Is Captions.ai free? Partly. Captions has a free version with a limited feature set, but the AI tools that make it well known sit behind paid plans that start at US$24.99 a month. This guide lays out what the free tier actually includes according to the Captions pricing page, what the paid plans cost, and which other caption tools let you finish a video without paying.
What Captions.ai is
Captions is a video editing app made by Mirage. Its home page describes it as "AI that edits like a professional editor would", and notes that Mirage recently merged its Mirage Studio product into Captions. It runs in a browser at captions.ai and as an app from the App Store or Google Play.
The product started as an auto-caption app and grew into a broader AI editor. The home page lists translation and subtitles in 100+ languages, 100+ caption styles and 20M users. Those are the vendor's own figures, so treat them as marketing numbers rather than independent counts.
If you searched "what is caption ai" and landed here, this is the product most people mean. For a side-by-side look at Captions against CapsAI, the Captions.ai alternative comparison covers features and workflow. This post sticks to one question: what do you get for free?
What the free plan includes
The Captions pricing page, re-read on 19 October 2026, answers its own question "Is there a free version of Captions?" with yes, and says the free version "includes a more limited feature set" than the paid plans. It recommends subscribing for the generative AI features and more advanced editing tools.
The feature grid on that page lists the following under Free:
- Captions in 100+ languages
- 1 caption template, against 100+ on paid plans
- Basic editing: trim, zoom, sound effects, transitions, resizing and keyframes
- No AI usage credits (the grid says "None")
The same grid marks customizable captions, transcript download and the teleprompter as paid only: they are ticked for Max and Frontier, not for Free.
The pricing FAQ adds that the free plan includes "basic tools like trimming, transitions and some media library assets."
Two things follow from that list. First, you can generate captions on the free plan, but you are limited to a single template you cannot customize, and you cannot download the transcript, so the animated styles that Captions is known for, and any caption editing beyond that template, are paid features. Second, anything that consumes AI credits is off the table on Free, because Free has no credits. That rules out the AI editing, dubbing and avatar features on the free tier.
What the pricing page does not say
The pricing page does not state whether free exports carry a watermark. We looked for a watermark line in the plan grid and the FAQ and did not find one. If a watermark matters to you, export a test clip before you commit time to a project, or check the app's current export screen. We would rather say that plainly than guess.
What the paid plans cost
Captions sells its paid plans in USD, and the page notes that the features and prices shown reflect iOS plans only. There are no INR prices on the page. As of 17 October 2026, the monthly plans are:
| Plan | Price per month | AI credits per month |
|---|---|---|
| Max (marked Most Popular) | US$24.99 | 500 |
| Frontier | US$69.99 | 1,400 |
| Frontier 2x | US$139.99 | 2,800 |
| Frontier 4x | US$279.99 | 5,600 |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom |
Unused credits roll over, up to three times the monthly allowance. A yearly plan bills for 12 months upfront at a discounted rate, but the page does not give the yearly figure, so budget on the monthly price until you see the checkout screen.
Why you cannot work out a per-minute price
People searching for the cost of social caption generator software usually want a number per minute of video. Captions does not sell minutes. It sells credits, and the pricing page does not publish a fixed conversion from credits to captioned minutes or to each AI feature. So you cannot derive a reliable cost per caption minute from the pricing page alone. The honest answer is that a Captions subscription costs US$24.99 or more per month, and what that buys in finished video depends on which features you use and how many credits each one consumes.
If you want the wider free-versus-paid picture across several tools, the free vs paid AI subtitle generator pricing comparison goes deeper on that.
Who should pay for Captions
Captions is the better choice when you want more than captions. If your workflow needs AI editing, avatars, translation or dubbing into other languages, or captions in a language beyond a shortlist, Captions covers ground that a plain caption tool does not. It is also an actual app on iOS and Android, which matters if you edit on your phone and want the whole process to stay there.
For that kind of user the US$24.99 Max plan is the realistic entry point, because the features that justify the app all need credits and Free has none.
Other ways to caption a video for free
If you only need captions on a video, there are tools where the free tier is enough to publish. Here is what the free plan of each gives you, using each vendor's own published terms.
| Tool | What free gets you | Main limit on free |
|---|---|---|
| Captions | Captions in 100+ languages, 1 caption template, basic trimming, transitions and resizing | No AI credits; customizable captions and transcript download are paid only; watermark policy not stated |
| Adobe Express | Caption video at ₹0 with no monthly caption limit, 17 languages including Hindi | Videos up to 5 minutes and 1 GB |
| Zeemo | Captions without a watermark on the free plan | 1-minute videos at 720p |
| CapsAI | 3 free minutes on a new account, 11 spoken languages including Hinglish in Roman script | Watermark-free export with every paid pack; MP4 or MOV up to 10 minutes |
Adobe Express
Adobe's own comparison table from February 2026 lists Caption video at ₹0 with no monthly caption limit, in 17 languages including Hindi, for videos up to 5 minutes and 1 GB. For a creator who posts short clips and never wants to pay, that is the widest free allowance in this group. The Adobe Express alternative page explains where it fits and where it falls short.
Zeemo
Zeemo's free plan, per zeemo.ai/pricing on 17 October 2026, handles 1-minute videos at 720p with no watermark. The one-minute cap is tight, but for a Reel or a Short it may be all you need. The Zeemo alternative page has the longer comparison.
CapsAI
CapsAI gives a new account 3 free minutes to start. After that, it sells one-time packs rather than a subscription: ₹49 for 20 minutes, ₹99 for 60 minutes and ₹299 for 180 minutes. Packs do not renew, so there is no monthly bill to cancel. Watermark-free export comes with every paid pack; watermark-free export comes with every paid pack.
Because CapsAI prices by the minute, the cost per caption minute is easy to state: about ₹2.45 a minute on the ₹49 pack, ₹1.65 on the ₹99 pack and ₹1.66 on the ₹299 pack. That is a fair comparison point against a monthly subscription only if captions are all you need.
Be clear about what CapsAI does and does not do. It captions MP4 or MOV uploads up to 10 minutes long in 11 spoken languages, and Hinglish comes out in Roman script with English words kept in English. The export is an MP4 with the captions burned in. There is no SRT download, no translation, no AI video editing and no avatars. If any of those are on your list, Captions or another editor is the right pick.
The most affordable option for captioning at scale
The answer depends on how you count. If scale means many short clips in one language and you never want a bill, Adobe Express's free Caption video tool with no monthly limit is hard to beat on price, within its 5-minute and 1 GB cap. If scale means Indian-language and Hinglish content with a known per-minute cost, CapsAI's ₹299 pack covers 180 minutes for a one-time payment. If scale means AI editing across 100+ languages with a team, Captions' Frontier plans and Enterprise tier exist for that, but you will be paying in USD per month and tracking credits.
What you should not do is assume a free tier will carry a regular posting schedule without checking the limits first. Each of the four tools above puts its ceiling in a different place: credits, video length, resolution or minutes.
How to decide quickly
- You want AI editing, avatars or dubbing: Captions, on a paid plan. The free tier will not give you those.
- You want free captions on short clips and do not mind Adobe's ecosystem: Adobe Express, with its 5-minute limit.
- You need a free export without a watermark for a one-minute clip: Zeemo's free plan.
- You post Hinglish or Indian-language videos and want to pay once, not monthly: CapsAI's one-time packs, after the 3 free minutes.
To try the last option, upload a clip to the auto caption generator, or pick Hinglish in the Hinglish caption generator if your video mixes Hindi and English. Check the draft against the audio, choose a style, and export the MP4 with the captions burned in.
