Motion graphics video maker or AI video generator: what is the difference?

What do AI video generators actually make?

“AI video generator” covers three different kinds of tool, and they put very different things on screen. Before you compare prices or features, decide which of the three your film needs.

	Avatar presenter	Generated footage	Motion graphics
What is on screen	A digital person reading your script	Scenes that look filmed: people, places, objects	Type, shapes, icons, charts and your product’s pictures in motion
What you give it	A script	A text prompt, sometimes an image	A prompt, and often a product link, pictures and facts
Shows your real product	Only beside the presenter	No: it draws a likeness	Yes: your own screens and photos, or none
Numbers on screen	As typed in the script	Often garbled or invented in the image	Set as text, exactly as given
Best for	Training, updates, multilingual talks	Mood shots, b-roll, concepts	Launches, explainers, product ads
Example tools	HeyGen, Synthesia	Text-to-video models, invideo AI	Voom, and editors such as After Effects

Bottom line: if a person talking is the point, use an avatar; if a look or a place is the point, use generated footage; if the product, the idea or the numbers are the point, use motion graphics.

Why do product films use motion graphics?

A product film has one job: make the viewer understand what the product is and why it matters, in seconds. Motion graphics do that with three things footage cannot guarantee.

• The real product. Your interface, packshot or card appears as it really is, because the film uses your own pictures. A generated shot draws a plausible phone with invented buttons.
• Exact words and figures. “Save up to 45%” stays exactly that, set in type. In generated images, text and numbers are often misspelled or made up.
• Your brand. Colours, fonts and logo come from your brand, not from a model’s idea of a fintech app or a gadget.

Voom adds a rule on top: a product film states only the figures its sources state. When Voom reads a product page, it keeps a fact only if the page says it word for word, and the film may show nothing else as a fact.

When is generated footage or an avatar the better choice?

Motion graphics are not the answer to every brief. Be honest about the job, and pick the tool that fits it.

• A person on camera matters: onboarding videos, internal training or a CEO update. Use an avatar tool or film a real person.
• The story needs places or people: travel, food, fashion moods. Generated footage or a real shoot shows what motion graphics cannot.
• Character animation: a story told by characters who act and speak needs an animator or a character tool such as Powtoon or Vyond.

Voom makes motion graphics only. It does not generate filmed-looking footage, talking presenters or animated characters with lip sync.

What makes a motion graphics film from a link different?

A motion graphics video maker that reads your product link starts from what you already have. Voom opens the page the way a browser does, then decides what is worth putting in a film.

1. It takes the colours, fonts, copy and logo, and the facts the page states word for word.
2. It keeps pictures that show the product at its best: packshots, real app screens, the brand’s own characters.
3. It leaves out what would look cheap on screen: captures of the website itself, page layouts and stock photos.
4. For a service with nothing to photograph, it builds the whole film from motion graphics: type, diagrams, icons and objects drawn in code.
5. It writes the script, records the voice-over, composes an original score and animates every shot to the words.

The result is a film designed for that one product, not a template with your logo dropped in. See the films on the examples page, each shown with the prompt and settings that made it.

How much does each kind of tool cost?

Prices differ as much as the output. These are entry plans in US dollars from each tool’s own pricing page on 1 October 2026, and Voom’s on 20 October 2026; they change, so check before you buy.

• HeyGen (avatars): Creator, $29 a month, or $24 a month billed yearly.
• Synthesia (avatars): Starter, $29 a month, or $18 a month billed yearly.
• invideo AI (footage): Basic, $9 per seat a month billed annually, with 190 credits a month.
• Voom (motion graphics): Pro, $29 a month for 650 credits. A video costs 8 credits plus 9 a minute of video: 13 credits for 30 seconds, about $0.58 (Voom pricing).

For a deeper comparison of motion graphics tools alone, see the best motion graphics video maker for each kind of job, and for the basics, our guide to AI motion graphics.

Common mistakes

• Using generated footage for a software launch. The app on screen will not be your app. Use your real screens.
• Spending a 15-second ad on a presenter. In a feed, the product has to appear in the first seconds.
• Showing a screenshot of your homepage. A capture of a web page looks cheap in a film. Show the product, or build the idea in motion graphics.
• Trusting numbers in a generated image. Check every figure. In motion graphics, figures are set as text, so they stay as written.