Best birthday video makers online

Edited byNataly Bogorad

August 27, 2021

Since smartphones are now the norm, you’ve probably collected a lot of images of friends and family over the past year. Instead of letting those photos sit on your phone or some server in the middle of nowhere, why not put those photos to use when birthday time comes around?

Use this list of the best birthday video makers to find a solid choice to create something fun and innovative to celebrate with a friend or family member.

Quick summary

  • Editor’s choice: Fastreel
  • “As far as ease of access agoes, Fastreel from Movavi scored the highest marks, since it’s rare to be able to use a fully-equipped video editor without actually having to install a fully equipped video editor”.

  • Premium service choice: WeVideo
  • “Wevideo has excellent features, and the interface is quite intuitive. It is helpful that a project can be easily finished and uploaded to multiple platforms without having to wait around to be sure the task is completed. The ease of layering extra imagery, video, text and sound is also a big plus”.

  • Animated video pick: Animaker
  • “I love the way animated characters can make a lesson or even a presentation more interesting and fun in distance learning”.

  • Tickle my funny bone pick: JibJab
  • “Jibjab videos are hilarious, I have used them multiple years for my family and colleagues and have always gone down very well”.

  • Best value: Animoto
  • “I love Animoto's ease of use, along with the amazing quality of the final product. It looks professionally made, even when they're created by 4th graders”.

  • Templates galore: Renderforest
  • “Over the past few years they keep adding more features and services that just enhance the quality of the service. The amount of templates you have to pick from is endless”.

  • Best for collages and slideshows: Smilebox
  • “Very easy to use and simplified the process of creating a slideshow. We were able to produce an attractive show with background music, etc. Would highly recommend”.

  • Ease-of-use pick: Kizoa
  • “Kizoa is extremely easy to use. Its drag and drop functionality makes for a quick learning curve. Simple to add effects and music”.

  • Best for business and birthdays: Wideo
  • “The templates were very helpful and made the videos extremely professional. When I had no prior experience with creating full marketing videos, Wideo filled in the gaps for me”.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. When you click an affiliate link and make a purchase, we receive commissions.

Birthday video makers

Movavi’s Fastreel is a pure online video editor that requires no download or installation on your hard drive. You can use Fastreel to create short videos and slideshows using a variety of templates – birthdays, weddings, graduations, etc. – and innovative online video tools.

With an easy-to-operate, straightforward interface, you can quickly bring your birthday video ideas to life, and you don’t need to be a professional to do it. Just choose a mode, upload your files – 500 MB limit – create the video, and export.

For birthday videos, there are plenty of options. For example, you could create a slideshow that showcases the life of your birthday friend or relative with fun music, text, and/or commentary. Or you could create a video eCard or even an innovative video party invitation. Without a doubt, this is the best birthday video maker online.

Make your videos heartwarming or humorous and then upload them to social media. It’s all possible with Fastreel.

Key features:

  • Automated templates
  • Video compression
  • Crop, resize, cut, change speed, reverse, mute, merge and more!
  • Flip and rotate videos
  • Add titles and captions

Pros:

  • Completely free if you’re okay with a watermark
  • Very easy to use
  • Wide variety of templates and tools

Cons:

  • The editor is all online, so you’ll need a solid, speedy internet connection for use
  • You’ll need to pay if you don’t want the watermark

Another birthday video maker online, Animoto offers templates, and features so you can quickly create professional looking videos. Known for its simplicity, Animoto allows you to drop and drag images or clips into the editor and churn out polished slideshows for products, events, and of course, birthdays.

This program is ideal for anyone who needs to quickly create a video for social media or is starting out in video editing. In fact, one reviewer – an elementary school teacher – stated she lets her 4th graders create slideshows using this program instead of PowerPoint, and the results look almost professional.

As a birthday video maker, you can simply upload images or footage, clip and crop the video, and add sounds or music to create personalized eCards, party invitations, or party recaps your friends and family will love.

