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TubeGen is a long-form YouTube pipeline that takes each video from niche research to script, voiceover, visuals, edit and thumbnail. ShortFast is short-form first: it turns a topic into a faceless video in one of 27 styles and posts it to TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts on the schedule you set.
TubeGen is built for long-form YouTube, taking each video from niche research to script, voiceover, visuals, edit and thumbnail; ShortFast is built for short-form, writing, rendering and posting faceless videos to TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts on a schedule. Pick TubeGen if your channel lives on long YouTube videos made stage by stage in one place; pick ShortFast if it lives on shorts that keep posting without you, or on shorts plus 8-to-15-minute videos on ShortFast's Advanced plan.
Length is the dividing line. TubeGen's editor exports up to 30 minutes, and its own comparison pages describe it as built for long-form: it can export 9:16 for Shorts but doesn't auto-post or schedule. Its terms describe an optional YouTube connection that uploads a video when you click Publish. ShortFast's videos run up to 3 minutes on every plan, or 8 to 15 minutes on Advanced, so for 20-to-60-minute documentaries TubeGen or VidRush fits better.
TubeGen Starter is $149 a month for 33,000 TubeGen credits, which it counts as 60 minutes of video; ShortFast Starter is $29 for 2,000 credits, about 80 one-minute stock-footage or 50 AI art-style shorts, and the credits don't convert. Neither has a free plan. TubeGen's pricing page lists no trial and its terms make fees non-refundable; every ShortFast monthly plan starts with a 3-day trial for $1.
Side by side
| Dimension | ShortFast | TubeGen |
|---|---|---|
| Made for | Short-form first: faceless videos for TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, made from a topic and posted on a schedule. | Long-form YouTube: one pipeline from niche research to script, voiceover, visuals, music, edit, thumbnail and description; most tools also work on their own. |
| Length and format | Up to 3 minutes on every plan, or 8 to 15 minutes on Advanced. Vertical, or 16:9 on every plan. | Its editor exports up to 30 minutes; scripts run to 3,000, 10,000 or 20,000 words by plan. Its VidRush comparison says it also exports 9:16 for Shorts. |
| Starting point | A topic or prompt, or a script you paste in; it writes the script and hook. | A topic, your own script, or a reference YouTube channel whose tone and pacing it borrows; a Niche Finder with a channel database and trend tracking. |
| Visuals | 27 styles: licensed documentary stock footage, AI video, or AI images in a fixed art style such as stick figures. UGC-style video with AI actors. Your own clips can replace any scene. | An AI image per scene in one art style, preset or custom; consistent characters, animation, auto charts and maps, AI avatars, and Storyblocks stock footage, for a whole video or mixed in at a ratio you set. |
| Voice and captions | 40+ voices. Word-by-word captions burned in: 9 styles, 18 fonts, 60+ languages detected automatically. | AI voices in 8 languages; 3 voice clones on Pro, 10 on Premium. Captions styled in the editor. |
| Editing and packaging | Write or paste the script before generating. Afterwards, edit captions, B-roll, music, title and post text and re-render; an edited script can't be re-voiced. | An editor that opens as a rough cut timed to the narration, with captions, pan and zoom, and crossfades; a thumbnail studio with A/B variations; descriptions with chapter timestamps. |
| Series and posting | Each automation writes a new episode for every slot and posts it to TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, or emails it to you; one account per platform per profile, same video and caption everywhere. | An optional YouTube connection uploads a video when you click Publish, per its terms; its comparison pages say it doesn't auto-post or schedule. |
| Pricing and trial | $29, $39 or $99 a month for 2,000, 5,000 or 15,000 credits; 20% to 48% less billed yearly; $10 per extra 1,000 credits. No free plan: each monthly plan opens with a 3-day trial for $1. | $149, $297 or $849 a month for 33,000, 100,000 or 340,000 TubeGen credits; 20% less billed every 6 months; suites from $27. Its pricing page lists no free plan or trial. |
| Refunds | At ShortFast's discretion, per its terms; the $1 three-day trial lets you test first. | None: its terms say subscription and overage fees are non-refundable, and its FAQ suggests a credit purchase to test first. Cancel any time and keep access until the billing period ends. |
| Developer access | REST API, webhooks and an MCP server for Claude, Cursor and other agents. Free API tier: 50 credits every 30 days, 3 watermarked renders, download only. | Its homepage, pricing page and features page don't mention a developer API. |
TubeGen 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 TubeGen plans
Prices from each vendor's pricing page, checked
| Plan | Monthly | Longer billing, per month | What the plan includes each month (each vendor's own units) |
|---|---|---|---|
| ShortFast Starter | $29 | $15 billed yearly | 2,000 credits: about 80 one-minute stock-footage or 50 AI art-style videos; 1 automation; 1 social account |
