The best AI video tools we have reviewed
Five tools that cover voice, editing, clipping, B-roll and avatars, ranked by whether they earn their cost for a small channel or a freelancer.
"AI video tool" covers five different jobs: giving a script a voice, editing spoken video, cutting long videos into shorts, generating B-roll, and putting a synthetic presenter on screen. This list has one tool for each, all reviewed in full.
The ranking is by score. The score reflects value for money for someone trying to earn, so the most technically impressive tool is not at the top.
1. ElevenLabs — the voice
ElevenLabs
The most natural text-to-speech on the market by most accounts. Credits run out faster than the pricing page suggests.
The one tool here we would call essential for a faceless channel. Voices that viewers stop commenting about, cloning that sounds like you, and a quota that runs out faster than the pricing page suggests. Full review.
2. Descript — the edit
Descript
The fastest route to a cut talking-head or narrated video, by most accounts. Heavy projects still make it wheeze.
Edit video by editing the transcript. For narrated and talking-head content users widely report it halving editing time. It slows down on long, multi-track projects, and its own voices are a step behind ElevenLabs. Full review.
3. Opus Clip — the shorts
Opus Clip
Turns a long video into a pile of captioned shorts fast. Users typically post about a third of them.
Turns an hour of long-form into twenty captioned vertical clips in ten minutes. Users typically find about a third postable as-is. It finds the moments; you still choose them and rewrite the hooks. Full review.
4. Runway — the B-roll
Runway
Among the strongest generative video tools for short B-roll. Credit pricing makes every failed generation feel like burning cash.
Five-second clips that pass as stock footage, best when animated from a Midjourney still. A meaningful share of generations are unusable and still cost credits, which triples the real price per clip. Worth it at a weekly publishing cadence, not below. Full review.
5. HeyGen — the presenter
HeyGen
Avatar videos good enough for training and explainers. Still recognisably synthetic for anything that trades on trust.
The best lip sync in the category, and still recognisably synthetic in the body. Excellent for client explainers and translating existing videos. Creators who have tried it as a channel host report lower retention than narrated formats. Full review.
What we would buy
For a faceless channel: ElevenLabs Creator and Descript Creator, about $46 a month. Add Opus Clip when you have long-form to repurpose, and Runway when stock footage starts looking like everyone else's. Skip HeyGen unless clients ask for it. The faceless channel guide puts the numbers together.