Auto captions: add them to a talking-head video
Auto captions are text generated from your voice and placed on the video for you. In Rushly AI you upload a video where you talk to the camera, pick a caption style, and get back a vertical MP4 with the captions drawn in. The first video is free, with no credit card. CapCut, VEED, Kapwing, Submagic and Captions also do auto captions, with different limits and prices, and Rushly AI competes with all of them.
By Quentin, video editor, founder of Rushly AI. Rushly AI competes with the tools compared below. Their pages were read on November 3, 2026.
How it works in three steps
- Upload your video. Drop an MP4 or MOV where you talk to the camera. Your raw footage can run up to 7 minutes on Solo, 20 on Creator and 1 hour on Pro.
- Pick a style. There are 14 caption styles, such as Clean, Classic, Ali, Legend, Frost, Yellow block or Sky word.
- Get your video back. You receive a 1080 by 1920 MP4, 9:16, ready to post.
Rushly AI edits the whole take, not only the captions: it also cuts silences, "um" and failed takes, adds zooms and, as an option, cleans the voice. Here we stay on the captions.
What Rushly AI does for captions
- Word by word. Each word appears when you say it. The transcript comes from ElevenLabs Scribe.
- In four languages. The edit works in French, English, Spanish and Portuguese.
- Drawn into the video. The captions are part of the exported picture. Viewers cannot switch them off, and no separate subtitle file comes with the video.
- No "um" on screen. A filler word, a cut-off word or a sound tag is never shown as a caption.
- Kept clear of the app buttons. Rushly AI keeps its caption text between x 140 and 940 and y 269 and 1248 on a 1080 by 1920 frame. That is our own design rule, not an official TikTok, Instagram or YouTube measurement.
What it does not do
- No accuracy figure. We have not measured it, so we do not quote one.
- No promised subtitle file. We do not promise an SRT or VTT export.
- No promised text editing. If a word is wrong, you can run the edit again or try another style. Do not count on correcting it by hand.
- Not a caption-only tool. It edits the whole video. To add captions to a video that is already edited, CapCut or a caption tool is simpler.
- Browser only for now. A mobile version is planned.
For what makes a caption readable, see animated captions. For the buttons that cover the bottom of the screen, see captions for TikTok and Reels.
Auto captions: what other tools offer
Read on their official pages on November 3, 2026. Prices change, so check the page before you subscribe.
| Tool | Auto captions, as the page describes them | Free plan | Price read |
|---|---|---|---|
| CapCut | On the web: Captions, Auto Captions, choose a language, Generate (help page updated March 24, 2026). The help page does not list the languages. | A Free plan exists. Its watermark and export limits are not stated on the pricing page. | Pro shown in Thai baht: 375 a month or 2,400 a year. The final price appears after sign-in. No dollar price found. |
| VEED | Auto subtitles in "125+ languages", with styles such as karaoke-style and dynamic subtitles. "Up to 99.9%" accuracy is VEED's own claim. | 720p export with a VEED.IO watermark. | Creator $20 a month, or $10 a month billed annually, per user. Subtitles unlimited on paid plans within a 50 hours a month fair-use limit. |
| Kapwing | Word-by-word captions, with "100+ styles and templates" advertised. Translation: "100+ languages" on the subtitles page, "60+" on the pricing page. | Watermark, 4-minute export, 720p, auto subtitles up to 10 minutes. | Pro $24 a month, or $16 a month billed annually. |
| Submagic | Captions in "123 languages" on the home page, "120" on the pricing page. "99% accuracy" is Submagic's own claim. | No permanent free plan, a free trial whose limits the page does not state. | Starter $19 a month ($12 billed annually), videos up to 2 minutes. Pro $39 ($23), up to 5 minutes. |
| Captions | On the web, the help page gives 4 to 60 seconds for adding captions. iPhone: 10 minutes. Android: 5. | A limited free plan with one caption template. | Max $24.99 a month, 500 credits. The page says it shows iOS prices only. |
| Rushly AI | Word by word, in one of 14 styles, drawn into the exported MP4. French, English, Spanish, Portuguese. | The first video is free, with a watermark that paid plans remove. | Plans are on the home page. |
Sources and dates are in the list at the end. Compare what each price includes: minutes, languages, watermark, and whether you edit by hand or the tool edits for you.
When another tool is the right choice
- You want to edit by hand. CapCut is a full editor with a timeline, on desktop, web, tablet and mobile. Rushly AI is not a timeline editor.
- Your video is not in French, English, Spanish or Portuguese. VEED, Submagic and Kapwing advertise many more languages. See Rushly AI as an alternative to Descript, VEED and Kapwing and as an alternative to Submagic.
- You edit on your phone. Captions has an iPhone and Android app already. See Rushly AI as an alternative to Captions.
- You need a separate subtitle file, or captions on a video with several voices. Rushly AI is built for one person talking to the camera.
- You want B-roll, music or sound effects. Several of these tools offer them. Rushly AI does not.
If you want the whole edit done for you, read our page on the AI video editor, and the step that comes before captions: remove filler words.
Sources
Pages read on November 3, 2026:
- CapCut Help, "Auto captions" (March 24, 2026): capcut.com/help/auto-captions ; pricing: capcut.com/pricing
- VEED, auto subtitle generator: veed.io/tools/auto-subtitle-generator-online ; pricing: veed.io/pricing ; watermark: support.veed.io/en/articles/7056370
- Kapwing, subtitles: kapwing.com/subtitles ; pricing: kapwing.com/pricing
- Submagic, home page and pricing: submagic.co ; submagic.co/pricing
- Captions, add captions: captions.ai/help/docs/captions/add-captions.md ; pricing: captions.ai/pricing
To see auto captions on your own video, try Rushly AI: your first video is free, with no credit card, and you pick the style.
Frequently asked questions
How do auto captions work?
A speech-to-text model turns your voice into text with a time for each word, and the tool places those words on the video. Rushly AI uses ElevenLabs Scribe for the transcript, then shows the words one by one in the style you picked and draws them into the exported video.
How accurate are auto captions?
Often right, never always. VEED advertises accuracy of up to 99.9% and Submagic 99%, but those are the companies' own figures and the pages we read do not say how they were measured. We have not measured Rushly AI's accuracy, so we quote no figure. Read every caption before you post, names and numbers first.
Can I get an SRT file from Rushly AI?
We do not promise one. Rushly AI draws the captions into the exported 1080 by 1920 MP4, so they are part of the picture. If you need a separate subtitle file for YouTube or LinkedIn, pick a tool whose page says it exports one.
Which languages do the captions support?
Rushly AI edits videos in French, English, Spanish and Portuguese. Other tools advertise more: VEED says 125+ languages, Submagic 120 to 123 depending on the page, and Kapwing 100+ on its subtitles page. If your video is in another language, one of those is the better fit.
Are auto captions free?
Rushly AI gives you the first video free, with no credit card; it carries a watermark that paid plans remove. Other tools have limits too: VEED's free plan exports 720p with a watermark, Kapwing's free plan adds a watermark and stops at 4-minute exports, and CapCut's pricing page does not state the watermark or length limits of its Free plan.
Can I choose how the captions look?
Yes. You choose one of 14 caption styles, from a plain line to a giant key word. The home page says Solo gives access to 3 styles and Creator and Pro to all of them. You do not place each caption by hand.
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