The price anchor
| Captionly | Submagic | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $0 — no subscription | $18–39/mo |
| Annual | $0 after purchase | $216 |
| 5-year total | $34 | $1,080 |
| 10-year total | $34 | $2,160 |
Subscription figures from the vendor's published pricing ($18–39/mo, ~$216/yr); the Captionly column is the full price, paid once.
Break-even analysis
Costs about one month of Submagic, then captions the rest of your clips for free.
- After 1 year: Captionly has cost you $34 total — Submagic has cost $216.
- After 3 years: Captionly is still $34 — the subscription is at $648.
- After 5 years: Captionly is still $34 — the subscription is at $1,080.
What you get for $34 once
- 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.
- No renewal, ever. The license does not expire and there is no per-seat meter — $34 is the whole price.
Pricing 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.
Captionly — $34, one time
Or get Captionly plus every other app in the suite: the OneTimeSuite bundle is currently $97, one time.