Video editing app Captions is looking to capitalize on uncertainty about the future of TikTok and ByteDance's video editing app CapCut in the US by switching to a freemium model.
The app is backed by Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital, and Andreessen Horowitz and has previously been a pay-only app. However, the company is moving towards becoming more competitive in the video editing market by competing more directly with the likes of CapCut, InShot, and Invideo.
The free tier includes basic video editing tools with features like a teleprompter for adding subtitles, recording, narration, and more. The company puts all of its AI features, such as AI avatars, editing, and social studio suites, in a paid tier.
Gaurav Misra, the company's CEO, told TechCrunch that if CapCut is banned, many people will lose access to the company's video editing tools. And Captions wants to fill that gap. The fate of TikTok and CapCut is not decided, but Captions hopes to capitalize on the suspicion among users that it is a viable alternative.
“Right now, we have a lot of AI-powered editing features in our apps, but there are a lot of people who don't use AI-powered features and instead use other apps for traditional video editing. Our free tier is targeted at such users,” Misra said.
List of features available in the Caption app's free plan Image credit: Caption
Over the past two years, CapCut has been downloaded more than 1.3 billion times, has an average of 51.2 million daily active users, and has generated more than $460 million in in-app purchases, according to data analytics firm Sensor Tower.
Misra also noted that unlike AI-powered features, many of these basic video editing functions run locally on the device, so the company has no server costs and is offering them for free. He also said that he could afford to do so.
The company said it plans to bring more AI-powered features to cheaper tiers as the cost of running AI models decreases. According to Captions, the $10/month Pro plan already has AI creator features built-in.