Sep 12, 2025

30 AI Tools for Creatives in 2025: Design, Video & Copywriting Guide

Design PickleAuthor
Creative designs with AI: how to choose the right tools in 2025

In 2025 alone, over 4,800 generative AI tools were introduced (source: TechKV). That works out to about 13 new AI tools per day on average. While some claim to replace entire teams and others offer to save you hours, the truth is that not all of them live up to the hype. 

AI has evolved from a curiosity to a necessity now, changing the way designers, marketers, and entrepreneurs operate. The correct tools may reduce wasted time, improve workflows, and inspire creativity. Knowing which ones are merely hype and which ones are helpful is the difficult part. 

Which is why we've put together this comprehensive guide: a concise, continuous comparison of all the AI tools for you can use for creative work. This guide will rate their strengths and weaknesses so you can pick the ones that will actually benefit you and your team.

AI for design: our framework for comparing tools

It's simple to become sidetracked by flashy features or audacious claims when there are hundreds of AI products competing for your attention. We're basing this comparison on what matters most for marketing and creative work because of this. Here is what we examine:

 

  • Ease of use: Does it feel intuitive enough that your team will be able to hit the ground running?
  • Creative control: Does the tool augment your ideas, or simply regurgitate generic, one-size-fits-all outcomes?
  • Collaboration value: Can several individuals work smoothly with it, or will it create yet another silo?
  • Integrations: Does it integrate into the platforms you already use, or introduce yet more friction to your stack?
  • Reliability & compliance: Are the results reliable and can you indeed use them without fear of licensing or legal loopholes?
  • Value for money: Free trials are alluring, but we examine if the paid options truly pay their way.

 

Why these elements? Because AI ought to do more than just wow you during a demonstration; it needs to enhance teamwork, save time, and boost productivity in the real world. A tool shouldn't be in your workflow if it can't meet those needs.

AI tools for video creation and editing

Video is one of the most resource-heavy formats to produce and also one of the most effective. AI video tools are stepping in to cut editing time, simplify production, and make it possible for smaller teams to create high-quality video content without Hollywood budgets. But not all video AI is created equal. Some are polished assistants, others are clunky experiments. Here’s how the most talked-about tools stack up:

Runway

Web-based generative AI for creating and editing videos.

  • Pricing: Free tier; paid from $12–$76/month
  • Ease of use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Highlight: Intuitive onboarding, easy for non-designers
  • Caveat: Free plan is limited; advanced features locked behind higher tiers
  • Legal & Compliance: Users retain rights to their content. Runway has faced lawsuits over training data scraped from YouTube and films. Usage Rights | Training Data Report | Lawsuit

Pika

Idea-to-video generator that transforms text, images, or clips into cinematic shorts.

  • Pricing: Free plan; paid from $8–$76/month
  • Ease of use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Highlight: Clean interface, empowering for creators
  • Caveat: Free/basic plans don’t allow commercial use
  • Legal & Compliance: Users retain all rights to their content. Terms of Service
Synthesia
AI avatars for training, marketing, and communication videos.
 
  • Pricing: Free demo; plans from $18–$64/month
  • Ease of use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Highlight: Fast, professional video creation in multiple languages
  • Caveat: Avatars can feel less natural than live talent
  • Legal & Compliance: Customers retain ownership of outputs. Faces scrutiny over ethical use of AI actors. Governance Policy | Case Study: AI Actors

Sora (OpenAI)

Text-to-video model integrated into ChatGPT.
 

  • Pricing: Available via ChatGPT Plus ($20/month)
  • Ease of use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Highlight: Generates short clips from prompts with impressive realism
  • Caveat: Clips max out at 20 seconds; higher tiers pricey for casual use
  • Legal & Compliance: Customers retain ownership of input and output. Training data includes copyrighted game content, raising legal challenges. Service Agreement | Training Concerns | News Coverage

Heygen

AI platform for talking avatar videos.
 

