{
  "example": false,
  "notice": "Published catalog.",
  "items": [
    {
      "verified_on": "2026-10-16",
      "related": [
        "ugc-ads",
        "faceless",
        "captions-cover",
        "voice-publish"
      ],
      "name": "AI avatar",
      "summary": "A checked script, a HeyGen presenter, captions, and a disclosure for talking-head videos on YouTube, TikTok, and Shorts.",
      "example": false,
      "audience": "Educators, founders, and marketers who need a talking presenter without filming every update, and who will only clone a person who has agreed",
      "recommended_path": [
        "Script",
        "HeyGen avatar",
        "CapCut captions and safe zones",
        "Publish and disclose"
      ],
      "monthly_cost_note": "Trial is HeyGen Free at $0 (up to 3 videos a month, 1 minute max) plus CapCut without Pro. Free CapCut export rules were not observed. Watermark removal and 1080p were not clearly included on HeyGen Free. Commercial floor verified 2026-10-16 is HeyGen Creator at $29 a month, or $24 per month if paid annually, for 600 credits, videos up to 30 minutes, up to 1080p. Adding one USD CapCut Pro rendering at $19.99 a month makes $48.99 before tax, and only when checkout shows that USD card. A CLP rendering the same day was CLP 29990 a month and kept the 1,200-credit grant. A yen open the same day was JPY 2,700 a month with 800 credits. Neither region sticker is added to the dollar sum. HeyGen Pro starts at $49 a month for 1,000 credits and replaces the $29 floor. Same features run across Pro tiers; the ladder runs to $4,300 a month for 100,000 credits. ElevenLabs Starter at $6 stays out of the default sum because which HeyGen plans accept external audio was not observed. A self-serve commercial-license sentence was not observed on the HeyGen pricing extract. Assumes one English talking-head short inside the plan duration cap. No credit-to-minute conversion. No view or revenue figure.",
      "stages": [
        {
          "name": "Avatar",
          "when_to_switch": "Leave Free when the file has to publish clean. Watermark removal and 1080p were not clearly on Free, and Free stops at 1 minute and up to 3 videos a month. Leave HeyGen when the job is a product URL. Leave Creator when the credit grant or 4K, not the script, is the limit.",
          "alternatives": [
            "HeyGen Creator — default presenter. $29 a month or $24 per month if paid annually, 600 credits, videos up to 30 minutes, up to 1080p. Those 600 credits are not a minute count.",
            "HeyGen Pro — from $49 a month for 1,000 credits. Same features across Pro tiers; only the credit grant changes. Up to 4K. The ladder runs to $4,300 a month for 100,000 credits. Replaces Creator, which lists up to 1080p.",
            "Creatify Standard — URL-to-ad swap, and the default on UGC ads. $15 a month or $12 under the annual banner, 55 credits, watermark removal. The compare table caps Standard at up to 2 minutes. Pro, Max, and Business list up to 10 minutes. Enterprise duration is Custom. Those rows are not this swap. Weaker default for a long explainer or a consented twin."
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "Voice (optional)",
          "when_to_switch": "Stay on HeyGen's included voice when that track is the one you will publish. Buy a voice plan only to replace it, and only after the avatar plan accepts external audio. Which HeyGen plans include audio input was not observed.",
          "alternatives": [
            "HeyGen voices — default. The pricing comparison lists more than 1,000 AI voices. Voice cloning is 1 clone on Free, with expanded or maximum usage on paid plans. Exact paid clone caps were not observed.",
            "ElevenLabs Starter — $6 after a first month at $1, labeled until 18 October 2026. 30,000 credits, about 30 minutes on the compare table. Commercial-license line is on the card. The contract text was not opened. Import into HeyGen was not observed.",
            "ElevenLabs Creator — $22 after a first month at $11. 121,000 credits, about 121 minutes on the compare table, when Starter minutes or a professional clone are the limit. Same import gap."
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "Edit and captions",
          "when_to_switch": "Move to CapCut Pro when Seedance seconds inside the editor, or a paid export, are the limit. Another caption app is not part of this stack. Free export rules were not observed.",
          "alternatives": [
            "CapCut without Pro — cuts and captions. Watermark, resolution, and caption quotas on the free export were not observed.",
            "CapCut Pro — 1,200 monthly AI credits on the USD and CLP cards. USD 19.99 a month was one region. CLP Pro is CLP 29990 a month with that same 1,200 grant. A yen open the same day was JPY 2,700 a month with 800 credits. Do not add CLP or yen to a USD sum.",
            "CapCut Ultra — 8,645 monthly AI credits on the USD and CLP cards. USD 79 a month is the USD rendering only, when the Pro second ceiling is the limit. Not in the starter sum."
          ]
        }
      ],
      "slug": "ai-avatar",
      "markdown": "# AI avatar\n\nEducators, founders, and marketers use this path to ship a talking presenter for YouTube, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts without filming every update. The export is a checked script, a face from [HeyGen](/tools/heygen), captions that clear the player chrome, and a disclosure before upload.\n\nPlatforms: YouTube · TikTok · Shorts\n\nA stock avatar, a photo avatar, or a custom video avatar can read the script. A custom avatar or a Digital Twin is allowed only when that person has agreed. Prices were checked on 2026-10-16. This page does not estimate views or revenue. Search volume, a Google Trends chart, and a TikTok topic index were **not observed**. Noted queries were `ai avatar video`, `heygen vs synthesia`, `ai spokesperson`, and `digital twin consent`.\n\n## Recommended path\n\nFour steps. A replacement voice stays off the default sum. The cost section holds the stickers. Each step names the tool, the job, and why it is in the path.\n\n### 1. Script\n\nWrite sentences you can stand behind, then paste plain text into HeyGen. Claude and ChatGPT stay outside this directory. Free videos max out at 1 minute. For Shorts, write the 30 to 60 second version first, which is what the HeyGen tool page recommends, so you are not rendering a long file you will cut down. A words-per-minute rate was **not observed**. Do not write the avatar as a customer. That record is on [UGC ads](/workflow/ugc-ads).\n\n### 2. Avatar · [HeyGen](/tools/heygen)\n\n[HeyGen](/tools/heygen) is this step because the job is a presenter: a script in, a talking face out, plus lip-sync translation for languages you do not speak. Paid plans list 175 languages and dialects. Free lists 30 or more. [Creatify](/tools/creatify) starts from a product URL. [CapCut](/tools/capcut) and [ElevenLabs](/tools/elevenlabs) do not generate the face. This site lists no script product.\n\nFree, with no card, is up to 3 videos a month and 1 minute maximum, plus a limited trial of Avatar IV, Video Agent, and lip-sync translation. Watermark removal and 1080p were not clearly on Free. The comparison lists 500 or more stock avatars on Free and 700 or more on paid plans, photo avatars up to 3 on Free and unlimited on paid plans, and more than 1,000 AI voices. Custom video avatars start at 1 on Free, 5 or more on Business, and 10 or more on Enterprise. Creator and Pro counts between those were **not observed**. One voice clone on Free. Paid clone caps were **not observed**.\n\nThe pricing FAQ states Creator's dollar price and does not repeat the 600 credits. Usage varies by model, duration, and complexity, so the grant is not a minute count. Avatar IV, the default v3 engine, caps at 1 minute on Free and at 30 minutes on paid plans, including Enterprise. Business lists 60 minutes, and that plan row is not an Avatar IV length. Avatar V is the higher-fidelity Digital Twin engine. Pro lists up to 4K. Pro tiers share one feature list and only the credit grant changes, so Pro replaces Creator.\n\nA custom avatar or a Digital Twin needs on-camera consent, per HeyGen's Digital Twin FAQ as recorded in this site's 2026-10-16 synthesis. The FAQ URL was not saved, so this page does not invent a link. A self-serve commercial-license sentence was **not observed**. Enterprise calls commercial terms out separately.\n\n### 3. Captions and safe zones · [CapCut](/tools/capcut)\n\n[CapCut](/tools/capcut) burns captions and checks the right and bottom of a vertical frame. A measured pixel inset was **not observed**. Trim, reframe for Shorts and TikTok, and take the cover from the same timeline. The pricing page did not print a cover spec. Free export rules were **not observed**. Credits do not buy the subscription. The Pro sticker is region-rendered. Pay the checkout you see, and keep the USD, CLP, and yen cards apart, as the cost section does. Type that still fails continues on [captions and covers](/workflow/captions-cover).