If you want subtitle files, every format under the sun and full control over timing, desktop software is free and better at it: Subtitle Edit is open source, handles 300+ subtitle formats and runs Whisper speech-to-text on your own machine, and DaVinci Resolve's free edition includes manual subtitle tools inside a full editor (automatic subtitles need the paid Studio version). If you want a captioned MP4 for a social post in a few minutes from a phone, an online generator is the faster route, and often the cheaper one once you count your time. CapsAI sits firmly in the second camp: browser only, one burned-in MP4 out, no file export.
Searches for "subtitle edit" are up 250% in the US over the twelve months to 18 October 2026, so a lot of people are weighing exactly this. Here is who each option suits, what it costs, how long it takes to learn, and what comes out the other end, using each vendor's own pages read on 18 October 2026.
The four options at a glance
| Option | Type | Cost | Speech to text | Output | Runs on |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subtitle Edit 5.3.0 | Free open-source desktop editor | Free | Whisper, locally | Subtitle files in 300+ formats | Windows 10 22H2+, macOS 12+, Linux |
| DaVinci Resolve 21 | Professional video editor | Free edition; Studio listed at $295 (19 Oct 2026) | Studio only (Create Subtitles from Audio); the free edition takes typed or imported subtitles | Rendered video, or TTML, SRT, VTT files | Mac, Windows, Linux |
| CapCut desktop | Consumer video editor | Free plan; Pro USD 19.99 a month or 179.99 a year | Auto captions in "multiple languages"; tool page says free, help center (2 Apr 2026) lists them under Pro | Rendered video up to 4K 60fps per the App Store listing | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, browser; blocked in India |
| CapsAI | Online caption generator | 3 free minutes; packs $4, $9, $19 paid once | 11 spoken languages, in the browser | One burned-in MP4, 1080p to 4K | Phone and desktop browsers |
Subtitle Edit
Subtitle Edit describes itself as "a free (open source) editor for video subtitles". Version 5.3.0 shipped on 14 October 2026 and runs on Windows 10 22H2 or newer, macOS 12 or newer (14 recommended) and Linux as a Flatpak or native build. The provided builds are self-contained, so you no longer need a separate .NET install on modern systems, though the nikse.dk page still mentions .NET Framework 4.8. The GitHub repository shows an MIT license; nikse.dk refers to GPL or LGPL for the source. Either way it costs nothing.
What it does, from its own feature list: reads, writes and converts between 300+ subtitle formats; speech-to-text with Whisper; a waveform and spectrogram view for setting timings by ear and eye; OCR for VobSub, Blu-ray .sup and DVB or teletext subtitles; spell check with LibreOffice dictionaries; a "Fix common errors wizard"; auto translation through Google Translate, DeepL or a local LLM such as Ollama; and text-to-speech through services like ElevenLabs.
Who it suits. Anyone whose deliverable is a file. Translators, accessibility teams, archivists converting DVD subtitles, YouTubers who upload SRT as a separate track, editors fixing a drifting file from a client. If you have ever needed to shift every cue by 1.3 seconds or convert SCC to SRT, this is the tool.
Learning curve. Real. The interface is dense, the Whisper setup downloads a model and may want a GPU for speed, and nothing is styled for you: Subtitle Edit can burn subtitles into a video through FFmpeg (Video > Generate video with burned-in subtitles), but the look is whatever you set up yourself. Expect an evening to get comfortable.
Output. Files only. To burn captions into a video you take the SRT elsewhere. Our burn subtitles to video page covers that step.
DaVinci Resolve
Blackmagic's product page says "there's a free version of DaVinci Resolve" and lists DaVinci Resolve Studio at $295 (read 19 October 2026), for Mac, Windows and Linux; the current version is 21. The Edit page describes "an intuitive set of tools for closed captioning and subtitles", import of "timed text TTML, SRT, XML and embedded MXF/IMF subtitles", and says "The subtitle generator can be used to create perfectly timed subtitles." It lists the ability to "transcribe clips for subtitles or text based editing" among advanced Edit page features, and says "Subtitles can be rendered into the final video or exported as separate TTMLs, SRT or VTT files."
Automatic subtitles are a Studio feature. As of 19 October 2026, Blackmagic's DaVinci Resolve 21 Reference Manual (July 2026) labels Create Subtitles from Audio as Studio Version Only, as the Resolve 18.5 New Features Guide did when the feature arrived under the name Auto Caption, and the product page lists text based editing among the extras Studio adds to the free version. The free edition still lets you add a subtitle track, type and time each line, import an SRT and render the subtitles in or export them. Our guide to adding subtitles in DaVinci Resolve has the steps for both versions.
Who it suits. Editors already cutting in Resolve. If the video is being graded and mixed there, adding a subtitle track in the same timeline and rendering it in, or exporting SRT alongside, is the obvious path.
Learning curve. The steepest here. Resolve is a professional editor with pages for editing, color, audio and effects. Auto subtitles are a small feature in a large program; if you are installing Resolve only for captions, you will spend more time learning the timeline than captioning.
Output. Both: rendered video with the captions in the picture, or TTML, SRT and VTT files.
