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Captions is an AI video editor for footage you record, with captions in 100+ languages, AI actors and a twin of you. ShortFast starts with no footage at all: it writes a short from a topic, draws it in one of 27 styles and posts it every day.
Captions and ShortFast are both called AI video tools, but they start from opposite ends. Captions starts from you: a video you filmed on your phone, which it cuts, captions, cleans up and dubs, or an AI twin that looks and sounds like you. ShortFast starts from a topic: it writes the script, builds every scene from stock footage or an AI art style, adds a voice and captions, and posts the result for you.
Captions is the better pick if you film yourself and want the editing done for you, if you want captions or dubbing in many languages, if you want an AI twin of yourself, or if you work from your phone. ShortFast is the better pick if you do not want to be on camera at all, if you want a consistent faceless look such as stick figures, anime or documentary footage, and if you want a new video posted to TikTok, Reels and Shorts every day without opening an app.
Both now overlap in one place, AI actors and Reddit-style story videos, and both sell credits. Captions publishes one video at a time to your accounts; ShortFast runs a schedule. If your problem is editing, pick Captions. If your problem is having a video to post every day, pick ShortFast.
Side by side
| Dimension | ShortFast | Captions |
|---|---|---|
| Starting point | A topic, a prompt or a script. No footage needed. | A video you recorded, or a prompt or selfie for its AI generation tools. |
| Core job | Generate faceless short videos and publish them on a schedule. | Edit and caption creator footage; generate videos with AI actors and twins. |
| Visuals | 27 styles: licensed stock footage, AI video, or AI images in a fixed art style. AI actors for UGC-style video. | Your footage with AI edits and B-roll; AI Actors, AI Twins, text-to-video and Reddit to Video. |
| Languages | 40+ narration voices. | Captions in 100+ languages; dubbing into 30+ languages with a cloned voice and lip-sync. |
| Publishing | Automatic: a new video posted daily, or up to 3 times a day on Pro. | Direct publish to TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and more, one video at a time. No recurring schedule found. |
| Apps | Web app. | iOS, Android and web. |
| Pricing (checked Oct 22, 2026) | Starter $19 (1,000 credits), Pro $39 (5,000), Advanced $99 (10,000) a month. 20% off yearly. | Pricing page (iOS prices): Max $24.99 (500 credits), Frontier $69.99 (1,400), up to Frontier 4x $279.99. Its help center also lists Basic at $9.99 (200 credits). |
| Credits | Reset monthly. Typical faceless short: 12 to 25 credits. | Roll over, capped at 3 times the monthly allowance. |
| Developer access | REST API, webhooks and an MCP server, on the same plan credits. | Mirage API, with sparse public documentation and no stated plan. |
Captions changes its product and pricing independently of us. Check their site for current details before deciding, and tell us if anything here is out of date.
ShortFast and Captions plans
Prices from each vendor's pricing page, checked
| Plan | Monthly | Credits a month | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| ShortFast Starter | $19 | 1,000 | 1 automation, auto-posting |
| ShortFast Pro | $39 | 5,000 | 3 automations, up to 3 posts a day each |
| ShortFast Advanced | $99 | 10,000 | 6 automations, videos up to 15 minutes |
| Captions Basic | $9.99 | 200 | Listed in its help center |
| Captions Max | $24.99 | 500 | iOS price on its pricing page |
| Captions Frontier | $69.99 | 1,400 | iOS price |
| Captions Frontier 2x | $139.99 | 2,800 | iOS price |
| Captions Frontier 4x | $279.99 | 5,600 | iOS price |
Captions' credits roll over up to 3 times the monthly allowance; its pricing page says the prices shown are iOS prices. ShortFast video counts are typical, not limits: about 12 credits for a stock-footage video, 25 for an AI art-style video and 464 for a fully animated one (October 2026 averages). Only credits are enforced.
Sources: ShortFast pricing · Captions pricing · Captions plans (help center)
Captions grew up as the app that captions and edits talking-head videos: it cuts pauses, fixes eye contact, removes background noise, adds B-roll and styles the captions, in more than 100 languages. Its newer tools generate video too: AI Actors, an AI Twin of you, text-to-video and a Reddit to Video format. All of that assumes a creator with a face, a voice or at least a recording.
ShortFast assumes the opposite. Most faceless channels, in history, finance, psychology, scary stories or kids learning, have nobody to film. ShortFast writes the script from a topic and builds every scene: licensed stock footage matched to each line, or AI images in one of 27 styles such as stick figures, cartoon explainer, comic book, anime, whiteboard, 3D animation or claymation. When a product video needs a person, its UGC-style videos use AI actors.
Captions can publish a finished video straight to TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and other platforms, which saves the export and upload. We found no way on its site to make it generate and post a new video on a recurring schedule; each video is made and sent by you.
That recurring schedule is ShortFast's core. You set a theme, a style and a cadence once, and each day it writes a new script on the theme, renders it and publishes it to the accounts you connected, in your audience's timezone. Pro runs three automations with up to three posts a day each. YouTube and TikTok both push back on mass-produced, repetitive uploads, so vary the topics, check the first videos of a series, and post at a pace the account can sustain.
Captions prices its plans in credits that roll over up to three months' worth. Its pricing page lists Max at $24.99 a month for 500 credits and Frontier at $69.99 for 1,400, with larger Frontier tiers at $139.99 and $279.99, and notes that those are iOS prices. Its help center also lists a Basic plan at $9.99 with 200 credits and an Android-only Lite plan, and says yearly billing is discounted without giving figures. Check the plan in the app you will use before you subscribe.
ShortFast's plans are Starter $19 a month with 1,000 credits, Pro $39 with 5,000 and Advanced $99 with 10,000, with 20% off billed yearly and a 3-day trial for $1. A typical faceless short uses about 12 credits from stock footage or 25 in an AI art style; a fully animated video about 464.
FAQ
Keep going
Clipping a recording versus generating from a topic.
Learn moreGuideOriginal retellings instead of reposted threads.
Learn moreComparisonAvatars and translation versus faceless daily shorts.
Learn moreFeatureHow ShortFast burns captions into every video.
Learn moreBlogNiche, format and cadence, step by step.
Learn moreThree days of full access. If Captions suits you better, that's a useful thing to find out cheaply.