\n\n### 4. Publish and disclose\n\nUpload only after Policy has a matching label. This step has no subscription. Ads Manager clicks were **not observed**. A photoreal face is not YouTube's own-voice narration example. An external voice goes to [voice and publish](/workflow/voice-publish).\n\n### Optional voice\n\nOff the default sum. The HeyGen comparison had an audio-input row. Which plans include it was **not observed** as a clear yes or no. Confirm that row before you pay [ElevenLabs](/tools/elevenlabs) to replace a voice HeyGen already includes.\n\nChecked the same day: Free is $0 and 10,000 credits, about 10 minutes on the compare table, with no commercial-license line. Starter is $6 after a first month at $1, labeled until 18 October 2026, with 30,000 credits and about 30 minutes. It is the first card with a commercial-license line. Creator is $22 after a first month at $11, with 121,000 credits and about 121 minutes, when Starter minutes or a professional clone are the limit. The license text was **not observed**. Import of that file into HeyGen was **not observed**. If the avatar plan will not take the file, publish HeyGen's voice.\n\n## Monthly starter cost\n\nChecked 2026-10-16. Tax sits outside the quote. Assumption: one English talking-head short inside the plan cap, about 30 to 60 seconds, presenter from HeyGen, captions in CapCut. Credits are not converted into a video count, because burn varies by engine. Voice is extra and is not in the table.\n\n| Band | What you pay for | Sticker | What it is not |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Trial | HeyGen Free, CapCut without Pro, disclosure | HeyGen **$0**. CapCut free rules **not observed** | A clean 1080p plan. Watermark removal and 1080p were not clearly on Free. Up to 3 videos, 1 minute max |\n| Commercial floor | HeyGen Creator, monthly | **$29** a month (600 credits). Annual display **$24** | A minute budget, or a printed self-serve commercial-license line. That line was **not observed** |\n| Floor + USD CapCut Pro | Monthly Creator plus the USD Pro card | **$29 + $19.99 = $48.99** before tax | CLP 29990 a month, or JPY 2,700 a month, added to $29 |\n| Pro face | HeyGen Pro, first rung | **from $49** a month (1,000 credits) | $29 plus $49. Pro replaces Creator. The ladder ends at **$4,300** a month for 100,000 credits |\n\nThe annual Creator display plus the same USD card is $24 + $19.99 = $43.99, arithmetic only. CapCut's annual sticker was **not observed**. The $49 rung plus that card is $49 + $19.99 = $68.99, and only at that rung. Business is **$149** a month plus **$20** per seat, with 1,500 credits, and it is not in the table. Enterprise is contact sales. A public Enterprise subscription price was **not observed**.\n\nWeb credits and API credits are different wallets. A monthly web plan rolls unused credits for one more month. An annual plan accumulates until renewal. Canceling drops the balance. An enterprise API credit costs $0.50. Avatar IV photo, digital twin, and studio avatars are 0.1 credits per second, which the docs equate with $0.05 per second. That rate does not price the 600 web credits. Pay-as-you-go starts from $5. MCP spends the website plan. An API key spends the API balance. v1 and v2 stay up through 2026-10-31 and then retire.\n\nThe $19.99 figure is one USD rendering of CapCut Pro: 1,200 monthly AI credits, and up to 240 seconds of Seedance 2.0 Mini at 720p or 600 seconds at 480p. Those seconds are a cutaway budget tied to the grant, not another monthly band. Seedance 2.5 on that card starts at $0.12 a second in the first month. Seedance 2.0 Mini at 480p starts at $0.007 a second in the first month. The rate after month one was **not observed**. Ultra at USD 79 a month, with 8,645 credits on the USD and CLP cards, stays out of the sum. CLP Pro is CLP 29990 a month and keeps the 1,200-credit grant. Yen Pro is JPY 2,700 a month with 800 credits. The yen open is the one that changes the grant. Do not add CLP or yen to $29.\n\nSynthesia is not listed. Its pricing HTML was not opened, so its dollar price is **not observed**. A third-party roundup figure was not copied. [Creatify](/tools/creatify) Standard is $15 or $12 a month for 55 credits, and it replaces HeyGen on a URL ad. The compare table caps that Standard row at up to 2 minutes. Pro, Max, and Business list up to 10 minutes, and Enterprise is Custom. Those rows are not added to $29.\n\n## Staged alternatives\n\nMove when the limit named here is the one you hit. Prices stay in the cost section.\n\n### Avatar\n\n- **HeyGen Creator.** Default presenter. The 600 credits are not an explainer count.\n- **HeyGen Pro.** Larger credit grant or 4K. Tiers share one feature list, and Pro replaces Creator.\n- **Creatify Standard.** URL-to-ad swap. The compare table caps Standard at up to 2 minutes, a weak fit for a lesson or a consented twin. Ten minutes starts at Creatify Pro. That plan is not this path.\n\nSynthesia has no price here. The dollar figure was **not observed**.\n\n### Voice\n\n- **HeyGen voices.** Default, unless audio input on your plan is a clear yes. That cell was **not observed**.\n- **ElevenLabs Starter.** The commercial-license card. Import into HeyGen was **not observed**, so the renewal stays out of the starter sum.\n- **ElevenLabs Creator.** When Starter minutes or a professional clone are the limit. Same import gap.\n\n### Edit and captions\n\n- **CapCut without Pro.** Cuts and captions. Export rules **not observed**.\n- **CapCut Pro.** Pay the checkout currency. USD and CLP keep 1,200 credits. Yen changes the grant to 800. Do not add the cards together.\n- **CapCut Ultra.** When Pro's Seedance ceiling is the limit. It stays out of the starter sum. No second caption app.\n\n## Where it fits\n\n- A lesson, a product update, or a company message that needs a face, from a script you can prove.\n- One consented presenter, reused across languages, with lip-sync translation on a paid HeyGen plan.\n- Delivery is a talking-head file for YouTube, TikTok, or Shorts, with captions in CapCut and a disclosure on the realistic face.\n- You will read the in-app credit cost before you render. The 600-credit grant is not a minute promise.\n\n## Where it does not fit\n\n- Narration and b-roll with no face: [faceless channel workflow](/workflow/faceless).\n- A product URL in and a vertical actor ad out: [UGC ads](/workflow/ugc-ads).\n- A person's face or voice without their agreement, including a public figure you did not get permission from.\n- The generated person is written as a real buyer, a real review, or a celebrity user.\n- You want a formula from Creator credits to a month of posts. This page does not estimate views or revenue.\n- Only captions remain, on footage a person filmed: [captions and covers](/workflow/captions-cover).\n\n## Policy\n\nThis is not legal advice. It records pages already checked for this site on 2026-10-16. It does not clear an upload.\n\nThree jobs get confused because they can share one face. They stay separate.\n\nA consented self twin is the presenter's own likeness, trained after that person agreed. HeyGen's Digital Twin FAQ, as recorded in the synthesis, requires on-camera consent for a custom avatar or a Digital Twin. Consent makes the twin theirs to use. It does not turn the render into footage of words they spoke on a shoot that day. Disclose the realistic face.\n\nAn unauthorized likeness is someone else's face or voice without agreement. A photo avatar built from their picture is still their likeness. Do not render it. A label does not replace permission. A public figure without permission is the same refusal.\n\nA fake customer testimonial is a third job. A generated person, stock or twin, presented as a real customer and describing a use they did not have, is a testimonial. A brand sentence about size, material, or price is a different sentence. A consented founder reading the company's own update is the first job. A stock avatar written as a happy buyer is the third. [UGC ads](/workflow/ugc-ads) keeps the ad-specific record.\n\nThe FTC press release of 14 August 2024, https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/08/federal-trade-commission-announces-final-rule-banning-fake-reviews-testimonials , was read from a search return that day. A direct fetch returned 404, so this is not a saved HTML file. The return says the final rule bans fake consumer reviews, testimonials, and celebrity testimonials, including a person who does not exist. It names AI-generated fake reviews, and it covers someone who did not have the experience. Effect is 60 days after Federal Register publication. The Q&A of 8 November 2024, https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/consumer-reviews-testimonials-rule-questions-answers , says the rule is effective 21 October 2024 and that staff guidance is not a safe harbor. On 22 December 2025 both https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2025/12/warning-letter-or-ten-businesses-comply-ftcs-consumer-review-rule and https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/12/ftc-warns-10-companies-about-possible-violations-agencys-new-consumer-review-rule state a civil-penalty maximum of **$53,088 per violation**. Endorsement Guides and Disclosures 101 returned 404 and are not quoted.