Just know that, like Fastreel, the free version includes a watermark.

Key features:

  • Drag and drop capabilities in the interface
  • Integrate with social media accounts
  • Templates and customizable branding
  • Titles and audio adjustment

Pros:

  • Very fast to use with the templates
  • Videos look professional
  • Consistently adding new features
  • Strong online community

Cons:

  • Many songs on the music library have ads on them when uploaded to YouTube
  • Few tools and the templates can be a little constrictive
  • Text must be placed in zones
  • Pay to remove watermarks

Renderforest is a versatile online video editor that goes a little beyond just videos with its functionality to help you create logos, graphics, and animations as well. In the program, simply upload your images and videos and use their customizable templates to create simple creative videos. Birthday videos, slideshows, eCards, and photo galleries are a breeze.

One of the key highlights for Renderforest is its wide range of pricing plans. On the free version, you have the ability to create videos up to 3 minutes with all of their templates but a limited number of music tracks. However, they offer four more pricing plan options where you can up the time, export more videos in better quality, and gain access to more stock footage and music

Overall, this is a great online editor for businesses as it also offers the logo maker and the ability to create business cards and other animations or illustrations for marketing purposes. But it can easily work as your birthday video maker too.

Key features:

  • Customizable color palettes
  • Drag and drop functionality
  • Access hundreds of thousands of stock videos
  • Music library with sound effects, or upload your own

Pros:

  • Easy to navigate interface
  • Lots of template and animation choices
  • Flexible pricing plans

Cons:

  • Limited fine tuning features
  • Some templates limit the number of slides
  • No 4K rendering

Created in 2005, Smilebox has been around for a beat. It’s a simple online program that allows you to create animated collages, slideshows, evites, and cards.

Smilebox’s tools are easy to use and cater to those who don’t want or need to do many tweaks or put in personal touches. Regardless, the final results are visually pleasing, and it’s easy to present a coherent narrative for most situations.

For birthdays, you can upload your pictures, and turn them into a lively video through their many templates. You can also add music and titles to your video and then send it as an email or post it on social media.

The free version of the software is a little limited, so you’ll need to upgrade to the premium version if you want the full functionality of the software. But don’t worry, it’s very affordable.

Key features:

  • Some template personalization
  • Music library available or you can upload your own
  • Share via email or social media

Pros:

  • Easy to use
  • Lots of templates on the paid version
  • Affordable

Cons:

  • Free version is limited in templates and features – no music or social media sharing
  • Not many editing or customizing options
  • Free version has ads when you email it

With over 30 million users, the word is definitely out about WeVideo. It’s a cloud-based video editing program that allows you to create and edit videos and collaborate with friends, co-workers or other users all in one place.

WeVideo offers a simple, clean interface where – within minutes – you can upload, crop, edit and export your videos. If you want to create something professional, the platform provides you with loads of tools – color correction, audio correction, green screen, etc. – and stock media to set yourself up for success.

When you’re done editing, WeVideo has great export options as the software links with loads of popular video sites. But if you’re not ready to export, the platform also offers cloud storage where your videos can sit securely and not take up your drive space.

Overall, WeVideo is great for video creation and has a full range of options for those who need to make videos often. But if you only need to create a birthday video, there are some other options that may be better suited for your needs.

Key features:

  • Customize videos for your needs with square, horizontal, and vertical formats
  • Integrates well with multiple social media channels
  • Offers over 1 million pieces of stock media
  • Green screen functionality
  • GIF creator

Pros:

  • Very extensive library of stock media
  • Smooth, clean interface
  • Can render and export to multiple locations
  • Offers online storage

Cons:

  • Free version is highly limited in features
  • Requires a solid internet connection
  • Has a learning curve to utilize the full functionality
  • Not the best platform for one-time usage

JibJab started in Brooklyn with a viral video featuring George Bush and Al Gore, so that tells you how long the company has been around.

