criteria: pricing, whether the output was editable, maximum video length, audio support, and how advanced the camera control options were.

Types of AI video generation

There are 3 main types of AI video generation.

Text-to-video

AI text-to-video generation allows users to create AI videos simply by describing a scene in text.

The AI interprets the prompt and generates a matching video, complete with movement, lighting, and even physics.

This is probably the most popular type of AI video generation, as all it requires is a text prompt.

Image-to-video

Image-to-video AI video generation animates static images, bringing them to life with motion effects.

AI can generate smooth transitions, camera movements, or even animate characters from a few frames.

Image-to-video models are popular with AI filmmakers because they allow you to maintain character, scene and object consistency throughout your video.

Video-to-video

Video-to-video AI video generation uses AI to enhance, modify, or transform existing videos rather than creating new ones from scratch.

This can include improving video quality, changing styles, adding special effects, or even altering elements within the footage—like removing objects, or replacing backgrounds.

Some good examples of video-to-video includes Runway’s Act-Two, Synthesia's AI video translator or Topaz's video upscaling.

Best AI video generators for business

Synthesia

• Video length: 250 minutes
• Max resolution: 1080p
• Free allowance: 3 minutes of video/month
• Monthly price: starting at $29/month
• Best for: creating professional videos for work, education/explainer videos, video presentations, training, sales, internal comms

Synthesia pros

• Create studio-quality videos with lifelike digital avatars and interactivity
• Generate B-roll using a range of the latest AI video models
• Make videos up to 4 hours long with full control and character consistency
• Create videos in 140+ languages
• Easily convert text documents, PDFs and PowerPoint slides into engaging videos
• Translate any existing video into 32+ languages with the original voice and lip sync

Synthesia cons

• Synthesia is an AI video generator built for business, so it's not suitable for making creative/artistic AI videos

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Synthesia lets you create studio-quality videos with realistic talking AI avatars. It’s most commonly used for training videos, but it works well for anything that needs a polished on-screen presenter.

The avatars are the most realistic on the market. Here’s an example of the latest Express-2 avatars:

Pretty convincing, right? Synthesia also lets you generate B-roll with a range of top AI video models, including Google’s Veo 3. The platform makes it easy to convert scripts, slides, PDFs, and webpages into videos as well.

You can also add interactivity to your videos, from simple branching scenarios and clickable buttons to advanced features that let viewers talk to the video, ask questions, or even assign business tasks.

Another standout feature is language support. Synthesia makes it easy to generate videos in more than 140 languages, massively expanding your potential audience. You can also translate existing videos (even ones made outside of Synthesia) into up to 32 languages with the AI dubbing feature.

That said, Synthesia does have some limitations. It’s designed for businesses, making it ideal for longer videos (up to four hours) with consistent characters and tight control. The trade-off is that it’s not the best platform for highly creative AI video generation. For that, you’ll want to check out some of the other tools on this list.

Synthesia price

Synthesia’s Basic plan is free and gives you 3 minutes of video per month with access to 9 AI avatars.

The Starter plan costs $29/month and includes 10 video minutes per month, video downloads, 125+ avatars, and support for 3 guests.

The Creator plan, at $89/month, bumps that up to 30 video minutes per month and adds features like video dubbing, API access, personal avatars, and branded video pages.

For teams, the Enterprise plan offers custom pricing with unlimited video minutes and advanced features like 1-click translations, SCORM export, and live collaboration.

Best AI video generators for creative filmmaking & storytelling

Ru‎nway

• Video length: 16 seconds
• Max resolution: 1080p
• Free allowance: 125 credits
• Monthly price: starting at $15/month
• Best for: creative storytelling and filmmaking, music videos, VFX, DnD videos

Runway pros

• Includes advanced features that let you create very professional clips

Runway cons

• Advanced features come with steep learning curve
• No native audio

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It’s clear that Runway is targeted more at filmmakers and professional creatives rather than the casual AI video enthusiast. The main selling point is its range of advanced tools.

Gen-3 Alpha is still the go-to for text-to-video, where you generate clips from prompts alone. The newer Gen-4 models focus on image-to-video with big improvements in speed, consistency, and visual fidelity. This is what makes Runway appealing for filmmakers — you can lock in a visual style from a reference image, then build short scenes that actually feel coherent from shot to shot.

