{"id":298138,"date":"2024-08-07T10:43:52","date_gmt":"2024-08-07T09:43:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wyzowl.com\/?p=298138"},"modified":"2025-12-01T11:05:48","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T11:05:48","slug":"pictory-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wyzowl.com\/pictory-review\/","title":{"rendered":"We tested Pictory: Here’s our (HONEST) 2026 review…"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Unless you\u2019ve been living under a rock (and missed our AI marketing statistics!<\/a><\/em>)<\/a> you\u2019ll be well aware that AI content tools are on the rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marketers are increasingly using AI tools to help them plan, create and promote content. Including video!<\/p>\n\n\n

\n <\/i>Statistic\n<\/div>\n
\n In fact, 80% of marketers say they\u2019ve used \u2013 or currently use \u2013 AI tools to help create marketing content.\n
\n Source: <\/strong>Wyzowl AI in Marketing Statistics<\/a>\n <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

One tool that claims to allow marketers to \u2018create highly engaging videos in minutes using the power of AI\u2019<\/em> is Pictory<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As video marketing experts, we like to keep our finger on the pulse of the latest and greatest trends in the industry. So we decided to take Pictory for a full test-drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this no holds barred review, we\u2019ll lay out our findings – the good and the bad!<\/p>\n\n\n

\n TL;DR\n<\/div>\n
\n Pictory is a highly functional and clever AI video tool with a number of use cases that make it extremely quick for marketers to turn out video content. It\u2019s particularly useful for functions like transcribing and cropping podcast interview sections, which becomes as simple as editing a Word document. But our doubts persist about the actual quality of AI-generated video, which continues to pale in comparison to lovingly-created \u2018by humans, for humans\u2019 content.\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

<\/span>What is Pictory?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Pictory is a video tool that uses AI to simplify video creation and editing. It\u2019s been around since 2020 and has developed quickly during that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>What can you do with Pictory?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are four major ways to use Pictory:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n – Script to video <\/strong>– Pictory uses AI to turn a pre-written video script (or transcript) into a full video.\u00a0

– Article to video<\/strong>. Same as above but instead of a video script, you\u2019re turning an article – e.g. a blog, press release or news story – into a video.

– Edit video using text<\/strong> – a video editor that works purely based on text, so you can edit it almost like a Word document. Great for transcribing podcasts, interviews, plus turning long-form videos into shorter snippets.

– Visuals to video<\/strong> – More of a classic video editing tool, here you\u2019re able to drag and drop images and videos so you can create a video slideshow.\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

<\/span>Pictory pricing<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

First point to make – you can start a FREE trial without putting any credit card details in, so if you\u2019re looking to kick the tyres, that\u2019s definitely an option for you to try. Under the free trial plan, you\u2019ll be able to create 3 video projects, each up to 10 mins long<\/strong>, before making a decision as to whether you want to continue using Pictory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately that\u2019s as close to a free plan as you\u2019ll get – although you won\u2019t need to break the bank for a paid plan. The relatively basic starter package will set you back just $14 per month if paid annually, rising to $24 for the Professional plan and $99 per month for teams.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/span>Using Pictory: our review<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After signing up for Pictory, we first needed to decide which sort of video we\u2019d like to create.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We decided to have a bash at all of them. Let\u2019s unpack what they are and how they work\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Script to Video<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Using this feature, we were able to copy and paste our own video script. Pictory then used AI to automatically turn it into a video file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We pasted our script, hit \u2018Proceed\u2019 and we were off to the races. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pictory automatically split the script into scenes – pairing each scene with a relevant and contextual video clip from the Pictory asset library. (In theory\u2026more about that later.)<\/p>\n\n\n

\n <\/i>Our Insight\n<\/div>\n
\n It took less than a minute for Pictory to turn our video script into the first cut of a video – which we thought was really impressive.\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

Article to Video<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

With article to video, you simply paste the URL of a post, press-release, blog article\u2026whatever. We pasted a link to a post from our blog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pictory intuitively pulls the content, creates an AI-powered summary highlighting the key bits and – as with \u2018Script to Video\u2019 – breaks it down into \u2018scenes\u2019, pairing each \u2018scene\u2019 with a relevant image or clip, either pulled from the article itself, or the Pictory asset library.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The parts of the article highlighted in green on the left are the ones that get pulled into the summary on the right, and those are the parts that are turned into scenes when you hit \u2018Next.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But actually, each sentence of the post is separated. Adding a sentence to the summary simply requires clicking it. (It can take a few seconds to add a new scene into the summary.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you hover over a sentence already highlighted, you\u2019ll see the option to delete it using the \u2018X\u2019 icon. Using this functionality, we were able to pick and choose which sections made the video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Indeed – you might decide to make a video that included the whole <\/em>post.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n <\/i>Our Insight\n<\/div>\n
\n In our experience, the AI summary was\u2026okay. It sort of cobbled together a rough summary of the article but not one that would flow particularly well, and some of the points it chose to omit vs. those it chose to include seemed to lack any real logic. Maybe that\u2019s not typical – but it seemed like actually framing the summary into an actual <\/em>summary of the post would take a bit of thought and work from us, rather than being particularly automatic.\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