The concept is simple. You just upload a picture focused on a face, and the program will take that face and integrate it into one of their premade videos. Once you’re done, you just click the ‘Share’ button to get a link, send your video as an email, or on Facebook.

With Jibjab, you can create more e-cards than videos, so the software differs a little bit than some of the other options on this list. However, they do have a feature called ‘Shorties’ which has longer videos than the typical e-cards.

The free version of JibJab offers a limited selection of videos and templates, so you’ll need to pay if you want to access the full range of humorous videos to send out.

Key features:

  • Colorful, fun video templates

Pros:

  • Easy to use

Cons:

  • More of an e-card than a video
  • The videos are a face plugged into a premade video
  • No editing features

If you’re looking for a video editor that’s free or doesn’t require an ongoing subscription, Kizoa may be a viable option for you – especially if you just want to create one birthday video.

With Kizoa, you can login and get to work on your videos right away. The software comes equipped with lots of video templates – birthday ones too! – where you can easily drop and drag your videos and images for integration.

From there, you’ll be able to add music and special effects along with text. Like most online video makers out there, you can manipulate your images a bit by cutting, cropping, rotating, straightening, and more.

After your video is complete, you can share it via social media or email or download up to 2 minutes worth of footage with the free account. The free account also allows you to store up to 1GB on their server.

Key features:

  • Royalty-free music library
  • Text and audio editing
  • Transitions
  • Tools to crop, rotate, and add effects

Pros:

  • Easy to customize your videos
  • Get started immediately, even without registering
  • Paid memberships are for life

Cons:

  • Interface can be a little confusing
  • Lower level plans have limited features and it’s a big price jump to the first paid tier at $29.99

Although Wideo is geared towards businesses, it’s definitely possible to create a solid birthday video using the software. The set up is a simple four-step system: you just select a template, drop and drag images or use stock media, edit and add text, and then export.

But if you want to go a little bit further, there are tons of options during the editing phase. You can create or integrate premade animations, adjust colors, and utilize transitions available on the platform.

When your video is complete, Wideo works well with social media as you can post to channels directly from the platform. And if your team or company has Wideo, it’s easy to collaborate and work together.

Be sure you only want to share and not download if you’re only going to create a simple birthday video, as downloading is not available on the free version.

Key features:

  • Storyboarding
  • Text-to-speech capabilities
  • Transitions
  • Create animations

Pros:

  • Very speedy video creation
  • Lots of animation features for dynamic videos
  • Low learning curve

Cons:

  • No downloading on free or trial versions
  • Big jump from Free to Basic package, and it’s billed annually

Animaker boasts over 10 million users who have created over 20 million videos using the world’s largest video asset library. But this software differs even further from most of the birthday video makers on this list because Animaker specializes in animated videos.

With Animaker, you can select a template and then utilize their library of over 100 million video assets to create innovative animated videos for any occasion. It’s very easy to set up and use the software. Just pick a template, customize it, add music and titles, and share away.

And as long as you don’t want to download the video, you can easily create a birthday animation video for free – with a watermark.

Key features:

  • Large media library
  • Runs on HTML 5 engine
  • Quick overlays
  • GIF creator

Pros:

  • Lots of supporting materials
  • Good amount of free material and features
  • Good customer service

Cons:

  • Can’t autosave
  • Even with a good connection, it has a tendency to freeze
  • Free version only offers 2 minute videos with branding, and they cannot be downloaded

Summary

Again, don’t let your photos just sit on a phone or some server this year. Use this list and create an original birthday video to celebrate your loved ones.

The video makers on this list are all online, so there’s no need to download anything, and most of them have great step-by-step tutorials to walk you through the process. Plus, most offer free options to save you some money during the process.

Nataly Bogorad

Nataly Bogorad is a content creator and a chief editor. With qualifications in English and American studies and art criticism, she specializes in writing SEO-optimized and user-friendly content. Nataly graduated from Universität Kassel with a bachelor of arts degree and worked as a project assistant for Regionalmanagement Nordhessen GmbH.