On top of that, features like the motion brush and camera controls allow you to direct motion within a scene or shift the camera angle. This gave my clips a much more cinematic feel.

I also really liked the inpainting tool, which I used to clean up messy backgrounds without disrupting the rest of the frame. It saved me a lot of post-editing time. For film work, I can see how these tools replace a chunk of traditional editing, especially when you’re chasing a specific visual style.

The free tier is decent for getting a feel for things. I found the generation speed impressive and the output quality consistent, even with fairly complex prompts.

If all you need is a basic AI video tool, there are simpler, cheaper options. But if you’re after serious creative control, Runway’s combination of cinematic generation, performance-driven “Act Two” character replacement, and precision editing tools makes it one of the strongest AI video generators I’ve used.

Runway price

The Free plan gives 125 credits and access to basic Gen-4 Turbo image-to-video tools.

Standard ($15/month) adds watermark removal, higher storage, and more video models.

Pro ($35/month) includes custom voices and 500GB storage.

Unlimited ($95/month) gives you all Pro features plus unlimited generations in Explore mode.

PixVerse

• Video length: 8s
• Max resolution: 1080p
• Free allowance: 60 free credits daily
• Monthly price: Starts at $10/month
• Best for: Great Runway alternative with high quality audio features

PixVerse pros

• Super fast generation, even on the Basic plan
• Options to add voices and sound effects, upscale, extend, and restyle all within the platform
• Generates great quality output
• Easy to use
• Flexible pricing with monthly subscriptions or one-time credit packs

PixVerse cons

• Maximum video length is only 8 seconds

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PixVerse surprised me with how fast it is. Even on the free Basic plan, generations were quick. The platform is simple to use and offers both text-to-video and image-to-video options.

The results were solid. I was able to generate short, high-quality clips and use tools to add speech, sound effects, upscale the output, and restyle the footage. The sound effects were decent, and while the speech sounded a bit robotic, it worked for giving my astronaut a voice as he roamed across the alien planet.

PixVerse pricing is flexible. You can choose a subscription or buy a one-time credit pack if you do not want a monthly commitment.

The main drawback is the 8-second cap, which is shorter than most of the other tools I tested. If you want to build longer scenes you need to stitch multiple clips together. That means generating more footage, creating extra reference images, and spending more credits, which adds up quickly.

PixVerse price

PixVerse has a free Basic plan with daily credits, while paid tiers start at $10/month for 720p and 1,200 credits.

The Pro plan at $30/month upgrades to 1080p, 6,000 credits, and batch creation, and the Premium plan at $60/month offers 15,000 credits and 8 concurrent renders.

An Enterprise plan starts at $100/month with API access, higher concurrency, and team features.

PixVerse also offers one-time credit packs.

Kl‎ing AI

• Video length: 10 seconds
• Max resolution: 1080p
• Free allowance: 166 free credits monthly
• Monthly price: starting at $6.99/month
• Best for: cinematic, filmmaker-friendly videos

Kling pros

• Free credits granted monthly
• High-quality image-to-video generator
• Elements feature gives you a lot of control

Kling cons

• No native audio
• Limited free access to text-to-video on latest models
• Slow free plan video generation times

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I've seen people produce some great videos with Kling's image-to-video feature, but I found that it takes quite a few generations to get a high-quality output.

Kling's Elements feature is pretty neat. It lets you upload up to four reference images to shape how people, objects, or settings appear in your video. I used it to maintain the same character look across scenes, animate specific props, and even build simple interactions between multiple elements—all without losing visual cohesion.

Kling has its downsides. Video generation can be very slow, especially if you’re on the free plan.

While Kling offers text-to-video on their newer models, if you're on the free plan and want to use text-to-video, you're stuck with an outdated model.

There's also no support for voice or audio yet, so you’ll need other tools if you want a complete video with sound.

Kling price

Kling offers four pricing tiers: a free Basic plan with limited monthly credits, and three paid options—Standard at $6.99/month, Pro at $25.99/month, and Premier at $64.99/month.

The higher the tier, the more monthly credits you get and the lower the per-credit cost, with perks like fast-track generation, watermark removal, image upscaling, and early access to features included in all paid plans.