\n\nYouTube returned HTTP 200 at https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/14328491?hl=en . Disclose realistic generative AI at upload when a real person appears to say or do what they did not, real-event footage is altered, a realistic scene that did not occur is generated, or generated music is the subject. The control is YouTube Studio, then Attributes, then AI use, then Yes or No. Photoreal results can get a player label. Disclosure itself does not limit audience or monetization eligibility. YouTube's own tools, C2PA, or an internal detector can label without the toggle. Cloning your own voice for narration is an example that does not require disclosure. A photoreal avatar is not that example. A consented twin reading a script you did not film yourself speaking still looks like a real person saying something they did not say on camera.\n\nYouTube's monetization policies (`support.google.com/youtube/answer/1311392`), as used on the faceless workflow, renamed \"repetitious content\" to \"inauthentic content\" on 15 July 2025. AI personas presented as human experts on health, law, finance, or politics may not monetize. An AI tool alone does not block the Partner Program. Mass-produced or near-duplicate avatar scripts still sit on that inauthentic-content line.\n\nTikTok's 19 September 2023 newsroom post, https://newsroom.tiktok.com/new-labels-for-disclosing-ai-generated-content , returned HTTP 200 in the UGC ads research and is the label for realistic AI images, audio, and video. The faceless workflow's reading of \"About AI-generated content\" is a separate page: the creator label reads \"creator labeled as AI-generated,\" Content Credentials can force a label you cannot remove, and the setting does not by itself change distribution when Community Guidelines are met. A label does not allow anyone under 18, a private adult's likeness without permission, certain public-figure scenes, or fake authorities and crisis events. Ads Manager clicks were **not observed**. Paid placement follows [UGC ads](/workflow/ugc-ads), where Meta's February 2025 post, https://about.fb.com/news/2025/02/gen-ai-transparency-metas-ads-products/ , returned HTTP 200.\n\n## Pitfalls\n\n**Credits read as minutes.** The 600 on Creator are not minutes. The $0.05 enterprise example prices a different wallet. Do not multiply the two.\n\n**A twin without on-camera consent.** Custom and Digital Twin need agreement on camera. Another person's photo, or a public figure's face, is an unauthorized likeness. That is a different refusal from a fake testimonial, and a label repairs neither.\n\n**The narration exemption applied to a face.** YouTube's skip-disclosure example is your own voice for narration. A photoreal avatar, including a consented twin, still uses the AI-use control.\n\n**The presenter written as a customer.** A generated person who describes a purchase is the testimonial case in Policy. A brand sentence about the product is a different sentence.\n\n**A borrowed sticker.** Synthesia's dollar was **not observed**. ElevenLabs import was **not observed**, so that renewal stays out of the USD sum. CLP keeps CapCut's 1,200-credit grant. Yen changes it to 800. Leave both out of the $29 line.\n\n## Next workflow\n\nType, safe zones, and a cover that still fail go to [captions and covers](/workflow/captions-cover). An external voice or the license line goes to [voice and publish](/workflow/voice-publish) and [ElevenLabs](/tools/elevenlabs). A product-URL actor ad goes to [UGC ads](/workflow/ugc-ads) and [Creatify](/tools/creatify). Narration with no face stays on the [faceless channel workflow](/workflow/faceless).\n\n## FAQ\n\n### How much is the starter month, in one number?\n\n**$29** a month for HeyGen Creator, or **$48.99** before tax with the USD CapCut card, checked 2026-10-16. Pro from **$49** replaces Creator. The cost table holds the annual display and every row kept out of that sum. None of the figures is a minute count.\n\n### Can I clone myself, or someone else?\n\nOnly someone who has agreed, on camera. Anyone else is an unauthorized likeness. A library face is not a customer, and Policy keeps that testimonial job separate.\n\n### Does my own voice clone skip YouTube's AI disclosure?\n\nNot when the picture is a realistic face. Own-voice narration can skip the toggle. The Studio path is in Policy, and TikTok still expects a label on realistic AI media.\n\n### Can I drop an ElevenLabs track into HeyGen?\n\n**Not observed.** Audio input was not a clear yes or no by plan, so the Starter renewal stays outside the USD sum. If the file will not import, use HeyGen's voice or [voice and publish](/workflow/voice-publish).\n\n### Why is there no Synthesia price?\n\nIts pricing HTML was not opened. The dollar price is **not observed**, and a third-party roundup figure was not copied. Creatify Standard is the URL-to-ad swap, and that row stops at 2 minutes.\n\n### Is the free plan enough to post?\n\nEnough to judge lip sync: up to 3 videos of 1 minute. Watermark removal and 1080p were not clearly included, so a publishing Short starts at Creator, then CapCut, then Policy.\n\n### How is this different from a UGC ad?\n\n[UGC ads](/workflow/ugc-ads) starts from a product URL and [Creatify](/tools/creatify). This page starts from a script and [HeyGen](/tools/heygen). The [faceless channel workflow](/workflow/faceless) has no face. A testimonial the person did not live is rejected on both actor paths.",
      "path": "/workflow/ai-avatar"
    },
    {
      "verified_on": "2026-10-16",
      "related": [
        "faceless",
        "ugc-ads",
        "long-to-short",
        "voice-publish",
        "ai-avatar"
      ],
      "name": "Captions and covers",
      "summary": "Burned-in captions, a cover frame, and a vertical safe-zone check for a file that is already cut, on YouTube, TikTok, and Shorts.",
      "example": false,
      "audience": "Editors who already have a filmed clip, an avatar export, a UGC actor file, or a long-to-short cut, and only need type, a cover, and a safe zone",
      "recommended_path": [
        "Import",
        "CapCut captions",
        "Cover and safe zone",
        "Export and publish"
      ],
      "monthly_cost_note": "Trial is CapCut without Pro. A help page dated Apr 3, 2026 says auto captions can include Pro-only functionality, a Standard user may preview, and an export that contains Pro elements requires Pro. Other free export rules were not observed. Commercial default verified 2026-10-16 is CapCut Pro at USD 19.99 a month with 1,200 monthly AI credits in one region. A CLP rendering on the tool page the same day was CLP 29990 a month and kept the 1,200-credit grant. A yen open recorded on the faceless page, not on the CapCut tool page, was JPY 2,700 a month with 800 credits. Neither region sticker is added to the dollar sum. Ultra at USD 79 a month and Teams at USD 12.49 a month per seat stay out of the default. Yen Ultra and yen Teams on the faceless page stay out of this sum. Optional animated captions are Submagic Starter at $19 per member per month on https://www.submagic.co/pricing, also on /tools/submagic, checked 2026-10-17, and not in the default sum. Opus Clip is a recut, on the long-to-short page, at Starter $15 a month and Pro $29 a month. Assumes one finished English vertical already in hand. No caption-credit burn rate, no post count, and no view or revenue figure.",
      "stages": [
        {
          "name": "Captions",
          "when_to_switch": "Stay without Pro only while the export does not ask for Pro. Move to Pro when the project contains Pro elements, which the help center says auto captions can include. Open Submagic only for animated captions on a file that is already cut, and keep that bill off the default sum.",
          "alternatives": [
            "CapCut without Pro — preview and a read-through. Help page dated Apr 3, 2026: auto captions can include Pro-only functionality. Other free export rules were not observed.",
            "CapCut Pro — default paid finish. USD 19.99 a month with 1,200 credits in one region. CLP 29990 a month keeps 1,200. Yen Pro, from the faceless page, is JPY 2,700 a month with 800. Do not add the cards.",
            "Submagic Starter — sticker on /tools/submagic, checked 2026-10-17. $19 per member per month, 45 credits, listed as 15 videos, 2 minutes. Optional animated pass. Not in the default sum."
