Skip to main content
TrustRadius
Animoto

Animoto

Overview

What is Animoto?

New York-based Animoto offers their video editing platform supporting individual video creators and businesses with different tiers of service up to their business plan for marketing teams wishing to create high quality to distribute across social media sites.

Read more
Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

Animoto has proven to be a versatile tool for a wide range of users, allowing them to create professional videos without the need for …
Continue reading
Read all reviews
Return to navigation

Pricing

View all pricing

Free

$0.00

Cloud
per month

Professional

$29.00

Cloud
per month

Team

$79.00

Cloud
per month

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Return to navigation

Product Details

What is Animoto?

Animoto Technical Details

Deployment TypesSoftware as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo
Return to navigation

Comparisons

View all alternatives
Return to navigation

Reviews and Ratings

(16)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

Animoto has proven to be a versatile tool for a wide range of users, allowing them to create professional videos without the need for expensive software or hiring professionals. Users from various industries, such as education, marketing, and small businesses, have found value in leveraging Animoto's features. For educators, Animoto goes beyond traditional lectures by enabling them to create engaging procedure and protocol videos for students and staff. The software is also highly praised for its ability to produce videos for marketing campaigns, reducing the reliance on specialists and costly resources.

Small businesses have benefited from Animoto's ease of use and fun interface, enabling them to upgrade their branding quickly. With a wide range of font styles, templates, and customizable color options, Animoto helps make videos visually appealing. Additionally, non-profit organizations have found Animoto to be helpful in solving marketing voids by engaging viewers and potential customers through videos on social media and blogs/websites.

Animoto's convenience extends beyond specific industries. Many users have found it useful when they need to embed videos on websites, emails, or social media channels but don't have access to a designer. The software allows users to create professional video ads in minutes with fantastic music.

However, some users have switched to other tools after finding that Animoto did not fully meet their needs or lacked certain features they desired. Despite this feedback, many users appreciate the software's ability to quickly create professional-looking social media videos and easily share them with their marketing team. Moreover, Animoto has been instrumental in delivering communications and big screen videos at events like Innovation Festivals.

Overall, Animoto offers a user-friendly experience that empowers individuals across various industries to produce professional videos effortlessly. While some improvements could be made based on user feedback regarding additional features and customization options, its accessibility and time-saving capabilities make it an attractive choice for those looking to enhance their video production workflow.

Effective Communication Tool: Users find that Animoto serves as an excellent tool for effective communication, thanks to its innovative use of visuals. They appreciate the ability to test and modify their videos, allowing them to gain a deeper understanding of their audience.

User-Friendly Interface: Many users and reviewers have expressed positive opinions about Animoto, praising its creativity, adaptability, and ease of use. They value the intuitive interface, diverse range of templates, and the option to customize videos with personal elements such as music and voice-overs.

Time-Saving Solution: The accessibility and user-friendliness of Animoto are greatly appreciated by users. It is considered a convenient option for both beginners and individuals without prior video editing experience. Users love how quickly they can create, edit, and enhance their videos by adding music.

Cons: Limited customization options: Users have mentioned that Animoto is not completely customizable, despite some improvements over time. Some templates in Animoto can be very restrictive and may not be suitable for users with specific ideas for their videos. Some users find it difficult to manipulate certain templates to achieve the desired appearance.

Expensive pricing: Users feel that the cost of Animoto is higher compared to other similar apps. They consider Animoto relatively expensive compared to other tools and believe that the premium plan is expensive for smaller organizations and SMBs. Users also find the monthly plan incredibly expensive and suggest revising the template options for the cost.

Limited templates and features: Users find that there are a limited number of templates in Animoto and some templates are not well organized for easy editing. They feel that the software has limited features, including limited editing options and image adjustments. The lack of variety in templates and effects limits their video creation options.

