Best Text To Video AI Tools
- AI Improve Tools
- Aug 4
- 10 min read
Updated: Aug 5
Text-to-video AI tools are AI-powered platforms that convert written text into videos. These tools leverage artificial intelligence to create video content, encompassing visuals, audio, and even script development, from text prompts. Essentially, they allow users to produce videos by merely describing their desired content in text, eliminating the need for traditional video production steps like filming and editing.
Text-to-video AI tools process text input, analyze it using natural language processing (NLP), and then utilize generative AI models to generate the corresponding video content.
Key Features:
They often include features like:
AI Avatars: Pre-designed or customizable avatars that can act as presenters or characters in the video.
AI Voiceovers: Realistic text-to-speech capabilities that can generate voiceovers in various languages, accents, and tones.
Visual Customization: Options to customize backgrounds, visual styles (realistic, animated, etc.), and other elements to match the user's vision.
Video Editing: Many tools offer basic video editing features like trimming, adding transitions, and adjusting visual elements within the generated video.
Benefits:
Accessibility: Makes video creation easier for those without video production expertise.
Efficiency: Enables faster video creation than traditional methods.
Cost-effective: Reduces the need for expensive equipment, actors, and video editors.
Scalability: Allows for rapid scaling of video production for various purposes.
Applications:
These tools are used in various fields, including:
Marketing: Generating promotional videos, product demos, and social media content.
Education: Creating explainer videos, educational materials, and training videos.
Content Creation: Transforming blog posts, articles, and other written content into engaging video content.
Customer Support: Developing video tutorials and FAQs to improve customer experience.
Types of AI video generation
There are 3 main types of AI video generation.
Text-to-video
AI text-to-video generation enables users to produce AI videos just by describing a scene in words. The AI understands the description and creates a corresponding video, incorporating movement, lighting, and even physics. This method is currently the most popular form of AI video generation.
Image-to-video
AI video generation from images animates static visuals, infusing them with motion effects.
This technology can create seamless transitions, camera movements, or even animate characters from just a few frames. Image-to-video models are favored by AI movie creators as they ensure consistency in characters, scenes, and objects throughout the video.
You would typically use these tools alongside an AI image generator like Midjourney in a workflow like this to create AI-generated short story videos:
ChatGPT 4o or Midjourney to generate images
An AI video generator (e.g. Runway) for image-to-video
Suno to generate music
Elevenlabs for some effects
Topaz for video upscaling
Capcut for editing
Video-to-video
Video-to-video AI video generation utilizes artificial intelligence to enhance, alter, or transform existing videos instead of creating new ones from the ground up.
This process can involve improving video quality, changing styles, adding special effects, or even modifying elements within the footage such as removing objects or replacing backgrounds.
Examples of video-to-video applications include Synthesia's AI video translator/AI dubbing and Topaz's video upscaling.
How to use these AI video generators
Most AI video generators offer both text-to-video and image-to-video capabilities. A common approach for creating videos is to begin with an AI-generated image, often using tools like Midjourney or ChatGPT 4o, and then input that image into an image-to-video model.
Generating images typically aligns more closely with prompts compared to text-to-video and is also more efficient: regenerating a single frame is much cheaper and faster than creating an entire video.
The strategy is to perfect the still image for each shot initially, then allow the AI to manage the motion.
Best AI video generators.
Play
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 with AI avatars
Synthesia pros
Create studio-quality videos with lifelike digital avatars
Make videos with dialogue in 140+ languages
Easily convert text documents, PDFs and PowerPoint slides into engaging videos
Translate any video into 29+ languages with the original voice and lip sync
Synthesia cons
Synthesia is an avatar-led AI video generator built for enterprise use cases, so it's not suitable for making creative/artistic AI videos
Synthesia is an AI video generator that lets you create studio-quality videos with realistic talking AI avatars. It's mainly used by businesses for structured, presentation-style videos—think training content, explainers, or internal comms.