  • Pricing: Free plan (3 videos/month); paid from $29/month
  • Ease of use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Highlight: Realistic avatars + Canva/Adobe integrations
  • Caveat: Premium needed for best voices/features
  • Legal & Compliance: Users retain rights to their content and outputs. Terms

Veed.io

Browser-based video editor with AI avatars, Magic Cut, and subtitles.
 

  • Pricing: Free plan; paid from $12–$29/month
  • Ease of use:
  • Highlight: Lots of editing tools in one place
  • Caveat: Free plan adds watermark; interface feels overloaded
  • Legal & Compliance: Users retain rights to uploaded content; Veed owns IP for app features. Terms of Use
     

Descript

Text-based editing for video and audio with AI voice cloning.
 

  • Pricing: Free; paid from $16–$50/month
  • Ease of use:
  • Highlight: Edit video/audio like text, with Overdub voice
  • Caveat: Slow, buggy, poor export quality
  • Legal & Compliance: Users retain ownership of input/output. Terms

Fliki

Turn text into videos with AI voices, avatars, and stock assets.

 

  • Pricing: Free; paid from $21–$66/month
  • Ease of use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Highlight: Beginner-friendly, good quality exports
  • Caveat: Free plan has export limits
  • Legal & Compliance: Users retain rights to published content. Licensed/royalty-free media included. FAQ

Lumen5

Transform text into social-media-ready videos.
 

  • Pricing: Free; paid from $28.50–$95/month
  • Ease of use:
  • Highlight: Large media library for marketing teams
  • Caveat: Outputs often look like slide decks, not cinematic videos
  • Legal & Compliance: Service content and templates owned/licensed by Lumen5. Terms
Invideo AI
Text and script-based video generation.
 
  • Pricing: Free; paid from $28–$100/month; team/enterprise plans available
  • Ease of use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Highlight: Easy for beginners, fast quality videos
  • Caveat: Robotic-sounding voices; free plan adds watermark
  • Legal & Compliance: Users own their content, but InVideo retains broad license rights to support/improve services. Terms
AI tools for Imagery and art

From stock photos to custom illustrations, AI imagery tools are becoming the go-to for marketing teams that need visuals fast without the cost or turnaround time of traditional design. The catch? Quality, style control, and compliance vary widely. Here’s where each major image generator shines (and where it falls short):

DALL·E 3 (OpenAI)
Text-to-image AI with high prompt accuracy.
  • Pricing: Free via ChatGPT+; extra usage billed
  • Ease of use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Highlight: Simple prompts deliver sharp, detailed results
  • Caveat: Free usage limits; can struggle with complex layouts
  • Legal & Compliance: Users own their outputs. Training data not fully disclosed; OpenAI faces ongoing copyright challenges. Policy | Lawsuit Coverage
MidJourney
Discord-based platform for stylized, artistic images.
  • Pricing: $10–$60/month
  • Ease of use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Highlight: Stunning, unique aesthetics
  • Caveat: Requires Discord; less control for beginners
  • Legal & Compliance: Outputs can be used commercially; critics flag dataset scraped from web without consent. Terms 
Adobe Firefly*
Image generation built into Photoshop/Illustrator.
  • Pricing: Free limited use; paid via Creative Cloud
  • Ease of use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Highlight: Seamless for Adobe users; commercial-safe images
  • Caveat: Limited outside Adobe ecosystem
  • Legal & Compliance: Trained only on licensed/Adobe Stock data. Policy


*Design Pickle creatives use Adobe Firefly. Adobe Firefly is described as “commercially safe.” It’s trained on licensed content (Adobe Stock) plus public domain material. That helps reduce risks of copyright infringement.

Canva Magic Media*
AI image and video generation inside Canva.
  • Pricing: Free with Canva; Pro starts at $12.99/month
  • Ease of use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Highlight: Great for non-designers; fast results
  • Caveat: Outputs feel generic compared to pro tools
  • Legal & Compliance: Users own rights to generated content. Terms

*Design Pickle designers use Canva Magic Studio to resize and edit assets being designed in Canva for a faster turnaround time. Many customers at Design Pickle use Canva file delivery when requesting assets as it allows customers to receive professional creative work while still maintaining flexibility on their end.

