Caption plugins for After Effects compared: AEJuice, Captioneer, AutoCaption, Voice2Captions and the rest (2026)

AEJuice Products
#1

Updated: August 2, 2026

Every auto caption tool on the market does the same first step - transcribe speech and put words on screen. They differ in three things that actually cost you time and money: whether you upload the whole video or just the audio, whether the captions come back as something you can still edit in your editor, and how you pay. This compares AEJuice Auto Captions against the tools people ask about most, with prices and limits checked on August 2, 2026.

The short version

  • Already editing in After Effects or Premiere? AEJuice keeps captions on your timeline as text layers and only uploads the extracted audio. Premiere’s own Speech to Text is free and fine for plain subtitles, but it is 13 languages and it is not styled.
  • Making short vertical social clips fast? Submagic, Captions and Opus Clip are built for that and will beat a plugin on speed.
  • Editing by transcript rather than timeline? Descript is a different way of working and good at it.
  • Thought CapCut was free? Auto captions moved behind a paid tier. Standard is $10/mo, Pro $19.99.
  • Long videos? Check the length caps below first. Several tools cap hard.

Comparison

Tool Where it runs Captions land as Upload Free tier Paid from Languages
AEJuice Auto Captions After Effects, Premiere (also aijuice.com) Native text layers on your timeline Audio only, a few MB 10 min every month $9/mo, or one-time credits, no subscription 145
Submagic Web Rendered MP4 Whole video, max 3,000 MB Free tools only $19/mo 123
Captions Mobile app (iOS/Android) Rendered video Whole video Yes, 1 template $24.99/mo 100+
Opus Clip Web Rendered clips Whole video 60 min/mo, watermarked $15/mo 20+
Descript Desktop + web Rendered video, transcript-driven Whole video 60 min/mo, 720p $16/mo 25
VEED Web Rendered video Whole video Watermarked, capped $20/mo 50+ translation
CapCut Desktop, mobile, web Burned into export Whole video Captions now behind paid tier $10/mo 25
Premiere Speech to Text Premiere Pro Native caption track None, runs locally Included with Premiere Included 13
DaVinci Resolve Resolve Studio only Native subtitle track None, runs locally Not in free Resolve $295 one-time (Studio) 50+

Length and volume caps - check these before you commit

This is where tools quietly stop being usable, and it rarely appears on the pricing page.

  • Submagic caps video length per upload: 2 minutes on Starter, 5 on Professional, 30 on Business, plus 15 / 40 / 100 videos a month and a 3,000 MB file limit. A 45-minute interview does not fit any plan without cutting it up first.
  • Opus Clip meters by source minute - one credit per uploaded minute. Pro at $29/mo is 300 credits, so 5 hours of source video a month.
  • Descript meters uploaded media minutes; the free tier is 60 minutes a month and exports at 720p.
  • VEED caps subtitle minutes, export resolution and project length on free, and watermarks exports.
  • AEJuice meters transcription minutes only. No cap on clip length, file size or number of videos.
  • Premiere and DaVinci have no caps at all - they run on your machine.

What you upload matters more than people expect

Every web and mobile tool in this list needs the video file itself. On a 4K interview that is tens of gigabytes going up before any work starts, and for NDA or client footage it may not be permitted at all.

AEJuice extracts the audio and sends only that - an hour of speech is a few megabytes of MP3. Premiere and DaVinci upload nothing, because transcription happens locally.

Where the captions end up

Most of these tools hand you a finished video with the captions burned in. Change your mind later and you go back into their editor and export again.

Three exceptions:

  • AEJuice puts native text layers in your After Effects comp or Premiere sequence. Keyframe them, apply effects, restyle them, render with the rest of the edit.
  • Premiere Speech to Text creates a real caption track in Premiere. Limited styling, but it is yours and it is free.
  • DaVinci Resolve Studio creates a subtitle track on the timeline.

Everything else is a round trip.

Free options worth knowing about

  • Premiere Pro Speech to Text - included with your Adobe subscription, 13 languages, runs locally, no upload, no extra cost. If you need plain subtitles and already pay Adobe, start here.
  • CapCut - the editor is still free, but auto captions are not anymore.
  • AutoSubs - free and open source, runs OpenAI Whisper on your own machine and connects to DaVinci Resolve, Premiere and After Effects. No account, no upload.
  • AEJuice - 10 minutes of transcription free every month, renewing, account required, no card. Also the only tool here you can use with no subscription at all, by buying credits once.
  • Opus Clip, Descript, VEED all have free tiers with watermarks or resolution caps.

Where AEJuice is the wrong choice

  • You do not use After Effects or Premiere and do not want another web tool - use CapCut or Premiere’s built-in.
  • You want b-roll, music, auto-zoom and publishing chosen for you in one pass - Submagic or Captions do that in a single editor.
  • You want to edit video by editing a transcript - that is Descript’s whole design.
  • You want one long video automatically cut into many shorts with virality scoring - Opus Clip specializes in it.

Where AEJuice is the right choice

  • You are already in After Effects or Premiere and want captions as part of the edit, not a separate render.
  • Your footage is too big or too confidential to upload.
  • Your videos are long. There is no length cap.
  • You need more than 13 languages, which is where Premiere’s free option stops.
  • You need control: profanity masking in text plus beep or mute on the audio, Meta and YouTube ad safe modes, custom flagged words, brand spelling, filler and pause removal, typo checking.
  • You caption occasionally and do not want a monthly subscription - buy credits once instead.

Prices at a glance

Monthly, cheapest paid tier, August 2, 2026: Opus Clip $15, Descript $16, Submagic $19, VEED $20, Captions $24.99, AEJuice $9. DaVinci Resolve Studio is $295 once. Premiere’s Speech to Text is included with Premiere. CapCut has a usable free tier.

AEJuice is the cheapest paid option in this list and the only one that works without any subscription - credits bought once do not expire at the end of the month.

Read the detailed comparisons

Try AEJuice free

Auto Captions runs inside After Effects and Premiere Pro, on your own timeline. 10 minutes of transcription free every month, renewing, account required, no card.

Checked on August 2, 2026 against each tool’s public pricing and documentation. Prices and limits change often - reply if something here is out of date and we will correct it.