Priced by the minute of source
€0.025 per minute on Starter, before VAT, whatever the number of shorts, up to 20 per video on the Studio plan. 30 minutes are free at sign-up, no card.
COMPARISON
Clips AI alternative: shortshort vs Clips AI.
shortshort cuts one long video into vertical shorts chosen to end where the sentence ends, frames the face with automatic zooms, and costs €0.025 per minute of video before VAT. Below, side by side with Clips AI: the numbers first, then 18 criteria with a check or a cross, then the plans of both.
30 free credits, no cardUp to 2 GB per videoMP4 · 9:16 or 4:5
shortshort vs Clips AI: the short answer
shortshort turns one long video of up to 2 GB into 9:16 shorts chosen to end where the sentence ends, framed on the face on screen with automatic zooms, captioned word by word, for €0.025 per minute of source video before VAT. 30 minutes are free, no card.
Clips AI is an open-source Python library that cuts long videos into clips. It may fit better for a crop that follows whoever is speaking, API; the table below says where, with the source.
- Price per minute of video
- €0.025 here; Clips AI's site does not say
- Free plan
- 30 credits once here; Clips AI's site does not say
- Largest file
- 2 GB per file here; Clips AI's site does not say
Facts checked against the product on . Prices before VAT.
Why shortshort
Four things the product does by design; the table below checks the rest, both ways.
Cuts that finish the sentence
The AI reads the whole transcript and picks complete, quotable passages, chosen to open and close on a sentence rather than on a timer; the end of each short is checked against the transcript.
Framing that follows the face, with motion
The 9:16 crop follows the face on screen and adds automatic zooms between x1.0 and x1.6; slides and wide shots stay whole. Framing is automatic; cuts, title and captions stay editable.
One page, nothing to learn
Drop the file, choose how many shorts and how long, check the proposals, export the MP4s. No timeline, no template to configure.
18 criteria, side by side
One line per criterion, the same shape on both sides. The Clips AI column is derived from Clips AI's own site: the number after a cell points to the source, and the exact wording is under the table.
Reading note. Clips AI is an open-source Python library with its documentation on clipsai.com, not a hosted product: there is no pricing page, plan or free tier to cite.
| Criterion | shortshort | Clips AI |
|---|---|---|
| Getting the video in | ||
| Longest video | Set by the 2 GB file size, 12 hours at mostOne file of up to 2 GB and at most 12 hours, on every plan; below that, how many hours fit in 2 GB depends on the bitrate. | Not stated on their site |
| Largest file | 2 GB per fileMP4, MOV or WebM. | Not stated on their site |
| How the video gets in | File upload or a YouTube linkMP4, MOV or WebM from your disk, or a public or unlisted YouTube link of your own, downloaded on our servers at up to 720p with its audio. | Local file path, via Python code [1]Takes an absolute path to a local audio or video file as a function parameter; the tool is a Python library, not a web app. |
| What comes out | ||
| Crop follows the face | Follows the face, zooms x1.0 to x1.6The 9:16 crop follows the face with automatic zooms; slides, screens and wide shots stay whole; framing is set automatically. | Yes, follows the current speaker [2]Resizes dynamically to the current speaker using speaker diarization, scene change detection and face detection. |
| Automatic captions | Word by word, 4 stylesSpotlight, Impact, Karaoke, Minimal; timed on the audio; SRT import and export. | Not stated on their siteTranscription returns word-level timestamps but no caption rendering or burn-in is documented. |
| Aspect ratios | 9:16, or 4:5 for the Instagram feedChosen at export for the whole series; a 4:5 export tracks the face again for that frame. No 1:1 or 16:9. | 9:16 by default, via a width:height pair [2]Resizes from 16:9 to 9:16; the aspect_ratio parameter is a (width, height) pair, and the home page says various aspect ratios. |
| Export | MP4 1080 × 1920 or 1080 × 1350, 30 fpsH.264, rendered on our servers on every plan: 1080 × 1920 in 9:16, 1080 × 1350 in 4:5. | Not stated on their site |
| Editing and export | ||
| Manual editor | Yes, on the AI proposals, with a free accountClips and their bounds, title, description, caption words and caption style of each AI proposal; the editor and the MP4 export need a free account. | Not stated on their site |
| Brand presets | One preset, Studio planCaption colour and font, preselected on every new video. | Not stated on their site |
