The 8 Best invideo AI Alternatives for 2026 (Free and Paid)

Find the best invideo AI alternatives for any use case, including Arcade, Sora, Canva, and more.

Product marketing teams are moving faster than ever, shipping feature launches, website videos, and sales assets on tight timelines. The problem is that your team's time gets consumed by video editing and production when they could (and should) be focused on strategy, launches, and growth.

One way to cut that time is to use an AI video creation platform like invideo AI, where creating a video is as easy as choosing a template and inputting a prompt.

But video AI comes with its own trade-offs. Invideo is built around templates, stock footage, and generic visuals, making it hard to create polished, on-brand assets that actually show your product. As a result, teams spend extra time customizing templates, keeping assets on brand, and reworking videos as their product evolves. 

This is why so many GTM teams are looking beyond video for tools built specifically for product storytelling.

Below, we cover the best invideo AI alternatives for 2026, from AI video generators and avatars to platforms built specifically for product demos and product storytelling, so you can choose the right tool for your use case.

TL;DR

  • Invideo AI is great for template-based and stock footage videos.
  • Many alternatives offer better editing, avatars, or higher-quality AI video output.
  • Some tools focus on short AI-generated clips, others on avatars or advanced editing.
  • If you need to show your actual product, not templates or stock footage, interactive demos through a platform like Arcade may be a better fit.

Should you consider interactive content instead of AI videos?

💡 The below applies to software content creators.

Before we dive into video alternatives, here's something worth considering: For product marketing, interactive content outperforms video by 7.2x.

That doesn't mean you should skip video entirely. It means you should think about when to use each format. And ideally, use a tool that gives you both.

That means you'd be able to walk people through your app with a video, like this 👇

Or let them experience the platform firsthand with interactive demos, like this 👇

Companies like Zapier, Rudderstack, Labelbox, and Wrike are choosing to include interactive demos as an integral part of their GTM strategy.

🕹️ Click here to try Arcade for free and create interactive demos and videos from a single recording.

Why should you consider an invideo alternative?

Invideo AI is a capable AI video platform. Their latest releases allow for single text prompts to create videos, voiceovers, effects, background music, and complete scenes. It does, however, come with a few drawbacks you might care about.

1. Editing options are limited, even on paid plans

Invideo is excellent at generating AI videos, but many marketers feel that there just aren’t enough ways for them to make further edits and adjustments on the platform.

In practice, this can force marketers to spend extra time working around these limitations by restarting projects or tweaking prompts and regenerating until they get something usable.

2. You’ll quickly run out of usage on affordable plans

Invideo AI uses a volume-based pricing model, so each plan includes monthly allocations for AI generation minutes, iStock images, storage, and other resources. 

Based on user feedback across forums like Reddit and our own testing, these allotments tend to deplete fast. The reason? Getting AI to produce what you want typically takes several rounds of prompting and refinement.

3. The app forces promotional watermarks onto videos

User feedback frequently points to one frustration: invideo's persistent branding on generated content. While the platform does allow you to strip out watermarks and links, they reappear often enough that content creators find the removal process tedious.

Here’s what one customer had to say:

False advertising with paid version not including any invideo branding, when sending a video as a link, invideo includes an additional thumbnail branded invideo and a hyperlink to their website. this confuses the recipient and makes them click the thubnail, sending them to invideo website as apposed to the video clip you are sharing.

The 8 most popular invideo AI alternatives

The right invideo AI alternative depends on your specific content needs. Below, you'll find tools for AI-generated video clips, avatar-based content, advanced editing workflows, and product demos. We've included what each tool does best, key features, pricing, and ideal use cases to help you find the right one for your team.

Best invideo alternatives at a glance

Tool Best for
Arcade Turning real software products into on-brand videos, interactive demos, and campaign visuals
Sora Generating short, cinematic AI video clips with high visual realism
Pictory Repurposing blogs, scripts, and long-form content into videos
Runway ML High-fidelity prompt-to-video generation for creative and cinematic work
Kling AI Highly customizable AI video generation with fine-grained creative control
Synthesia Avatar-based explainer and presentation-style videos
VEED Combining lightweight video editing with AI generation and avatars
Canva Design-first video creation and simple animations for teams and creators

1. Arcade

What’s Arcade known for?

Arcade is known for turning real software products into beautiful, on-brand interactive demos, videos, and visuals. 

Unlike AI video tools that rely on templates, stock footage, or avatars, Arcade starts with your actual product UI and uses brand-aware AI to create polished product stories that stay up to date as your product evolves.