Video length: 16 seconds
Max resolution: 1080p
Free allowance: 125 credits
Monthly price: starting at $15/month
Best for: advanced features and stylized 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 (unlike Veo 3 and Synthesia)
It's evident that Runway is designed more for filmmakers and professional creatives rather than casual AI video enthusiasts, as its main appeal lies in its array of features that allow for advanced shots.
Tools like the motion brush and camera controls enable you to direct movement within a scene or change the camera angle, enhancing the cinematic quality of my clips. The inpainting tool was also a favorite of mine.
The free tier is adequate for familiarizing yourself with the platform. I was impressed by the generation speed and consistent output quality, even with complex prompts.
If you only need a basic AI video tool, there are simpler and cheaper alternatives. However, if you seek significant creative control and prefer not to deal with traditional editing software, Runway stands out as one of the best browser-based tools available.
Video length: 8 seconds
Max resolution: 720p (the model is capable of 4k)
Free allowance: limited free quota
Monthly price: starting at $19.99/month
Best for: high-res videos with great physics
Veo 2 pros
Free credits available
Cheaper than Veo 3
Produces great quality videos
No watermark
Offers image-to-video (unlike Veo 3)
Veo 2 cons
No native audio (unlike Veo 3 and Synthesia)
Veo 2 enables text-to-video or image-to-video generation. You can begin with a still image and transform it into a full motion video—something that Veo 3 currently does not offer.
Veo 2 excels in handling motion and object interaction compared to most other AI video generators on this list. Tools like Sora often struggle with physics and character consistency, but with Veo 2, characters remain stable and objects behave appropriately.
The main drawback? Veo 2 lacks native audio support, which is only available in Veo 3. I also observed occasional odd glitches in character movement, particularly when attempting more complex scenes.
In summary, Veo 2 is a robust and versatile video generation model that is user-friendly and encourages experimentation.
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 amazing, cinematic videos with sound
Veo 3 pros
Native audio generation (sound effects, ambient noise, and even dialogue)
Incredible quality videos
Amazing prompt adherence and physics
Veo 3 cons
Expensive and no free plan
No image-to-video (for now)
Sometimes inconsistent lip-sync
Subtitles pretty much never work correctly
Veo 3 represents a significant advancement in AI video technology.
The visuals are sharp (similar to Veo 2, but improved), and the capability to create AI audio/voices directly within any scene you choose makes a remarkable difference. I noticed that the generated audio/dialogue is of high quality, and the lip sync is impressively accurate.
The consistency between shots was impressive, transitions were seamless, and the intended mood was effectively conveyed. Characters maintained their appearance across scenes, and the emotional moments resonated. It genuinely impressed me.
Veo 3 is costly, but for those working on narrative projects or short films, it offers powerful possibilities. You can create interconnected scenes, maintain character continuity, and begin to craft something that feels like it has true directorial vision.
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 (unlike Veo 3 and Synthesia)
You can't generate clips longer than 6 seconds
Hailuo is one of several Chinese AI video generators on this list. Initially, I wasn't sure what to expect, but after experimenting with it for a while, it proved to be one of the more generous and capable AI video tools I tested. You receive free credits just for logging in each day, usually enough to create a few short videos without spending anything.
Overall, Hailuo impressed me with its ability to interpret prompts. The framing, movement, and overall composition appeared more polished than I anticipated.
Hailuo features a fantastic option called subject reference. You can upload an image of a character and have that character appear in a generated scene. It’s not perfect—details often falter in wide shots, and close-ups can be inconsistent, but when it works, it’s surprisingly accurate. I found myself making edits to maintain consistency between scenes, but it seemed like a reasonable compromise.
Video length: 5 seconds
Max resolution: 720p
Free allowance: unlimited video generation
Monthly price: free
Best for: testing ideas with unlimited free videos
Qwen pros
Unlimited free generations with no watermark
Qwen cons
Quality isn't always great
No image-to-video
No native audio (unlike Veo 3 and Synthesia)
Qwen’s video generator is part of Alibaba’s larger Qwen 2.5 Max release. To access it, click 'more' below the prompt box, and you'll find the option for video generation.
