Lumen5 vs Kapwing for Nonprofits
Choosing between AI-powered content repurposing and collaborative video editing? Lumen5 turns your blog posts, newsletters, and articles into polished branded videos automatically, handling scriptwriting, media matching, and voiceover generation. Kapwing gives your team a browser-based editor for trimming footage, adding multilingual captions, and publishing directly to social platforms. Your choice depends on whether your nonprofit needs to scale content repurposing or create and collaborate on video from scratch.
Quick Verdict
Choose based on your nonprofit's video workflow:
Choose Lumen5 if:
- •You regularly convert blog posts, newsletters, or articles into video at scale
- •Brand consistency is critical and you want logos and colors applied automatically
- •You need AI scriptwriting, voiceover, and scene matching without manual setup
- •Polished, longer-form branded video is your primary output
- •You want a teleprompter built into your talking head recording workflow
Choose Kapwing if:
- •Your team edits existing footage and needs real-time co-editing collaboration
- •Auto-subtitles and multilingual captions for diverse audiences are priorities
- •You need direct publishing to TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook
- •Budget predictability matters and you prefer a flat monthly subscription
- •Short-form social content like Reels, Shorts, and TikToks is your primary output
At a Glance: Lumen5 vs Kapwing
| Feature | Lumen5 | Kapwing | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Price (paid) | $25/month (annual) | $16/month (annual) | Kapwing |
| Free Tier | Yes (with watermark) | Yes (with watermark) | Tie |
| Ease of Use | 4/5 (scene-based) | 5/5 (timeline editor) | Kapwing |
| Nonprofit Discount | None (contact sales) | None (contact sales) | Tie |
| Blog-to-Video AI | Yes (core feature) | Limited (stock-based) | Lumen5 |
| AI Subtitles / Captions | Basic | 40+ languages | Kapwing |
| Real-Time Collaboration | Shared brand kit only | Full co-editing | Kapwing |
| Social Publishing | Download and upload | Direct to TikTok, YouTube, Facebook | Kapwing |
| Brand Kit | Yes (auto-applied) | Yes (Pro and above) | Tie |
| AI Voiceover | Yes (built-in) | Yes (text-to-speech) | Tie |
Why Video Matters for Nonprofits
Video has become one of the most effective ways for nonprofits to communicate impact, build donor trust, and grow community engagement. A two-minute impact video can convey what a three-page annual report cannot. Yet for most small and mid-sized nonprofits, producing consistent video content has historically required either a budget for professional production or staff with advanced editing skills. Both Lumen5 and Kapwing aim to change that equation, though they do so in very different ways.
Lumen5 was built for content marketers who want to repurpose existing written work into video without learning editing software. Its AI reads your blog post or newsletter, extracts the most important sentences, finds matching stock footage, and assembles a scene-by-scene video draft that you refine rather than build from scratch. For nonprofits with consistent publishing schedules and a backlog of written content, this workflow can dramatically reduce the time it takes to produce video.
Kapwing approaches video creation differently, functioning as a collaborative browser-based editor where teams can work on the same project simultaneously. Rather than generating video from text, Kapwing helps you edit footage you already have, adding AI-generated subtitles, trimming dead air, removing backgrounds, and formatting clips for every social platform. Its direct publishing integrations mean a video can go from editing to posted on TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook without leaving the platform.
This comparison examines both tools across features, pricing, ease of use, AI capabilities, and specific nonprofit use cases to help your organization make an informed decision. If you are evaluating other video tools, our comparisons of Synthesia vs Lumen5 and Runway vs Kapwing may also be useful context.
What Is Lumen5?
Lumen5 is an AI-powered video creation platform founded in 2017 and headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. Its central proposition is straightforward: give it a URL or paste in text, and it produces a video. The platform pulls key sentences from your content, pairs them with stock media from its library of over 50 million photos and videos, and lays out a scene-by-scene draft ready for your edits. The process reduces what might take hours in a traditional video editor to a matter of minutes.
Beyond blog-to-video conversion, Lumen5 supports talking head recordings with a built-in teleprompter, AI-generated voiceovers in multiple voices, and a brand kit that stores your organization's colors, fonts, and logo so they are applied automatically across every video you create. The platform targets marketing and communications teams at companies and nonprofits that produce regular written content and want a scalable way to repurpose it.
