What Is Pictory? How Does It Work? – A Full Review

The digital marketing and content creation sphere has always been the breeding ground for innovative thinking and problem-solving. As the space develops further and further, once reliable strategies become obsolete, and we, creators, have to quickly hop on the bandwagon of the next hot thing.

It is no secret that with the rise of artificial intelligence, more and more possibilities and previously closed doors are opening up. A few years ago writing content was painstaking labor that made you sit in front of the screen until your back curved. Yet, nowadays with the help of ChatGPT creators are able to finish entire blog posts, and podcast scripts in less time than it takes me to even start up my computer.

So imagine my surprise, when I learned that with Artificial Intelligence you can not only write faster but also make entire videos!

This could very well be the next new thing. With the dominance of Tiktok and Youtube Short, video content has never been more in demand. However, compared to writing articles, video content creation is a whole different ballpark. The notion of being able to automatize this normally complex process would make for a simply awesome software for both aspiring and expert digital marketers and content creators alike.

Today I will be doing a full Pictory review, a tool that promises to deliver such a service. The developers at Pictory claim that the software is a quick and easy video creation tool fir for both beginners and professionals. The main purpose of Pictory is to make short videos as quickly and effectively as possible all the while not diminishing its quality.

Just from the brief description, I can see the potential behind this software. I spent the last few weeks testing out the platform, the ins and outs, in order to determine whether it really is what it’s cracked up to be and whether it’s a platform I would recommend to people.

From the goods and bad, I will be uncovering what it has to offer and my general opinion about Pictory.

If you would like to learn more about Pictory, get a massive discount or get a FREE trial, I’ll provide a link below:

Important: Click here to learn more about the NEW Pictory software

If you do end up deciding to give Pictory a try, then you can use my discount code “newdiscount” to get a lifetime 20% discount on your purchase. But, before you sign up, WAIT! You still need to read the review, you silly 🙂

What Is Pictory AI Exactly?

To get straight to the point, Pictory is a software that makes it so much easier to convert long form content into short and condensed videos that can be shared on various channels. It uses a special AI software to make all the magic happen with a few clicks.

However, on top of that, you can create your own original short form content with the help of its AI without spending much time on the mundate details. Pictory’s main advantage is the speed and ease of use when it comes to creating short content.

It does not matter whether you are a marketer, teacher, blogger, or a video creator. Pictory is a software that can be useful for all kinds of people from different career backgrounds. For example, I was able to create some interesting shorts for my affiliate website and get more eyeballs on my website and make more sales that way.

And if you don’t already know, the world of digital and affiliate marketing is heading towards video form content, mainly short videos on Youtube, Tiktok, and Instagram.

One of the main things that was really impressive is the level of personalization I could do within the platform. From logos to fonts, etc, there were a bunch of stuff that I had the liberty of changing and messing around as I saw fit.You can expect a lot of freedom during your journey and process when working on your stuff.

Another thing to note is the impressive intuitive layout and the fast processing speeds. But that’s enough of hype from my end, let’s get into the actual nitty gritty details as to how it works.

Pictory Features

In general, you can expect to see seven different ways to create banded content in Pictory. While they do seem somewhat similar in nature, there are nuances to everything. In most cases, all you need to provide from your end is a script, audio, or a long form video (i.e. your own content), and watch Pictory Ai do the rest of the work.

Before I delve into the nitty-gritty details, I will provide a brief look at each service to better understand exactly what you are getting!

Editing Videos Using Text

This feature allows the users to condense any long video into a summarized version. So really, you are not making new videos, but a compilation of the best moments of existing content.

You can accomplish this by working with Pictory AI. Simply put, the AI will highlight all the interesting parts of the video for you, saving you the trouble of dealing with complex timelines or any other such other inconveniences. To further change the product, use the interface to edit the video like a Word document. Personally, I had no questions whatsoever while working with this feature.

Normally, it would take me at least a few hours to downsize a Zoom recording, but on Pictory with the smart editing, it only takes a couple of minutes. I can imagine it will largely work the same with webinars, podcasts, tutorials, or any other form of content.

When I was trying it out, the first thing that struck me was the smoothness and ease of use of the program. Longer videos even took only a few minutes to make.

The software allowed me to remove any filler words, “ummms”, awkward pauses, and gave my videos a more professional vibe.

Create Videos From Older Ones

One useful feature that was really cool was the automatic highlight selection feature.

It allows you to create short-form videos and create a highlight section from a longer video. I think it will come really handy for Tiktok or Youtube shorts.

What happens is when you upload the long form original video, it automatically separates the text transcript from the video and the AI goes through it and finds the meats and potatoes of the whole thing.

