12 Best AI Video Editors for a Smooth Workflow (Free & Paid)

Key takeaways

• Editing Automation: AI video editors automate many previously manual editing tasks to reduce the workload for creators.
• Benefits of AI-Powered Editing: AI video editors increase speed and efficiency by automating repetitive tasks and ensure consistency in output quality by minimizing human error. 
• Maintain Creative Control: While AI can handle many editing tasks, it's essential to maintain creative control by tweaking AI-generated results to add a personal touch.‍
• Choose Based on Your Needs: The best AI video editor depends on your editing requirements, such as device compatibility, pricing, and feature set.

Video editing can be tedious for podcasters, especially if you’re still learning to use your editing software. Tools powered by artificial intelligence (AI) can help remove this steep learning curve by automating complex tasks.

By taking some of the manual work out of the process, AI video editors make it easier for podcasters to polish and produce high-quality video content quickly. 

Should you use AI for video editing?

Yes, AI can help edit your videos more efficiently. Popular video editing tools have added AI features that help beginners, and seasoned content creators automate many once-manual processes. 

AI is still a relatively new technology, and while it can benefit your editing process in many ways, it’s important to use AI editing features to complement your editing style. More complex editing processes and ones that require a keen eye for detail are still better off performed manually for the best results.

Benefits of using AI video editors

AI video editing tools automate many editing tasks and processes that were once manual, offering you the following benefits:

• Speed and efficiency: AI video editors can drastically cut your editing time by taking care of repetitive tasks like trimming, clipping, and removing backgrounds, saving you hours in post-production.
• Consistency in output quality: One of the most significant benefits of AI video editors is that the element of human error is removed from the process, so they’re more consistent. They can apply your chosen settings—like transitions, effects, and color corrections—uniformly across your videos, giving them a consistently polished and professional look.‍
• Accessibility and user-friendliness: Most AI video editing tools are very customizable and require little to no experience to use effectively. The user interface is typically very intuitive and allows you to automate whole processes with the push of a button.

Tips for using AI tools for editing

If you’re new to AI-powered video editing tools, consider the following when getting started: 

• Start simple: Start with basic features like automated trimming or background removal. As you get more comfortable, you can explore more advanced options like motion tracking and AI-generated effects.‍
• Maintain creative control: While AI can handle a lot, it’s important to maintain some level of control. Adding a personal touch can make your videos stand out, so don’t be afraid to adjust settings, tweak effects, and manually refine edits after using AI to get you started.

You can learn more here:

Criteria for choosing the best AI video editor

When evaluating AI-powered video editing tools, the first thing to consider is where you’ll be doing most of your editing. 

If you’re editing complex video projects, you should consider installing dedicated video editing software on your laptop or desktop computer. If you’re mainly editing short video clips for social media, a video editing mobile app probably fits your needs best. 

Once you’ve determined what device you’re editing on, here are some other things to consider while looking at your options:

• Features: The more AI-powered features the tool has, the faster and easier your editing process will become. For most video editing needs, you should look for a tool that offers smart trimming and clipping, background removal, and automated scene transitions to create engaging videos easily.  
• Pricing: Ensure you’re not paying for functionality you don’t need. Think about your budget and what you’re getting for the price. Most tools have a free version, but sometimes, paying a subscription unlocks advanced features that can boost your editing capabilities. 
• User interface and experience: The tool you choose should be intuitive and easy to navigate. Take several tools on a test run to determine which ones you find easier to use. 
• Compatibility: Ensure the app is compatible with all the devices and tools you use to create podcasts. It should also support the video formats you work with most.‍
• Customer support: Even the best apps experience hiccups. Read reviews online and check podcasting forums to find tools with good customer service, whether through live chat, editing tutorials, or community forums.

Best AI video editing software

If you’re doing the brunt of your video editing work on a computer, here are some of the best video editing software options to consider—especially if you’re interested in tools that offer plentiful AI-assisted editing features.

Riverside

Best for: Quick editing and repurposing of video content

Price: Free; paid plans from $15/mo

Riverside is a podcasting platform that offers a free AI video editing tool packed with helpful, beginner-friendly AI features for recording, editing, and repurposing footage. If you’re looking for software that helps you edit high-quality videos and record and distribute them, Riverside is hard to beat. Audio and video quality always come out pristine without requiring a lot of cleanup when recording with Riverside, but it’s also incredibly easy to make quick and high-quality edits, even as a beginner.  

AI editing features:

• AI transcriptions: Easily repurpose video content into written blogs with automated and highly accurate transcription tools that support over 100 languages. 
• Text-based AI video editing: Delete text in your transcript to remove the matching video in your recording.
• AI Speaker View: The current speaker is automatically displayed in the main window, saving you time in your post-production workflow.
• Clips tool: The AI feature effortlessly turns long-form content into short, shareable content, perfect for social media uploads.
• Layouts: Automatically change aspect ratios to make videos compatible with various social media platforms.
• Caption generator: The free tool generates captions and subtitles for previously recorded videos.
• Timeline features: Color-coded speakers make it easy to zoom in, trim, cut, and splice tracks together. 