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "Cover",
          "when_to_switch": "Stay in the CapCut project for the cover frame and the title sticker. A separate cover app is a different checkout. A measured pixel inset was not observed, so judge the right edge and the bottom in the player.",
          "alternatives": [
            "CapCut cover frame — default still from the same timeline. A cover-design spec on the pricing page was not observed.",
            "CapCut title sticker — hook line on that frame. Watch the right edge and the bottom. Pixel inset not observed.",
            "VEED, Captions.ai, or Kapwing — prices on /tools/veed, /tools/captions, and /tools/kapwing, checked 2026-10-17. Not in this sum."
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "Optional polish",
          "when_to_switch": "Do not buy a second subscription for a hook word or a brand mark. Move to Submagic when animated captions are the product. Move to Opus Clip only when the master is still long and needs a recut, then return here for type.",
          "alternatives": [
            "CapCut on the same timeline — word highlight, hook line, and a brand mark. Credit spend per caption was not observed. Credits do not buy Pro.",
            "Submagic Pro or Business — the vendor card lists 5 minutes and 30 minutes beside $39 and $69 per member per month. Still optional, and still off the default sum.",
            "Opus Clip Starter or Pro — recut only. Starter $15 a month and Pro $29 a month are on the long-to-short page. Not a caption plan on this page."
          ]
        }
      ],
      "slug": "captions-cover",
      "markdown": "# Captions and covers\n\nEditors use this path when the picture already exists and the remaining job is type. The export is a vertical file with burned-in captions, a cover frame, and a check that the right edge and the bottom clear the player chrome, for YouTube, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts.\n\nPlatforms: YouTube · TikTok · Shorts\n\nThe source can be filmed footage, an avatar export, a UGC actor spot, or a short already cut from a long master. Prices below were checked on 2026-10-16. This page does not estimate views or revenue. Search Console volume, a Google Trends index, and a TikTok topic score were **not observed**. Noted queries were `auto captions`, `capcut captions`, `submagic`, and `youtube shorts thumbnail`.\n\n## Who it is for\n\nYou already hold a cut you can distribute. Speech is on the track. The working file is one finished English vertical, or a master you will crop to 9:16 because the segment is already chosen. A new narration, a dub, or the license line on a voice plan is [voice and publish](/workflow/voice-publish). Choosing the segment inside a podcast, a livestream, or a long YouTube video is [long-to-short](/workflow/long-to-short). A script, a voice, and shots, with no footage yet, is the [faceless channel workflow](/workflow/faceless). A product-URL actor is [UGC ads](/workflow/ugc-ads). A consented presenter is [AI avatar](/workflow/ai-avatar). Those paths send the file here when type, the safe zone, or the cover still fails. [CapCut](/tools/capcut) is the default editor on that handoff. Submagic stays an optional upload, with no tool page and no place in the starter sum.\n\n## Recommended path\n\nFour steps.\n\n### 1. Import\n\nBring a file you have the right to post. A filmed vertical, an export from [HeyGen](/tools/heygen) or [Creatify](/tools/creatify), or a short from [long-to-short](/workflow/long-to-short) are the usual sources. A horizontal file belongs here only when the in and out are chosen. Hours of source that still need candidates go to long-to-short. This site lists no downloader.\n\nKeep the original audio. These captions are words on that track. A wrong name, or a missing negative, changes what the person said.\n\n### 2. Captions · [CapCut](/tools/capcut)\n\n[CapCut](/tools/capcut) is this step because Shorts and TikTok type already lives on its timeline. Turn on auto captions, then correct the words, the size, and the highlights. This step does not generate the picture. That stays on the source workflow. Seedance on a paid plan is a cutaway budget in the cost section, not the caption job.\n\nhttps://www.capcut.com/help/capcut-pro-prompt-standard-user , page note Apr 3, 2026, uses auto captions as an example of functionality that can be Pro-only. A Standard user may preview. An export that contains Pro elements requires Pro. Standard is not a paid tier on the tool page. An unpaid export is not a guarantee that auto captions will be in the file. Watermark, resolution, and caption quotas on that export were **not observed**. Credits do not pay for Pro. Pay the checkout on screen, and keep the USD, CLP, and yen cards apart. A public API and an official MCP endpoint were **not observed**. The finish is a person in the editor.\n\n### 3. Cover and safe zone · [CapCut](/tools/capcut)\n\nStay in the same [CapCut](/tools/capcut) project. Pick a cover frame and put the hook on a title sticker. A cover-design spec was **not observed** on the pricing page. Keep the hook and the last caption line off the right edge and the bottom, then play the export. A pixel inset was **not observed**. A logged-in TikTok Creative Center was not opened, so a topic score, a template ID, and an ad-library caption style were **not observed**.\n\n### 4. Export and publish\n\nExport for YouTube, TikTok, or Shorts. This step adds no subscription. If the picture is a realistic generated face, a generated scene, or realistic b-roll, use the disclosure on [AI avatar](/workflow/ai-avatar), [UGC ads](/workflow/ugc-ads), or the [faceless channel workflow](/workflow/faceless). Captions do not cancel that label. A replacement voice goes to [voice and publish](/workflow/voice-publish). A recut goes to [long-to-short](/workflow/long-to-short).\n\n### Optional animated captions\n\nOff the default sum. Submagic returns animated captions from an upload. The sticker is on [Submagic](/tools/submagic), checked 2026-10-17, and it stays out of this sum. This page's own card is the one opened on 2026-10-16.\n\n## Monthly starter cost\n\nChecked 2026-10-16. Tax sits outside the quote. Assumption: one finished English vertical, captions and a cover in CapCut, no second subscription. A caption's credit cost and a caption-export resolution were **not observed**, so this page gives no post count. The default is CapCut Pro when checkout shows the USD card. Submagic, Opus Clip, Ultra, Teams, and VEED, Captions.ai, and Kapwing stay off that line. Prices for [VEED](/tools/veed), [Captions](/tools/captions), and [Kapwing](/tools/kapwing) live on those tool pages, checked 2026-10-17.\n\n### CapCut\n\nUSD and CLP stickers are from the [CapCut](/tools/capcut) tool page, checked 2026-10-16. The sticker is region-rendered. Quote the currency on the screen. The yen Pro row is not on that tool page. It is the same-day open recorded on [faceless](/workflow/faceless), [long-to-short](/workflow/long-to-short), [UGC ads](/workflow/ugc-ads), and [AI avatar](/workflow/ai-avatar).\n\n| Card | Sticker on 2026-10-16 | Monthly AI credits |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Pro, USD rendering | **USD 19.99** a month | **1,200** |\n| Pro, CLP rendering | **CLP 29990** a month | **1,200** (same grant as the USD card) |\n| Pro, yen open | **JPY 2,700** a month | **800** (not the 1,200 grant) |\n| Ultra, USD rendering | **USD 79** a month | **8,645** on the USD and CLP cards |\n| Teams, USD rendering | **USD 12.49** a month per seat | **1,200** per seat on that card |\n\nThe tool page also records Ultra at CLP 71990 a month and Teams at CLP 14995 a month per seat, with those same 8,645 and 1,200 grants. Leave CLP and yen off any USD total. The faceless page records yen Ultra at JPY 12,600 with 13,821 credits, and yen Teams at JPY 1,295 per seat with 800 credits on the 2-seat card. Those two stickers are not on the tool page and are not in this sum. Do not read 8,645 as the yen Ultra grant.