Users recommend trying the trial version of any tool before purchasing. They find Animoto to be a simple and fully featured video solution. Users highly recommend Animoto for creating online videos for marketing purposes, making videos for various marketing purposes, and creating presentations in the classroom. They suggest Animoto for making good cartoon and animated videos with little effort and find it very easy to use. Users recommend Animoto for social media, as well as for business people, teachers, tutors, and students. They highly recommend Animoto for its ease of use and eye-catching videos. Users also suggest using Animoto in conjunction with screencastomatic for recording content. They appreciate the diversity of instruments and ease of use offered by Animoto. Users find it worth purchasing and using for good video editing as it saves time and is cost-effective compared to competitors. Despite slow customer support, users consider Animoto to be a great product for making professional marketing videos. Additionally, users find it user-friendly and fun for video editing, suggesting it as a good option for beginner presentation makers and for creating animations in less time. Overall, users recommend giving Animoto a try for creating unique animation videos, especially for marketing purposes. However, they note that it may not be a true animation creator and suggest looking elsewhere if that feature is important.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-5 of 5)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Rekha Singh | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
A startup company must attract attention from its target audience at its inception, and Animoto does this. Video clips can be created in less time using this software because it includes many features. This product has features that enhance our videos so that they deliver the right message to our target audience, which in turn leads to more business for us.
  • It uses less RAM memory.
  • No additional download is required for this online video editor
  • Good for beginners so certification is required
  • As it is online so sometimes it lags but I think in future updates this problem will be solved
  • limited editing features that sets boundary for us.
  • Its premium version has more features but it is quite expensive
This software can be taught to beginners very well because it is very easy to use and it has good music library features that help to make the video more attractive. Good in making video transitions and it uses less memory than doesn't affect computer performance hence leads to improve overall productivity.
  • Uses Less Ram Memory
  • Can be taught to anyone easily
  • Good music library.
  • we created many video clips that deliver the exact message we want to the audience leads to more business and more profits for us.
  • Good for beginners to start making their own videos
  • free version of this software put watermark while exporting videos.
The software is only compatible with Apple desktops. The cost of Apple desktops is too high for small companies. The user interface of Animoto is better than that of iMovie which is quicker to learn than iMovie, besides the fact that it has more features than iMovie. For example, Animoto has a better music library than iMovie.
Mitchell Terpstra | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
My agency uses Animoto to create short (15 sec - 2 min) videos for clients. Typically these videos are to showcase their products or services in a dynamic way and then shared on social media, in marketing emails, at trade shows, or on their websites.
  • Very quick learning curve compared to software like iMovie.
  • Music library makes it easy to add background music.
  • Allows you to add/change overall aesthetic, fonts, transitions, etc. very quickly with almost no know-how.
  • Also includes stock image library for when user doesn't have a good image/video clip on hand.
  • Placement of text on videos is too limited--placement options don't always work well with images, video behind it.
  • Limited arrangement of images (various grid options for multiple photos) doesn't always work well for every video.
  • Sometimes you're wishing there were more user-control over individual transitions or animations of elements within a frame.
Animoto is great for small to mid-sized business looking for control over their own video marketing. Allows someone with initiative and "scrapbooking mentality" to create professional-looking videos with ease. If you have even the smallest of marketing budgets, Animoto is perhaps the most worthwhile investment--that is, if you're able to get decent photographs or video clips to build from.
  • Hundreds of thousands of views for our brand clients on social..
  • Great attention-grabber and ambiance setter when played on large screens at expos/tradeshows.
  • Generated increased sales for a number of snack clients.
iMovie comes standard on most Macs, though it is not nearly as intuitive/user-friendly for the first-time video editor as Animoto is. Also, iMovie doesn't have a library of usable stock images and music clips like Animoto, which is worth the price of subscription alone.
Allison Chaney | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Animoto to create short, interesting videos for social media. We also use this software in our training courses, to demo it as an example of an easy to use solution for creating interesting video.
  • Online editor, no download required.
  • Music library to add sound to your video.
  • User friendly tools in the interface.
  • Templates are somewhat limited.
  • Editing features have limits.
  • Watermark appears on free version.
Animoto is great for small businesses or businesses, organizations or people with limited budgets. It allows you to create a professional looking video without having to invest in a lot of software or time learning advanced tools. The templates make it easy to start from a framework that someone else designed, and it helps set a foundation for a professional looking video.
  • It's had a positive impact in that it saves a ton of time in creating nice video that looks professional.
Camtasia is much more complex, requires some knowledge and understanding of the platform. Animoto is user friendly and you can jump in and start editing right away. Animoto also has a ton of stock images and sound, to enhance video, which Camtasia does not. Animoto makes it easy so you have everything you need in one place and you don't have to go out and search for or purchase stock for your videos.
We haven't actually needed much support so that in itself says a lot about the software. It was easy to use and had great tool tips that guide you through the tool so you don't even need to reach out to support. There are help files that are there when needed, and some of these are helpful to us as well because again, we didn't have to reach out and wait for support.
Chris McCarthy | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We do a lot of training for creatives which means we need to make that training pretty creative too. We use Animoto to design demos, how tos and video shorts that get the message across quickly and that inspire our audience to apply what they grasped for the video shorts on their own. It helps us avoid constraints that occur in training sessions, and opens up even more creative thinking. It’s a great tool for opening a world of possibilities with our creativity students.
  • Makes training more engaging for our creativity students
  • Easy to use, so we can get the message of what they need to learn across without the constraints.
  • Adoption - we can create a video short of a concept we need to better clarify in literally minutes.
  • Great visual tool that lets you intelligently communicate what you are seeking to explain to your audience. More features I might suggest would be anything that makes it more interactive with the viewer in real-time.
  • For the price , it is a great deal as is.
We use it in standard trainings for creators. We also use it for exceptions training where a certain concept is either more difficult for some creators to grasp, or too nascent yet and needs a more focused visual explanation.
  • Positive as it is so simple to use, and even helps discover where a creative student would benefit far more with a more focused visual.
  • Positive as it is - seriously easy to drop in content and create a video short on any topic, in literally minutes!
Camtasia is what we used before, and we still use it for longer videos. But for training we found we needed something powerful yet much simpler to use. Animoto also is great for still shots, images, snippets of content that can be created very quickly without any heavy editing work.
Jackie Bassett | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Animoto is used most in our marketing division, specifically w/in our Millennial strategic business unit (SBU). We have a "Who I Am" forum where our target audience answers that singular question. Not surprisingly, many struggle with narrowly defining that answer. We offer that they submit a video that captures the answer, but those can be challenging for them too.

