Who runs this site
Tom Tran — Founder
I’m Tom. I live in Sydney, Australia. AI Video Picks is a one-person site that I run alongside other product and analytics work. There is no editorial team behind a stock photo — just me, my paid subscriptions, and my reading list.
My day-job background is business and data analysis: 8+ years across banking (TPBank), edtech, logistics (AFS, Trames) and CRM (CMC Global on Starbucks and Highland Coffee accounts). I’ve built automation pipelines that cut operational workload by ~60% at one role, and I work daily with SQL, Python, PowerBI and Tableau. The relevant detail for this site: I judge AI video tools the same way I’d evaluate any other piece of business software — cost per output, where it breaks, and whether it actually fits a workflow.
I hold a Master of ICT (Cloud) from Western Sydney University and a Master of Business from the University of Plymouth (UK). I speak English fluently and Vietnamese natively.
Find me on LinkedIn. Reach me directly at [email protected].
Why this site exists
I started using AI video tools for my own projects — training videos, product demos, internal communications. Most of the “reviews” I found online were rewritten press releases with affiliate links bolted on. Pricing was stale, screenshots were stock, and nobody was honest about which tools they had actually paid for.
AI Video Picks is my attempt to fix that for the tools I use. I publish what I see when I sit down with a tool and try to ship something. Where a tool falls short, I say so. Where it surprises me, I say that too.
What I actually claim
This is the part most affiliate sites skip. Here is the honest scope:
- Tools I have personally tested in production — I label these reviews with first-hand observations and dated test notes. HeyGen, Submagic, Movavi, ElevenLabs, Pictory and Descript are in this bucket as of May 2026.
- Tools I have trialled but not shipped paid work with — reviews lean on hands-on trial behaviour plus published vendor docs. I flag this in the post.
- Tools I have not personally tested — comparisons rely on verified vendor documentation, public benchmarks, and pricing captured within the dated review window. I do not invent test observations or fake screenshots.
If you ever spot a claim on this site that doesn’t match what a tool actually does today, email me. I’ll fix it and add a correction note.
How I write a review
Every post on this site follows the same loop:
1. Sign up & spend money
For tools I review hands-on, I pay for at least the lowest paid tier. Free trials hide the friction that paid users hit. I take notes on the signup flow, the empty-state, the first 30 minutes — these are the moments most reviewers skip.
2. Run a real task
I don’t fabricate “testing scenarios”. I use the tool on a real project I would have done anyway: a training video for an internal team, a clip for the site’s YouTube channel, a voiceover for a tutorial. The review reflects what actually happened — including the parts that didn’t work.
3. Verify the boring stuff
Pricing, plan limits, language counts, export resolutions: these change quietly, often without changelog entries. Every fact in a review is checked against the vendor’s own page within a few days of publication, and the post is dated. Anything older than ~90 days, treat with appropriate skepticism — including on this site.
4. Update when reality changes
AI video tools ship fast. When a vendor releases a new model, changes pricing, or removes a feature, I revisit the relevant review. Each post shows its last-updated date in the body and in JSON-LD schema.
How I make money
Some links on this site are affiliate links. If you sign up through one and become a paying customer, I receive a commission — typically a one-off bounty or a small recurring share — at no extra cost to you. That money pays for the tool subscriptions I review with and keeps the site running.
The honest version: affiliate revenue does not change the rating I give a tool. I have written negative reviews of tools I have an affiliate relationship with, and I have declined to recommend tools that pay better commission than the ones I do recommend. If a recommendation here doesn’t work for you, the affiliate link wasn’t worth it — and that hurts the site more than it hurts the vendor.
Full details: Affiliate Disclosure and Privacy Policy.
What you’ll find here
As of May 2026 the site covers four content lanes:
- Reviews of individual tools — HeyGen, Synthesia, Pictory, Descript, Runway, ElevenLabs, Fliki, Movavi, and others.
- Head-to-head comparisons — structured tables that LLMs like ChatGPT can quote directly. (A surprising amount of this site’s traffic comes from AI assistants citing the comparison tables.)
- Tutorials — step-by-step workflows for making AI avatar videos, captioning short-form content, repurposing long videos, etc.
- Use-case guides — for specific audiences: e-commerce teams, social marketers, L&D / training teams, solo creators on a budget.
Get in touch
Questions, corrections, tool suggestions, or partnership pitches: contact page or email [email protected]. I read everything; I reply to most things within a few business days.