\n\nThe tool page states Pro's Seedance 2.0 Mini ceiling as 240 seconds at 720p, or 600 at 480p, and Ultra's as 1,700 at 720p, or 4,300 at 480p. That is a cutaway budget, not a caption quota. The same page's first-month lines on Pro are Seedance 2.5 from $0.12 per second and Seedance 2.0 Mini at 480p from $0.007 per second. Ultra's first-month lines are Seedance 2.5 from $0.18 per second and Seedance 2.0 Mini at 480p from $0.009 per second. The rate after month one was **not observed**. The tool page states 1 TB on Pro, Ultra, and Teams. A 1 TB line on the yen card was **not observed**.\n\nWithout Pro, you can still cut and preview. The Apr 3, 2026 help page is the export caveat. Other free-export rules were **not observed**.\n\n### Submagic, optional\n\nhttps://www.submagic.co/pricing on 2026-10-16. Submagic is not listed on this site. The monthly prices are per member. Starter's card says no watermark.\n\n| Plan | Monthly | What the page listed | Yearly display |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Starter | **$19** per member | 45 credits, listed as 15 videos, 2 minutes | **$12** |\n| Pro | **$39** per member | 120 credits, listed as 40 videos, 5 minutes | **$23** |\n| Business | **$69** per member | 300 credits, listed as 100 videos, 30 minutes | **$41** |\n\nThe yearly column is the display price on that page. It was not multiplied into a yearly bill, and this page does not call it a per-member rate. A free Submagic grant was **not observed**. Third-party Submagic dollars were not copied.\n\n### Opus Clip, only as a recut\n\n[Long-to-short](/workflow/long-to-short) records Opus Clip Starter at **$15** a month and Pro at **$29** a month, from that vendor's pricing page and help center on 2026-10-16. Those stickers buy processing minutes of a long source. They stay on that page.\n\n### Bands\n\n| Band | What you pay for | Sticker | What it is not |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Trial | CapCut without Pro | Free-export detail **not observed**, aside from the Pro-element caveat | A promise that auto captions export |\n| Commercial default | CapCut Pro, USD card | **USD 19.99** a month | CLP 29990 or JPY 2,700 added to $19.99 |\n| Optional animation | Submagic Starter, alone | **$19** per member a month | The default on this path |\n| Arithmetic only | USD Pro plus Submagic Starter | **$19.99 + $19 = $38.99** before tax | A bundle, a Teams seat, Ultra, or a yen card |\n\nThe default is **USD 19.99** a month when that card is on screen. The $38.99 line is arithmetic for two subscriptions, not a package.\n\n## Staged alternatives\n\nMove when the limit named here is the one you hit. Prices stay in the tables above.\n\n### Captions\n\nLeave the unpaid editor when the export asks for Pro.\n\n- **CapCut without Pro.** Preview and a read-through. Auto captions can include Pro-only functionality. Other free-export rules were **not observed**.\n- **CapCut Pro.** Default paid finish. Pay the currency on screen. The credit grant is not a count of captioned Shorts.\n- **Submagic Starter.** Animated captions on a file that is already cut. Off the USD default unless you subscribe.\n\n### Cover\n\n- **CapCut cover frame.** Default still from this timeline. A cover-design spec was **not observed** on the pricing page.\n- **CapCut title sticker.** The hook, clear of the right edge and the bottom. A pixel inset was **not observed**.\n- **[VEED](/tools/veed), [Captions](/tools/captions), or [Kapwing](/tools/kapwing).** Prices live on those tool pages, checked 2026-10-17. They stay off this sum.\n\n### Optional polish\n\n- **CapCut on the same timeline.** Highlight, hook, and a brand mark. Credit spend per caption was **not observed**.\n- **Submagic Pro or Business.** The card lists 5 minutes and 30 minutes beside those plans, at the prices in the table. Still off the default sum.\n- **Opus Clip.** Recut a long master on [long-to-short](/workflow/long-to-short), then bring the short back for the cover.\n\n## Where it fits\n\n- A filmed vertical, an avatar export, a UGC actor file, or a short already cut, and the missing piece is type.\n- You will read caption lines against the audio, including names and negatives.\n- You will judge the right edge and the bottom in the player. This page has no pixel inset to copy.\n- Delivery is YouTube, TikTok, or Shorts, and any AI label follows the workflow that made the picture.\n\n## Where it does not fit\n\n- There is no footage yet. Use the [faceless channel workflow](/workflow/faceless).\n- The long file still needs a highlight and a 9:16 cut. Use [long-to-short](/workflow/long-to-short).\n- The track has to be replaced, dubbed, or licensed on its own. Use [voice and publish](/workflow/voice-publish).\n- The job is a new presenter or a product-URL actor. Use [AI avatar](/workflow/ai-avatar) or [UGC ads](/workflow/ugc-ads), then return for type.\n- You want a view count, a revenue figure, or a rising-search claim. None of that was observed.\n\n## Policy\n\nThis is not legal advice. It records the caption finish checked on 2026-10-16. It does not clear an upload.\n\nUse a file you have the right to distribute. A caption that drops a negative, changes a name, or adds a claim the speaker did not make is a bad edit. Speech-to-text does not repair it.\n\nThe [faceless channel workflow](/workflow/faceless) records a reading of https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/14328491 : captions do not, by themselves, require the AI-use toggle. [UGC ads](/workflow/ugc-ads) recorded HTTP 200 on that URL. This page did not re-fetch the HTML. A realistic generated face, or a scene that was never filmed, still uses the source workflow's control. UGC ads puts that control at Studio, then Attributes, then AI use. A TikTok exemption for a caption burn alone was **not observed**.\n\n## Pitfalls\n\n**An unpaid export treated as guaranteed.** The Apr 3, 2026 help page says auto captions can include Pro-only functionality. A Standard user may preview. Exporting Pro elements requires Pro. Watermark, resolution, and caption quotas were **not observed**. Comparison articles that call CapCut the free caption default are not that help page.\n\n**Currencies added together.** USD 19.99, CLP 29990, and JPY 2,700 are separate monthly checkouts. CLP keeps 1,200 credits. Yen Pro has 800. Ultra at USD 79 a month and Teams at USD 12.49 a month per seat stay off the starter sum. Yen Ultra and yen Teams on the faceless page stay off it too.\n\n**A second subscription by habit.** Submagic is optional and per member. Opus Clip, at $15 and $29 a month on [long-to-short](/workflow/long-to-short), meters a recut. A short that is already cut does not need it for type. [VEED](/tools/veed), [Captions](/tools/captions), and [Kapwing](/tools/kapwing) prices live on those tool pages, checked 2026-10-17, and stay off this sum.\n\n**Type the player hides.** A pixel inset was **not observed**. A hook on the right, or a last line on the bottom, can sit under the player chrome. The credit grant was **not observed** as a per-caption price.