Captionly and Submagic solve the same problem from opposite directions: one is source-available software you can own outright for $34, the other is a subscription at $18–39/mo run entirely on someone else's servers.
Head to head
| 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 |
What Captionly does well
- 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.
What Submagic still does better
There's a real reason Submagic costs what it does: a bigger team, broader integrations and dedicated support behind it. If that ecosystem is genuinely what you need, it's worth paying for.
Which one should you pick
If your workflow depends on Submagic's specific integrations or you'd rather not run anything yourself, stay put — that's a legitimate call. If you're comfortable owning the tool and want to stop paying $18–39/mo for a job your own hardware can do, Captionly pays for itself and then some: costs about one month of Submagic, then captions the rest of your clips for free.
Try Captionly — $34, once
Local Whisper auto-captions with karaoke word-highlight styles and ffmpeg burn-in export.