We Share the Top 10 Video Editing APIs for Smarter, Scalable Content Creation

Quick Summary

This guide compares the top video editing APIs transforming how creators, developers, and teams produce content at scale. We review 10 leading tools, covering features, pricing, and user experience.

Whether you’re automating edits, improving audio quality, or building custom workflows, you’ll see how the Cleanvoice API streamlines audio enhancement and transcription with simple, scalable integration.

Tired of Spending Hours Manually Editing Video Content?

Editing video at scale is no longer just for production studios. It’s something every creator, brand, and platform needs. APIs now make that possible, letting developers integrate trimming, enhancement, and transcription features directly into their workflows.

In this Cleanvoice guide, we’ll explore the 10 leading video editing APIs shaping modern creation.

Why Listen to Us?

At Cleanvoice, we built a developer-ready API that’s simple to integrate, powering production workflows for over 15,000 creators and 30+ brands. We work closely with podcasters and teams, who consistently highlight our ease of use, fast turnaround, and the real-world improvements in listener experience.

This direct experience in building and supporting audio tools gives us clear insight into what makes an API valuable and useful so that our reviews always hit the mark.

What Is a Video Editing API?

A video editing API lets developers connect editing tools for trimming, merging, enhancing, or adding subtitles directly into apps, platforms, or workflows without using a full editor. It brings automation and scalability to video production.

Instead of editing manually, teams can process large volumes of media programmatically. APIs handle repetitive work like cutting silence, syncing audio, or adjusting volume, freeing creators to focus on storytelling.

Why Is Video Editing API Important?

  • Automation: They handle repetitive editing tasks like trimming, merging, or syncing automatically.
  • Scalability: APIs let platforms process thousands of videos without extra staff or manual input.
  • Consistency: Automated processing ensures uniform quality across every project.
  • Integration: Teams can embed editing functions directly into existing apps or workflows.
  • Speed: By cutting manual steps, APIs shorten production timelines and help creators publish content faster.

The 10 Best Video Editing APIs for Smarter Content Creation

  1. Cleanvoice
  2. OpenShot Cloud API
  3. Shotstack
  4. JSON2Video
  5. Plainly Video Editing API
  6. Banuba Video Editing API
  7. Creatomate
  8. Rask AI Video Editing API
  9. api.video Editing & Workflow API
  10. Bannerbear API

Cleanvoice

Cleanvoice is an audio enhancement platform built to make post-production faster and more professional. It transforms raw recordings into clean, studio-quality sound in minutes, eliminating the need for tedious manual editing.

Ideal for podcasters, video creators, and production teams, Cleanvoice streamlines every step of the audio workflow and integrates seamlessly through its developer-friendly API. This makes the large-scale automation and high-quality output effortless.

So, you spend less time tinkering and more time creating.

Key Features

  • Studio Sound (Audio Enhancer): Studio Sound enhances overall clarity, balances loudness, and gives recordings a polished sound.
  • Background Noise Remover: Eliminates background noises like, hums, traffic noise, wind, and other ambient distractions from audio or video tracks.
  • Filler Words Remover: Detects and deletes filler words like “um,” “uh,” and “you know” in 20+ languages.
  • Mouth & Breath Sound Remover: Removes mouth and breath sounds like, lip smacks, heavy breaths, and clicks across multi-track recordings.
  • Dead-Air/Long Pause Remover: Shortens or removes extended silences to keep pacing tight.
  • Multitrack Editing & Timeline Export: Sync multiple guest tracks and export an edit decision list (EDL) for manual DAW refinement.
  • Developer-Ready API: One API call can apply the above edits to audio in your app or workflow; “Developers mode” onboarding makes integration fast.

Pricing

We offer several pricing models to accommodate every budget, including:

  • A Free Trial with 30 minutes of credit

  • Pay-As-You-Go:

    • 5 hours/month for $11
    • 10 hours/month for $20
    • 30 hours/month for $45

  • Subscription Model (billed monthly):

    • 10 hours/month for $11 ($1.10/hour)
    • 30 hours/month for $30 ($1.00/hour)
    • 100 hours/month for $90 ($0.90/hour)
  • Custom Enterprise Plan: 200+ hours/month, custom endpoints, and priority support for teams and brands.