Key capabilities

  • Brand-aware AI for product storytelling: Arcade’s context engine builds a living Brand Kit from your website and content, including typography, colors, layout patterns, voice, and visual style. Every video and visual is generated on-brand by default, without manual template tweaking.
  • One capture to multiple outputs: Record your product once using Arcade’s Chrome extension or desktop app, then transform that capture into polished videos with voiceover and music, interactive product demos, campaign visuals, and more.
  • Studio-quality output by default: Arcade bakes design principles directly into generation, including smart defaults for layout, spacing, typography, and color balance. The result is designer-quality output without designers in the loop.
  • Real-time iteration and variations: Teams can quickly generate multiple versions, adjust copy and visuals, and refine structure. Creation moves at the speed of iteration, not production schedules.
  • Always-up-to-date product demos: Arcade’s Agent can automatically update demos when your product UI changes by replaying demo steps inside the application and safely simulating real user actions. Humans always get to review automated updates before publishing. 

Why do people pick Arcade?

  • It shows the real product, not stock footage or templates.
  • Every asset is on-brand by default, without manual design work.
  • One recording can be reused across demos, videos, and campaigns.
  • Product content stays current even as the UI changes.
  • Designed for product marketing, not generic video creation.

What are Arcade’s weaknesses?

  • Not built for animated explainer videos or avatar-based content.

How much does it cost?

Arcade offers four plans to choose from:

  • Free ($0/month): Allows up to 3 published demos with basic recording tools and a watermark.
  • Pro ($32/month per user): Unlimited published demos, no watermark, basic video editing, GIF/MP4 export, and basic insights.
  • Growth ($42.50/month per user): Includes all Pro features plus custom branding, advanced insights, advanced branching, translation AI, integrations, and more.
  • Enterprise (custom pricing): Adds enterprise-grade controls such as role-based access, SSO, version history, and dedicated support.

Note: The Growth plan has a 14-day trial. Try it for free, and get a taste of Arcade’s full potential.

2. Sora 

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What’s Sora known for? 

Unlike invideo, Sora doesn’t stitch together long-form videos. It focuses (for now) on short video clips and has incredible attention to detail.

Key capabilities

  • Real-world injection: Directly inject elements from the real world into generated videos, including people, animals, or objects with accurate portrayals.
  • Text-to-video with physical accuracy: Sora 2 generates videos from text prompts while accurately modeling real-world physics.
  • Synchronized dialogue and sound effects: Creates sophisticated background soundscapes, realistic speech, and sound effects that sync naturally with generated video content.
  • "Characters" feature: Insert yourself or others into any Sora-generated scene with accurate appearance and voice after a one-time video-and-audio recording.
  • Multi-shot generation with world persistence: Follows intricate instructions spanning multiple shots while accurately maintaining world state, excelling at realistic, cinematic, and anime styles.

Why do people pick Sora?

  • Sora is currently the most popular text-to-video AI engine. 
  • Many people already have a ChatGPT account and subscription, so switching back and forth between GPT and Sora is easy. 
  • For short clips, Sora’s level of detail and precision is pretty impressive.

What are Sora’s weaknesses? 

  • It’s challenging to keep Sora videos aligned with brand guidelines. Especially for image-to-video, it will make unsolicited changes like changing a shirt’s color from red to blue. 
  • ChatGPT Pro is expensive, and it’s the only option for removing watermarks.

How much does it cost? 

Sora is available through OpenAI’s ChatGPT subscriptions:

  • Plus ($20/month, billed annually): Includes access to Sora with monthly usage limits. Users can generate a limited number of short videos at lower or mid resolutions.
  • Pro ($200/month, billed annually): Offers significantly higher usage limits, higher resolutions, longer video durations, and watermark-free exports.

Usage limits and output quality vary by plan and may change as Sora evolves, so it’s best to check OpenAI’s site for the latest details.

3. Pictory

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What’s Pictory known for? 

Pictory AI is great for repurposing content, like turning blogs or scripts into videos. The tool offers more ways to create videos with AI than invideo, but it isn’t as good for high-definition animations.

