Video background removers let you separate foreground elements from the background in videos so that they can be removed or replaced. In this article, we take a look at the ten best video background remover software options available in 2023 and hopefully you’ll find something that’s right for you. Show
10 Best Video Background Remover Software (Free & Paid 2023)1. Adobe After EffectsAdobe is an industry standard when it comes to video editing so it’s no surprise that they have their own advanced background removal capabilities through masking and chroma key, but perhaps even more useful is the range of plug-ins you can get to integrate into AE, like the AI Video Background Remover.  Quick LookPricing Tier Cost and What you get Free Trial Full access for 7 days Subscription £19.97/m (AE only) All apps subscription £51.98/m (20+ Creative Cloud apps) Pros and Cons Pros Advanced features. Familiarity if you already use Adobe products. Third party plugins available. Cons Subscription only and the price is quite a lot. Steep learning curve if you’ve not used After Effects before. 2. FilmoraFilmora, by Wondershare, is a user-friendly, drag-and-drop video editor with it’s own AI background remover for video. Just import your video clip and remove the background in one click. Quick LookPricing Tier Cost and What you get Free Trial They don’t say how long the free trial is but it seems like it may be indefinite, though with a watermark over everything. Perpetual Plan A buy outright licence, usually £123.98 but currently on sale for £56.09 per PC Annual Plan £98.98 per year per PC, but currently on sale for £40.99. Comes with one year of updates. Pros and Cons Pros Easy to use. Quite cheap to pay for a buy outright license. Good for casual use and beginners. Cons Limited tools compared to bigger suites. Background removal is not as good as more advanced programmes. 3. MovaviMovavi video editor includes everything you’d expect in a video editing programme, plus the ability to easily change or remove the background of your video. Quick LookPricing You can get 20% off for subscribing to Movavi’s newsletter. All tiers below include the AI background removal feature. Tier Cost and What you get Video Editor 1 year for £40.95 or a lifetime license for £62.95 Video Editor + Effect Packs 1 year currently £62.95 (usually £140.95) Video Suite + Effect Packs 1 year currently £75.95 (usually £190.95) Pros and Cons Pros A fairly good balance between cost and tools. User-friendly. Cons Rendering is apparently slow. It lacks some features found in other editors, like trimming modes. 4. Premiere ProOkay, okay, it’s another Adobe product, but Premiere Pro is a different offering to After Effects, and it also has its own background removal tool, via Ultra Key. It has the same benefit as AE in that you can buy third party plug-ins to help you remove the background from your video. Quick LookPricing Tier Cost and What you get Free Trial Full access for 7 days Subscription £19.97/m (PP only) All apps subscription £51.98/m (20+ Creative Cloud apps) Pros and Cons Pros Advanced features. Familiarity if you already use Adobe products. Third party plugins available Cons Subscription only and the price is quite a lot. Steep learning curve if you’ve not used Premiere Pro before. 5. UnscreenUnscreen is an AI video background remover for free*, to be used online. You upload your clip and it uses AI algorithms to remove the background from videos. Quick LookPricing Tier Cost and What you get Free Remove or change a background for free, other features are limited and part of Unscreen Pro. Limits include 5 second clips and low resolution. Unscreen Pro subscription This is broken down into how many minutes you’ll use a month and gets complicated. Prices range from £1.06 per video minute to £2.67. Unscreen Pro PAYG £4.49 per video minute Pros and Cons Pros Good for very short clips. The results on their examples page look good. Cons The free version is very, very limited. Costs per minute are prohibitive to anything longer than a few minutes. 6. Final Cut ProFinal Cut Pro, for MAC has background remover options for video in the usual ways: chroma key, masking, and so on, but like Premiere Pro and After Effects it has the benefit of additional plug-ins, like Keyper (which works in the Adobe suites too) that extracts people from their backgrounds. Quick LookPricing Tier Cost and What you get Free A 90 day trial Buy outright £299.99 Pros and Cons Pros Advanced features and a range of additional plugins available. Cons A high price point, but a buy outright license is an option that competitors tend not to offer, so that might be a pro depending on your needs. 7. VSDC Free Video EditorFor a free video editor, VSDC looks pretty good, and it’s nice to have it on desktop rather than online like many free tools. It’s a non-linear editor with some decent background remover tools for video. Quick LookPricing Tier Cost and What you get Free It's free! You get everything except for a few advanced tools. Pro £18.58 the same as above but with extra options like hardware acceleration and multiple colour chroma key. Pros and Cons Pros The free version is decent and the Pro version is quite cheap if you find you need the extra options. Cons For the price point it obviously won’t have the advanced features you’d find in premium editing suites, or in some of the best software to remove background from video options that come with a heftier price tag. 8. CamtasiaCamtasia has long been a favourite for live streaming and screen recording, but did you know you can remove the background from video with it too? Quick LookPricing Tier Cost and What you get Camtasia £285.11 – a lifetime license for Camtasia. Pros and Cons Pros User-friendly. Lots of tools integrated including screen recording. Cons The price point is a little high when you look at other buy outright licenses by more advanced programmes, but that said it does have some different features so that might balance it out for you. 9. DescriptDescript is a video editor that prides itself on being easy to use while still having advanced features. Descript has an AI video background remover that automatically removes backgrounds from video without needing green screen. Quick LookPricing Tier Cost and What you get Free 1 hour per month and one watermark-free video per month. 