Alternatives
5 Best Cardboard Alternatives in 2026 (No Footage Required)
Cardboard requires you to upload your own footage. These 5 alternatives create videos from scratch — no camera, no filming, no editing skills needed.
Last updated: February 27, 2026
Why look beyond Cardboard?
Cardboard (usecardboard.com) is a YC-backed agentic video editor that lets you edit your own footage using natural language commands. It's powerful for post-production — but it cannot generate video from scratch. If you don't have footage to upload, Cardboard is not the right tool for you.
- Requires you to upload your own recorded footage — no footage, no video
- Cannot generate videos from text, scripts, or topics
- Expensive — $60/month Creator, $150/month Pro
- No AI voiceover generation
- No stock footage library or automatic scene assembly
- Not suited for faceless channels or creators without cameras
Top Alternatives
FluxNoteTop Pick
FluxNote is the best Cardboard alternative for creators who want to generate original videos without filming anything. While Cardboard requires you to bring your own footage, FluxNote creates complete videos from just a topic or script — writing the script, generating AI voiceover, sourcing HD stock footage, and adding animated captions automatically. It's perfect for faceless channels, solopreneurs, and anyone scaling content without a production budget.
Recommended
Pros
- Creates full videos from scratch — no footage or camera needed
- AI voiceover with multiple natural-sounding voices
- Auto-matches HD stock footage to your script
- 25+ animated subtitle styles with full customization
- Free plan with 3 videos/month — no credit card required
- Paid plans start at $19/month (vs. Cardboard's $60/month)
Cons
- Not designed for editing your own recorded footage
- No natural language post-production editing like Cardboard
InVideo
InVideo is a comprehensive AI video creation platform with both a template-based editor and an AI text-to-video generator. Its InVideo AI feature turns a text prompt into a complete video with voiceover, stock footage, and subtitles — making it a solid Cardboard alternative for creators who want to generate content from scratch rather than edit existing footage.
Pros
- AI text-to-video generation from prompts
- Massive library of 5000+ video templates
- Full browser-based video editor
- Good stock footage and music library
Cons
- Interface can feel complex for simple tasks
- Not as specialized for short-form social content
- Pricing higher than some alternatives at $25+/month
Pictory
Pictory specializes in turning scripts, blog posts, and articles into polished videos using AI. It automatically selects relevant stock footage, adds captions, and pairs content with music — all without requiring any original footage. Pictory is particularly strong for marketers and businesses repurposing written content into video.
Pros
- Strong script-to-video and blog-to-video workflows
- Automatic caption generation with good accuracy
- Brand kit for consistent visual identity
- Good for long-form and marketing video formats
Cons
- Less optimized for short-form social formats (TikTok, Shorts)
- Pricing starts at $23/month with limited videos
- Voiceover quality lags behind competitors
Lumen5
Lumen5 is a video creation platform that transforms text content — blog posts, articles, social copy — into engaging videos using AI. It matches your text to relevant stock footage, adds music, and produces branded video content. Lumen5 has been in the market for years and has a mature, polished interface particularly suited to brands and marketing teams.
Pros
- Proven platform with years of refinement
- Strong blog-to-video and URL-to-video conversion
- Good brand customization with color, font, and logo support
- Large media library with stock footage and music
Cons
- Limited AI voiceover options compared to newer tools
- Not well-optimized for vertical short-form video
- Pricing jumps significantly between tiers ($79/month for Pro)
Kapwing
Kapwing is a browser-based video editor with a growing suite of AI tools including automatic subtitle generation, background removal, and an AI video generator. While it leans more toward manual editing than pure generation, its AI features make it a capable Cardboard alternative for creators who want to create content from text or images without advanced editing skills.
Pros
- Browser-based — no software to install
- AI-powered subtitle generation with good accuracy
- Collaborative editing for small teams
- Free tier available with reasonable limits
- Supports a wide range of export formats and aspect ratios
Cons
- More of an editor than a generator — requires more manual effort
- AI video generation less automated than FluxNote or InVideo
- Watermark on free exports
Why look for Cardboard alternatives?
Cardboard is a genuinely impressive product for what it does — letting you edit uploaded footage with natural language commands is a meaningful innovation in post-production workflows. But it has one hard requirement that makes it the wrong tool for a large portion of video creators: you must bring your own footage. Cardboard cannot generate a single frame of video on its own. If you haven't filmed anything, the platform has nothing to work with.
This limitation disqualifies Cardboard for anyone building a faceless YouTube channel, producing content without a camera, or trying to scale video output without a production team. Add in the steep price — $60/month just to get started, rising to $150/month for the Pro tier — and it becomes clear why many creators are searching for alternatives.
The tools on this list take a completely different approach: they create video from scratch. You bring an idea, a script, a blog post, or even just a topic. They handle the footage, the voiceover, the captions, and the editing. No camera, no studio, no filming required.
What to look for in a Cardboard alternative
When evaluating alternatives, the most important question to ask is: does this tool generate video, or does it edit footage I provide? Cardboard is firmly in the 'edit my footage' category. The alternatives you want are in the 'generate video from scratch' category.
Beyond that core distinction, look for these factors:
- Voiceover quality — Does the AI voice sound natural, or robotic? Good voiceover is the foundation of engaging faceless content.
- Stock footage relevance — How well does the tool match footage to your script? Poor matching produces jarring, off-topic visuals.
- Subtitle customization — Animated, styled captions drive significantly higher engagement on TikTok and YouTube Shorts. Look for tools with multiple caption styles.
- Pricing per video — Calculate the cost per video, not just the monthly fee. Some tools charge $30/month for 5 videos; others charge $19/month for 30.
- Export formats — Does it support the aspect ratios and resolutions you need for your target platforms?
Text-to-video vs. footage editing: Understanding the difference
Cardboard belongs to a category of tools sometimes called 'AI-assisted video editors.' These tools — including CapCut, Descript, and Runway — assume you start with recorded footage and use AI to speed up the editing process. They are powerful for their intended audience: filmmakers, vloggers, podcasters, and corporate video teams who produce original content on camera.
The alternatives in this list belong to a different category: text-to-video generators. These tools assume you start with nothing but an idea or a script, and they produce a finished video from that input. This is a fundamentally different workflow that serves a different audience — creators who want to produce content at scale without filming, or who prefer anonymous, faceless channels.
Understanding which category you need is the most important decision you'll make when choosing a video tool. If you have footage and want to edit faster, Cardboard is excellent. If you have ideas and want to generate video from them, the tools on this list are what you need — and FluxNote leads that category.
How we ranked these alternatives
We evaluated each alternative on five criteria relevant to creators looking to escape Cardboard's footage requirement: generation capability (can it create video from text without any uploaded footage?), video quality (how polished is the output?), voiceover quality (does the AI voice sound natural?), pricing value (how many videos per dollar?), and ease of use (how quickly can a new user produce a finished video?).
FluxNote ranked first across all five criteria for creators whose primary need is generating original short-form video content. InVideo ranked second due to its broad feature set and strong template library. Pictory and Lumen5 ranked highly for marketers with written content to convert. Kapwing rounds out the list for teams who want collaborative editing with AI assistance.
All five tools share the critical advantage over Cardboard: none of them require you to own or upload footage to produce a finished video.