| Edit export | JSON edit plan on every planThe studio exports the plan of the open short on every plan; the Studio plan adds the plan of every saved short from My projects. | Not stated on their siteReturns clip start and end times and crop segments as Python objects or dicts; no XML, EDL or Premiere export is mentioned. |
| Extras | ||
| Translation or dubbing | Not offeredCaptions in the language spoken, transcribed by OpenAI's whisper-1 (98 languages according to OpenAI); nothing is translated or dubbed. | Not stated on their site |
| Virality score | None, by designThe AI keeps complete, quotable sentences; you choose what goes out. | Not stated on their siteClips are found by topic-shift detection on the transcript; no ranking score is documented. |
| B-roll, music, titles | None addedThe short is your video, reframed and captioned. | Not stated on their site |
| Publishes to social | YouTube on a calendar, TikTok in early accessConnect a YouTube channel, pick a day and time per short or auto-fill the calendar. TikTok is in early access. One MP4 per short, or a ZIP, for the rest. | Not stated on their site |
| Team and price | ||
| Team seats | One account, one login | Not stated on their site |
| API | None | Yes, as an open-source Python library [3]pip install clipsai plus WhisperX; classes ClipFinder, Transcriber, MediaEditor and a resize function; needs ffmpeg and libmagic, plus a Hugging Face token to resize. |
| Free plan | 30 credits once, no cardThe account never expires; the 30 credits are given once, not every month. Up to 3 shorts per video, watermarked, exports join the public community. | Not stated on their siteThe site has no pricing or plan page, so no free tier can be cited. |
| How you pay | 1 credit = 1 minute of videoWhatever the number of shorts. Plans from 12 EUR a month for 480 minutes, before VAT. Unused credits roll over and never expire, even after cancelling. | Not stated on their siteOpen-source Python library; the official site has no pricing page. |
- Offered
- On some plans, or with a limit
- Not offered
- A fact, not a yes or no
- Not stated on their site
The exact wording of each Clips AI cell, as read on their site
- Longest video
- Not stated on their site.
- Largest file
- Not stated on their site.
- How the video gets in
- Absolute path to a local audio or video file (audio_file_path parameter), via Python code [1]
- Crop follows the face
- Dynamically resizes video to focus on the current speaker using speaker diarization (Pyannote), scene change detection (PySceneDetect) and face detection (MTCNN and MediaPipe) [2]
- Automatic captions
- Not stated on their site.
- Aspect ratios
- Resize from 16:9 to 9:16 (home page says 'various aspect ratios'); aspect_ratio parameter is a tuple[int, int] (width, height), default (9, 16) [2]
- Export
- Not stated on their site.
- Manual editor
- Not stated on their site.
- Brand presets
- Not stated on their site.
- Edit export
- Not stated on their site.
- Translation or dubbing
- Not stated on their site.
- Virality score
- Not stated on their site.
- B-roll, music, titles
- Not stated on their site.
- Publishes to social
- Not stated on their site.
- Team seats
- Not stated on their site.
- API
- Python library: pip install clipsai (plus WhisperX); classes ClipFinder, Transcriber and function resize on the home page; MediaEditor documented in the clip and resize references [3]
- Free plan
- Not stated on their site.
- How you pay
- Not stated on their site.
Sources for the Clips AI column, read on 16 October 2026
Their pages can change after that date; the table does not update itself.
Clips AI pricing (checked 16 October 2026)
Clips AI's site, read on 16 October 2026, has no pricing page. shortshort: €0.025 per minute on Starter, before VAT. Every plan, per minute, in the price index.
Clips AI
No plan table is stated on Clips AI's pricing page.
shortshort
- Free€0, no card30 welcome credits given once, 30 minutes of videoUp to 3 shorts per videoWatermarked exportExported shorts join the community
- Starter€12 a month480 min of video a month, 8 hoursUp to 5 shorts per videoNo watermarkOption to keep your exports out of the public community gallery
- Creator€29 a month1,600 min of video a month, 26 h 40Everything in StarterUp to 10 shorts per videoCredit top-ups of 400, 1,200 or 4,000 credits
- Studio€79 a month6,000 min of video a month, 100 hoursEverything in CreatorUp to 20 shorts per videoOne brand preset: your caption colors and font, preselected on every new video
Prices before VAT, from the product. Annual billing: Starter €115 a year, Creator €278 a year, Studio €758 a year. Full detail on the pricing page.