\n\n## Next workflow\n\nA highlight cut goes to [long-to-short](/workflow/long-to-short). A new narration or a license line goes to [voice and publish](/workflow/voice-publish) and [ElevenLabs](/tools/elevenlabs). Building the picture is the [faceless channel workflow](/workflow/faceless), [UGC ads](/workflow/ugc-ads), or [AI avatar](/workflow/ai-avatar). Each of those already points here when the type fails.\n\n## FAQ\n\n### Does CapCut without Pro export auto captions?\n\nNot as a guarantee. The Apr 3, 2026 help page says auto captions can include Pro-only functionality, a Standard user may preview, and an export that contains Pro elements requires Pro. Watermark, resolution, and quota rules on the unpaid export were **not observed**.\n\n### What is the starter month, in one number?\n\n**USD 19.99** a month when the CapCut checkout shows that Pro card, with 1,200 credits, checked 2026-10-16. CLP 29990 and JPY 2,700 are other monthly checkouts in the cost table. Yen Pro has 800 credits, not 1,200. Submagic's $19 sits outside the dollar.\n\n### When is Submagic the add-on?\n\nWhen the file is already cut and you want the animated pass on the per-member card in the cost table. The sticker is also on [Submagic](/tools/submagic), checked 2026-10-17, and it is not inside the USD 19.99. Check the safe zone on the file that comes back.\n\n### Where do Opus Clip and the other names fit?\n\nOpus Clip is a recut of a long source. [Long-to-short](/workflow/long-to-short) records Starter at $15 a month and Pro at $29 a month. [VEED](/tools/veed), [Captions](/tools/captions), and [Kapwing](/tools/kapwing) prices live on those tool pages, checked 2026-10-17. They stay off this sum.\n\n### What safe-zone inset should I use?\n\nA pixel inset was **not observed**. Keep the hook and the lowest caption line off the right edge and the bottom, then watch the export on YouTube, TikTok, or Shorts.\n\n### Do burned-in captions need their own AI disclosure?\n\nOn the faceless workflow's reading of YouTube's disclosure page, captions of speech already in the file do not by themselves require the AI-use toggle. A generated face still follows [AI avatar](/workflow/ai-avatar) or [UGC ads](/workflow/ugc-ads). A TikTok exemption for captions alone was **not observed**.",
      "path": "/workflow/captions-cover"
    },
    {
      "verified_on": "2026-10-16",
      "related": [
        "captions-cover",
        "voice-publish",
        "ugc-ads"
      ],
      "name": "Faceless channel workflow",
      "summary": "A script, voice, shot, and caption stack for narrated YouTube, Shorts, and TikTok videos that never put a face on camera.",
      "example": false,
      "audience": "Solo creators and small teams shipping narrated video without appearing on camera",
      "recommended_path": [
        "Script",
        "Voice",
        "Visuals",
        "Edit and captions",
        "Publish and disclose"
      ],
      "monthly_cost_note": "Free try is ElevenLabs Free, Kling Basic (non-commercial), and CapCut without Pro (free export rules not observed). Comfort stickers verified 2026-10-16: CapCut Pro was USD 19.99 with 1,200 credits in one region check; a direct open the same day was JPY 2,700 with 800 credits. ElevenLabs Creator is $22, and Kling Standard renews at $8.80 or Runway Standard is $15 monthly ($12 annual). With Kling Pro or Runway Pro that cluster is roughly $35–$90/mo before tax. Assumes 5–7 videos a week at about 60–90 seconds. Runway Standard is only 52 seconds of Gen-4.5 a month.",
      "stages": [
        {
          "name": "Voice",
          "when_to_switch": "Leave Free when a published track needs the commercial-license line or more than the free grant",
          "alternatives": [
            "ElevenLabs Free — drafts; the commercial-license line is not on this card",
            "ElevenLabs Starter — $6 renewal, commercial-license line, about 30 minutes",
            "ElevenLabs Creator — $22 renewal when Starter minutes or a professional clone are the limit"
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "Visuals",
          "when_to_switch": "Leave non-commercial or one-time credits when the channel publishes on a schedule",
          "alternatives": [
            "Kling Basic or Runway Free — tests only; Basic is non-commercial and Runway Free does not refill",
            "Kling Standard or Pro, or Runway Standard or Pro — paid monthly shots; read seconds, not only the sticker",
            "Dreamina Seedance, CapCut Seedance credits, or Higgsfield — when the look or the editor you already pay for decides"
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "Edit and captions",
          "when_to_switch": "Move up a CapCut tier when Seedance seconds or shared seats, not basic cuts, are the limit",
          "alternatives": [
            "CapCut without Pro — cuts and captions; free export rules were not observed",
            "CapCut Pro — 1,200 credits on the USD/CLP card (USD 19.99 one region); a yen card showed 800 at JPY 2,700",
            "CapCut Ultra — 8,645 credits on the USD/CLP card; a yen card showed 13,821 at JPY 12,600"
          ]
        }
      ],
      "slug": "faceless",
      "markdown": "# Faceless channel workflow\n\nSolo creators and small teams use this path to ship narrated videos for YouTube, YouTube Shorts, and TikTok without appearing on camera. The export is a captioned cut: a script, a licensed voice, short generated shots, and a disclosure before upload.\n\nPlatforms: YouTube · YouTube Shorts · TikTok\n\nThe job of this page is the tool stack, the workflow order, and the cost of a faceless YouTube channel, including the same youtube automation loop on short-form. Prices were checked on **2026-10-16** on the linked tool pages. Nothing here estimates views or revenue.\n\n## Who it is for\n\nYou already have the topic. The assumptions below are five to seven videos a week, about 60 to 90 seconds each. A longer YouTube narration uses the same tools and more shots. One person can run the path. Claude and ChatGPT stay outside this directory: write there, or in any editor, then start paying at the voice.\n\n## Recommended path\n\nFive steps. Voice, pictures, and the editor are the paid middle. Prices are collected once, in the cost section.\n\n### 1. Script\n\nWrite spoken sentences and mark each picture change. About 150 words a minute makes a 60 to 90 second Short roughly 150 to 220 words. That pace is our assumption. No pricing page prints it. One concrete idea per video matters, because a review can ask whether the uploads feel interchangeable. Bring plain text forward. This site lists no script tool. Claude and ChatGPT are external.\n\n### 2. Voice · [ElevenLabs](/tools/elevenlabs)\n\nElevenLabs reads the script. It does not make frames. Checked 2026-10-16: Free is $0 for 10,000 credits (about 10 minutes on the compare table); Starter is $6 after a first month at $1, labeled until 18 October 2026, for 30,000 credits (about 30 minutes); Creator is $22 after a first month at $11, for 121,000 credits (about 121 minutes). The FAQ plans V2 multilingual speech at about 1 credit per character. Annual billing is about ten months' price, and Creator's equivalent is $18.33. Budget the $22 renewal until you actually switch.\n\nStarter is the first card with a commercial-license line, plus instant voice cloning. Creator adds professional cloning. The license agreement was not opened, so the exact grant is **not observed**. At one credit per character, a month at this pace is on the order of 20,000 to 40,000 characters before retakes. That character total is our estimate, not a vendor figure. It is comfortable on Creator and tight on Starter once most reads approach 90 seconds.