Likelihood to Recommend Powtoon is a very capable suite of tools that help a developer create training videos that look way better than they should. I've used it to create fun, attention-getting commercials for new topics, I've used it to enhance what would otherwise be boring step-by-step tutorials, and I've used it to create all manner of "Explainer videos" for all kinds of topics - this is where it EXCELS! In my opinion, its biggest limitations are limits on imported video (max of 90 seconds), which mean that you have to do a lot of extra work to break up and import anything of substantive length. And because it presents your personal library of imported images and audio ONLY sequentially, it's VERY LIMITED in the re-usability of those assets - it's way faster to just import a new instance of an image and audio than to try to find it in your library.
Read full review For an overall professional appearance of Vimeo, I think it looks fabulous for the clients we work with. I think it works extremely well to host videos for courses and training that can be paid training. The privacy feature is great for that. I've never used it for going LIVE and wonder if that might be a good option for businesses but since I haven't tried it, I'm not of the capabilities. And I'm not sure how the clients are able to get on the LIVES. It does have so many new features since I started 4 years ago, and that means that there is a higher learning curve if you want to make full use of this platform.
Read full review Pros Powtoon is very easy to use; no previous experience is needed. It has a lot of features (images, backgrounds, videos, sounds, etc.) It automatically saves your work After you have created your video, you can download it to your computer in different resolutions Read full review User-friendly interface for administrators of the account and external viewers. Being able to easily navigate a new platform or software is ideal for anyone. Seamless sharing and embedding across many platforms. Vimeo is well-recognized so it makes it easy for other platforms to recognize Vimeo. The compatibility is outstanding. As an administrator of the account, being able to select viewing privileges may seem like a basic function, but it's so necessary right now with how heavy our organization is utilizing the platform. We can mass upload content early and only release it for the public over time by simply changing it to a public video. Read full review Cons Comparing it to Vyond, it is more time consuming to make videos. The timeline could be easier to understand. They recently started upcharging to use some scenes. This has made updating some of my videos challenging as the scenes that were included as part of my plan are now an upgrade to use. They don't have a voice over option. I have actually taken some of the videos out of the platform over to Vyond to add voiceover. Some items they have introduced, like turning a powerpoint into a video really don't work. Read full review Price - For the full featureset of Vimeo, you will be paying $900 a year as of 2020, and this is expected to only go up over time. Thankfully, Vimeo offers lower tiers with less functionality, and most people will not need the unlimited streaming viewers or whopping 7 TB of storage that you get for the highest level of membership. But it is still a premium price for a premium service. "Suggested" Algorithm - The equivalent of YouTube's suggested videos feature is the Vimeo Staff Picks, which recommends curated content from their team of editors. While this content generally has a high level of production, it is not especially relevant to the video you are watching, or to your watch history as a user. I rarely watch suggested videos in Vimeo. Search - The Vimeo search page is beautiful, having huge thumbnails of videos with a clean, visually-appealing layout. However, the results themselves leave much to be desired. When I search for "jung" to try to find videos on Swiss psychologist C. G. Jung, of the first 18 results, not a single result is actually about C. G. Jung. On Youtube, the first 14 results are all about Jung. When I search for "c. g. jung" on Vimeo I find a number of relevant results, so it's not that the videos are not available in Vimeo. Rather, the search algorithm is not returning relevant results. Read full review Usability The customization options are vast and very easy to utilize. While there can be a slight learning curve for some advanced features, it is not so steep that it takes a long time to figure out. Support is great at guiding you through anything that might be confusing to you as well
Read full review Support Rating I have never needed the support feature. As I mentioned, everything was intuitive to me however I have taught myself Adobe, Final Cut and
iMovie so most of these programs became intuitive.
Read full review Terrible support. When I subscribed to Premium we were guaranteed support. However, after the first e-mail I received from them, I never heard from them again. I sent several emails over the course of a couple of weeks acknowledging that due to covid, I did not expect a miracle overnight and that I was keen to work on the issue with them. I have not heard from customer service at all. This is very disappointing. We lost customers due to the poor quality of the livestreams and were left to sort the issue out without their help.
Read full review Alternatives Considered Powtoon has the advantage over traditional video editing software in terms of the library of characters and elements that can be easily dragged and dropped onto the canvas. Powtoon is easier to use and has a more intuitive user interface than
Vyond .
Read full review YouTube was the platform we primarily used previously, after having restrictions and having locked out of a couple of accounts we needed a better platform. We also lost some of our videos. We also have an internal app to track client videos and Vimeo supported it better. With the increased storage and the number of videos we create, we decided Vimeo would be better.
Read full review Return on Investment We don't have to spend money on traveling to a location to do an actual live shoot. I'm spending less time on hand animating videos. We used these to create teaser videos for our professional development offerings. I believe because of the captivating graphics, we had a lot more people driven to our site. Read full review It allows clients to serve a massive amount of video content within an LMS without eating up disk space or sacrificing bandwidth. The overall cost is very low compared to other tools and there is no 'pay per view' style unstable pricing. The tool has allowed students in other countries to access content faster. NEGATIVE - the upload limits per week, especially on the basic/pro accounts are too restrictive. Read full review ScreenShots