720P resolution, filler word removal (um and uh), 1,000 word overdub, up to 10 minute green screen, up to 10 minute studio sound, first 5 results per search of the stock library. Creator $12/m/user – as above but 10 hours per month of transcription, unlimited exports of watermarked videos, 4k resolution, 60 minutes each of green screen and studio sound, and 12 results in the stock library. Pro $24/m/user – As above but 30 hours of transcription, additional filler words plus repeated words and unlimited everything else. Custom Contact for a quote – as above but a bit more of everything plus additional tools like invoicing, training, and a dedicated account representative. Pros and Cons Pros It will automatically remove a background from video, so no messing around with masking or green screen. Cons The free tier is very limited but for casual users the ‘creator’ tier isn’t a bad price. 10. KapwingKapwing’s photo editor has always been a bit of an underdog, so it’s nice to see it competing for the best software to remove background from video. Isolate people from their background in just a few clicks with Kapwing’s smart background removal tool. Quick LookPricing Tier Cost and What you get Free Unlimited exports but with a watermark. Limited to 4 minutes long and 720p quality. You can use the auto subtitler for 10 minutes per month. Pro $16 per month (billed annually). No watermarks. Export videos up to 2 hours long. Unlimited user of the subtitler. Up to 4k quality and unlimited cloud storage. Access to all AI editing tools. Custom You can contact Kapwing for a specific quote and get a dedicated manager, multiple workspaces and custom billing. Pros and Cons Pros The free version is generous if you don’t mind a watermark. It’s easy to use so it’s great for beginners. Cons It’s online use only, there’s no app or desktop version. It doesn’t have some of the more advanced video editing tools. Summary: Best Video Background Remover SoftwareRemoving a background used to require some thought beforehand, like the use of a green screen, and then a lot of time and effort in an editing suite. Now though, you can remove background from video much more easily, and this might be in tools you use already if you’re a film editor. If you aren’t, there are tons of great, easy-to-use options too. Let’s summarise the best software to remove background from video based on a few key needs: You’re An Advanced Film EditorIf you’re already a video editor and you’re using industry standards like After Effects, Premiere Pro, or Final Cut Pro, then you’re probably better off sticking with those tools. They’re pretty great, they’re being updated all the time – particularly with Adobe’s subscription model meaning you’re always getting the newest releases – and you can often by third party plug-ins to help automate the process further. You’re a Beginner or Casual Video EditorBeginners and casual video editors may find user-friendly options like Filmora and Camtasia a good balance between usability, cost, and tools. They’ve been around a long time for photo and video editing and so their background remover for video tools have the support and will likely keep improving. Best Software to Remove Background from Video for FreeThis is mostly a cost implication recommendation, VSDC Free Video Editor because... it’s free, but if you have the budget then it’s probably worth spending less than £20 to get the multiple colour chroma key option. It has quite a lot of tools that don’t quite tip into the advanced ones of the Adobe options (and nor would you expect them to) but there’s definitely scope to do some more advanced editing than with the other free or low priced options. Honorable Mentions for Background Removers for VideoDescript and Kapwing both come in at a reasonable price and are quite similar in their offerings, though if I had to choose, I’d say Kapwing probably pips Descript just based on it having more useful tools and fewer limitations – plus Kapwing’s free tier is a little more generous so it’s a good one to practice with. Envato ElementsIf you're a video editor looking for resources, try Envato Elements. For a monthly subscription you'll get access to thousands of video templates, graphics, stock photos, music tracks and more. Each month you'll find a bunch of free templates too, including free video templates. Above are some of this month's freebies, so why not check them out and see if there's something there for you. Conclusion: Background Remover for VideoVideo background remover software is becoming essential for many of us when it comes to our video editing. From the highest price points of Adobe subscriptions to freebies online, there’s so much choice, and that can make it really difficult to know which is the best software to remove background from video. A lot of your decision making will depend on your budget, skill level, and the complexity of your projects. For most people, something covering the middle ground will suit just fine, and hopefully, we’ve given you a good mix of options to choose from to help you remove background from videos. How do I remove the background from a video without green screen?Kapwing's video background remover equips you with you can isolate people from the background of a video or image, without a green screen. All it takes is a few clicks. Open Kapwing and upload your own media. With your layer selected, click the "Effects” tab and select the "Remove Background" option. What is the app that removes video backgrounds?Download PowerDirector — The Best App To Remove Video Backgrounds. The first step to take when you want to remove a background from a video is to download PowerDirector. You can download it in the App Store or Google Play Store. This app supports both iOS and Android devices and is free to download. |