Key capabilities

  • Text-to-video: Transform scripts or blog posts into professional-quality videos, complete with AI-generated voiceovers, matching visuals, and background music.
  • Scene-by-scene edits: Head to Story to edit each part of your script, which will automatically update images and voiceovers. You can also adjust clips in Visuals. 
  • URL-to-video: Convert any webpage, such as a blog post or product page, into an engaging video.
  • Voiceovers by ElevenLabs: Generate realistic voiceovers in multiple languages and accents from a library of voiceovers by ElevenLabs.
  • Video highlights: Automatically identify and extract key moments from long-form videos like webinars or podcasts, creating concise clips suitable for social media sharing (similar to Opus Clips).
  • “Apply all” edits: With apply all, you can update an entire video from a small editing change, like subtitle font size.

Why do people pick Pictory?

  • Best AI video generator for content repurposing. 
  • Wide range of style options for adjusting videos to your brand. 
  • Plans are affordable with decent usage limits.
  • Strong outputs for landscape and nature views.

What are Pictory’s weaknesses? 

  • Videos with humans in them aren’t as high quality as in other video engines.
  • No 4k exports. 
  • Unlike invideo, you can’t produce videos from your phone.

How much does it cost? 

Pictory AI has four pricing plans:

  • Starter ($19/month, billed annually): Includes 200 video minutes, 2M royalty-free videos, one brand kit, and unlimited standard AI voices.
  • Professional ($29/month, billed annually): Offers 600 minutes, 12M videos, five brand kits, advanced AI tools, and 120 minutes of premium AI voices.
  • Team ($99/month, billed annually): Comes with 1,800 minutes, ten brand kits, collaborative workspaces, and 240 minutes of premium voices.

Enterprise: Custom pricing for large-scale needs, offering unlimited brand kits, custom minutes, premium voices, and priority support.

4. Runway ML

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What’s Runway ML known for? 

Runway is slowly becoming the market leader for prompt-to-video AI engines. It can create stunning videos with little to no errors. Runway’s advanced model is amazing, but the drawback is that it’s very expensive.

Key capabilities

  • Act-one: A tool designed to assist in the creation of complex animations, interactive content, and motion graphics.
  • Generative video (Gen-4.5): Runway’s latest flagship video model, with major gains in fidelity, consistency, and motion, generating short clips (typically 5–10 seconds) from text, image, or video prompts.
  • Frames: An image generation model providing unprecedented stylistic control, enabling users to craft images with specific aesthetics and details.

Why do people pick Runway ML?

  • Videos are of amazing quality. 
  • Prompting guides are helpful in letting users know how to write prompts to generate good outputs. 
  • You rarely need to prompt the model multiple times to get what you want.

What are Runway ML’s weaknesses? 

  • It’s expensive. 
  • Even with Gen‑4.5, the Turbo mode trades some fidelity and consistency for speed, so many creators use it mainly for quick drafts and regenerate final shots on the higher‑quality mode.
  • Gen‑4.5 is optimized for short clips, typically 5-10 seconds per generation, with tools to extend or chain clips if you need longer videos.

How much does it cost? 

Runway offers five pricing plans that vary based on the number of credits and storage:

  • Basic (free): Includes limited video generation capabilities with watermarked outputs, capped at 125 credits and 5GB of storage. No additional credits can be purchased.
  • Standard ($12/user per month, billed annually): Designed for small teams, it provides 625 credits per month, watermark-free videos, resolution upscaling, and 100GB storage. It supports up to 5 users per workspace.
  • Pro ($28/user per month, billed annually): Offers 2,250 credits monthly, custom voice creation, and 500GB of storage. Suitable for professionals with advanced needs, supporting up to 10 users per workspace.
  • Unlimited ($76/user per month, billed annually): Allows unlimited relaxed video generations, alongside 2,250 fast credits, unlimited Frames access, and all Pro features. Also supports up to 10 users.
  • Enterprise (Custom Pricing): Tailored for large organizations, it includes advanced features like custom credits, unlimited storage, priority support, security compliance, and enterprise-level tools.

5. Kling AI

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What’s Kling AI known for? 

Kling is a new AI video generator that has gained popularity because of its quality and all of the customizable features it includes. Most video generators create clips out of a prompt. In Kling, you can specify things like the creativity level, aspect ratio, length, etc.

Key capabilities

  • Text-to-video generation: Users can input text prompts to generate video content in a wide range of styles.
  • Image-to-video transformation: Transform static images into animated videos.
  • Keyframe animation: Kling AI provides tools for setting initial and final frames, facilitating smooth transitions for longer-form projects.
  • Camera movement control: Users can manipulate virtual camera movements within the generated videos, enhancing the storytelling aspect by controlling perspectives and angles.
  • Lip-syncing: The platform includes features to synchronize mouth movements with audio, making it useful for creating talking head videos or animating characters with accurate lip movements.
  • Detailed customization: Users can give Kling directives like the amount of creative freedom it has to veer off prompts, aspect ratios for outputs, etc.
  • Negative prompts: Tell Kling AI what not to include in videos.

