The clapping cat meme is a short AI clip of a black cat that stands up, grins with a row of human teeth and slowly claps a pair of small human hands. It started as an Instagram video on September 25, 2026 and spread on TikTok from the end of September. The obvious next question is how to get your own cat or dog to do it, and what that costs.
I built Clapping Cat AI, so I have a stake in this. I checked every price below on November 8, 2026, and I tried to be fair about where the free options are the better choice.
Option 1: the original clip, free
If you only want the original black cat in your own video, you don't need to pay anything. GIPHY and Tenor have the clip and the GIFs, and CapCut has a "cat clapping meme" template that puts the original cat over your own footage as a reaction.
- Price: free
- You upload: nothing, or your own clip for the CapCut template
- Limit: it is not your pet. It is the same black cat everyone else uses.
Option 2: Cat Clapping (catclapping.com)
This is a credit-based generator. Credit packs start at $6.99 for 300 credits, and credits last a year according to its pricing page. A video with a person and a cat costs 150 credits at 480p and 350 credits at 720p, and a cat-only video plus a transparent GIF costs 80 credits. So the $6.99 pack buys about two person-and-cat videos at 480p, or three cat-only clips. Its ready-made clapping GIFs are free. You sign in to make a video.
- Price: from $6.99 for a credit pack
- You upload: a photo of your cat, plus a photo of a person for the full scene
- Good for: a transparent clapping GIF of your cat
- Limit: you need an account, and the credit maths takes a minute
Option 3: LetsMkVideo
A general image-to-video site with a clapping cat template. Credits start at $4.99 for 6, with 4 bonus credits on your first purchase, and the default 5-second 480p video costs 2 credits. That makes it the cheapest way to try several versions of the same photo. New accounts also get some free credits, and you need to sign up.
- Price: from $4.99 for 6 credits (plus 4 first-purchase bonus credits)
- You upload: one photo of your pet
- Good for: lots of cheap tries
- Limit: short, low-resolution clips by default, and you pick from a general template list
Option 4: Clapping Cat AI (mine)
You upload one photo of your own cat or dog. The video opens on your photo, then your pet stands up in the same room, grins with human teeth and claps. You get a 10-second vertical 720p MP4 with the clapping sound and no watermark, usually in a few minutes. There is no account and no subscription: $5.90 for one video, $14.90 for three, $19.90 for five.
- Price: $5.90 for one video, down to about $3.98 each in the five-pack
- You upload: one photo of your pet (there is also a two-photo mode where you appear too)
- Good for: a finished, ready-to-post clip with no sign-up
- Limit: there is no free tier, and it only does pets. It is not the original clip and not a live camera filter.
Which should you pick?
| You want | Pick |
|---|---|
| The original cat in your own video | The free CapCut template or GIPHY/Tenor |
| A clapping GIF of your cat | Cat Clapping |
| Many cheap tries from one photo | LetsMkVideo |
| One finished vertical video, no account | Clapping Cat AI |
My honest rule: if the original cat is enough, don't pay for anything. If you want your own pet in the clip, the question is mostly whether you mind signing up and doing credit maths (options 2 and 3) or would rather pay a flat price once (option 4).
Tips that work with any of them
- Use a sharp, full-body photo of the pet, taken in daylight, against a plain background.
- Avoid tiny screenshots; around 320 x 320 pixels is the practical minimum.
- Turn on TikTok's AI-generated content label when you post a realistic AI clip.
- Don't upload photos of children or of people who haven't agreed to appear.
If you want the longer version of the steps, I wrote a step-by-step guide to making your cat clap from a photo. Prices change quickly with this trend, so check each site's pricing page before you buy.
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