The verdict: Clips AI or shortshort
shortshort for the cuts; Clips AI when you need a crop that follows whoever is speaking or API. Both lists come from the table.
Where shortshort comes out ahead
- Cuts on complete sentencesEach short is cut on word boundaries and aims for the end of a sentence, with a 25% margin around the target length; the ending is checked against the transcript.
- One page, nothing to learnDrop, choose the count and the length, check, export. No timeline or template to set up.
- A public before-and-after galleryEach short next to the video it came from, with the transcript of each short, so the result can be judged before trying.
Where Clips AI may fit better
- A crop that follows whoever is speaking [2]Yes, follows the current speaker. Resizes dynamically to the current speaker using speaker diarization, scene change detection and face detection.
- API [3]Yes, as an open-source Python library. pip install clipsai plus WhisperX; classes ClipFinder, Transcriber, MediaEditor and a resize function; needs ffmpeg and libmagic, plus a Hugging Face token to resize.
What shortshort produces, on a real video
A published transformation from the community: the original on top, the shorts it became below. Click one to see it next to the original video.
3 of 6 shorts shown · The Override That Saved Humanity · watch it in the community, with the transcript of each short
Demo footage: Tears of Steel © Blender Foundation, licensed CC BY 3.0. Cut, cropped and captioned by shortshort.
How shortshort cuts, frames and captions
Three things the table can only name. The passage, the frame and the captions below are illustrations; the community shows the real thing.
1 · The cut ends on the sentence
Cut at the target
The reason most clips fail is that they stop before the idea lands, and a viewer who never hears the end of the sentence has no reason to share it. ✂ mid-sentence
Cut at the sentence
The reason most clips fail is that they stop before the idea lands, and a viewer who never hears the end of the sentence has no reason to share it. ✂ on the full stop
Same passage, same 30-second target. shortshort keeps going to the end of the sentence, 37 seconds here, which is inside the 25% margin it allows.
2 · The 9:16 crop follows the face on screen
3 · Captions timed word by word
Spotlight, one of the four caption styles. Impact, Karaoke and Minimal use the same word timing.
Clips AI alternative: questions people ask
How much does Clips AI cost?
Clips AI's site does not state its pricing (their own site, read on 16 October 2026); see their site. shortshort charges 1 credit per minute of source video, whatever the number of shorts: Starter is 12 EUR a month for 480 credits, Creator 29 EUR for 1,600 and the Studio plan 79 EUR for 6,000, before VAT, and every account starts with 30 free credits, given once.
What is a free alternative to Clips AI?
shortshort can be tried for free: 30 credits given once at sign-up, no card, which cover 30 minutes of video, with up to 3 shorts per video and a small watermark on the export. Your upload stays private until you export; exported shorts join the public community gallery by default. It is a one-time allowance, not free minutes every month: the tools that give free minutes every month are listed, with the limits of their free plans, in the price per minute index.
Is shortshort a good Clips AI alternative?
It depends on what you need. shortshort turns one long video of up to 2 GB into vertical shorts, 3 per video on the Free plan and up to 20 on the Studio plan, cut on complete sentences, framed on the face on screen and captioned word by word in one of four styles. Clips AI may fit better if you need a crop that follows whoever is speaking and API, according to its own site. If the job is cutting long talks into shorts, try it with the 30 free credits and compare the result with what you get from Clips AI.
Can I try shortshort before leaving Clips AI?
Yes. The 30 free credits cover 30 minutes of video, with up to 3 shorts per video, no card needed. Your upload and drafts stay private until you export: an exported short is published to the community with its full source video and the transcript of the short, unless your account is set to keep it out, which every paid plan can do.
Cuts that finish the sentence, at a price by the minute.
The fastest comparison is your own video: 30 minutes are free, no card. Your upload stays private until you export; exported shorts join the community with their source video by default, and any paid plan can keep them out.