Pros

  • Cuts editing time by over 95% in real-world podcast workflows.
  • Handles voice recordings in multiple languages with strong accuracy.
  • Provides EDL export so editors retain full control post-AI pass.
  • Seamless onboarding for developers with playground and API docs.
  • Unused credit rollover (up to 3× monthly limit) supports variable workloads.

Cons

  • Some words or syllables may be clipped in complex speech.

OpenShot Cloud API

OpenShot Cloud API delivers full video-editing automation via a REST interface, so you can embed editing, rendering, and export tasks into your apps and systems. It runs on AWS, Azure, or GCP, letting you operate your own instance while leveraging the editing engine.

Key Features

  • Template Project Support: Lets you design assets in the desktop editor and reuse them via the API.
  • Unlimited Tracks/Layers: Enables multiple video, audio, and image layers with full compositing.
  • Clip Resizing, Trimming, Scaling & Rotation: Offers fine-control edit commands via API endpoints.
  • Video Transitions, Overlays & Watermarks: Automates stylistic and branding elements.

Pricing

Licensing begins at US$0.15 per instance-hour (approx. US$108/month at continuous use) for the engine itself; you’ll also pay AWS/Azure/GCP infrastructure costs.

Pros

  • Source templates created in the desktop editor carry seamlessly to the cloud.
  • Full control of editing infrastructure, self-host on your cloud account.
  • Rich compositing features (unlimited layers, animations) are uncommon in editing APIs.
  • Strong documentation and ready demo scripts across Python, JS, and C#.

Cons

  • You have to manage the infrastructure and cloud costs yourself.
  • Users report slower rendering or export failures when processing large projects.

Shotstack

Shotstack delivers a cloud-based video editing API that helps developers build video workflows in hours rather than months. It handles everything from ingesting assets to rendering final videos, so you don’t need to manage servers or infrastructure.

Key Features

  • Timeline-Based Editing: Lets you trim, cut, and arrange clips programmatically via JSON.
  • Unlimited Tracks & Layers: Enables stacking video, audio, images, and text for complex edits.
  • Multi-Asset Support: Accepts images, video, audio, and HTML; outputs MP4, GIF, and social formats.
  • Pre-Built Templates & JSON Editor: Helps you design dynamic videos with minimal custom code.

Pricing

Shotstack offers the following plans:

  • Pay-As-You-Go: roughly $0.30 per video minute.
  • Subscription: about $0.20 per minute for 200 credits with rollover.
  • Large-volume pricing: Available (50,000+ minutes/year) via custom quote.

A free trial is available for the first two pricing models.

Pros

  • Rapid setup, users created their first render in under 10 minutes.
  • Shotstack offers strong documentation and developer support.
  • Supports social-video formats (9
    , 1
    , 16
    ) out of the box.
  • White-label editor SDK enables integration into your own app.

Cons

  • Users say positioning assets can be somewhat clunky for complex layouts.
  • Some users cited the need for more transition and effect variety.

JSON2Video

JSON2Video is an API that automates video creation by letting you send a JSON schema defining scenes, elements, voice-overs, and animation.

It’s designed to turn text, images, or data feeds into finished videos quickly—ideal for social media, marketing, and dynamic content workflows.

Key Features

  • JSON-to-Video Conversion: Renders full videos from JSON definitions of scenes and timing.
  • Text-to-Speech Voice-Over: Generates narration from text automatically.
  • No-Code Integrations: Works with platforms like Make.com and Zapier for simplified automation.
  • Multi-Format Support & Animation: Supports various media types, HTML5/CSS3 elements, fonts, and motion for layered output.

Pricing

The free tier offers up to 600 seconds of rendering and access to the template editor.

  • Paid options include:

    • Prepaid Plans:
      • $49.95: 7,200 credits (up to 120 mins).
      • $99.95: 15,600 credits (up to 260 mins).

  • Includes full API access, watermark removal, and priority support.

  • Subscription Plans:

    • Professional: $49.95/Mo—12,000 credits, 200 mins, 10-min max movie length
    • Startup: $99.95/Mo—30,000 credits, 500 mins, 30-min max
    • Enterprise: $199.95/Mo—78,000 credits, 1,300 mins, 30-min max

  • All subscriptions include AI-generated images, voices, and full feature access.

