AI tools for short-form video

Two different jobs people call "making shorts"

There are two distinct short-form jobs and they need different tools: cutting vertical clips out of something long, and editing from scratch or from a template. Picking the wrong one wastes a subscription.

No ranking here. Both are listed with the job they actually do, and what they are bad at.

The jobs, and what covers them

Mining a long video for vertical clips

Opus Clip — Built specifically to pick moments out of long footage and reframe them for vertical platforms.

What it is bad at: It misses context and irony in hook selection; reframing can jitter on fast movement or multiple speakers.

Editing shorts from scratch or from templates

CapCut — Template-driven editor across mobile, desktop and web, with auto-captions and AI tools inside the editor.

What it is bad at: Pricing is not transparent — the US logged-out prices are labelled "for reference only" with the final price shown only after sign-in — and many templates and library sounds are personal-use only.

Adding a presenter without filming

HeyGen — Script-to-video with consent-verified avatars and lip-synced translation, so you can put a talking head on screen without a camera.

What it is bad at: Cost is per minute of output and varies by avatar generation version; read the Terms rather than the FAQ on commercial use, because they disagree.

Thumbnails, covers and the rest of the package

Canva — Same editor covers the social post, the thumbnail and the print piece that go with the video.

What it is bad at: Pro caps generative use at an estimated 200 Premium or 20 Ultra AI uses a month, and the Content License limits print-on-demand and trademark use.

What this page is not

This is not a ranked list, and there is no "best" pick. Every entry linked above carries its own sourced facts, its own list of unverified items, and its own last-checked date.

None of these tools has been tested hands-on by us, so none carries a star rating. Prices on the individual entries are US logged-out reference prices; logged-in and non-US pricing is unverified.

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