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Both cover video editing. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
| Animoto | Shotcut | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $9 | Free |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Not stated |
| Free trial | None | Not stated |
| API | Not stated | Not stated |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | Not stated | Not stated |
| Runs on | Web | macOS, Windows, Linux |
| Covers | Video Editing, Motion Graphics & Animation | Video Editing |
| Works with | Nothing in particular | Nothing in particular |
| Founded | Not listed | Not listed |
| Reader rating | No reviews yet | No reviews yet |
| Live deals | None right now | None right now |
Templates that turn photos into video
Animoto is the drag-and-drop end of video making: pick a template, drop in photos or clips, and it cuts them to a licensed track. Nobody is editing a documentary in it. It exists for the promo, the recap and the listing tour that would otherwise never get made, and the free plan stamps a watermark on whatever comes out.
Our note
Canva does much of this and a great deal more for similar money when video is one part of a wider design job. Animoto is the better answer when the output is video and only video, and speed is the whole point.
Only on this side
A free desktop video editor, open source
Shotcut is a free desktop video editor that has been maintained for well over a decade and runs on Linux, macOS and Windows alike. It reads a wide range of formats because FFmpeg is doing the work underneath, and it asks for no account at any point. The interface takes a session to settle into. Nothing is upsold later.
Our note
This is the answer when the budget is nothing and the work is real, and the interface is the price you pay instead. DaVinci Resolve's free build is more capable if your machine can run it.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.