Pros

  • Enables high-volume video creation by using data inputs instead of manual editing.
  • Offers responsive and excellent client support.
  • Provides detailed control through JSON configuration.
  • Seamlessly integrates with popular no-code tools.

Cons

  • The media library is limited.
  • Users sometimes report documentation gaps.

Plainly Videos

Plainly Videos is a cloud-based video automation platform built for creators who want to scale branded content without losing quality. It lets you use your own Adobe After Effects templates and automate video creation via API or batch workflows. You feed it data, images, or clips, and Plainly renders unique versions at scale.

Key Features

  • After Effects Template Rendering: Automates the processing of .aep files in the cloud, including layered animations.
  • Data-Driven Video Versioning: Generates hundreds or thousands of video variants from CSV/Google Sheets via API.
  • HTTP/Video Editing API: Lets developers trigger renders, check status, and fetch results programmatically.
  • Native Integrations: Connects with tools like Zapier, Google Sheets, AWS S3, and YouTube for workflow automation.

Pricing

Plainly’s plans include:

  • Starter: $69/month (50 minutes)
  • Explorer: $134/month (100 minutes)
  • Team: $259/month (200 minutes)
  • Pro: $649/month (600 minutes)
  • Unlimited: Starting from $1,500/month for unlimited minutes
  • Enterprise: Custom pricing

A 14-day free trial is available with the first four plans.

Pros

  • Supports bulk video rendering at scale.
  • Powerful API with automation features like triggers and webhooks.
  • Connects easily to spreadsheets and other data sources.
  • Built-in enterprise features with strong security.

Cons

  • Interface and setup assume After Effects familiarity, which is steeper for non-designers.
  • Some users report slower iteration when data changes require full re-renders.

Banuba Video Editing API

Banuba’s Video Editing API delivers mobile-first editing features into apps and platforms. Designed for short-form, social-ready clips, it embeds AI-powered capabilities, like clipping, background removal, autocaptions, and AR filters.

This helps developers introduce advanced editing without building the engine from scratch.

Key Features

  • AI Clipping: Automatically picks the key moments across multiple clips and matches them to the beat of music.
  • Virtual Backgrounds: Replaces backgrounds without a green screen for faster, cleaner reactions and demos.
  • AI Subtitles: Generates captions in multiple languages and allows custom font/size/color adjustments.
  • Filters, Masks & Effects: Applies full-face AR masks, LUTs, slow motion or fast motion, and dynamic visual transitions.

Pricing

Banuba uses a license-based model: Pricing varies by platform (iOS, Android) and number of features or modules. Options include a flat fee or monthly active user tiering.

You get a 14-day free trial to test all features.

Pros

  • Cuts time-to-market for video apps by roughly half in user cases.
  • Delivers near-native performance on most mobile devices.
  • Its rich, creative toolset moves beyond simple trim workflows.
  • Strong cross-framework support (React Native, Flutter) appeals to hybrid dev teams.

Cons

  • Some users report a steeper setup for full API use (versus the plug-and-play SDK variant).

Creatomate

Creatomate is a cloud-based video editing API built for developers and creators who want to automate video production at scale. You define templates or supply JSON, and the API renders videos, GIFs, or images without managing servers.

It’s suitable for marketing teams, SaaS platforms, and anyone scaling video workflows.

Key Features

  • Programmable Captions & Templates: Automates caption styling via API and supports custom templates and editor integration.
  • JSON-Based Rendering: Generates videos entirely from JSON definitions with full control.
  • Bulk or Feed-Driven Generation: Automates large batches of videos from spreadsheets or feeds.
  • Multi-Language SDK Support: Works with Node.js, PHP, Ruby, and Python and integrates with Zapier or Make.

Pricing

A free trial is available with 50 API credits; no credit card required. Paid plans include:

  • Essential: $45/month
  • Growth: $109/month
  • Beyond: $274/month

Pros

  • Saves dozens of hours by automating templated video creation.
  • Flexible API and SDKs support many programming languages and workflows.
  • Its strong support team is responsive and collaborative.
  • Bulk generation from feeds lets teams scale content for socials fast.

Cons

  • Template library is smaller than some competitors.
  • Rendering heavy or looping elements may be slower.