Lumen5 Strengths
- Blog-to-video AI that extracts key points and matches stock media automatically
- Brand kit with automatic logo, font, and color application across all videos
- Built-in teleprompter for talking head recordings
- AI scriptwriting and voiceover generation
- 50+ million stock media library included
Lumen5 Limitations
- •No real-time co-editing for team collaboration
- •No direct social media publishing; requires manual upload
- •Scene-based editor less flexible than a traditional timeline
- •AI subtitle features less advanced than Kapwing
- •Higher entry-level pricing than Kapwing for paid plans
What Is Kapwing?
Kapwing is a browser-based collaborative video editor founded in 2017 in San Francisco. Where Lumen5 generates video from content, Kapwing gives you the tools to edit, enhance, and distribute video you already have. Its timeline editor supports trimming, layering, audio adjustments, and text overlays in an interface that feels closer to a lightweight version of desktop editing software, accessible entirely through a web browser without any downloads.
Kapwing's defining strengths for nonprofits include its AI subtitle engine, which automatically generates captions in over 40 languages and can translate and dub video into different languages, making it particularly valuable for organizations serving multilingual communities. Its real-time collaboration model means your executive director, communications manager, and program staff can all review and comment on a video project without emailing files back and forth. The December 2025 introduction of an AI Credits system also clarified how AI features are metered across plans.
Kapwing Strengths
- Real-time co-editing with multiple team members simultaneously
- AI auto-subtitles and translation in 40+ languages
- Direct publishing to TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and Vimeo
- One-click resize for all major social media formats
- More affordable entry-level paid plan at $16/month
Kapwing Limitations
- •Limited blog-to-video or content repurposing automation
- •No built-in teleprompter for talking head recordings
- •AI Credits system can feel complex to budget around
- •Less suited for polished, longer-form branded video production
- •Brand kit available only on paid plans
Head-to-Head Feature Comparison
Breaking down how each tool performs across the dimensions that matter most for nonprofit communications teams.
AI Video Creation and Content Repurposing
How each tool uses AI to help you create video content
Lumen5
Lumen5's flagship capability is its blog-to-video pipeline. Paste a URL or article text and the AI extracts key sentences, finds matching stock footage, and builds a scene-by-scene draft. You review and adjust scenes rather than building from scratch. The platform also generates scripts from scratch if you don't have existing content, and produces AI voiceovers in multiple voices and languages.
- URL-to-video and text-to-video in minutes
- AI script generation and voiceover synthesis
- Automatic media matching from 50M+ stock library
Kapwing
Kapwing's AI focuses on enhancing video you already have rather than generating it from text. Smart Cut removes silences and filler words automatically. AI eye contact correction makes recorded presentations look more professional. Background removal works on both images and video. The text-to-speech feature generates audio for scripts, but Kapwing does not match stock footage to written content the way Lumen5 does.
- Smart Cut removes dead air and filler words
- AI eye contact correction for talking head videos
- Video and image background removal
Winner: Lumen5 for content repurposing. Kapwing for editing existing footage.
Subtitles, Captions, and Multilingual Accessibility
Critical for nonprofits serving diverse communities
Lumen5
Lumen5 supports text overlays and basic captions as part of its scene editing workflow. However, its auto-subtitle capabilities are more limited compared to Kapwing. If multilingual captioning or AI dubbing is a core requirement for your organization, Lumen5 may not meet those needs without additional tools in your workflow.
Kapwing
Kapwing's auto-subtitle engine generates accurate captions in over 40 languages and can translate subtitles into different languages automatically. Its AI dubbing feature replaces the original audio with translated speech, maintaining lip sync. Pro subscribers get up to 1,000 captioning minutes per month. For nonprofits serving multilingual communities or producing content for international audiences, this is a significant advantage.
Winner: Kapwing by a significant margin for multilingual accessibility.
Team Collaboration
How well each tool supports distributed nonprofit teams
Lumen5
Lumen5 supports team accounts where multiple users can access shared brand kits, templates, and media libraries. Team members can work on individual projects and share them. However, Lumen5 does not offer real-time co-editing, so two people cannot edit the same video simultaneously. For organizations where one person creates and another reviews, this is workable. For teams that iterate together in real time, it is a limitation.