Why do people pick Kling AI?

  • Complete suite of AI-enabled tools. 
  • Deeper customization than tools like Sora and invideo AI.
  • Kling AI has a broader range of styles than video engines like Runway ML.
  • Negative prompts help make more precise videos.

What are Kling AI’s weaknesses? 

  • The basic model doesn’t produce good outputs. 
  • The option to produce multiple videos at once burns through credits quickly. 
  • Videos take more time to produce than invideo AI.

How much does it cost? 

Kling AI uses a credit-based subscription model with multiple tiers, designed to fit creators from casual users to heavy production workflows:

  • Basic (free): Start with a free tier that gives you a limited number of monthly credits to test AI video generation without spending anything.
  • Standard ($6.60/month, billed annually): A low-cost option with 660 credits per month, watermark-free exports, and higher resolution outputs than the free tier. Best for hobbyists or social clips.
  • Pro ($24.42/month, billed annually): A mid-tier plan with 3,000 credits per month, longer video capabilities (higher resolution and more control), and priority performance for regular creators.
  • Premier ($60.72/month, billed annually): Higher credit allocation (8,000 credits per month) and more volume for frequent usage; good for content teams and professional projects.
  • Ultra ($119.16/month, billed annually): Even higher monthly credits (26,000) for extremely high-volume needs.

6. Synthesia

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What’s Synthesia known for? 

Synthesia is an AI avatar video platform. It specializes in animated human avatars. The most common use case is for PowerPoint videos with a talking human on-screen.

Key capabilities

  • AI avatars: Choose from over 240 diverse avatars to present your content, or create a custom personal avatar that resembles you, capable of speaking in 29 languages.
  • Multilingual support: Generate videos in more than 140 languages and accents, broadening your audience reach.
  • AI video assistant: Transform ideas, documents, or websites into structured video content using AI-driven templates, streamlining the video creation process.
  • AI screen recorder: Capture screen recordings and enhance them with AI avatars, creating comprehensive video presentations without additional tools.
  • Expressive avatars: Avatars can display emotions like smiling or frowning.
  • Video templates: Access a library of over 60 templates tailored for various use cases, enabling quick and consistent video production. 

Why do people pick Synthesia?

  • Complete library of templates you can start from.
  • The team at Synthesia hired actual actors to help perfect their templates and rendering model.
  • Face animations are stronger in Synthesia than most AI video generators like invideo.
  • Better collaboration features than most AI video tools.

What are Synthesia’s weaknesses? 

  • It is primarily focused on avatar voiceovers, which makes it more limited than other options.
  • Free plan could be more generous.

How much does it cost? 

Synthesia has a few plans to choose from, based on the number of monthly generated minutes and the number of avatars you can choose from: 

  • Free: Create up to 3 minutes of video per month. Access to 9 AI avatars and 2 stock personal avatars, supporting over 140 languages and voices. 
  • Starter ($18 per month, billed annually): Offers 10 minutes of video creation per month, access to 125+ AI avatars, and 3 personal avatars. 
  • Creator ($64 per month, billed annually): Includes 30 minutes of video creation per month, access to 180+ AI avatars, and 5 personal avatars. 
  • Enterprise: Custom pricing with unlimited video creation minutes. Access to 230+ AI avatars and unlimited personal avatars.

7. VEED

What’s VEED known for? 

While VEED made its name in video editing, the platform now includes a growing suite of AI video generation tools. For SaaS marketers, VEED offers a combination of the editing range you need and the ability to produce video, avatars, and voiceovers from text and image prompts.

Key capabilities

  • Avatars: Users can create custom AI avatars to present content, enabling the production of talking head videos without the need for on-camera presence.
  • Text-to-video generation: Enter a text prompt and VEED's AI builds a finished video complete with clips, music, voiceover, captions, and animations, without requiring you to upload any footage.
  • Auto subtitles and translation: The platform automatically generates accurate subtitles and offers translation features, making videos more accessible to a global audience.
  • Text-to-speech and voice cloning: The platform can convert written text into natural-sounding speech, with options to clone voices for personalized voiceovers, supporting multiple languages and accents.
  • Magic cut: This AI tool automatically removes filler words and silences from footage.
  • AI script generator: The app’s AI can assist in content creation by generating compelling video scripts from simple text prompts.

