Submagic vs Captions vs ReelCaption: which should you use?
Submagic, Captions and ReelCaption all add captions but do different jobs. How they compare on price, privacy and what each is for.
Pick Submagic if you want captions plus automatic B-roll, zooms and edits. Pick Captions if you film talking-head video on your phone and want AI avatars and dubbing. Pick ReelCaption if you only need captions, want to keep your footage on your device, and want to pay $5 a month or nothing.
Full disclosure: I build ReelCaption. Below is what each tool is for, how they compare on price and privacy, and where the other two are better.
What each one is for
Submagic is a short-form editing suite. Captions are the headline feature, and it also adds AI B-roll, automatic zooms and clip editing for the fast TikTok and Reels look. You pay for the whole editing pipeline.
Captions is a phone app for making videos. Next to captions it has AI avatars, dubbing and eye-contact correction, aimed at people filming themselves talking.
ReelCaption only does captions. You drop in a clip, get word-by-word animated captions you can edit and style, and export. There is no B-roll, no avatars and no mobile app. It runs in the browser and keeps your footage on your device.
Price
You can caption 2 short clips in ReelCaption without an account, then get 5 minutes a month free with a Google sign-in. There is no watermark. Pro is $5/mo for 100 minutes.
Submagic's cheapest plan, Starter, costs $12 a month billed yearly, or $19 billed monthly. You can try Submagic for free, but its pricing page does not say what the free use includes. Captions prices vary by platform and tier, and were above $5 a month when this was written.
| ReelCaption | Submagic | Captions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free tier | 5 min/mo, no watermark | Free to try, limits not published | Limited |
| Paid from | $5/mo | $12/mo billed yearly, or $19 billed monthly | Varies by platform |
| Runs on | Any browser | Browser | Mostly a phone app |
| Your footage | Stays on your device | Uploaded | Uploaded |
| What it is | A caption tool | A short-form editing suite | A phone app for creators |
Prices change, so check each site before you pay. Submagic's prices were checked in October 2026. The other two cost more because they do more.
Privacy
Submagic and Captions upload your video to their servers to run the AI. For a lot of content that is fine. For client footage, unreleased work or anything personal, it means a copy of your video sits on servers you do not control.
ReelCaption processes the video in your browser, so it never leaves your device. Only the audio is sent for transcription, and ReelCaption does not store it. The details are in how browser-based captioning keeps your video private.
Which to use
Pick the tool by the job you need done:
- Submagic, if you want the editing done for you, with captions plus B-roll, zooms and templated edits. ReelCaption does none of that.
- Captions, if you film on your phone and want avatars, dubbing or eye-contact correction. ReelCaption has no mobile app.
- ReelCaption, if captions are the whole job and you want them animated, editable, private and cheap.
Plenty of creators use two tools: an editor or clipper to build the video, then a caption tool to finish the text.
Compare ReelCaption with each one on the Submagic comparison and the Captions comparison, or drop a clip into the free caption generator.
Adrian Szabłowski is the founder and engineer behind ReelCaption. He builds browser-native video tools and writes about captioning, short-form video, and shipping web apps.