Hailuo Minimax

• Video length: 10 seconds
• Max resolution: 1080p
• Free allowance: 100 daily credits when you log in
• Monthly price: starting at $14.90/month
• Best for: realistic videos with great storytelling

Hailuo pros

• Generous free plan (the platform gives you free credits each time you log in)
• Generates decent quality video
• Offers image-to-video generation

Hailuo cons

• No native audio
• You can't generate clips longer than 6 seconds

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Hailuo is one of a number of Chinese AI video generators on this list. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but after playing around with it for a while, it turned out to be one of the more generous and capable AI video tools I tested. You get free credits just for logging in each day—usually enough to generate a handful of short videos without paying a cent.

In general Hailuo really impressed me with how well it interprets prompts. The framing, movement, and overall composition looked more polished than I expected.

Hailuo has a great feature called subject reference. You can upload an image of a character and have that same character appear in a generated scene. It’s not perfect—details tend to fall apart in wide shots, and close-ups can be hit or miss, but when it lands, it’s surprisingly on point. I did find myself making edits to keep things consistent between scenes, but that felt like a fair trade-off.

The main drawback with Hailuo? Clip lengths are capped at six seconds, so creating longer videos means doing some extra stitching on your own.

Hailuo price

Hailuo offers a free plan with 100 daily credits just for logging in, which is one of the most generous on this list.

The Standard Plan costs $14.90/month and includes 1,000 credits, faster video generation, no watermarks, and early access to new features.

For heavier users, the Unlimited Plan at $94.90/month includes all Standard benefits plus unlimited monthly credits.

Lu‎ma Dream Machine

• Video length: 10 seconds
• Max resolution: 1080p
• Free allowance: no free plan
• Monthly price: starting at $9.99/month
• Best for: fast videos with a 3D-style look

Luma pros

• Great image to video

Luma cons

• No free plan video generation
• No native audio

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Luma's free tier doesn't let you generate videos, so you'll need a premium plan to get stuck in.

Luma's main strength is in its image-to-video feature. I think it's in my top 3 AI video generators for image-to-video generation - largely because it has great prompt adherence and can generate very realistic motion.

My main issue with Luma is that even on the $29.99/month plus plan it still took way too long to generate my videos. Maybe I caught their servers at a bad time, but it felt pretty unreasonable given that I was a paying customer. I also didn’t like that the interface doesn’t show how many credits a generation will use.

Luma price

To generate videos with Luma you'll need at least the Lite plan ($9.99/month), which includes basic video access.

Plus ($29.99/month) adds commercial rights and removes the watermark.

Unlimited ($94.99/month) offers the most flexibility with relaxed usage limits.

Best AI video generators for social media

Google Veo 3

• Video length: 8 seconds
• Max resolution: 720p
• Free allowance: no free plan
• Monthly price: starting at $19.99/month for Google's AI Pro plan
• Best for: generating viral clips with audio for social media, Instagram Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts

Veo 3 pros

• Native audio generation (sound effects, ambient noise, and even dialogue)
• Incredible quality videos
• Great prompt adherence and physics

Veo 3 cons

• Expensive and no free plan
• Sometimes inconsistent lip-sync
• Subtitles pretty much never work correctly

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Veo 3 feels like a serious leap forward for AI video. The visuals are crisp, and the ability to generate AI audio/voices natively in any scene makes a huge difference. For social media especially, having dialogue and sound built in saves you from juggling extra tools. The audio quality is high and the lip sync is mostly solid.

In my testing, I was able to create short clips that looked ready for TikTok or Reels within minutes. The transitions were smooth, characters stayed consistent, and the mood I aimed for carried through. Veo 3 also supports vertical formats in 1080p, which is perfect for social feeds.

Veo 3’s main drawback is its high price, but the Fast mode provides a more affordable, streamlined alternative for quickly generating short, polished clips, making it a good fit for keeping pace with a busy content cycle.

Some faces still come out weird, there are occasional glitches, and subtitles can be hit or miss. Lip sync doesn’t always stick the landing. But even with those flaws, Veo 3 is the first AI video tool I’ve tried that feels genuinely practical for creating short, polished videos at scale.

YouTube has integrated Veo 3 directly into Shorts, giving users the ability to generate eight-second vertical videos with built-in audio. The integrated version is designed for speed and simplicity, though it runs at a lower resolution than the full paid tool.

Google Veo 3 price

You'll need either the $19.99/month Google AI Pro plan or the $249.99/month Google AI Ultra plan to get Veo 3.

Pro subscribers: Get a pack of Veo 3 generations to try.

Ultra subscribers: Get maximum generation limits with daily refreshes.