Kapwing
Kapwing was designed with collaboration at its core. Multiple team members can edit the same project simultaneously, similar to how Google Docs enables co-writing. Editors can leave comments tied to specific moments in the timeline, making review and feedback cycles much faster. Shared workspaces keep all team projects organized in one place. For nonprofits with communications committees or multi-person content teams, this removes a significant friction point.
Winner: Kapwing for real-time collaborative editing and in-context feedback.
Brand Consistency and Identity
Maintaining visual identity across all video output
Lumen5
Brand consistency is a core design principle of Lumen5. You upload your logo, define your color palette, and select your fonts once. Every video you create from that point forward applies these settings automatically across all scenes. This is especially valuable for nonprofits where multiple staff create video content but brand governance is important. Lumen5's brand kit also includes customizable intro and outro templates.
Kapwing
Kapwing's Brand Kit is available on Pro and Business plans and stores your logo, colors, and fonts for easy access during editing. Unlike Lumen5, brand elements are not applied automatically to new projects; you apply them intentionally as you build each video. This gives more creative flexibility but requires more manual steps to maintain consistency across a high volume of videos.
Winner: Lumen5 for automatic brand application at scale. Kapwing for flexible manual brand application.
Social Media Distribution and Formatting
Getting video to your audiences efficiently
Lumen5
Lumen5 supports multiple aspect ratios including 16:9 for YouTube, 1:1 for LinkedIn and Facebook, and 9:16 for vertical formats. Once you export a video, you download it and upload it manually to each platform. There is no integrated social publishing. For teams with a consistent posting schedule, this adds steps to the workflow, though the video quality exported is generally high.
Kapwing
Kapwing allows you to publish directly to TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and Vimeo from within the editor. One-click resize formats your video for any platform's required dimensions. For nonprofit social media managers posting across multiple channels, eliminating the download-and-upload cycle across each platform saves meaningful time each week, particularly for high-volume content programs.
Winner: Kapwing for integrated publishing and platform-specific formatting.
Templates and Output Quality
Starting points and the polish of finished videos
Lumen5
Lumen5 offers a library of polished video templates organized by use case: social media ads, explainer videos, corporate communications, and more. Templates establish the visual style, transitions, and pacing. Combined with brand kit automation, Lumen5 consistently produces professionally-styled videos even when created by staff with no design background. Export resolution goes up to 1080p on paid plans.
Kapwing
Kapwing also offers templates for common video formats, though its library is more focused on social media formats than branded corporate video. Output quality goes up to 4K resolution on paid plans, which is higher than Lumen5's 1080p maximum. For nonprofits producing event recap videos, program testimonials, or other footage-based content, Kapwing's higher export resolution and flexible timeline give more control over the final product.
Winner: Lumen5 for template quality and brand polish. Kapwing for maximum export resolution (4K).
Pricing Breakdown
Understanding the true cost of each platform for your nonprofit's budget.
Lumen5 Pricing
Community (Free)
Basic video creation with Lumen5 watermark. Good for evaluating the platform before committing to a paid plan.
Basic: ~$25/month (annual)
Remove watermark, 720p resolution, 5 video downloads per month. Suitable for small organizations with modest video needs.
Professional: ~$79/month (annual)
Full stock library, 1080p export, brand kit, priority support. The most common choice for active communications teams.
Business/Enterprise: $199+/month
Custom brand workspaces, team management, API access, dedicated support. For large organizations and agencies.
Kapwing Pricing
Free
10 AI credits/month, videos up to 1 minute, 720p, watermark on exports. Good for occasional use and testing.
Pro: $16/month (annual) or $24/month
1,000 AI credits/month, no watermark, 4K exports, brand kit, videos up to 2 hours. The standard choice for most teams.
Business: $50/month (annual) or $64/month
4,000 AI credits/month, custom voice clones, lip sync, ability to purchase additional credits. For high-volume video programs.
Enterprise: Custom pricing
Custom credit allocation, SAML SSO, dedicated account manager, priority support and onboarding.
Budget Recommendation for Nonprofits
For most nonprofits on limited budgets, Kapwing Pro at $16/month provides strong value for social media-focused video work. Lumen5 Professional at ~$79/month is a larger investment but delivers significant time savings if your organization publishes blog content regularly and wants to repurpose it as video consistently. Start with the free tier of both to assess which workflow fits your team before committing to a paid plan.
