Effectiveness
4 out of 5
Produces slideshow videos with ease

Animoto Videos
Is Animoto Free
Animoto For Educators

Sep 20, 2018 In addition, Animoto has a 14 day free trial. And the prices are nearly cut in half when billed annually instead of monthly. Get Animoto Here! Animoto Review: Pros And Cons. First, as one of the best video editing software, Animoto is fast and easy to use. Creating Your Animoto Memories (legacy tool) Video. Setting or changing the cover image of your video (Animoto Memories - legacy tool) Uploading own music (Animoto Memories - legacy tool) Extending video length past 20 minutes (Animoto Memories - legacy tool) Making video clips longer than 10 seconds (Animoto Memories - legacy tool).

ease of use
5 out of 5
You can make a video in minutes

support
5 out of 5
Good sized FAQ and fast email support

Quick Summary

If you’ve ever tried to put together a slideshow, you know how painstaking and tedious it can be. Animoto offers an alternative: You simply upload all your photos, choose a theme, add a few text frames, and you’re ready to export. The program offers the ability to create personal or marketing videos with this method, as well as plenty of customization options in the form of audio, colors, and layout. It is suited for individuals and amateurs who will appreciate simplicity, as opposed to professional marketers or business people who might want a bit more control over the process.

What I Like

Extremely easy to learn and use
Variety of templates and outlines
Above-par customization abilities
Very capable audio functionality
Plethora of export and share options

What I Don't Like

Limited control over transitions, themes
Lack of 'undo' button

Animoto

Web-based, $8 per month

Quick Navigation

// Why Should You Trust Me?
// What Is Animoto?
// Animoto: What Does It Have to Offer?
// Reasons Behind My Review and Ratings
// Alternatives to Animoto
// Conclusion

Why Should You Trust Me?

Like every other consumer, I don’t like to purchase things without knowing what I’m getting. You wouldn’t go to the mall and buy an unmarked box just to guess what’s inside, so why should you have to buy a software from the internet on just a hunch? My goal is to use this review to unwrap the packaging without making anyone pay for it, complete with an in-depth review of my experience with the program.

I’ve spent a few days experimenting with Animoto, trying out every feature I came across. I made use of their free trial. You can even see my what my account looks like:

All of the screenshots in this review are from my experience. I made a few sample videos with my own images during my time with the program. See here and here for those examples. Last but not least, I also contacted the Animoto customer support team to evaluate the helpfulness of their responses. You can see my email interaction in the “Reasons Behind My Review and Ratings” section below.

What Is Animoto?

Animoto is a web-based program for creating videos from a collection of images. You can use it to make personal slideshows or mini marketing videos. They provide a variety of templates you can use to display your family vacation photos, professional photography skills, or your latest business products.

Is Animoto Free?

Animoto is not free. However, they do offer a free trial for 14 days of their midrange, or “pro” package. During the trial, any video you export will be watermarked but you have full access to Animoto’s features.

If you want to purchase Animoto, you pay monthly or a monthly rate per year. The latter is half as expensive in the long run, but unreasonable if you only plan to use Animoto infrequently. The image below shows the annual rates.

For more information on what each package allows you to do, visit Animoto’s pricing page.

Is Animoto Safe?

Animoto is safe to use. Although some might be wary because it is a web-based program as opposed to a downloaded application, the site is secured with HTTPS protocols which means your information is protected on their servers.

Additionally, Norton’s SafeWeb tool rates the Animoto site as completely secure with no malicious codes.

They’ve also confirmed that the site security certificate comes from a real business with an actual address. Transactions through the site are secure and legal.

How Do You Use Animoto?

Animoto advertises a three step process for making videos:

This is actually pretty accurate, especially considering how simple the program is to use. When you log in to the program, you’ll want to create a new project. Once you choose between slideshow or marketing, the program presents an array of templates to choose from.

When you choose, you’ll need to upload your media in the form of photos and videos. You can drag and drop to rearrange it, as well as add text slides. There’s plenty of customization options. Once you’re done, you can choose “produce” to export your video to an MP4 or share it through social media.

Animoto: What Does It Have to Offer?

Animoto is a very effective and easy to use tool for making photo-based videos. I experimented with the software to get an idea of what it was capable of. I used pictures I’ve collected from the past year or so. You can see the result here:

One more…

While I’m no professional photographer or video creator, this should give you an idea of the program’s style and use. Not all features listed are available at all levels of subscription to Animoto. Refer to the purchase page to see if a feature is restricted to higher price brackets.

Below is the collection of information and screenshots I gathered during my experimentation.

Slideshow vs. Marketing Videos

It’s the first question Animoto asks you when you begin creating a new movie: What kind of video do you want to create?

There are a few things that make them different from each other. First, what’s your goal? If you’re displaying family photos, creating a celebratory collage, or generally lack the need for text and subtitles, you should go with the slideshow video. This style is a bit more personal. On the other hand, a marketing video offers different aspect ratios and a set of templates that are geared toward promoting a small business, product, or new item.

Additionally, the editor for each type of video is slightly different. In the slideshow video editor, controls are more block-based. The toolbar is on the left, and has four main categories: style, logo, add media, and add text. In the main editing area, you can drag and drop to rearrange the timeline of the video or replace your music.

In the marketing editor, the toolbar has different options (media, style, ratio, design, filters, music) and is more condensed. Also, rather than uploading all of your media at once, it is stored on the side so you can choose what goes where to fit inside the template. Selecting a specific block from the editor will bring up even more tools related to text and visual appearance.

Finally, there are some differences in the media manipulation. For example, marketing videos allow custom image layouts rather than theme-generated options, along with overlaid text rather the separate slides. You have more control over font, color scheme, and logo.

Media: Images/Videos, Text, & Audio

Images, text, and audio are the main medium used to communicate information in a video format. Animoto does a great job integrating all three of these aspects into their program.

Regardless of what type of video you make, importing your images and videos is extremely simple. The sidebar on the left may appear slightly different, but the function is the same. Simply choose “Media” or “Add pics & vids” to be prompted with a file choice pop-up.

Once you import the media you want (use SHIFT + left click to select multiple files at once), the files will be available in Animoto. Slideshow videos will display blocks in the timeline, while marketing videos will hold them in the sidebar until you specify a block.

For slideshow videos, you can change the order by dragging images to a new location. For marketing videos, drag the media over the block you want to add it to until you see the area highlighted before releasing the mouse.

When all your images are in p