Edit Video Using Text<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Next up, we have the ability to either upload an existing video or audio file (or paste a YouTube link). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pictory will then process and transcribe that video or audio file. There\u2019s a fair warning here that this can take a few minutes but actually, our ~45 minute YouTube video was processed and transcribed in literally less than 3 minutes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We uploaded a podcast our founder, Matt, did with Douglas Cook, Director of Growth at SkyScanner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are a few cool bits to mention here. We love how Pictory is able to separate the dialogue based on who\u2019s speaking – recognising different voices, and identifying them as \u2018Speaker 1,\u2019 \u2018Speaker 2,\u2019 etc. You can even edit these names for the benefit of the transcript, so, in our case, it would be \u2018Matt\u2019 and \u2018Douglas\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Another genuinely amazing tool is the ability to remove filler words and silences, each at the touch of a button. As you can see in the above screenshot, Pictory is pretty good at picking up those fillers words – \u2018uh\u2019s and \u2018um\u2019s – and it\u2019s able to pretty much instantly get rid of them – like, with a single click – which can help a podcast interview flow much better.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n <\/i>Our Insight\n<\/div>\n
\n The transcript was pretty good. There were some errors, which are pretty quick to correct manually – just as you would edit a Word doc. To be fair, as painstaking as it is to read through the whole transcript and pick up every little error – it\u2019s still a lot quicker than directly transcribing a 45 minute interview!\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

Visuals to Video<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This is a much more typical video editing scenario, whereby you upload images and video files, in bulk or one at a time, and these are imported right into the \u2018Storyboard\u2019 editor tool to be edited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u2018Storyboard\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Whichever type of video you create, the work you\u2019ve done in the descriptions above gets you to the next step: the \u2018Storyboard\u2019 editor tool, which looks and feels very much like a traditional video editing tool.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n <\/i>Our Insight\n<\/div>\n
\n Pictory\u2019s editor tool doesn\u2019t feature a timeline as you see in other video editing tools. Instead, it\u2019s based around \u2018scenes\u2019 with each section of the video being marked as Scene 1, Scene 2, etc. This means there\u2019s no tinkering with dragging and dropping assets or fiddling with timestamps, which makes it super simple and straightforward. But on the other hand, it means that your editing options are a little less granular. This will be amazing for some users – and not for others.\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n
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The timeline feature also lets you quickly add transitions between each scene, should you wish to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The other way to navigate throughout your video is via the \u2018Story\u2019 tab. As previously mentioned, Pictory splits your video up into various scenes, and you can navigate these by clicking a scene on this tab to the left of the preview panel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Everpresent in the top right hand side we see the preview panel where you can always preview the current scene, and there\u2019s also a preview button above <\/em>this where you can preview the whole video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In this area you also have the ability to quickly and easily change the duration of an individual scene (or apply to all.) By default, Pictory sets a variable duration to each scene – which we presume is based on the word count.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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You can also change the aspect ratio of your video. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n <\/i>Our Insight\n<\/div>\n
\n It may not be a huge deal but you\u2019re limited to either 16:9, 9:16 or 1:1 – landscape, portrait and square. Likelihood is, this is quite enough. But if you have particularly niche needs for your video aspect ratio you may need to do this using an external video editing tool.\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n
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By-and-large Pictory does a pretty good job of picking contextual video clips for each scene – but there are some anomalies. Our section \u201cHi, this is Matt and welcome back to the channel\u201d was inexplicably accompanied by a pretty cheap-looking Christmas animation, for reasons unknown\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It was quick enough to change scenes out using the \u2018Visuals\u2019 tab but, obviously, this adds that little bit of time to the video editing process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Visuals tab is where you can change out and swap any clips you don\u2019t like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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You can use a simple keyword search to browse images and videos from the Pictory library, as well as browsing textures and even uploading your own image\/video files – so you always have the option, should you not find something in the Pictory library, to find something you like elsewhere and import it in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A quick search for \u2018Welcome\u2019 gave us a better animation that\u2019s much more contextual than the bizarre Merry Christmas message, so let\u2019s go with that. Changing it takes just a few seconds and a couple of clicks, and there\u2019s no need to worry about fine tuning as that clip stays linked to that scene and will retain all the same timing, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n <\/i>Our Insight\n<\/div>\n
\n Across the board, the clips are royalty free stock video – and they tend to look like it. They tend to be pretty generic and incredibly literal: about as subtle as a brick! This does mean that a lot of videos created using Pictory look like exactly what they are – quickly produced, AI videos populated with a lot of generic video clips which don\u2019t always match each other and don\u2019t always feel particularly joined up.\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