Nonprofit Discounts and Special Pricing
What to expect when approaching each platform as a nonprofit organization.
Lumen5 for Nonprofits
Lumen5 does not advertise a dedicated nonprofit discount program on its website. The free Community plan is available to all users and provides basic access without a subscription. For organizations that need more than the free tier but are sensitive to cost, reaching out to Lumen5's sales team to explain your organization's mission may result in custom pricing or a trial extension.
- •No public nonprofit pricing program
- •Free Community plan available for all users
- •Contact sales at lumen5.com for custom pricing inquiries
Kapwing for Nonprofits
Kapwing does not have an active dedicated nonprofit discount. Their education program, which previously provided free Pro accounts to qualifying institutions, is currently paused for new applicants. Nonprofits can still access the free tier, which includes basic editing and 10 AI credits per month. Contact Kapwing's sales team for enterprise discussions or to ask about organizational pricing.
- •No active nonprofit discount program
- •Education program paused for new applicants
- •Free tier available; contact sales for custom pricing
Ease of Use and Learning Curve
How quickly your team can get productive with each tool.
Lumen5 Learning Curve
Lumen5's scene-based editor is approachable for first-time video creators. Most users can produce their first video within an hour of signing up, particularly using the blog-to-video workflow. The main learning curve involves understanding how to guide the AI's media selection, adjust scene timing, and customize brand elements. Staff who produce regular content will become comfortable within a few sessions.
Best suited for communications staff, content marketers, and program managers with no video editing experience.
Kapwing Learning Curve
Kapwing's timeline editor is highly intuitive, particularly for anyone who has used basic video or audio editing tools before. The interface is clean, browser-based, and does not require installation. Adding subtitles, trimming clips, and resizing for social media can all be accomplished in a single editing session without training. Kapwing consistently earns high ease-of-use ratings from users across review platforms.
Highly accessible for staff at any technical level. Rated 8.9/10 on G2 for ease of use.
Integration and Compatibility
How each tool fits into your existing nonprofit technology stack.
Lumen5 Integrations
- RSS feed import for automatic blog content ingestion
- Direct URL paste to pull content from any web page
- Export to MP4 for upload to any platform
- Storyblocks and Shutterstock stock media integrated
- API access on Business and Enterprise plans
Kapwing Integrations
- Direct publish to TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and Vimeo
- Google Drive import for accessing your footage library
- Import from URL for online video sources
- Shared workspace for team project organization
- Export to MP4 or GIF; 4K resolution available
Which Tool Should Your Nonprofit Choose?
The right choice depends on your primary video workflow, team structure, and content goals.
Choose Lumen5 If Your Nonprofit...
- Publishes regular blog or newsletter content and wants to repurpose it as video without starting from a blank canvas. Lumen5's blog-to-video pipeline is genuinely the most efficient tool for this specific workflow.
- Needs automatic brand enforcement across all video content, especially if multiple staff members produce video and consistency is difficult to maintain manually.
- Produces talking head videos regularly such as executive messages, program updates, or donor stewardship videos, and would benefit from a built-in teleprompter.
- Prioritizes polished, branded output over raw editing flexibility and wants a tool that handles creative decisions automatically.
Choose Kapwing If Your Nonprofit...
- Has video footage to edit such as event recordings, program documentation, volunteer testimonials, or staff interviews that need trimming, captioning, and formatting for social media.
- Serves multilingual communities and needs AI subtitles, caption translation, or audio dubbing to make video content accessible to diverse audiences.
- Has a multi-person communications team that needs to review, comment on, and edit video projects simultaneously without emailing files back and forth.
- Prioritizes affordability and direct social publishing, particularly for organizations managing tight budgets that post frequently to TikTok, Instagram Reels, or YouTube Shorts.
When to Use Both
Some nonprofits with active content programs use both tools for different purposes. Lumen5 handles the transformation of written content into branded explainer and impact videos. Kapwing handles editing of recorded footage, adding multilingual captions, and publishing short-form clips to social platforms. If your organization has both needs and sufficient budget, using each tool for its strength produces better results than forcing one tool to cover both workflows.