\n\n### 3. Visuals · [Kling](/tools/kling), [Seedance](/tools/seedance), or [Runway](/tools/runway)\n\nCut several 4 to 10 second shots under the voice. Do not ask one generation to cover the whole narration. Model pages: [Kling](/models/kling), [Seedance](/models/seedance), [Runway Gen](/models/runway-gen).\n\nKling's paid cards state commercial use. Basic does not. Runway Standard is the monthly refill that removes watermarks. Dreamina is the English Seedance app, on its own ladder from the Seedance credits inside [CapCut](/tools/capcut). Start on Kling Standard, switch to Dreamina when the shot has to be Seedance, and use Runway when you want Gen-4.5 in the same login as other labs.\n\nKeep the two Kling bills apart. Web credits and the $0.14 API unit do not trade. A silent 1080p Kling 3.0 second is $0.112, which matches a film that already has an ElevenLabs track. With native audio, Turbo at 1080p is $0.14 a second. API packs omit Kling 4.0. How many seconds a membership credit buys is **not observed**. Runway does print that math, in the cost section: Gen-4.5 is 12 credits a second. Dreamina's page estimates ten-second videos per plan, also quoted below. CapCut Pro's Seedance 2.0 Mini ceiling is a cutaway budget, not a full frame for every post.\n\nWhen a shot misses, read [MiniMax Hailuo](/models/minimax-hailuo), [Veo](/models/veo), or [Luma Ray](/models/luma-ray) before opening another subscription. The apps are [Hailuo](/tools/hailuo) and [Google Flow](/tools/google-flow). [Higgsfield](/models/higgsfield) is Cinema Studio and Genjutsu. Cinema Studio's dollar rate was **not observed**. The API price page listed Genjutsu from $0.318 a second, and a max-discount price from $0.159, on 2026-10-16. The app that hosts many labs is [Higgsfield](/tools/higgsfield).\n\n### 4. Edit and captions · [CapCut](/tools/capcut)\n\nCapCut is where the voice and the shots become the post: trim, reframe to 9:16 for Shorts and TikTok, burn captions, export. Keep 16:9 when the YouTube video is long. Generators stop at the clip. The timeline is why CapCut is on this path.\n\nCredit grants are not one global number. A USD rendering and a CLP rendering, recorded on the CapCut tool page, showed **1,200** monthly AI credits on Pro and **8,645** on Ultra, at USD 19.99 / 79 / 12.49 per Teams seat, with 1,200 credits per seat. A direct open of the same pricing URL on 2026-10-16 returned yen: Pro at JPY 2,700 a month with **800** monthly AI credits, Ultra at JPY 12,600 with **13,821**, and the 2-seat Teams card at JPY 1,295 per seat with **800**. Pay whatever checkout shows. Pro can spend credits on Seedance (first month from $0.12 per second on Seedance 2.5). The later rate was **not observed**, and credits do not pay the subscription. Free watermark, resolution, and caption quotas were **not observed**.\n\n### 5. Publish and disclose\n\nUpload with the labels below. State what this video adds in the title and description. Reviewers may read titles, thumbnails, descriptions, About text, and the videos themselves. If captions or the cover still fail, continue on [captions and covers](/workflow/captions-cover). A license question, a dub, or a longer checklist continues on [voice and publish](/workflow/voice-publish).\n\n## Monthly starter cost\n\nTool-page stickers were checked on 2026-10-16. A direct open the same day is named where it disagrees. Tax, and any promo that expired after that day, sit outside the quote.\n\nAssumptions: 5 to 7 videos a week, about 60 to 90 seconds each, narration from ElevenLabs, pictures made of short shots, and 720p or 1080p where a card names a resolution. Failed takes cost extra.\n\n### Free try\n\n| Piece | Recorded sticker | Commercial limit |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| ElevenLabs Free | $0, 10,000 credits, about 10 minutes, no rollover | Commercial-license line is on Starter. |\n| Kling Basic | $0 | Output is not for commercial use. Monthly grant **not observed**. |\n| Runway Free | 125 credits once, about 10 seconds of Gen-4.5 | Does not refill. |\n| CapCut without Pro | The yen page showed a Free card at JPY 0: free templates and basic editing | Watermark, resolution, and caption quotas **not observed**. |\n| Dreamina free option | FAQ confirms a free option | Credit count **not observed**. |\n\nA private draft can live here. A commercial week cannot: Basic withholds commercial use, Free voice omits the license line, and Runway's deposit is gone after one spend.\n\n### Comfortable commercial band\n\nThree renewals, using figures that were on the pages:\n\n- CapCut Pro at USD 19.99 in one region, with 1,200 credits on that card and on a CLP rendering. A yen open the same day was JPY 2,700 and 800 credits. The sums below use the USD sticker.\n- ElevenLabs Creator at $22, or Starter at $6 near the 30-minute line.\n- Kling Standard at $8.80 after $6.99 (660 credits), or Runway Standard at $15 monthly / $12 annual (625 credits).\n\nUSD 19.99 + $22 + $8.80 is $50.79. Runway Standard monthly instead of Kling makes $56.99. Starter instead of Creator, still with Kling Standard, is $34.79. Kling Pro renews at $32.56 (3,000 credits) and Runway Pro is $35 monthly or $28 annual (2,250 credits), so those stacks sit near $75 to $77. Dreamina's tool-page USD Standard renewal is $36 after $22; the pricing HTML fetched here was yen, quoted below. Annual Creator is $18.33.\n\n**About $35 to $90 a month** is CapCut near that USD sticker, voice on Starter or Creator, and one shot plan from Kling Standard through Pro or Runway Standard through Pro monthly. Starter with that CapCut sticker and Kling Standard is $34.79, which is the floor of the band. CapCut Ultra at USD 79, ElevenLabs Pro at $99, and Runway Max sit outside it.\n\nRead seconds before you trust the sticker. Gen-4.5 at 12 credits a second means Standard's 625 credits are 52 seconds (about two videos if each keeps five 5-second shots) and Pro's 2,250 credits are 187 seconds (about seven such videos). Weekly Gen-4.5 is Max: 9,500 credits, $76 billed annually or $95 monthly, 791 seconds before rejects. Rejects spend credits, and extra credits start at a 1,000-credit buy. Max plus Creator plus USD CapCut Pro is already over $90.\n\nKling's web seconds per credit are **not observed**. On the API, twenty silent 1080p seconds across 24 videos at $0.112 is about $54 before rejects, on top of voice and CapCut. Packs start at $700, last 180 days, and do not become membership credits. Premier renews at $80.96 for 8,000 credits. Kling Ultra renews at $159.99 for 26,000.\n\nCapCut Pro states 240 seconds of Seedance 2.0 Mini at 720p, or 600 at 480p: cutaways for the month. Ultra states 1,700 seconds at 720p. Those second ceilings were also on the yen card. The tool page records Dreamina Basic at $15 after $1.50 (about 19 ten-second videos) and Standard at $36 after $22 (about 48). Those dollar cards and those video counts were not in the pricing HTML fetched here. That HTML was yen: Basic showed 2,514 credits and about 25 ten-second videos (JPY 238, then JPY 2,380), and Standard showed 6,163 credits and about 61 (JPY 3,433, then JPY 5,700). The page says that ten-second count is estimated on Seedance 2.0 Fast at 720p. The banner still ended 23 October 2026, and the hero still said $1.50 for the first month. Commercial use depends on Dreamina's terms and the model. [HeyGen](/tools/heygen) is a face, not this band: up to 3 videos a month on Free, Creator at $29 or $24 annually with 600 credits ([HeyGen Video](/models/heygen-video)). Stock-actor ads are [Creatify](/tools/creatify) and [UGC ads](/workflow/ugc-ads).\n\n## Staged alternatives\n\nTwo or three options per stage. Move when the limit below is the one you hit.