The audio section is also interesting. Our video was, by default, created without any audio. But it\u2019s fairly easy both to add royalty free music (with 15,000+ tracks available, which you can filter by mood, purpose, genre or duration, as well as searching by keyword.) The audio tracks are pretty good. We tried a few different options, some weren\u2019t quite right, but after testing 5 or 6 options and using the filters, we found a track that was fine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Adding a voiceover is just as easy. Pictory have partnered with ElevenLabs, and professional users get 2 hours of \u2018Premium\u2019 voice generation per month included in their plan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Voices can be filtered by accent, age, purpose or gender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Browse previews of the voices and when you\u2019ve found one you like, hit \u2018Apply.\u2019 It took around 2 minutes for our voiceover to be generated and applied to the video – but, since we were on the free plan, we had to choose a \u2018Standard\u2019 voice. It has to be said these are definitely a step down from the premium options, and sound pretty robotic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A key part of Pictory is the ability to generate closed captions or subtitles<\/a> and the \u2018Styles\u2019 menu offers dozens of different style options to make these look just the way you want them to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The \u2018Text\u2019 section lets you add new text that isn\u2019t included in the transcript – such as title scenes and cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018Elements\u2019 lets you add stickers, GIFs, and emojis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While the \u2018Branding\u2019 tools let you add your own logo, colours and fonts to ensure everything you create is on-brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Once you\u2019ve tinkered with your timings, transitions, added audio and you\u2019re happy with the video clips, you\u2019re free to export and download your video. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As well as saving the video project file (for future editing) you\u2019ll also be able to get quick access to the MP4 video file, MP3 audio,  plus SRT, VTT and TXT transcription files, all in one convenient place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/span>Pictory alternatives<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Not sold on Pictory? Here are a few alternatives you might want to consider\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Descript<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Descript<\/a> uses AI to simplify audio and video editing, so you can edit videos simply by editing text.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lumen5<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Lumen5<\/a> is an online video creation tool powered by AI, perfect for businesses aiming to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fliki<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Fliki<\/a> swiftly generates audio and video content using AI voices in under a minute with its Text-to-Speech & Text-to-Video converter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>Pictory: Our summary<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So, all things considered, what do we think of Pictory?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, we think it\u2019s a useful tool. It does what it says it will do, and it does it very competently.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\n Pros:<\/span>\n – Speed of creation – the upload and processing time was lightning quick, and editing was so easy it would be possible to turn around a video from beginning to end in a matter of literally minutes.

– Extremely simple and easy to use.

– Great library of audio tracks, in particular.

– Ability to remove \u2018filler words\u2019 and silences from audio and video files in seconds.

– Transcription quality.
\n <\/div>\n
\n Cons:<\/span>\n – Some of the computer-generated clips lack context and accuracy.

– Most of the video clips look very generic and stock clippy.

– Limited aspect ratio options.\u00a0

– Simplicity of \u2018Storyboard\u2019 editor tool will limit freedom and creative options for advanced creators.
\n <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

Beauty, ultimately, is in the eye of the beholder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The user is the one who\u2019ll decide whether Pictory is good, bad or indifferent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our hunch is that novice video creators, looking to create faceless YouTube channels or cheap-and-cheerful explainers for internal company use, will massively enjoy the ability to create videos so quickly, so inexpensively and at such scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The simplicity of the editing options makes turning around videos so much quicker and easier than you could have ever imagined even a few years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Pictory has some pretty amazing functionality around text to speech, speech to text and semantic analysis that really promise to blur the lines between AI and human-created video in years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But having said all that, the simplicity that will appeal to so many, will be deemed as a lack of sophistication by others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u2018Storyboard\u2019 editor is simple to the point of feeling crude – and experienced creators seeking more creative control could be disappointed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And ultimately, there are simply inherent limitations to the use of stock video and illustrations in creating compelling video content. As hard as you try, it\u2019s simply very hard to create videos based around generic, stock video that don\u2019t feel like\u2026well, generic, stock video!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In closing, here\u2019s a video we created with Pictory\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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