However, you can always manually edit to fit the length of your choosing with highlighted text, keywords, and placeholder words.

Speaking as a digital marketer, I think this is a great way to increase reach and engagement for any of your businesses or your brand. Short videos have been proven to user engagement metrics and sales.

Whether you want more leads, sell more, or just get your name out there, there are a lot of uses for this specific feature. What’s great is how Pictory videos are compatible with most of Social Media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, etc which will make it a lot easier to publish your content with less stress and hassle.

Summarizing Existing Videos

This feature seemed exactly like the Highlights function I just talked about. However, this feature seemed to focus on the overall story and flow of the whole thing.

Making Video With A Script

It is just as the title says, you provide the script, and Pictory arranges for everything else, including voiceover, music, background, and captions.

When you write the script you divide it into multiple scenes. The Ai will automatically choose fitting images based on the keywords of each scene.

The library is quite impressive. There are 3 million videos, audio clips, and 30+ AI voices you can choose from. I do have to add though, the audio clips and videos were basic stock footage and can come across as a little bland.

If you are making a very specific niche video, it might be a little difficult to find the right background footage and resources.

Video Creation With A Blogpost

This feature works more or less similarly. The difference is that you use a blog post to make the script and then the AI will process the information, and make a summary based on what you provided. Once that is done, it gets converted to a video.

For writers, it might be a quite nifty tool. Since I personally write quite a lot, this was actually very useful, and being able to make videos out of my blog post with just some clicks was an awesome and easy process.

Captioning And Transcribing Video

Although Pictory advertises them separately, there is no real distinction between captioning and transcribing. Furthermore, I don’t understand why they put them as separate services.

It utilizes just a small part of the bigger video summary feature, making it a bit redundant. I feel that since there is no specific program designed for this feature, they shouldn’t claim it as a separate service, which just creates confusion.

Aside from this, it works fine as a video captioning tool.

Additional Features

Apart from the main services, I found that there were plenty amazing features as well. For me the most notable ones were:

Animations: You can add transition animation while editing the video to make your video more appealing.

Title generation: If you are having a hard time picking a catchy name for your videos, then you can ask Pictory AI to do it for you. The output is mostly similar to other AI services like ChatGPT.

Hootsuite integration: Hootsuite is a social media management platform that makes publishing and posting A LOT easier and streamlined. You can schedule your videos to be posted at certain times on various social media platforms easily.

Language Support: With over 20 other languages, you do get quite the competitive edge. You can reach a wider and global audience with this if you decide to post in multiple languages.

Automatic cropping: We all say weird filler words or take awkward pauses, but Pictory will automatically delete those and make your videos more professional and polished.

Customization Options: Did I mention that the customization capabilities are quite impressive? No? Well, I’ll say it again haha. I truly felt I could make my own unique content with the customization tools.

Advanced editing tools: With this you get more control over your videos; from resizing to adjusting video speed, text overlay, cropping, resizing, and much more I am sure you’ll find something useful from the advanced editing tool section.

How To Use Pictory?

Let’s get down to the real meats and potatoes, enough talk about the basics. I will demonstrate how to use the app based on my personal experience with the interface.

We all have our own expectations when it comes to certain software, and I suggest you to define and think about them before you purchase the product. I personally wanted something that would help me create marketing videos as quickly as possible with the least amount of effort and time without sacrificing quality.

The main things that were important to me were speed, ease of use and the overall final video quality.

After you are logged in, you will see selection of features and what you want to do do. Just so you remember all this is being done on the free trial plan.

I will mainly show you guys how the Script feature works. For the written content I am using ChatGPT to give a me a decent video script since I am not a professional video script writer and since I want to save some time.

When you click on the script function, you have to proceed to choosing a video template. As you see the options and selections are quite broad. The thing that could be better is additional information for how the template actually looks. Without in-depth information it was hard to decide on which template to use because I didn’t know what the final product would look like.

Once I chose a template, the AI divided the text I provided from ChatGPT into sections. There are some inconsistencies and mistakes which I was a little annoying, but do note that the AI is not perfect and you will have to go through your project to make sure everything is fine and dandy.

As you will see from the overall interface the design is quite minimal and working with it easy peasy that my grandma could almost do it. The menu on the left helps guide you through your video creation process and the editing tools down below make for an intuitive user experience.

Not happy with the background? Well you can choose the video/background for each scene if you click on “Visuals”. For other things such as music or voice, you can click on “Audio”, for other elements, you can click on “Elements”, so on and on.