• Chapters: Your content is automatically divided into chapters that are easy to skim and scan.
• Smooth speech: Automatically remove audio disfluencies (like “um” and “ah”), and remove silences and background noise.
• Show notes: With a click, get a title, description, key takeaways, keywords, and soundbites pulled from each video.

‍Other key features:

• Uncompressed recordings: up to 4K video and 48kHz audio for the best possible quality.
• Separate tracks: Each participant has their own audio and video track, which means recording quality will always be sharp and clear, even if your internet connection slows down or is interrupted
• Browser-based editing: No downloads are required to start editing the content.
• Layout templates: Easily fit your video to the aspect ratios of popular social media platforms.
• Branding: Easily add logos and watermarks and change the video background to coincide with your branding and style.

DaVinci Resolve

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Best for: Complex video editing projects

Price: $295

While the one-time fee can be steep, the latest edition of DaVinci Resolve has many AI features for automated video content creation. It has an intuitive interface that’s relatively easy to navigate, although it does take time to get comfortable with everything the tool can do. 

The DaVinci Neural Engine can perform powerful editing functions, including analyzing audio and video clips. 

‍AI editing features:

• Automatic speech-to-text: Generate video subtitles automatically. 
• Proxy generator app: Automatically create proxies (a low-resolution copy that lets you make edits faster) from camera originals.

• Neural Engine AI: Automatically sorts audio clips based on classification.  
• Element isolation: This feature identifies, isolates, and applies effects to elements, such as animals and food. 

Adobe Premiere Pro

Best for: Professional video editing

Price: From $20.99/mo

Adobe Premiere Pro is one of the most advanced editors featured on this list. While the feature-packed and powerful software can be hard to navigate, it comes with many AI features that can make the basics of your video editing process quick and precise.

‍AI editing features:

• Color Match AI: Matches the colors in two different video clips so you can splice them together more efficiently.
• Face detection: Recognizes individual faces, which helps color skin tones.
• Morph cuts: Automatically create smooth transitions in your video to look like one take rather than a series of jump cuts.
• Scene edit detection: Automatically cuts a longer video into individual scenes so you can quickly navigate the timeline and rearrange it as needed.
• Auto reframe: Changes a video’s aspect ratio so you can quickly publish to different social media channels.

Invideo AI

‍Best for: Text-to-video generation

Price: Free (Free Plan), $15/month (Business Plan), $30/month (Unlimited Plan)

InVideo offers several AI-powered tools that simplify creating and editing a video. It also has various customization options, including adding branding and logos to videos, making it a flexible and versatile tool for creators. And the drag-and-drop editor comes with plenty of templates that speed up the editing process. 

AI editing features:

• Over 5,000 templates: Search by industry, platform, or content type to get a jumpstart on your content formatting.
• Shortcuts: Remove backgrounds, add music and stock media, and apply brand colors and fonts with a click.
• Video generation: Use basic text prompts or convert a text into a video. For instance, you can ask it to analyze a blog article or podcast transcript to create AI-generated videos using animated stock photos with voiceovers.

Lumen5

‍Best for: Video marketing

Price: $19/month (Basic plan), $59/month (Starter plan), $149/month (Professional plan)

Lumen5 can be pricey for individuals or small businesses, but this tool can be a great plug-and-play solution if you need to generate professional, branded video content in bulk. The drag-and-drop editor comes with plenty of templates, making it easy to create and repurpose marketing content in various formats.

You can use AI to generate templates based on your brand colors and fonts. Quickly turn blog posts or text prompts into videos, and use the library of images, music, and B-roll to simplify the creation process.

‍AI editing features:

• Video generation: Create new videos based on your text prompts or existing textual content like blog posts.
• Auto captions: You can use the automatically generated transcripts for captions. You can also delete portions of the transcript, and the tool will delete that same section of the video.
• Talking head videos: Generate an AI narrator who speaks to the camera, mimicking face-to-face conversations.

Runway

Best for: Professional video editing

Price: Free plan available. $12/month (Standard plan), $28/month (Pro plan), $76/month (Unlimited plan)

Runway is a professional video editor with robust AI features. It offers a lot of versatility and depth, especially on the higher-paid plans, although the user experience can be overwhelming for novices.

 Invest time in the Runway Academy tutorials and help docs if you use Runway. While the tool has a steep learning curve, it can be a powerful asset once you’ve learned to use its many editing features.

‍AI editing features:

• Generative AI: Creates video from text and images.
• AI image tools: Includes image generation and infinite images (image expansion based on a source image).
• Multi-motion brush: Lets you apply specific motion and direction to up to five subjects or areas of a scene.
• Custom AI training: Train your own AI model on your brand’s assets, knowledge base, and video style. 
• Frame interpolation: Create animated videos from multiple images.

