Submagic charges $18–39 a month to run Whisper and ffmpeg on your clips. Captionly is $34 once. Drop a video, run Whisper locally for word-level timestamps, pick a caption style, fix any misheard words inline, and burn a ready-to-post MP4 — 100% on your machine. Same pipeline, your hardware, zero subscription.
If you've searched for a Submagic alternative, Captionly is the pay-once option worth putting at the top of the list: Captionly is $34, one time, and covers the same core job Submagic charges $18–39/mo for.
What makes Captionly the pick for 2026
- Local Whisper transcription — whisper.cpp with word-level timestamps; the engine and model download once on first run, then run fully offline.
- Karaoke word-highlight captions — Real ASS timing tags per word for the TikTok and Reels look, rendered by ffmpeg exactly as previewed.
- 3 style presets — Karaoke Highlight, Bold Center and Classic Subtitle, plus font size, position and highlight color controls.
- Inline editing with re-sync — Click a caption, fix the words, and timings redistribute proportionally across the cue with no re-transcribing.
- Keyword to emoji decoration — Optional mapping turns words like money into an emoji, with 50+ built-in mappings.
Captionly vs Submagic, at a glance
| Captionly | Submagic | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $34 once | $18–39/mo |
| Yearly cost | $0 after purchase | $216–468 |
| Word-level auto captions | Yes | Yes |
| Karaoke word-highlight styles | Yes | Yes |
| Edit transcript + re-sync | Yes | Yes |
| AI b-roll / zooms / sound effects | No | Yes |
| Works offline | Yes | No |
| Upload limits | None | Plan-based |
Costs about one month of Submagic, then captions the rest of your clips for free.
Common questions
Is it really free on GitHub?
Yes — Captionly is MIT-licensed at github.com/bensblueprints/video-clip-captioner-mvp. The $34 buys the signed Windows installer; building from source is free.
Does my footage get uploaded?
Never. Captionly runs Whisper and ffmpeg entirely on your machine — your footage never leaves it, with no accounts or telemetry.
Does it do everything Submagic does?
No. Submagic's AI b-roll, auto-zoom and template marketplace are real value if you use them. If what you use is transcribe, pretty word captions and export, Captionly does that pipeline locally for one month's price.
The bottom line
Captionly won't out-feature Submagic on every axis — no subscription tool with a bigger team and a bigger roadmap loses on everything. But for the core job, $34 once against $18–39/mo forever is a trade most people should at least look at. Captionly is part of OneTimeSuite, a catalog of pay-once apps that replace subscription SaaS.
Try Captionly — $34, once
Local Whisper auto-captions with karaoke word-highlight styles and ffmpeg burn-in export.