You can access Veo 3 via either Gemini or Flow.

The best budget AI video generators

Freepik

Freepik pros

• Affordable pricing compared to standalone AI video tools
• Access to multiple AI models in one place
• Easy-to-use interface and good quality stock assets included in most plans

Freepik cons

• Limited functionality compared to using these models in their native platforms

Freepik isn’t an AI model itself but a platform that gives you access to several video generation models under one subscription, including Wan 2.2, Seedance 1.0 Pro, Kling 2.1 Master, MiniMax Hailuo 02, and Google Veo 3. The platform also offers Topaz upscaling to 4K. I liked how simple it was to experiment across styles without having to sign up for multiple services.

Freepik works best if you’re looking for a budget-friendly way to try out AI video generation and don’t need advanced editing or long-form control.

Freepik price

Plans start at $9/month for the Essential package, which includes a commercial AI license and will get you up to 50 videos a month (depending on the model you choose). I think that's pretty great value for money, although the plan doesn't include any premium stock content.

Don't bother with these

‍Op‎enAI Sora

• Video length: 5 seconds (20 for Pro plan users)
• Max resolution: 1080p
• Free allowance: no free plan
• Monthly price: starting at $20/month with the ChatGPT Plus plan
• Best for: longer videos when realism isn’t a priority

Sora pros

• Storyboard, blend, and remix features are fun to play around with

Sora cons

• Often disappointingly low quality output
• No free plan
• No native audio

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Overall I found Sora frustrating to work with. It lets you generate videos inside ChatGPT, which is cool in theory, but in practice it feels more like a demo than a production tool.

We were all so excited when it was first unveiled, but I have to say that Sora is a bit of a disappointment.

As for positives, I will say that there’s no denying that Sora is capable of producing some jaw-dropping visuals. I managed to generate a few surreal, dreamy shots that I loved.

The storyboard feature (which lets you line up multiple shots in one go) is also pretty cool, and the blend function lets you merge concepts in fun, unexpected ways.

But that’s where the good stuff ends. For anything that involves movement, physics, or character consistency, Sora just doesn’t hold up. Sometimes you get something decent. Most of the time, you don’t.

I’ve tested cheaper and even free tools on this list that are way more reliable. Unless you’re going for something abstract or experimental, Sora is hard to trust for anything consistent.

There’s potential here, especially with the video-to-video remix feature, but it’s nowhere near ready to replace any of the other more serious options on this list yet.

Sora price

Sora is bundled in with the ChatGPT Plus and Pro subscriptions.

With ChatGPT Plus ($20/month), you get access to unlimited image and video generation with up to 720p resolution and 10-second videos.

Upgrading to ChatGPT Pro ($200/month) unlocks faster generation speeds, higher quality 1080p videos up to 20 seconds long, and the ability to download videos without a watermark.

Ad‎obe Firefly

• Video length: 5 seconds
• Max resolution: 1080p
• Free allowance: limited free video generation credits
• Monthly price: starting at $9.99/month
• Best for: legally-safe b-roll style clips

Adobe Firefly pros

• Nice interface/UI
• The Firefly video model trained on legally acquired datasets, so no copyright issues to worry about

Adobe Firefly cons

• Video quality is often poor
• Quite expensive
• No native audio

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I gave Adobe Firefly a try expecting something fairly polished, and while the interface was definitely slick, the results felt more experimental than usable.

I tried a bunch of other generations with Firefly via both text and image-to-video and was rarely impressed with the quality of the output.

I had much better luck with abstract or background-style clips. If you’re generating b-roll or something with less focus on realistic human (or cat) motion, Firefly can definitely hold its own. But for anything character-driven or with complex movement, it's just not there yet.

Adobe Firefly price

Adobe offers a free plan that lets you generate a few videos.

Firefly Standard ($9.99/month) gives you 2,000 credits, enough to generate around 20 five-second videos.

Firefly Pro ($29.99/month) bumps that up to 7,000 credits for about 70 short videos.

Firefly Premium ($199.99/month) includes 50,000 credits and access to the Firefly Video feature for more advanced video generation.

AI video repurposing tools

OpusClip

Opus Clip has quickly become one of my favorite tools for repurposing long videos into social media-friendly clips.

