Hey, I run a small YouTube channel.
Not a huge subscriber count, but I edit almost every day. I add captions to basically every video, and for a long time I relied on CapCut's AI auto-caption feature. It transcribes what you say automatically, which saves a ton of time compared to typing everything out line by line.
Then the problem started
At some point, CapCut locked the AI caption feature behind a Pro subscription.
For small creators like me, monetization isn't always stable yet, and another monthly subscription just for captions adds up fast. I kept thinking, "do I really need to pay every month just to add subtitles?" and figured a lot of other small creators were probably in the same boat.
So I decided to just build it myself.
I built a free AI caption site
After a few weeks of working on it in my spare time, I finished a site where you upload a video and AI automatically transcribes the speech into captions.
Here's what it does:
- Upload a video and AI analyzes the audio to generate captions automatically
- Download the captions as text or burn them directly into the video
- Free to use for everyone, no subscription or Pro tier required
- Runs entirely in the browser, no heavy software to install like CapCut
To be clear, I didn't invent some groundbreaking new technology. I mostly took existing speech recognition AI and shaped it into something small creators can use without worrying about cost. But if you've been stuck on the same caption problem I was, it should be genuinely useful.
Why give it away for free
No grand mission here. I needed this feature myself and didn't want to pay for it. I'm putting it out there hoping other small YouTubers and creators just starting out can handle captions without another subscription eating into their budget.
If you've ever hesitated before paying for an editing subscription, give it a try.
Questions or feedback are welcome in the comments. If you try it out, let me know what could be better — I'm actively improving it.
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