There are other customization tools as I mentioned but I found the first video draft to be pretty decent with a few minor tweaks that needed to be done. Overall I was satisfied with the result.

I added an intro and outro with the “Branding” tab and downloaded the finished result.

The whole process took me less than 10 minutes from start to finish. Now that is quite something! Before whenever I tried to make videos it took me at least 30 minutes to an hour to edit in Adobe Premiere or VideoPad. Compared to my experience with using those applications, I didn’t feel bogged down or stuck at all with Pictory!

Nothing is perfect however. I did encounter some minor problems and issues. There was a minor bug in my video which I had to fix. As I said, please check the final video and pay attention to the small details when making your video since if you don’t, you might have to spend your time troubleshooting and fixing avoidable mistakes.

In general I am happy though. It was as I expected and wanted it to be with fast video creation speed, an intuitive layout, and some needed customization options. I was able to get a professional looking video in a matter of minutes and the AI did most of the heavy lifting for me.

If you want to give it a try, you can use our discount “newdiscount” to get a 20% saving on your purchase. It’s not just a one time purchase saving, but as long as your subscription remains active. Speaking of which… let’s talk about pricing the tier plans and how much to fork out from their wallet if someone wants to sign up

Pictory AI Pricing And Cost

There are a few pricing plans that you can choose from and based on your need the choice will of course be different individuals. You can choose between monthly or yearly subscription. If possible I would recommend getting used to the platform with their trial version and once you are fully sure, get the yearly subscription because you will save more money and you won’t have to deal with the headache of managing your finances every month.

Additionally, all pricing plans include:

All AI-enabled features
Creating text in video
Automatic captions and subtitles
Aspect ratio 16:9, 1:1, or 9:16 when converting text to video.
Full access to over 3 million licensed stock videos and images.

Standard Plan ($23/month)

30 videos per month
Text-to-video projects of up to 10 min in length
10 hrs of video transcription/month
Edit existing video recordings up to 1 hr long
3 Branded Templates you can customize and save
5,000 music tracks
34 text-to-speech AI voices

The standard plan has a pretty affordable starting price and includes the core features which will provide you with a good starting point when it comes to enhancing your video content.

If you are a small business or a beginner affiliate/digital marketer, then go with this plan. It will give you a solid foundation for leveraging your time and money to get higher returns on your investment / work & time.

Once you are making more money with these tools, you could upgrade to the higher tiers.

Premium Plan ($47/month)

60 videos per month included
Text-to-video projects of up to 20 min in length (Can be customized in-app)
20 hrs of video transcription/month
Edit existing ai video recordings up to 3 hrs long
10 Branded Templates you can customize and save
15,000 music tracks
60 text-to-speech AI voices
Upload voice-over & auto sync to the entire video
Hootsuite integration
Bulk download of videos to CSV
Priority Support

If you want flexibility and some of the extra features above, then get this plan. The Premium Plan will give you full access to all the features including the media library, advanced customization, and priority support.

Priority Support: With priority support, you will get faster response times and better service for any questions regarding the use of the product.

High Definition (HD): People have been demanding higher video resolutions for the past few years and now 720p just doesn’t cut it, so HD videos are basically the default quality for most video streaming platforms now.

Enterprise Plan (Custom)

If you have a large organization or a team, then the Enterprise Plan is probably better suited for your needs. It will allow better collaboration between team members and more resources for creating:

Custom limit on text-to-video project length
Custom video transcription/mo
Custom video length per upload
Custom number of Branded Templates
Invoice-based payment
Dedicated account manager

Your company will get centralized billing, user controls, summary reports, and greater oversight of video production and the quality of your work.

It’s a comprehensive solution that will help you achieve your organization’s goals.

For the enterprise solution, please reach out to the Pictory team to understand the intricate details of the offer and get a price quote. The website does not state how much it costs as it varies from company to company based on how much resources your company will use.

100% Money Back Guarantee

It’s important to note that Pictory pricing plans may change over time, so it’s a good idea to visit their front page on the official website or contact their sales team for the most up-to-date information and pricing options.

As for which plan is better, it really depends. If you are just starting, then it’s not worth spending a lot of money on a new tool. I would recommend going either for the Standard plan or the Free trial. With them, you can familiarize yourself with Pictory, and decide whether or not it is for you.

Although it is worth mentioning that Pictory offers a no questions asked 15-day refund to any user. Meaning either way you will have some leeway.

The Premium plan is a nice in-between that doesn’t have the cumbersome restrictions of the Standard Plan, while also being relatively affordable. If you still have some doubts about Pictory, then I would recommend this plan.