Rask AI Video Editing API

Rask AI offers a video editing and localization API that automates edits like dubbing, voice cloning, subtitling, and silencing or “um/uh” reduction in videos.

It works through an upload → edit → render workflow, enabling creators to reach global audiences with minimal manual editing.

Key Features

  • Voice Clone & Lip-Sync: Generates voice-overs in multiple languages that match the original speaker’s timing.
  • REST API Integration: Enables developers to hook editing workflows into their platforms.
  • Accent Neutralization & Filler-Word Removal: Cleans speech to enhance clarity and engagement.
  • Scalable Cloud Infrastructure: Designed for high-volume project needs and enterprise workflows.

Pricing

  • Creator Plan: $60/month (25 mins/month translated)
  • Creator Pro Plan: $150/month (100 mins/month)
  • Business Plan: $750/month (500 mins/month) and up.
  • Enterprise: Custom pricing from 2000 mins/month.

Pros

  • Accurate voice-clone outputs in many languages.
  • Integrates smoothly with workflow via API/SDK support.
  • Strong multi-speaker and lip-sync features for complex videos.
  • Responsive support and user-friendly UI.

Cons

  • Styling and effects are somewhat limited.

api.video Video Editing API

api.video offers a unified developer platform for managing, editing, and delivering videos at scale. It supports on-demand and live-stream workflows, enabling you to upload, edit, clip, watermark, subtitle, and embed videos, all via API.

It’s built for modern apps that need end-to-end video capabilities.

Key Features

  • Video Clipping & Trimming: Lets you define start and end timecodes via API to produce shorter clips from longer footage.
  • Caption and Subtitle Automation: Generates and attaches subtitles or captions for accessibility and translation use cases.
  • Full Video Hosting, Management & Delivery: Upload assets, encode them, store securely, and deliver globally through a built-in CDN.
  • Built-In AI Features: Includes transcription, summarization, and metadata extraction to boost accessibility and search value of videos.

Pricing

api.video offers three pricing categories, including:

  • Video Encoding: Free for unlimited minutes of encoding.
  • Video Hosting: As low as $0.00285 per minute of video stored.
  • Video Delivery: As low as $0.0017 per minute of video delivered.

Pros

  • Fine-grained clip control reduces editing overhead for long videos.
  • Strong subtitle/translation support expands content reach globally.
  • Developers praise its clear documentation and fast onboarding.
  • Flexible API covers both hosting and editing in a single platform.

Cons

  • The platform offers fewer custom transitions and effects.

Bannerbear API

Bannerbear API lets you automate video generation by sending a JSON payload or webhook—ideal when you need branded or templated video content. You design a template once, then repeatedly inject variables (text, images, and clips) via API and receive finished videos quickly.

Key Features

  • Template-Based Rendering: Accepts a pre-designed template and produces videos through API calls.
  • Auto-Subtitles/Transcription: Takes source video and produces subtitles in one call to boost silent-viewing engagement.
  • No-Code and Workflow Integrations: Works with Zapier, Make, and other automation platforms to trigger video creation from other apps.
  • REST API & SDKs Support: Offers endpoint endpoints with libraries for Node, PHP, and Ruby for embedding into developer workflows.

Pricing

The pricing for Bannerbear includes three plans:

  • Automate: $49/month—Includes 1,000 image/video API credits.
  • Scale: $149/month—includes 10,000 image/video API credits.
  • Enterprise: $299/month—includes 50,000 image/video API credits.

Pros

  • Enables rapid creation of volume-branded videos from data feeds.
  • Developer-friendly SDKs and endpoints speed integration work.
  • Template reuse ensures brand consistency across many video outputs.
  • Strong cloud infrastructure with users reporting smooth rendering of clips.

Cons

  • Suited for templated videos, not complex motion graphics.

Create Smarter, Faster Video Edits with Cleanvoice API

Video editing APIs make it easier than ever to automate production, enhance quality, and scale creative workflows. From trimming and rendering to localization, these tools redefine how teams approach content creation. With Cleanvoice, we take that even further.

Built for podcasters, creators, and developers, our API removes filler words, background noise, and dead air while enhancing clarity with its Studio Sound feature. It integrates easily into any workflow, letting you automate professional-grade editing without the hassle of manual cleanup.

Sign up at Cleanvoice to start creating cleaner, sharper video with our API.

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