The video editing bottleneck
Editing is where great content goes to die—or at least, where momentum gets stuck.
For video marketing agencies, explainer video shops, and even boutique content teams, editing can turn into a traffic jam:
- Re-editing for vertical vs. wide formats
- Chasing editors for revisions
- Captioning videos manually
- Spending 20 minutes fixing one typo in a caption
- Endless render–review–revise loops
Even worse? Most of it isn’t billable. Yikes!
It's grunt work that's hard to charge for but crucial for quality.
7 best AI video editors for agencies and teams
Here’s my personal shortlist—based on usability, agency features, and actual time saved:
Submagic AI video editorSubmagic 🏆
Submagic AI video editor for agencies was built with agencies and teams who are looking to scale their businesses.
It’s the only AI video editor that nails the trifecta: speed, accuracy, and style. We built Submagic to function like a productivity tool. Every aspect of video editing is refined.
- Edit videos by transcript
- Auto captions with insane viral styles
- Add stock B-roll, music, sound enhancements
- Lightning fast (most tasks = 3 clicks)
- Built for teams & agencies with client-ready workflows
Why I love it: The entire workflow is made for scaling. If you’re managing multiple brands or clients, nothing beats Submagic’s speed + brand control.
Descript AI video editorDescript
Descript is known for podcast editing, but it works well for short-form video too.
- Edit video by text
- Good for voiceover-heavy content
- Built-in screen recording
Can feel clunky for social-first agencies. Better for internal comms or explainers.
Pictory AI video editorPictory
Pictory uses AI to turn long videos into short, social-ready clips.
- Text-based summarization
- Auto-captioning
- Great for repurposing webinars or YouTube videos
Styling and caption customization are limited.
Runway AI video editor
PlayPlay
PlayPlay video editor
PlayPlay is a powerful video creation platform designed for marketing and communication teams to transform any message into engaging, memorable video content.
Thanks to PlayPlay’s user-friendly interface, anyone—regardless of technical background—can produce high-impact, on-brand videos in just minutes. Over 3,000 mid-sized and large companies worldwide use PlayPlay to share everything from company updates and tutorials to employee spotlights and event promotions.
The result? Genuine, share-worthy videos that resonate with audiences and leave a lasting impression.
Key Features
- AI-powered video editor
- Customizable templates
- AI-generated voiceovers
- Automatic subtitles with AI
- Motion design tools
- Easy brand asset integration
- Streamlined team collaboration
Pricing
Try PlayPlay free for 7 days—no credit card required. Subscription plans provide full access to all features, collaborative tools, and expert support. Contact PlayPlay to discover the plan that best fits your organization’s needs.
Runway
Runway is a creative AI suite that includes some seriously cool video features. Runway is a great option if you'd like to generate videos from scratch. In the above example, I uploaded my headshot and then typed in a prompt: Talk about AI video editing in a YouTube type of video.
I was actually blown away. Runway did a phenomenal job of animating my image (it even added a had which was not present in my photo). It looked pretty convincing. Check out Runway if you'd like to create videos from prompts.
When your video is ready, head over to Submagic to then add b-rolls, subtitles, and polish up your video. We just gave you a winning workflow, here.
- AI-generated B-roll
- Green screen, object removal
- Motion tracking
Great tech, but not built for client workflows or team editing.
Veed AI video editorVeed.io
User-friendly online editor with strong AI tools. Veed is probably one of the most popular AI video editors. They rose to fame especially with their AI avatars, which were some of the best. Also, Veed's timeline editor is actually pretty impressive and is super helpful for marketing folks to create videos quickly.
However, it can feel a little clunky at times. It is a you-can-do-everythig type of Swiss army knife. So if you are looking for something specific, there's some hunting to be done.
- Auto subtitles
- Clean UI
- Works well for basic social content
Good for solopreneurs, less optimized for agency scale or team workflows.
Kapwing AI video editorKapwing
Kapwing AI video generator is browser based and is simple to get started. Kapwing video editor is a bit clumsy and not the easiest to use. You can generate videos from prompts, translate, or repurpose long-form content into shorts. However you cannot download them without a watermark in the free trial.
As you see, in the screenshot above, it's pretty clumsy and not very intuitive and with the big nudge to upgrade gives me some old-school, early 2000'sGoDaddy era banners all over the app.
- Fast for basic edits
- Team sharing
- Template options
Lacks deep transcript editing or workflow features for high-volume teams.
Wisecut AI video editorWisecut
Designed for AI-powered jump cuts and pacing. it's kind of similar to Opus Pro. However, getting started with Wisecut is slightly painful. Maybe we're all spoilt with using our Google accounts to sign up, so when Wisecut offered up a form to sign up, I almost abandoned it. Seems like we're back to the typewriter era. Unfair, but honest.
#2025Problems, amiright?
Once you sign up, it's easy to paste a long-form YouTube video URL, you get an excessively long onboarding popup. Which could be a smart idea, because as you do this, your video is processing in the background. It does take suuuuuper long though, to convert a video to shorts. When it comes to speed, Submagic and Opus are the top 2.
Final nitpick. When i selected "Generate clips" I was expecting to see the clips in Portrait mode for Shorts or Reels. However, it appears that Wisecut just clips segments out but does not create them for short form videos.
- Great for YouTube Shorts, Reels
- Auto music sync
- Auto captions
Editing tools feel limited if you need full creative control or branded visuals.
Submagic is the AI video editor built for agencies
So, I'm hoping I was able to bring a little bit more clarity for you. If you are looking for speed, features, & flash. Submagic is the tool you can rely on to scale your video business.
- If you're an agency, your goal isn’t just “edit faster.”
- Your real goal is to **scale your video editing business**.
- To take on more clients, turn around work faster, and stay creatively sharp without burning out your team.
Submagic is the only AI editor that hits all of that.
And it’s built by folks who’ve lived the agency pain themselves. (👋 That’s us.)
The future of video editing
The future of video production isn’t just more creative. It’s more efficient.
And the agencies that adopt AI-first workflows now? They’re going to be the ones closing bigger deals, faster.
So don’t wait for burnout to force a change.
Start scaling now with the right AI video editor—your future self (and your team) will thank you.