The AI-driven clip generation feature is surprisingly accurate, identifying the most engaging parts of my videos and saving me the time I’d usually spend sorting through footage. I appreciate how it automatically resizes clips to fit different platforms like TikTok and Instagram without any manual adjustments.

Adding captions and even emojis is simple, and I noticed it makes the videos more engaging, especially for viewers who watch without sound. One of the standout features is the "hook" identification, which picks out key moments to grab attention quickly.

Overall, Opus Clip made it easy to create compelling, shareable content from my existing videos, and the AI features really lightened my workload.

Munch

Munch is an AI tool that repurposes long-form videos into shorter clips for platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts. It detects key moments, auto-crops to fit different formats, and adds subtitles, making it easy to create social-friendly snippets from existing content.

I liked the clean interface and how quickly I could get started. The AI’s ability to surface engaging segments saved me from scrubbing through footage manually, and auto-cropping made cross-platform publishing simpler. Subtitles were generated automatically, which helped with accessibility.

The trade-off is that you don’t get much control. Sometimes the AI pulled less relevant clips, and I couldn’t refine them as much as I wanted. Subtitle styling and editing options also felt limited, so it’s not the tool for highly polished, branded videos.

Overall, Munch is best if you want a fast way to turn long videos into shareable clips, but less suited if you need advanced editing or customization.

Wi‎secut

Wisecut automatically finds interesting moments in long clips and cuts them, adding music and subtitles.

I tested it by uploading a raw clip full of awkward pauses and unnecessary dead spots, and Wisecut’s smart editing removed all the fluff. The auto-cut feature was spot-on, leaving me with a much tighter, more engaging video without having to painstakingly cut it all myself.

The tool is super intuitive. It offers handy features like background noise cancellation and even let me choose whether to add background music, which really helped polish the final product. I also appreciated the straightforward interface—it made setting up projects and tweaking settings a breeze.

In short, Wisecut has saved me a significant amount of time, letting me focus more on creating content rather than getting bogged down in editing. If you’re looking to streamline your workflow and produce cleaner, more professional videos, I’d highly recommend giving it a try.

AI video editing & enhancement

CapCut

CapCut is a free, all-in-one video editing tool that I found easy to use across mobile, desktop, and browser platforms.

The array of AI-powered features—like background removal and automatic upscaling—made editing quick and straightforward, especially for creating social media content. The audio-to-text transcription was a time-saver, automatically adding captions that boosted accessibility and engagement on my videos.

I liked tools like video stabilization and text-to-speech, which let me enhance video quality without needing complex software. CapCut’s collaborative features were also helpful, especially when working on shared projects, and the library of templates gave me plenty of creative options.

Overall, CapCut’s versatility and ease of use make it a great choice for both personal and professional video editing.

Filmora

Filmora is easy to pick up, even without editing experience. The interface is straightforward, and the drag-and-drop tools made it simple for me to put together short, polished videos. I also liked the library of templates and effects, which gave me plenty of options for quick edits.

The AI features are useful in practice. Smart Cutout, Motion Tracking, and Silence Detection helped me edit faster, while Audio Denoise and Audio Stretch made sound editing easier. Background removal worked well for simple scenes, though complex clips needed manual fixes. Rendering also slowed down with higher resolution projects.

Overall, Filmora is an affordable editor that balances ease of use with enough AI tools to make editing faster. It’s best suited for YouTube and social creators who want solid results without pro-level complexity or cost.

Topaz 

Topaz Video AI is an advanced video enhancement tool that uses AI to upscale, stabilize, and improve video quality.

When I tried it, I was impressed by how well it upscaled footage, even to resolutions as high as 16K, adding a cinematic clarity to older or lower-quality clips.

The AI-driven noise reduction made a noticeable difference, effectively removing grain and artifacts that I struggled with in other software. I also found the frame rate enhancement and slow-motion features to be smooth and natural, making it ideal for creating professional-quality slow-motion shots or restoring archival footage.

Priced at $299 for personal use and $1099 for commercial licensing, Topaz Video AI is an expensive but valuable investment for filmmakers, content creators, and digital archivists looking to elevate their work with high-end upscaling and video repair capabilities.

You’ll need a fairly powerful computer with a strong GPU to run Topaz’s desktop apps. To make things more accessible, the company is also launching Astra, a web-based version that runs entirely in your browser. Instead of relying on your hardware, Astra processes everything on Topaz’s servers, can upscale footage to 4K, and is available through a subscription plan.