7 best cloud-based video creation platforms

‍What is a cloud-based video creation platform?

A cloud-based video creation platform is an online software tool that lets you create, edit, render, review, or automate videos entirely in the browser, using remote cloud servers instead of local machines.

Depending on the platform, that can mean very different things. Some focus on browser-based video editing for social content. Others prioritize real-time team collaboration and review workflows. Some specialize in AI-generated avatars and text-to-video production. And more advanced platforms handle cloud rendering, API-driven video generation, and automated batch production at scale.

The right platform depends on whether your goal is speed, collaboration, AI content creation, or large-scale video automation.

Best cloud based video creation platforms at a glance

Here's how the seven platforms stack up across use case, user satisfaction, and pricing to help you narrow down your shortlist quickly.

‍

‍

The detailed breakdowns below cover each platform's core features, full pricing structures, and real user reviews.

Canva: Best for non-video editors

If your marketing team needs to create social videos but doesn't know the difference between keyframes and timelines, Canva is your answer. It's built around drag-and-drop simplicity with a massive template library (thousands of video templates) and brand kit integration that keeps everything on-brand without needing a design degree. You won't get the power of After Effects automation or batch video editing capabilities, but for quick social posts, simple animations, and branded content, it gets the job done fast.

The platform works best for marketing teams creating social-first video content - Instagram Stories, TikToks, LinkedIn posts - where speed matters more than advanced production techniques.

Key features worth knowing:

• Magic Resize - Automatically reformats videos for different social platforms (1:1 for Instagram, 9:16 for Stories, 16:9 for YouTube)
• Brand Kit - Upload your fonts, colors, and logos once, then apply them consistently across all videos
• Stock library - Access millions of stock videos, photos, music tracks, and sound effects
• Animation presets - One-click animations for text and elements without timeline editing
• Collaboration tools - Comment threads, version history, and team folders for distributed teams

Pricing

Canva's free tier includes basic video editing, but you'll hit the 5-minute export limit quickly and miss out on brand kits. Most marketing teams need Canva Pro at $14.99/month per person, which unlocks unlimited exports, background remover, and 100GB storage.

For teams of 3+, Canva Teams costs $10/month per person (billed annually) with centralized brand controls and approval workflows. Enterprise pricing is custom but includes SSO, advanced analytics, and dedicated support.

Plainly Videos: Best for cloud-based video automation

If your team needs to generate hundreds or thousands of personalized videos or dynamic video ad variations without manually rendering each one, Plainly transforms After Effects templates into automated video production lines. It connects After Effects templates directly to your data sources - CSV files, Google Sheets, or API endpoints - so you can feed in customer names, product details, text, or campaign variables and generate bulk videos automatically.

Ideal for creative teams generating hundreds of versions from one template who want to eliminate repetitive manual editing and local rendering.

Key features:

• After Effects template support – Use your existing AE projects without rebuilding everything from scratch
• Flexible data sources – Connect CSV files, Google Sheets, APIs, or databases to drive dynamic content
• Cloud-based rendering – Render After Effects projects in the cloud without using your local machine
• 20+ integrations – Connect with Zapier, HeyGen, Frame.io, and more
• API access – Trigger renders, pass data, and manage projects programmatically at scale

Pricing

Plainly offers 5 main tiers based on rendering minutes, and all plans include API access, integration support, thumbnail export, layer scripting, and more:

• Starter ($69/month): 50 rendering minutes per month, 1GB project storage, and 2 concurrent renders
• Explorer ($134/month): 100 rendering minutes per month, 2GB project storage, and 4 concurrent renders
• Team ($259/month): 200 rendering minutes per month, 5GB project storage, and 8 concurrent renders
• Pro ($649/month): 600 rendering minutes per month, 15GB project storage, and 16 concurrent renders
• Unlimited ($1500/month): Unlimited rendering minutes per month, unlimited project storage, and starts at 2 concurrent renders

For teams with more complex requirements, Plainly also offers an Enterprise plan with custom rendering volume, storage, concurrency, and commercial terms tailored to specific operational needs.

WeVideo: Best for team collaboration

WeVideo offers real-time collaboration features designed specifically for distributed video teams working across different locations and time zones. Real-time co-editing means multiple team members can work on the same timeline simultaneously without stepping on each other's toes, while granular permission controls let you decide who can edit, comment, or just view. Cloud rendering handles the heavy lifting on WeVideo's servers, so your distributed team in different time zones isn't bottlenecked by whoever has the slowest laptop.

This makes it ideal for distributed creative teams, agencies juggling multiple editors across client projects, and educators managing student collaboration without the chaos.

Key features:

• Real-time collaborative - Edit together with live cursor tracking so everyone sees changes instantly
• Role-based permissions - Assign admin, editor, viewer, or commenter access to control who can edit or review
• Cloud-based rendering - Process videos in the cloud so your local machine stay free
• Version history - Track changes and restore previous project snapshots anytime
• Built-in screen recording - Capture your screen and share assets directly inside the workspace

Pricing

WeVideo operates on a tiered subscription model that scales with team needs. The Creator plan starts at $28/month and includes 4K exports, unlimited cloud storage, but no collaboration features. The Team plan starts at $75/month and includes collaboration features like role-based permissions, real-time collaboration, and project sharing.

Instead of optimizing for solo creators publishing daily social posts, WeVideo is designed for teams managing projects collectively.

