Captions vs Descript

Captions

• Creators posting short talking-head videos to TikTok, Instagram and YouTube Shorts
• Marketers producing ad variations with AI actors instead of filming
• People who want captions and translated subtitles added automatically

Descript

• Podcasters and video creators who prefer editing a transcript to a timeline
• Cleaning up interview and talking-head recordings with AI tools
• Turning long recordings into short captioned clips

Captions

• There is no Mac or Windows app: on a computer it runs in the browser, and projects are stored on the device and do not sync between devices.
• The Android app is Captions Lite, a manual editor. Its $4.99 Lite plan works only on Android; iOS and web need a separate subscription.
• AI Edit, the chat-based editor, Clips and AI Twins start on Max at $24.99 a month, and Prompt to Video uses 16 credits for every 6 seconds.
• The pricing page says its prices reflect iOS plans and lists no yearly prices; Basic and Lite appear only in the help center.

Descript

• The Free plan is limited to 60 media minutes a month, a one-time 100 AI credits and watermarked 720p exports.
• Paid plans cap monthly usage too: 10 media hours and 400 AI credits on Hobbyist, 30 and 800 on Creator, 40 and 1,500 on Business.
• Hobbyist covers 1 person; Creator scales to a team of 3 and Business to 5, each person billed separately.
• There are no mobile apps: phones, iPads and Chromebooks are not officially supported, and the desktop app needs macOS 14 or Windows 11.

Captions

AI Edit

Pick an editing style and the app cuts scenes and adds B-roll, zooms, transitions, music and captions. It handles clips of up to 2 minutes on iOS and 1 minute on the web.

Chat-based editor

Type the change you want and the editor applies it. Each message uses 2 credits and each action taken 1 credit, with more for generated media.

Captions, translation and dubbing

Generates captions in 100+ styles, translates subtitles into 100+ languages and dubs video into 30+ languages with a clone of the speaker's voice.

AI avatars and AI Twin

Generates a talking-head video from a script using a built-in AI actor or a digital twin of yourself. The Max plan allows up to 30 AI Twins.

Clips

Turns one long video into a batch of short clips that are ready to post. Clips is included from the Max plan.

Eye contact, denoise and trimming

Corrects eye contact, removes background noise and cuts pauses and filler words. On Android, eye contact and denoise need the Lite plan.

Descript

Text-based editing

Recordings are transcribed automatically, and deleting or rearranging words in the transcript makes the same cut in the audio or video.

Underlord AI co-editor

An AI assistant that carries out editing tasks on a project. Its use draws on the plan's AI credits.

Studio Sound and filler-word removal

Studio Sound uses AI to remove background noise, and filler words can be detected and cut from a recording.

Screen recording and Rooms

Record your screen inside Descript, or use Rooms to record remote guests.

Clips, captions and translation

Turn long recordings into short clips, add captions and subtitles, and translate content into dozens of languages.

AI voices and Eye Contact

Create a clone of your voice or use stock AI voices, and correct gaze with Eye Contact. These AI features consume AI credits.

Captions

• Free$0

  Basic manual editing with one caption template and watermark-free exports. 60 to 200 lifetime credits that do not refresh.

• Lite$4.99

  per month, Android only

  Manual editing on Android with dubbing, caption styles, teleprompter, eye contact and denoise. Cannot be used on iOS or the web.

• Basic$9.99

  per month, or $64.99 per year on the US App Store

  200 credits a month, with captions and dubbing, script generator, teleprompter, eye contact, denoise and Reddit to Video.

• Max$24.99

  per month, billed monthly

  500 credits a month, AI Edit, the chat-based editor, Clips, up to 30 AI Twins and generated B-roll, music and images.

• Frontier$69.99

  per month, billed monthly

  1,400 credits a month and faster generation. Frontier 2x is $139.99 with 2,800 credits and Frontier 4x is $279.99 with 5,600.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Bulk credit discounts, custom seat options, account management, onboarding and training-data exclusion.

Descript

• Free$0

  60 media minutes per month, 100 one-time AI credits and 720p export with a watermark.

• Hobbyist$16

  per person / month, billed annually ($24 monthly)

  1 person, 10 media hours and 400 AI credits per month, and 1080p export without a watermark.

• Creator$24

  per person / month, billed annually ($35 monthly)

  Up to 3 people, 30 media hours and 800 AI credits per month, and 4K export without a watermark.

• Business$50

  per person / month, billed annually ($65 monthly)

  Up to 5 people, 40 media hours and 1,500 AI credits per month, and 4K export.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Custom pricing with single sign-on, SCIM provisioning and dedicated support.

Captions

• Annual discount

  Discount on yearly subscriptions

  The help center says yearly subscriptions are discounted against 12 months of monthly billing. The US App Store lists Basic at $64.99 a year against $9.99 a month.

Descript

• Annual discount

  Save up to 35% with annual billing

  Descript's pricing page says annual plans save up to 35% over monthly. Hobbyist is $16 per person per month billed annually versus $24 billed monthly.

• Education

  Education plan from $8 per editor / month

  Students, educators and administrators at accredited institutions can apply for Hobbyist features at $8 per editor per month paid annually, or $12 paid monthly.

• Nonprofit

  Nonprofit plan from $8 per editor / month

  Nonprofits with 501(c)(3) or equivalent charitable status can apply for the same rate: Hobbyist features at $8 per editor per month paid annually, or $12 paid monthly.