Getting Started with Your Choice
Practical next steps for nonprofits ready to move forward with either tool.
Getting Started with Lumen5
- 1.Sign up for the free Community plan and try converting one recent blog post or newsletter into a video to evaluate the AI's quality and workflow fit.
- 2.Upload your organization's logo, set your brand colors, and select fonts to configure the brand kit before producing more videos.
- 3.Browse available templates and select one that matches the tone and format of your typical content before starting your first real project.
- 4.Upgrade to Basic or Professional only after confirming that the workflow and output quality meet your organization's needs.
Getting Started with Kapwing
- 1.Sign up for the free plan and upload a short piece of footage you already have, such as an event clip or staff message, to test the editing experience.
- 2.Use the auto-subtitle feature on your test video to evaluate accuracy and editing ease. This is often the feature that wins over nonprofit teams immediately.
- 3.Invite one or two colleagues to the shared workspace to experience the collaboration features before committing to a team plan.
- 4.Upgrade to Pro at $16/month when you are ready to remove watermarks, access 4K exports, and unlock the full AI credits allocation.
Need Help Choosing the Right Video Tool?
Our team works with nonprofits to evaluate, implement, and get the most out of AI-powered tools. We can help you assess whether Lumen5, Kapwing, or a different solution best fits your communications goals and budget.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better for nonprofits: Lumen5 or Kapwing?
It depends on your workflow. Lumen5 is better for nonprofits that regularly convert blog posts, newsletters, or written content into branded videos at scale. Kapwing is better for organizations that edit existing footage, need real-time team collaboration, and publish short-form content directly to social media platforms. Kapwing is also more affordable at $16/month vs Lumen5's $25/month entry-level paid plan.
Does Lumen5 offer a nonprofit discount?
Lumen5 does not have a publicly listed nonprofit discount program. Organizations can contact their sales team to inquire about custom or enterprise pricing. The free Community plan is available for basic use, though it includes a Lumen5 watermark on exported videos.
Does Kapwing offer a nonprofit discount?
Kapwing does not currently offer a dedicated nonprofit discount. Their education program providing free Pro accounts is paused for new applicants. Nonprofits pay standard rates: $16/month Pro or $50/month Business on annual billing. Contact Kapwing's sales team to ask about potential custom pricing for your organization.
Can non-technical nonprofit staff use Lumen5 and Kapwing?
Both tools are designed for non-technical users. Lumen5 uses a scene-based workflow where AI handles most creative decisions, making it approachable for communications staff without video editing experience. Kapwing uses a timeline-based editor similar to simple video editing tools, which is highly intuitive for editing existing clips, adding subtitles, and resizing for different platforms.
How does Lumen5's blog-to-video feature work?
Lumen5's blog-to-video feature lets you paste a URL or article text, and the AI automatically extracts key sentences, matches them to relevant stock media, and builds a scene-by-scene video draft. You can then customize scenes, swap media, adjust timing, and apply your brand kit. This is particularly useful for nonprofits with active blogs or newsletters who want to repurpose written content into video without starting from scratch.
Which tool is better for social media video content?
Kapwing has a stronger social media workflow. It supports one-click resizing for TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and Facebook, plus direct publishing to major platforms without leaving the editor. Lumen5 also supports multiple aspect ratios and social formats, but requires downloading and manually uploading videos to each platform. For nonprofits that publish frequently across multiple social channels, Kapwing's integrated publishing saves meaningful time.
Do Lumen5 and Kapwing support team collaboration?
Both support team collaboration, but in different ways. Kapwing offers real-time co-editing where multiple team members can work on the same project simultaneously, plus in-editor commenting and shared workspaces. Lumen5 supports team accounts and shared brand kits, but does not offer real-time co-editing. For larger communications teams that review and iterate on video content together, Kapwing's collaboration features are more robust.
What AI features does each tool offer?
Lumen5's AI focuses on content creation: it generates scripts from URLs or text, matches content to stock media automatically, produces AI voiceovers, and applies brand styling without manual configuration. Kapwing's AI focuses on editing assistance: it auto-generates subtitles in 40+ languages, removes video backgrounds, applies smart cuts to remove silences, corrects eye contact in talking head videos, and dubs video into other languages. The tools complement each other in different parts of the video production workflow.