Animoto

What is Animoto?

Animoto is a cloud-based video creation software that enables users to create professional-quality videos without extensive editing experience. Created to transform photos and video clips into engaging slideshows, it has evolved into a video maker with drag-and-drop functionality, customizable templates, and extensive stock media libraries.

With Animoto, you can create marketing videos, social media content, presentations, and personal projects using a simple interface that requires no technical video editing skills. It provides access to licensed music tracks, Getty Images stock photos and videos, screen recording capabilities, and brand customization tools.

Quick Overview of Animoto

Pros and Cons of Animoto

Pros

User-friendly interface: Animoto’s intuitive drag-and-drop interface makes video creation accessible to complete beginners.

Extensive stock media library: Professional and Professional Plus plans include access to millions of Getty Images stock photos and videos, eliminating the need to purchase individual stock assets. 

Quick video production: The platform’s template-based approach and automated features enable rapid content creation. You can produce marketing videos, social media content, and presentations in a fraction of the time.

Multiple aspect ratios and formats: Animoto offers one-click resizing for different social media platforms, making it easy to repurpose content for Instagram Stories, Facebook posts, YouTube videos, and other channels without manual reformatting.

Cons

Limited customization options: While templates provide a quick start, many users find them restrictive for more creative or complex projects. It lacks advanced editing features.

Expensive pricing structure: The cost of Animoto is higher compared to its competitors. 

Animoto Pricing

Animoto offers tiered subscription pricing with both monthly and annual payment options. Annual plans provide approximately 50% savings compared to monthly billing.

Special Pricing

Animoto offers discounted rates for registered nonprofits, teachers, and educational institutions. Contact their customer team directly to confirm eligibility and receive special pricing.

Animoto Features

Drag-and-Drop Video Editor

Animoto’s core strength lies in its intuitive visual editor that eliminates the need for complex timeline-based editing. You can simply drag photos, video clips, and text blocks into place, rearrange them as needed, and let Animoto handle the transitions and timing automatically.

The editor supports multiple media sources, including direct uploads, cloud storage imports from Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, and Box, and mobile uploads via QR code scanning. This flexibility ensures you can access your media regardless of where it’s stored.

Customizable Templates

It offers 50+ pre-designed templates covering various use cases, including marketing campaigns, social media posts, real estate tours, recipe demonstrations, product showcases, and personal events. Each template provides a structured starting point with suggested layouts, text placements, and pacing.

You can customize every element within templates, including colors, fonts, music, and content arrangement. Templates also support multiple aspect ratios, such as square (1:1), vertical (9:16), and landscape (16:9), formats optimized for different social media platforms.

Getty Images Stock Library

Professional and Professional Plus subscribers gain unlimited access to Getty Images’ extensive collection of licensed stock media. The Professional plan provides 1 million+ images and video clips, while Professional Plus unlocks 100 million+ premium assets.

This partnership eliminates copyright concerns and the need to purchase individual stock assets separately. You can search the library directly within Animoto using keywords and filters to find relevant, high-quality visuals that enhance your video projects.

Screen and Webcam Recording

Built-in screen capture functionality allows you to record demonstrations, tutorials, presentations, and software walkthroughs without leaving the Animoto platform. You can record your screen, webcam, or both simultaneously, and add voice-over narration directly from your browser.

This feature is particularly valuable for creating educational content, product demos, onboarding materials, and internal communications. Recorded content integrates seamlessly into your video projects alongside uploaded media and stock assets.

Licensed Music Library

Animoto provides access to thousands of royalty-free, commercially licensed music tracks across various genres and moods. The Free plan includes 50 tracks, while Professional plans offer 3,000+ options.

You can also upload your own music files, giving you complete control over audio selection. The platform automatically adjusts music volume when video clips with audio play, ensuring dialogue and sound effects remain audible.

Text and Graphics

You can add text blocks with customizable fonts, colors, sizes, and animations to your videos. Professional plans offer 40+ professional fonts, while Professional Plus allows custom font uploads for complete brand consistency.

Text overlays support multiple animation styles, including fade-ins, slides, and typewriter effects. You can position text anywhere within the frame and adjust timing to synchronize with your visual content and music.

Brand Customization

Professional and Professional Plus plans enable comprehensive brand customization. Save your brand colors, fonts, logos, and watermarks to apply consistent branding across all video projects with a single click.

Create reusable branded templates for recurring content types like weekly social posts, client deliverables, or internal communications. This feature streamlines production workflows and maintains visual consistency across your video marketing efforts.

Multi-Track Audio

Professional and Teams plan users can layer up to 8 audio tracks, including music, voice-overs, and sound effects. This capability provides greater creative control over audio composition and enables more sophisticated storytelling.

Voice-over recording functionality is built directly into the platform, allowing you to narrate your videos without external recording software. Recorded audio automatically syncs with your visual content.

One-Click Video Resizing

Repurpose content effortlessly by converting videos between different aspect ratios optimized for various social media platforms. Transform landscape videos into square Instagram posts or vertical Stories formats without manually recreating your projects.

This time-saving feature ensures your content looks professional across all distribution channels while maintaining visual quality and composition integrity.

Collaboration and Commenting

Professional Plus subscribers can create team accounts, which enable multiple users to edit projects, share templates, and maintain brand consistency across an organization. Cloud-based storage ensures all team members have access to the latest project versions.

The commenting feature allows stakeholders to provide feedback directly on video drafts, streamlining the review and approval process without lengthy email chains or external communication tools.

Animoto Support Quality

Animoto provides email support available 24/7 at [email protected], allowing users to submit questions and issues at any time. Response times vary, with some users reporting quick resolutions within minutes to hours, while others note delays during peak periods.

The platform offers an extensive help center with tutorials, how-to guides, and documentation covering common questions and platform features. Video tutorials demonstrate key functionality for visual learners who prefer watching demonstrations over reading text instructions.

Professional Plus subscribers receive a 30-minute consultation with an Animoto video expert, providing personalized guidance on video strategy, best practices, and platform optimization for specific use cases.

Animoto Alternatives

Summary

Overall, Animoto serves as a solid entry-level video creation platform particularly well-suited for small businesses, content creators, and marketers who prioritize ease of use over advanced editing capabilities. Its greatest strength lies in making professional-looking video creation accessible to users with zero technical experience.

With its intuitive drag-and-drop interface, extensive Getty Images stock library, and quick template-based workflow, Animoto excels at rapid video production for social media, marketing campaigns, and presentations. It successfully removes technical barriers that prevent non-editors from creating engaging video content.

Try Animoto Now

Create professional videos in minutes with Animoto’s intuitive drag-and-drop editor and extensive Getty Images stock library. Start with the free plan today and experience how easy video creation can be for your business.

Try Animoto Free