VEED: Best for social content creation

If you're cranking out social videos and need them ready in minutes, not hours, VEED is built for your workflow. It handles the time-sinks that slow down social content - auto-generating subtitles, offering preset aspect ratios for every platform (square for Instagram, vertical for TikTok, widescreen for YouTube), and rendering fast enough that you can go from rough cut to published post in a single session. Social media managers and content creators have basically adopted it as their go-to for quick-turnaround edits that still look professional.

It's ideal for fast social video production when speed, captions, and platform-ready formats matter more than complex editing control.

Key features:

• One-click auto-subtitles - Generate one-click captions with 98%+ accuracy in 100+ languages
• Aspect ratio templates - Use 9:16, 1:1, or 16:9 layouts with built-in safe zones for each platform
• Stock library – Access music, video clips, and motion graphics ready to drop into your edits
• Brand kit – Apply consistent colors, fonts, and logos across every video
• Direct publishing – Post straight to YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook

Pricing

VEED's free tier lets you create videos up to 10 minutes with 720p resolution, but you'll have a watermark on exports. That's fine for testing, and not ideal for client work.

The Basic plan ($19/month) removes watermarks and bumps you to 1080p with 5GB of storage. Pro ($49/month) adds 4K exports, removes VEED branding entirely, gives you 509GB storage, and includes priority support. There is also an Enterprise plan for larger teams, with custom pricing, higher storage limits, team management controls, brand kits, single sign-on (SSO), and dedicated account support.

Most social media managers find the Pro tier hits the sweet spot between features and budget.

HeyGen: Best for AI avatars

HeyGen owns the AI avatar space with photorealistic digital humans that actually look like people, not awkward digital mannequins. Voice cloning lets you create a digital twin of anyone (with permission), and multi-language support means you can produce training videos, product demos, or any type of localized video without booking studio time or coordinating on-camera talent across time zones.

Key features:

• AI avatar presets – Choose from 100+ preset avatars or create a custom avatar from your own footage
• Voice cloning – Replicate speech patterns and tone in 40+ supported languages
• Text-to-video – Turn scripts into videos with automatic, accurate lip-syncing
• Video templates – Start fast with ready-made layouts for training, product demos, and announcements
• Slide-to-video integration – Convert presentations into videos directly from your slide deck

Pricing

HeyGen uses a credit-based system where 1 minute of video equals 1 credit. The Creator plan starts at $29/month for 30 minutes of video with access to standard avatars. Enterprise plans offer custom pricing, dedicated support, and API access for teams producing high volumes of video, training content, or localized content.

Runway: Best for AI creative tools

Runway focuses on AI video tools that push creative boundaries that feel more like a research lab than a production suite. Generative video, motion tracking, intelligent background removal, and features like text-to-video generation push what's possible with AI-assisted editing. If your team is a creative agency, independent filmmaker, or content studio exploring how AI can transform the editing process, Runway gives you access to tools that didn't exist two years ago.

Key features:

• Text-to-video – Generate videos from text prompts or turn images into motion with Gen-2
• AI motion tracking – Track subjects and rotoscope without manual masking
• Background removal – Replace backgrounds in real time without a green screen
• Inpainting & interpolation – Remove objects and create smooth slow-motion between frames
• Collaboration & cloud rendering – Work with your team and render projects in the cloud

Pricing

Runway operates on a credit system. The free tier gives you 125 credits to test features, but credits deplete quickly - generating 5 seconds of video can cost 5-10 credits depending on resolution and model. The Standard plan ($15/month) includes 625 credits monthly, while Pro ($35/month) bumps you to 2,250 credits and faster generation queues. The Unlimited plan ($95/month) includes the same monthly credits as Pro, plus unlimited generations at slower priority. Enterprise plans add custom models and dedicated support.

Frame.io: Best for review & approval

Frame.io isn't a full video editor - it's the collaboration layer that sits on top of your editing workflow. If your team spends hours chasing feedback from clients, stakeholders, or internal reviewers across email threads and Slack messages, Frame.io centralizes every comment, approval, and revision request in one place. Production companies, creative agencies, and studios managing client approvals on video projects use it to turn chaotic feedback loops into structured workflows.

Key features:

• Timestamp comments – Pin feedback to exact frames so editors know precisely what to fix
• Version control – Track every iteration and compare cuts without losing previous versions
• Approval workflows – Set structured sign-off stages to move projects from review to final
• Direct integrations – Sync directly with Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro for seamless updates
• Presentation mode – Share clean, client-ready review links without the editing interface

Pricing

Frame.io pricing scales with storage and user seats. The Pro plan starts at $15/user/month with 2TB of storage and up to 5 members. The Team plan at $52/user/month adds custom branding, advanced permissions, and 3TB of storage + 2TB per additional member. Enterprise pricing includes unlimited storage, SSO, and dedicated support - you'll need to contact sales for a quote.

Choosing the right cloud based video creation platform

The right choice depends entirely on what you're actually trying to do. Creating quick social videos, collaborating with a distributed team, experimenting with AI avatars, managing client feedback, or automating thousands of personalized renders all require very different capabilities.

If you're a non-designer creating occasional social posts, Canva's templates get you started fast. Teams managing client feedback loops need Frame.io's review workflows. If you're experimenting with AI-generated content, Runway or HeyGen open up capabilities that didn't exist two years ago.

But if your team needs batch video editing across hundreds of variations - personalized campaigns, localized content, or data-driven video at scale - that's where Plainly Videos becomes essential.

Here's the decision framework: cloud-based video creation platforms eliminate the barriers that made video production slow and expensive. The question isn't whether to move to the cloud - it's finding the right tool for your specific content needs.

If your team creates high volumes of personalized or data-driven video content, book a demo with Plainly to see automation workflows in action.