Filmora

Best for: Beginners

Price: $49.99/year; $79.99 for a perpetual license

Because it’s user-friendly and comes with an impressive suite of features (including AI tools), Wondershare Filmora is an excellent choice for beginners. 

The platform comes with all the basic editing tools most users need, along with an extensive library of templates, effects, and transitions. 

AI editing features:

• Smart clips: Cuts longer videos into clips optimized for social media.
• AI video enhancer: Automatically smooths and sharpens video.
• AI portrait cutout: Removes background from a moving subject, effectively giving you green-screen functionality without a green screen. 
• Auto reframe: Automatically resize video to fit different social media platforms.
• AI-powered, sophisticated editing tools: Perform advanced edits with motion tracking, video masking, and keyframing.

DeepBrain AI

Best for: Creating training videos and tutorials

Price: $24/month (Personal plan), $72/month (Team plan)

DeepBrain AI is a cloud-based platform designed to help brands create high-quality videos easily, even without prior video creation experience. If you don’t have professional actors or scriptwriters, you can still use DeepBrain to generate training videos and realistic, conversational avatars to make your courses and training more engaging.

‍AI editing features:

• Generative AI: Create videos from a text prompt, document, article, or URL.
• AI Avatars: Create realistic talking heads from selfies, images, and stock photos.
• Multi-language text-to-speech: Generate voiceovers in 80+ languages and 100+ voice options.
• Custom gestures: Add waves and hand motions from your script.
• Multi-avatar scenes: Include multiple avatars in your video scenes.
• Conversational avatar: Create a lifelike conversation with AI-generated speakers.

Best AI video editing mobile apps for iPhone and Android

If you’re a social media content creator who needs a mobile app for a quick and effective way to edit and upload your social media video content, here are some AI video editing mobile apps to check out. 

Lightcut

Best for: Automated video creation for action cameras
Price: Free (with in-app purchases)

LightCut is a smart mobile video editor optimized for creating highlight reels, particularly for action camera footage (e.g., GoPro) and mobile videos. 

It’s ideal for users who want to quickly produce dynamic and engaging videos without needing advanced editing skills. LightCut uses AI to analyze clips and automatically create story-driven, high-quality videos.

AI editing features:

• One-tap "AI Auto Edit" for automatic video generation
• AI-powered clip analysis to detect highlights and key moments
• Smart music recommendations based on video tone
• AI suggestions for transitions, effects, and speed adjustments

Capcut

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​Best for: Vloggers and content creators
Price: Free (with in-app purchases), $4.99/month (Premium plan)

CapCut is a feature-packed mobile video editor created by ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok. 

It's ideal for vloggers and social media influencers who need to produce high-quality videos with smooth transitions, special effects, and filters. It also integrates directly with TikTok for quick posting.

AI editing features:

• Auto-caption generation
• AI-powered video stabilization
• Intelligent color correction and enhancement
• AI-based music recommendations based on mood

Inshot

Best for: Quick and creative social media content
Price: Free (with in-app purchases)

InShot is a popular and easy-to-use mobile video editor designed for creating fun and engaging social media videos. It allows users to trim, merge, add music, and apply filters in minutes. Its intuitive interface makes it perfect for creators looking to quickly polish their content for platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

AI editing features:

• Auto-sync music with video clips
• AI-generated filters and effects
• Auto-cropping for platform-specific video ratios
• Smart background blur for vertical videos

Kinemaster

Best for: Professional-level mobile editing
Price: Free, $4.99/month (Pro plan)

KineMaster offers professional-grade tools for creators looking to produce high-quality videos directly on their phones. It’s perfect for more detailed editing, including multi-layer effects, chroma key (green screen), and advanced audio mixing.

AI editing features:

• AI-assisted video trimming for precise cuts
• Smart audio leveling for background music and voiceovers
• AI-based chroma key to automatically remove backgrounds

FAQs about AI video editors 

What is the difference between an AI video editor and an AI video generator?

An AI video generator creates new videos from a prompt, while an AI video editor offers editing features. Some AI editing tools (like Deepbrain AI and Runway) also offer video generation, but that’s not always true.

Can ChatGPT edit videos?

No, ChatGPT can’t edit videos on its own. But tools like Riverside, Adobe Premiere Pro, and Wondershare Filmora are great options for AI-powered video editing.

Is there a free AI video editor?

Most AI video editing tools have a free plan. Check out the plans offered by some of the best AI tools like Riverside.fm, Invideo AI, Runway, and more.

Are AI video editors easy to use for beginners?

AI video editing tools are often designed with beginners in mind. They’re usually intuitive to use and come with many user-friendly features that make it easy to create high-quality videos, even if you have no editing experience.