Recraft
AI platform for vector graphics, logos, and icons.
 
  • Pricing: Free tier; Pro $10/month; Teams $55/month
  • Ease of use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Highlight: Strong vector and design outputs
  • Caveat: Limited customization; some inpainting issues
  • Legal & Compliance: IP and assets owned by Recraft/licensors. Terms
Ideogram
Text-to-image tool specializing in typography and text rendering.
  • Pricing: Free plan; Basic $7; Plus $16; Pro $48
  • Ease of use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Highlight: Crisp, high-quality text rendering
  • Caveat: Occasional text errors; customization limits
  • Legal & Compliance: Users retain full rights to input/output. Terms 
Leonardo AI
Focused on game assets, illustrations, and concept art.
  • Pricing: Free limited credits; paid tiers from $12/month
  • Ease of use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Highlight: Excellent for stylized characters and assets
  • Caveat: Less polished for photorealism
  • Legal & Compliance: Outputs are user-owned; dataset sources under scrutiny. Policy

NightCafe 

Creative AI art platform with community features.

  • Pricing: From $4.49 (100 credits) to $37.49/month
  • Ease of use: ⭐⭐⭐
  • Highlight: Beginner-friendly with strong community
  • Caveat: Overwhelming interface; limited support
  • Legal & Compliance: Ownership depends on jurisdiction; AI art law unsettled. Legal context
Playground AI
AI platform for image generation and editing.
 
  • Pricing: Free plan; Pro $12/month; Team $25/month
  • Ease of use:
  • Highlight: Wide variety of styles
  • Caveat: Slow performance; inconsistent quality
  • Legal & Compliance: Users own created assets; data privacy supported by Stanford infra. Terms | Legal ruling
     
Artlist 
Subscription platform offering AI tools alongside music, SFX, and templates.
  • Pricing: Music & SFX $9.99/month; AI Suite $11.99; Max $39.99/month
  • Ease of use:
  • Highlight: Huge library of creative assets
  • Caveat: Not beginner-friendly; limited free access
  • Legal & Compliance: IP and proprietary content owned by Artlist. Users have limited license rights only. Terms.
AI tools for copywriting

AI writing assistants are evolving from novelty to necessity for marketers and content teams. They can generate headlines, polish blog drafts, and even help brainstorm campaigns but output quality and originality vary a lot. Here’s how the leading AI writing tools compare:

ChatGPT (OpenAI)
Conversational AI assistant that helps with emails, brainstorming, coding, tutoring, and more.
  • Pricing: Free plan; ChatGPT Plus $20/month; Team $30/user/month
  • Ease of use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Highlight: Instant, versatile answers across text, voice, and image
  • Caveat: May produce inaccurate or generic content; privacy concerns
  • Legal & Compliance: Users retain rights to inputs and outputs. OpenAI faces ongoing lawsuits over training data transparency. Policy | Case coverage
Jasper
AI platform designed for marketers to create on-brand written and visual content at scale.
  • Pricing: 7-day free trial; plans start at $59/month (Pro)
  • Ease of use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Highlight: Rich template library, SEO tools, and team workflows
  • Caveat: Not ideal for technical/niche topics; higher price point
  • Legal & Compliance: Jasper does not retain ownership of user outputs. Publicly committed to ethical and transparent AI. Ethics | Legal updates
Writer
Built for teams to create on-brand content, automate workflows, and manage custom AI agents.
  • Pricing: Team plan from $29/seat/month (annual); Enterprise pricing available
  • Ease of use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Highlight: Consistent tone, SEO optimization, customizable guidelines
  • Caveat: Works best in larger team environments; not as lightweight for individuals
  • Legal & Compliance: Zero data retention — customer data is not used to train models.
Gemini (Google)
Google’s multimodal AI model for text, images, and video.
  • Pricing: Free tier; Pro $19.99/month; Ultra $249.99/month
  • Ease of use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Highlight: Multilingual support; integrates into Google Workspace
  • Caveat: May generate generic or repetitive outputs; human oversight needed
  • Legal & Compliance: Users retain rights, but Google reserves the right to generate similar outputs.
Copy.ai
AI assistant for generating marketing copy, emails, and ads.
  • Pricing: Free plan; Pro $49/month; Advanced $249/month
  • Ease of use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Highlight: Supports multiple languages; customizable tone and style
  • Caveat: Can require editing for depth/complexity
  • Legal & Compliance: Users retain full rights to their content. Policy
Hypotenuse AI
AI-powered copy generation tailored for e-commerce.
  • Pricing: Plans from ~$150/month; Pro/Enterprise tiers available
  • Ease of use:
  • Highlight: SEO-friendly product descriptions at scale
  • Caveat: Many features; interface can feel overwhelming
  • Legal & Compliance: Users retain rights but must warrant originality of inputs. Terms
Describely
AI platform for product descriptions and SEO-friendly marketing content.
  • Pricing: Pay-as-you-go $0.75/product; custom pricing for large catalogs
  • Ease of use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Highlight: User-friendly interface; time-saving for e-commerce
  • Caveat: Limited creativity; repetitive structures
  • Legal & Compliance: Users retain ownership of contributions. Company may use data for testing. Terms
Frase
AI platform for research, outlining, and SEO-focused writing.
  • Pricing: Starter $45/month; Professional $115/month; no free plan
  • Ease of use:
  • Highlight: Strong SEO optimization and customer support
  • Caveat: Learning curve; limited AI writing depth
  • Legal & Compliance: Customers retain rights. Frase does not use Google Workspace API data to train models
Unbounce 
Copywriting assistant for marketers to generate and expand content.
  • Pricing: Free plan; Essential $9/month; Unlimited $40/month
  • Ease of use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Highlight: Wide range of templates; good for fast turnarounds
  • Caveat: Free plan limited; long-form copy support is weaker
  • Legal & Compliance: Users retain ownership of content. Unbounce emphasizes compliance with data protection laws. Terms
Simplified
AI writing platform with SEO tools and plagiarism checker.
  • Pricing: Paid plans from $19/month; Business $49; Growth $149
  • Ease of use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Highlight: All-in-one platform with writing + image generation
  • Caveat: Less advanced than some competitors
  • Legal & Compliance: Users retain rights. The company does not use Google Workspace API data for training. Terms.
The legal side of AI tools every brand should know

As AI design tools continue to rise, so do questions around ownership and compliance. Some platforms promise that their outputs can be used commercially, while others keep rights over the designs you create. For teams investing in professional design services, that uncertainty can put campaigns at risk.

There are three main issues to keep in mind:

  • Ownership is not always guaranteed. Graphic design generated with AI may come with limited usage rights depending on the platform.
  • Training data can raise risks. If an AI tool was trained on unlicensed images, it could create legal issues later.
  • Regulations are evolving. New rules may soon require brands to disclose when AI plays a role in their creative design or motion graphics.

This is why businesses are leaning on trusted design services. With human oversight, your designs stay not only original and effective but also compliant. The right mix of AI support and human creativity ensures that your brand assets, whether static graphics or different types of motion graphics, deliver impact without legal uncertainty.

Why AI tools need human creativity more than ever

AI is changing how we approach design, helping teams move faster while keeping creative ideas flowing. The right tools allow you to spend less time fighting processes and more time creating. 

For businesses, this means saving hours on production tasks. But the most memorable creative design doesn’t come from software alone. AI-generated designs rely on patterns and data, which can result in visuals that feel generic or repetitive. Human designers bring the intuition, strategy, and storytelling that connect with audiences in a way algorithms can’t.

That’s why the future of design services depends on balance. AI tools should enhance workflows, but people need to direct the vision. The strongest results come when AI supports the creative process without replacing it.

Remember, though: not all tools are created for all teams. The trick isn't in discovering the sleekest features, it's in discovering the helpers that work for you, your budget, and your workflow.

Platform
Creative services
Tool & Files
Services
Daily hours
2H
Popular
/mo
SUMMARY