So, we use Animoto to encapsulate, in pictures, that answer for them because it's very easy for this audience to send us a few of their favorites. We have found that, once we upload those pics in Animoto and add some of the text they do share, 100% of those we send the "Animoto'd" video back to them are able to say "Yes - that's exactly who I am!" It has really had an impact on getting this audience to open up and define their "Who I Am" more clearly.




  • Helps any audience Tell Their Story: A handful of still pics can be uploaded, then in just a few clicks you can add music, choose a theme, tweak as needed: done!
  • Visually augments the creative process of defining exactly the message marketing is looking to capture. While words can mean different things to different people, visuals are a very effective communication tool. Animoto lets you test, change, test again and learn so much more about your audience in the process.
  • Our "Who I Am" use of Animoto that drove a higher rate of engagement with our millennial audience that we're challenged with defining the answer to that question.
  • Endless applications in every division: Product Engineering, who want to design their GoToMarket strategy, HR who would use it in a Promotion/Employee Awards program or Training Departments.
  • I would suggest taking the limits off how many images can be used. Images are the core purpose and only serve to make the product more successful at delivering to its true purpose.
  • Adding even more templates. We wanted to find guitar music and though we really liked what we chose, we did not feel there were enough choices.
If you have a really good idea, and you'd like to either ensure others value it too, Animoto is the ideal solution.

For example, you want your team to change the way they work on a certain project. Create the scenario in Animoto on how that change would create exactly the work-life they really want. Then, collect feedback as perhaps your really good idea could actually be made even better. Then, redo the video with those changes and replay it to that same audience. You'll get much better adoption from your team when you do execute that change.
  • 100% of those in our target audience, who struggled to answer our Who I Am question, converted to "Yes - that's who I am" once we started using Animoto.
  • Used it to testfly proposed changes to our own internal processes too which helped gather greater input into those changes we might not have caught beforehand.
We had invested in making our own videos using YouTube, and even Camtasia. But they were still us interpreting on behalf of our audience which took forever. Once we found Animoto, it was so much easier to upload the pics our audience would send us. From there we had a 100% positive response, that we had indeed captured what they were trying to say.
Return to navigation