| ShortFast Pro | $39 | $31 billed yearly | 5,000 credits; 3 automations; 3 social accounts |
| ShortFast Advanced | $99 | $79 billed yearly | 15,000 credits; 6 automations; 6 social accounts (2 profiles); videos up to 3 minutes or 8 to 15 minutes |
| TubeGen build-your-own | From $27 | No separate price | Pick up to 4 suites: Writing or Thumbnail Studio $27, Niche Finder $33, Audio $47, Visuals $57 a month; 150 TubeGen credits a month per dollar. The builder opens at $0/mo: “Select at least one suite”. |
| TubeGen Starter | $149 | $119 billed every 6 months | 33,000 TubeGen credits, which it counts as 60 minutes of video; scripts up to 3,000 words; 1 minute of animation per video |
| TubeGen Pro | $297 | $238 billed every 6 months | 100,000 credits (148 minutes of video); scripts up to 10,000 words; 10 minutes of animation per video; 3 voice clones |
| TubeGen Premium | $849 | $679 billed every 6 months | 340,000 credits (438 minutes of video); scripts up to 20,000 words; unlimited animation per video; 10 voice clones |
TubeGen bills monthly or every 6 months at 20% less, with no yearly option shown; suite prices don't change with that toggle. Its minutes of video are its own figures ($2.47 a minute on Starter, monthly), and its FAQ says unused credits roll over for one extra billing cycle. Credits don't convert, and ShortFast's video counts are estimates, not limits.
Sources: ShortFast pricing · TubeGen pricing · TubeGen terms
TubeGen is made for the long YouTube video and covers every stage of it. Its Niche Finder searches a database of YouTube channels and tracks trending channels and keywords. Its script writer works from a topic or a reference channel's tone and pacing, up to 20,000 words on Premium. Narration comes in 8 languages, with cloned voices on Pro and Premium, and an original soundtrack is scored to it segment by segment.
Scenes are AI images in one art style, a preset or one built from your reference images, with consistent characters, animation, automatic charts and maps, AI avatars and Storyblocks footage mixed in. The editor opens as a rough cut timed to the voice, and the thumbnail studio tests A/B variations and posts your pick to YouTube. For a long-form channel that wants all of that in one place, TubeGen is the better tool.
ShortFast fits a channel built on TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts that has to keep posting. Set up an automation once with a series brief of up to 500 characters, a style, a voice and a schedule. For every slot it writes the next episode, with a new topic, script, title, description and footage in the series' tone, format and length, checks recent titles, then posts it or emails it to you. No episode waits for your OK, so look over the first few before you let it run.
Its 27 styles range from licensed documentary stock footage to AI video and art styles such as cartoon explainer or classical painting. A one-minute stock-footage short takes about 24 credits, an art-style one about 37 and a minute of AI video about 440, so choose the style before the plan.
For documentaries of 20 to 60 minutes, TubeGen or VidRush fits better than ShortFast. TubeGen's editor exports up to 30 minutes, and its comparison pages say longer videos come out through its assets folder for an outside editor; VidRush's FAQ describes documentary and Top 10 videos of 6 to 60 minutes from real footage. Or run both: long videos from TubeGen on the main channel, and a ShortFast automation posting shorts on the same subjects; Pro, at $39 a month, has three automations and three social accounts, one per platform.
Either way, YouTube's rules apply. Its monetization policies say channels where content “feels interchangeable from video to video” can't monetize, and its spam policy covers “using automated tools or AI to churn out high volumes of similar content with minimal changes”. TikTok requires a label on realistic AI-generated content, and TubeGen's terms make you responsible for labeling AI content as YouTube requires. Vary your topics, and check the first videos of any automated series.
On October 23, 2026, TubeGen's pricing page listed Starter at $149 a month, Pro at $297 and Premium at $849, or $119, $238 and $679 a month billed every 6 months. Its calculator opens on 8 videos a month of 8 minutes each (60% images, 40% B-roll, with script, voiceover and thumbnail) and estimates about 14,304 credits a month, recommending Starter. Its terms add an overage charge when a generation needs more credits than you have left and you choose to go ahead.
ShortFast's plans are $29, $39 and $99 a month, or 20% to 48% less billed yearly, with extra credits at $10 per 1,000. The two credit systems don't convert, so cost out your own publishing plan on each.
FAQ
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Long documentaries from real footage, against shorts that post themselves.
Learn moreComparisonTwo tools that write, voice and auto-post faceless shorts.
Learn moreGuideWhat it means, what it costs and why most stall.
Learn moreGuideOne AI tool per job, from script to thumbnail.
Learn moreGuideVidRush, TubeGen and more, for documentaries and history shorts.
Learn moreGuideGenerators that also publish for you, compared.
Learn moreThree days of full access. If TubeGen suits you better, that's a useful thing to find out cheaply.