Qwen's video generator doesn’t aim to do everything—but as a free text-to-video tool, it performs well. While it lacks advanced editing features or fancy avatars, its offerings are impressive, especially since there’s no watermark and it's completely free.
Overall, Qwen's reliability can be inconsistent. I experienced a few instances where the generation stalled at 99% and then stopped. Sometimes it eventually finishes, but other times it doesn’t. It's generally a bit slow, so be prepared to wait.
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 (unlike Veo 3 and Synthesia)
Limited free access to text-to-video on latest models
Slow free plan video generation times
Kling's Elements feature is quite impressive. It allows you to upload up to four reference images to influence the appearance of people, objects, or settings in your video. I used it to ensure consistent character appearances across scenes, animate specific props, and even create simple interactions between multiple elements—all while maintaining visual cohesion.
Kling does have some drawbacks. Video generation can be very slow, particularly if you're using the free plan.
Although Kling provides text-to-video capabilities in their newer models, users on the free plan are limited to an outdated model for this feature.
Additionally, there is currently no support for voice or audio, so you'll need other tools to create a complete video with sound.
Video length: 9 seconds
Max resolution: 720p
Free allowance: one-time allowance of 800 computing seconds
Monthly price: starting at $15/month
Best for: AI-powered storyboarding features
LTX Studio pros
Cool storyboarding functionality
LTX Studio cons
Video output quality isn't great
No native audio (unlike Veo 3 and Synthesia)
The video quality of LTX Studio is adequate, but several other tools on this list deliver noticeably sharper and more polished results.
LTX Studio is another tool specifically designed for AI filmmakers, which is evident upon first logging in - the platform focuses on structuring a story rather than just creating one-off clips.
The storyboard feature is quite impressive and is divided into three parts: storyline, settings & cast, and the breakdown.
In the storyline section, you either provide or generate your script.
Video length: 5 seconds
Max resolution: 720p
Free allowance: 5 credits per day
Monthly price: starting at $9/month
Best for: user-friendly video generation
Higgsfield pros
Great output video quality
Cool presets
Higgsfield cons
No native audio (unlike Veo 3 and Synthesia)
The platform also includes a variety of presets that are truly beneficial. You can choose options like crash zooms, handheld shots, and FPV drone-style fly-throughs. These all introduce a degree of motion and energy that is typically absent in other AI video generators. The bullet time effect preset is particularly enjoyable.
Additionally, there are numerous presets that I believe would be useful for product shots and other marketing videos.
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 (unlike Veo 3 and Synthesia)
Firefly excels in usability. The interface is clean, and adjusting camera angles and shot sizes through it makes experimentation enjoyable. You can easily understand it without a tutorial, which is more than I can say for some other tools.
Video length: 5 seconds
Max resolution: 1080p
Free allowance: 10 credits a month
Monthly price: starting at $8/month
Best for: short, stylized videos with lip sync
Vidu pros
Generous free plan that offers lots of generations and extra features
Cool templates for generating fun videos
Vidu cons
Quality isn't that great and it often took me a lot of generations to get a usable video
Vidu is well-known for its templates, allowing you to easily create videos of people getting punched, blowing kisses, or casting spells.
Apart from the templates, it is recognized as one of the most generous platforms in terms of free generations and features, alongside Haliuo and Qwen. You can access reference image functionality and control the first and last frames without needing to provide credit card details, unlike most other AI video generators on this list.
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 (unlike Veo 3 and Synthesia)
The storyboard feature, which allows you to arrange several shots at once, is quite impressive, and the blend function enables you to combine concepts in entertaining and surprising ways.
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 (unlike Veo 3 and Synthesia)
Luma's free tier does not allow video generation, so a premium plan is required to fully utilize its capabilities. Luma excels in its image-to-video feature, ranking among my top three AI video generators for this purpose. This is mainly due to its excellent prompt adherence and ability to create highly realistic motion.
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