CapCut desktop
CapCut's desktop app shares its auto captions with the mobile app. The App Store listing, read directly on 18 October 2026, says "Auto captions: automate speech recognition and subtitles in videos" and that exports go up to 4K 60fps. CapCut's caption tool page, read through a proxy render on 19 October 2026 because capcut.com returns HTTP 451 from India, calls CapCut a free auto-captioning application, and its pricing page lists Pro at USD 19.99 a month or 179.99 a year. But CapCut's own pages disagree on whether captions are free: its help article comparing Standard and Pro, dated 2 April 2026 and read through the same proxy on 19 October 2026, lists auto captions among Pro's advanced AI tools, alongside camera tracking, AI avatars and AI-generated content, and users report a Pro prompt at export.
Who it suits. Short-form creators who edit and caption in one place and want template-driven caption animations. It is the closest of the three desktop options to an online generator in feel.
Learning curve. Moderate. It is a consumer editor, so the timeline is simpler than Resolve's, but it is still an editor, and export settings are yours to get right.
Output. Rendered video. A subtitle file export exists in the editor but is not described on the pages we read. If you are in India, CapCut is blocked and this option does not apply. For CapCut's Pro price and what its pages say about captions, see are CapCut auto captions free; for how other tools' free plans handle watermarks, see the free AI subtitle generator with no watermark comparison.
The online generator
An online generator does one job in a browser tab. Using CapsAI as the example: upload an MP4 or MOV of up to 10 minutes, pick one of 11 spoken languages (English, Hinglish, Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Kannada and Punjabi), read the draft, fix words and timings, choose one of 37 styles, and export one MP4 with the captions burned in, at 1080p on Starter and up to 4K on Creator and Pro. A new account gets 3 free minutes to start; packs are paid once from $4 (₹49 in India, €4 in the euro area) for 20 minutes, $9 for 60 and $19 for 180, and watermark-free export comes with every paid pack.
Who it suits. Creators posting Reels, Shorts and TikToks who want the clip captioned today from whatever device is in hand, and anyone captioning Hinglish or an Indian language, which none of the three desktop tools names on its pages.
Learning curve. Minutes. There is no timeline, no model to download and no export dialog to configure.
Output, honestly. One burned-in MP4. No SRT, VTT or TXT, no translation, no file over 10 minutes, no desktop or mobile app. If your deliverable is a file, this is the wrong tool and Subtitle Edit is the right one.
Learning curve, side by side
- CapsAI or any online generator: a few minutes; the whole interface is upload, edit, style, export.
- CapCut desktop: an afternoon if you have used any editor; templates do most of the styling.
- Subtitle Edit: an evening, plus Whisper setup; the payoff is precision.
- DaVinci Resolve: days if you are new to it; worth it only if you are editing in Resolve anyway.
File outputs, side by side
- Need an SRT or VTT to upload as a caption track? Subtitle Edit or Resolve. Then check it with the free subtitle sync checker and convert with the SRT to VTT converter if the platform wants VTT. SRT vs VTT vs TXT explains the difference.
- Need captions in the picture for a social feed? Any of the four. Resolve and CapCut render them as part of the edit; CapsAI renders only the captions; Subtitle Edit hands you a file to burn in elsewhere.
- Need to fix a file that drifts? Subtitle Edit's waveform and sync tools, or the free subtitle time shift tool on this site for a simple offset. Our post on fixing subtitles that drift out of sync walks through the causes.
Burned-in captions vs closed captions covers when a platform wants a file and when it wants the burn-in.
Cost, side by side
- Subtitle Edit: free, forever, and your audio never leaves the machine when Whisper runs locally.
- DaVinci Resolve: the free edition covers typed or imported subtitles; automatic subtitles need Studio, listed at $295 on Blackmagic's site on 19 October 2026.
- CapCut: its own pages disagree. Its caption tool page says free; its Standard vs Pro help article (2 April 2026, proxy render on 19 October 2026) lists auto captions under Pro, which is listed at USD 19.99 a month, and users report a Pro prompt at export. Check your own export.
- CapsAI: $4, $9 or $19 paid once for 20, 60 or 180 minutes. Per minute that is about $0.20, $0.15 and $0.11; the pricing page shows rupees and euros.
Add your time. If a 60-second Reel takes 30 minutes in Resolve and 4 minutes in a browser, the free tool was not free.
Which one for which job
- A translator or accessibility team delivering files in several formats: Subtitle Edit.
- An editor finishing a film or long video in Resolve: Resolve's subtitle tools, rendered in or exported as SRT.
- A short-form creator outside India who wants editing and captions in one app: CapCut.
- A creator who wants a captioned clip in a few minutes, in English or an Indian language, from a phone: an online generator.
- A long webinar that needs an SRT: Subtitle Edit with Whisper, not an online tool capped at 10 minutes.
What to do next
If your deliverable is a file, download Subtitle Edit; it is free and 5.3.0 is current. If you are already in Resolve, type or import subtitles in the free edition, and pay for Studio only if you want Create Subtitles from Audio to write the draft. If you want a captioned MP4 for a post today, upload a clip to the auto subtitle generator, read the draft in the 3 free minutes, and pay once for a pack if it holds up, knowing you will get a video and not a file.