As for the Enterprise plan, I can’t say too much. It all depends on what kind of agreement you make with the management. This plan is mostly designed to meet the needs of companies and businesses that want to produce videos in the thousands. If you think this fits you, then give it a shot!

No matter which plan you choose, you can use my promo code “newdiscount” to save 20%! If you want to sign up for the most popular Premium Plan, then you can save up to 100 dollars in just 5 minutes, by activating my code before the Check Out.

Pictory Free Trial

With the free trial, you can create 3 video projects each being 10 minutes long. Since, it’s a trial version, the videos you do make will have a watermark.

Also, there are some restrictions with the editor functionality, but it’s good enough for getting a feel for how the system works in general.

The good thing is that you don’t need to input any credit card or personal information when signing up. Some websites always demand a credit card and most people tend to forget, then get surprised when they get charged, but you won’t have that problem here.

Just go to the Pictory website and sign up to give the trial a go.

Pictory Academy

One thing I haven’t mentioned yet is the masterclass lessons that Pictory offers.

Most of the video lessons are either on Marketing or Content Creation directed mainly toward beginners. The reason I failed to mention this up until now is that it is secondary to the software itself.

While some lessons do provide helpful content, there simply isn’t enough in the library to judge at face value. I understand Pictory is a fairly new platform, but the lack of content in the Pictory Academy was disappointing and it could use more tutorials and resources.

Pictory Pros And Cons

While the tone of my comments has been overall positive, nothing in life is without its faults. When writing a review I believe it is important to show both sides of the story so you, the reader, can make the right informed decision.

Advantages

Generous Free Version/Trial

There are a bunch of softwares that offer free trials, but there was something unique about Pictory. Unlike other websites that demand a credit card for you to sign up, with Pictory, you don’t need to give them any personal banking and cc details until you are certain you want to use their product.

When your trial ends, you do get to keep all your videos, but a bummer is the watermark, but the trial version is still pretty good.

Very Intuitive Interface

I know I mentioned the intuitive design and user experience, but I’ll say it again for those of you who missed the announcement haha. It’s very easy to work with and operate.

All Kinds Of Features

Whether you are developing something from scratch, or using it to fix some of your old content, you get a large library of stock footage, music, and AI generated voices that seem endless.

Personal Video Customization

You’d be surprised by how customizable everything is. You have full creative control of your vision and brand.

Drag and Drop

The whole process is simplified with the drag and drop feature of the software. You can’t get easier than this!

Very Good AI

The AI will make your life so much easier when it comes to doing the time-consuming task for you. From automatically dividing texts into scenes, to transcribing speech to subtitles, Pictory’s AI will save you valuable time that can used for other things.

Disadvantages And Limitations

Can’t Monetize Your Content

AI content in general is hard to monetize or get approved for monetization, but if you are good and have a unique touch of your own that does not flag the system, you can still get away with it.

Features Locked Behind A Payment Plan

Though there is a free trial that you can use, the advanced functions, tools, and features are only accessible for paid users.

Basic Looking Videos

Basic does not necessarily have to mean it’s bad, but for people who want in-depth customization with their videos, it can feel a little bland.

Pictory AI Alternatives

While Pictory is definitely a platform I would recommend to folks, it’s not for everyone, so if it’s not something that you find yourself using, then here are some other alternatives that you might like. I suggest you go through them in detail and make a well-informed choice.

Synthesia

Synthesia is somewhat similar to Pictory, but it puts more emphasis on turning text into videos. It’s also quite intuitive to use with similar features, so try it out!

InVideo

InVideo offers a wide array of templates and styles to choose from, but sadly it does not create short-form videos. You do have a lot more customization to make non-bland videos, so if it’s something up your alley, maybe it’s for you.

Animoto

Animoto is another video editing platform. Transform your videos, clips, and text into professional-looking ones. It does seem to be geared towards advertisers from my understanding, and it doesn’t have AI features, but a better and smoother video editing tools/process.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I was quite pleased with using Pictory. Some features did seem a little gimmicky, but the core functions and services were up to par with my expectations and did a fairly decent job.

I was able to make 10-minute videos in less time than the actual video itself, so for anyone who is looking for a streamlined process that allows for faster content creation, I highly recommended Pictory AI. However, nothing is always smooth sailing, so you will need to take some time to learn the functions and tools that are provided despite the intuitive layout. Experimenting and trial/error is the best teacher.

If you’re not sure whether it’s for you or not, you can always take advantage of their free plan before deciding whether a long-term plan is something you would be interested in. One comment I do have to make is that Pictory is a little expensive and pricy compared to similar software.