Why do people pick VEED?

  • VEED has the most editing capabilities for a non-professional video platform. 
  • VEED is easier to use than most professional-grade editing platforms (Adobe Premiere Pro, for example). 
  • Video generation and editing under one platform is a major plus.

What are VEED’s weaknesses? 

  • AI-generated clips aren’t as detailed as invideo, except for avatars. 
  • AI outputs require a lot of editing. 
  • Software marketing teams don’t find VEED’s recording capabilities sufficient (compared to Arcade).

How much does it cost? 

VEED has a ton of free capabilities that you can leverage before committing to a paid plan. If you need more features and storage, choose from 3 plans:

  • Lite ($9/month per editor, billed annually): No watermark, 5 videos a day in GEN-AI Studio, and 12 hours of subtitles per month.
  • Pro ($24/month per editor, billed annually): Unlimited GEN-AI Studio videos, translation to 50+ languages, and access to brand templates.
  • Enterprise (Custom): Everything in the Pro plan, but with added support, customer success access, and video analytics.

8. Canva

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What’s Canva known for?

Canva is the world’s most popular design platform for creators. Its AI video capabilities aren’t on par with invideo, but the ability to make images you’ve created in Canva animated and add further elements on top of your existing video is a huge advantage for SaaS content creators.

Key capabilities

  • AI video generator:  Create videos from text prompts effortlessly. By selecting an AI avatar and inputting a script, the tool generates talking head videos suitable for various applications, such as product releases and explainer videos.
  • Magic design: Transforms text prompts or uploaded images into a selection of personalized templates, allowing users to jumpstart their designs.
  • Magic write: Copywriting assistant that generates text for various formats, such as social media captions, marketing copy, and emails, based on simple prompts.
  • Magic edit and eraser: Enable users to modify images by adding, replacing, or removing elements through straightforward text descriptions or by brushing over unwanted details.
  • Magic switch: Converts designs into different formats or languages. 

Why do people pick Canva?

  • It’s extremely easy to use and collaborative. 
  • You can do everything in Canva, from images to charts to videos.
  • There are thousands of templates to choose from to get started faster.
  • Affordable and geared for both individuals and teams. 

What are Canva’s weaknesses (when it comes to AI videos)? 

  • Canva’s AI video tools focus mainly on talking‑avatar videos and simple text‑to‑video sequences. They’re not yet on par with specialized engines like invideo or Runway for fully realistic, cinematic clips.

How much does it cost? 

In the context of video editing and creation, here’s what each plan costs and what it includes:

  • Free: Access to basic video editing tools, templates, and limited storage.
  • Pro ($10/month, billed annually): Unlocks premium templates, 100GB cloud storage, and advanced features like brand kits and custom exports.
  • Business: ($16.66/month, billed annually): Similar to the Pro plan, with a minimum of 3 people and more branding customization for teams that want to scale efforts. 
  • Enterprise (Custom): Offers team collaboration tools, unlimited storage, and advanced branding features.

Combine video and interactive demos with Arcade

When it comes to what your GTM team needs to sell your product, stock footage and templates aren’t going to cut it. Showing customers what your product can actually do is what drives signups and conversions.

That’s why Arcade starts with your actual product. Record once with the Chrome extension, then transform that capture into polished videos, interactive demos, and campaign assets, with voice-overs, text, and more, all kept on-brand by default. Plus, when your product ships updates, Arcade will keep your content current without re-recording.

If you need product storytelling that shows your actual software and keeps pace with rapid product changes, Arcade is built for that.

Get started with Arcade for free, or reach out to our team to learn more. 👇

FAQs

Which invideo alternative is best for showing my actual product?

Arcade is the best AI video generation platform if your main goal is to showcase your actual software product rather than using stock footage or templates. It captures your real product UI and transforms it into interactive demos, videos, and visuals.

Do I need video editing experience to use these tools?

Most of these tools are designed for users without video editing experience. Invideo AI, Sora 2, Pictory, and Arcade all generate content from simple prompts or recordings. However, if you want advanced customization and professional editing capabilities, VEED offers the most comprehensive editing features while remaining more accessible than professional tools like Adobe Premiere Pro.

Are there free alternatives to invideo AI?

Yes, several tools offer free plans. Arcade, Pictory, Synthesia, VEED, and Canva all have free tiers, though with limitations like watermarks, reduced generation minutes, or restricted features.

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