\n\n### Voice\n\nLeave Free for any branded publish, or when 10,000 credits run out.\n\n- **ElevenLabs Free.** Drafts. No commercial-license line on the card.\n- **ElevenLabs Starter.** License line, instant clone, about 30 minutes. A week of 90-second retakes can pass that.\n- **ElevenLabs Creator.** Default once minutes or a professional clone are the bottleneck. Automatic dubbing is about 2,000 credits a minute with a watermark and 3,000 without, so roughly 40 clean minutes spend the Creator grant. Dub budgets belong on [voice and publish](/workflow/voice-publish).\n\n### Visuals\n\nLeave Basic before a commercial post. Leave Runway Free after the one-time credits.\n\n- **Kling Basic or Runway Free.** Tests. Non-commercial on Basic. No monthly refill on Runway Free.\n- **Kling Standard or Pro, or Runway Standard or Pro.** Paid wallets. Kling paid cards list watermark removal and 1080p/4K. Runway prints the Gen-4.5 seconds. Kling's membership burn rate is **not observed**.\n- **Dreamina, CapCut's Seedance credits, or Higgsfield.** Dreamina for that model family. CapCut credits when 240 seconds at 720p is enough inside the editor. [Higgsfield](/tools/higgsfield) for several labs on one grant: Starter $19 a month billed annually (270 credits), Plus $47 billed annually beside $59 (1,200 credits). Free credits were **not observed**. Unlimited web windows do not apply to the API or MCP.\n\nBench [Luma Ray](/models/luma-ray), [Veo](/models/veo), and [MiniMax Hailuo](/models/minimax-hailuo) until the plan you pay misses a shot. App plans are on [Hailuo](/tools/hailuo) and [Google Flow](/tools/google-flow).\n\n### Edit and captions\n\n- **CapCut without Pro.** Cuts and captions. Export rules **not observed**.\n- **CapCut Pro.** 1,200 monthly AI credits on the USD and CLP cards. A yen card the same day showed 800. USD 19.99 was one region.\n- **CapCut Ultra or Teams.** 8,645 credits on the USD and CLP cards when most frames are generated; the yen card showed 13,821. Teams was USD 12.49 per seat with 1,200 credits on that card, and JPY 1,295 per seat with 800 on the 2-seat yen card.\n\n## Where it fits\n\n- The speaker never appears, and the picture can be b-roll, illustration, or a generated shot.\n- Each script differs in substance from the one before it.\n- You will check the credit grant before a batch, inside the monthly band above.\n- Delivery is YouTube, Shorts, TikTok, or several of those from one CapCut export.\n\n## Where it does not fit\n\n- Someone must hold the product on camera. Use [HeyGen](/tools/heygen) or [Creatify](/tools/creatify), then [UGC ads](/workflow/ugc-ads).\n- You need an earnings forecast. This directory does not give one.\n- Only captions remain, on footage you filmed. That is [captions and covers](/workflow/captions-cover).\n- A mouth must match the narration. This path skips lip-sync, and no sync score was measured.\n\n## Policy\n\nThis is not legal advice. It follows help pages opened on 2026-10-16 and the license line on our ElevenLabs entry.\n\nYouTube's monetization policies (`support.google.com/youtube/answer/1311392`) ask for original work. Borrowed material has to be changed significantly, and a channel should not be mass-produced, generic, repetitive, or manipulative. On 15 July 2025 \"repetitious content\" was renamed \"inauthentic content.\" YouTube said that material was already ineligible, and that reused-content rules were unchanged. Reused content means republishing something from YouTube or elsewhere without significant original commentary, substantive edits, or educational or entertainment value. Permission does not settle it. The rule is separate from copyright, and monetization can leave the whole channel. Reviewers may weigh theme, popular and new uploads, watch time, titles, thumbnails, descriptions, and About text. The same page says AI personas presented as human experts on health, law, finance, or politics may not monetize. It does not say an AI tool alone blocks the Partner Program.\n\nA second page (`support.google.com/youtube/answer/14328491`) requires \"AI use\" in Studio when the result looks realistic: a real person shown saying or doing what they did not, a real event or place altered, a realistic scene that never occurred, or music that carries the video. Non-realistic scenes, script or title help, captions, and a clone of your own voice for narration are on the page's list of items that do not require the toggle. Photoreal b-roll of a fictional event still does. Disclosure alone does not, on that page, limit audience or earnings. Skipping a required one can mean a label, removal, or suspension from the Partner Program.\n\nTikTok's \"About AI-generated content\" page encourages a label on fully generated or heavily edited AI, and it requires one for realistic images, audio, and video. The creator label reads \"creator labeled as AI-generated.\" Content Credentials can force an auto label you cannot remove. TikTok says the setting does not, by itself, change distribution when Community Guidelines are met. A label does not allow fake authorities or crisis events, certain public-figure scenes, anyone under 18, or a private adult's likeness used without permission.\n\nOn [ElevenLabs](/tools/elevenlabs), Starter is the card that prints a commercial license. The contract text is **not observed**. Kling paid plans state commercial use, and Basic states the opposite. Dreamina defers to its terms. Runway output terms, past the watermark line on Standard, were **not observed**.\n\n## Content formats\n\nPages below are not written yet. No earnings claims.\n\n- **Reddit stories.** Narrated posts with on-screen text. The reused-content question is the source, not the voice. Stub: [/workflow/faceless/reddit-stories](/workflow/faceless/reddit-stories).\n- **Horror.** Original short fiction over dark shots. Someone else's story is the policy risk. Stub: [/workflow/faceless/horror](/workflow/faceless/horror).\n- **Motivational.** Advice over quotes and b-roll, the format that turns into one template fastest. Stub: [/workflow/faceless/motivational](/workflow/faceless/motivational).\n- **Top 10.** One distinct shot per item, so the generation bill is higher. Stub: [/workflow/faceless/top10](/workflow/faceless/top10).\n- **AI news.** Public items in your own sentences. A synthetic expert on health, law, finance, or politics hits the monetization line above. Stub: [/workflow/faceless/ai-news](/workflow/faceless/ai-news).\n- **AI music.** The track leads, and YouTube's disclosure page treats music that is the focus as something to mark. Stub: [/workflow/faceless/ai-music](/workflow/faceless/ai-music).\n\n## Pitfalls\n\n**Same shell, new title.** Scraped posts read aloud, or one slideshow under rotating titles, match reused and inauthentic content. Monetization can leave the channel. Permission from the original poster does not close the review.\n\n**No label on a realistic shot.** Fictional photoreal scenes belong on YouTube's AI-use control and TikTok's AI setting. Illustrated frames and your own cloned narration are lighter on YouTube's examples. A mixed file still discloses the realistic part. TikTok's auto label stays.\n\n**A Free voice on a public video.** The commercial-license line starts on Starter. The contract text is **not observed**, so keep Free for drafts.\n\n**Teaser prices and split wallets.** Starter's $1 was labeled through 18 October 2026, Kling's $6.99 becomes $8.80, Dreamina's banner ran through 23 October 2026, and CapCut's Seedance per-second lines were first-month. API units, membership credits, and Runway consumer credits are separate bills. Dubbing (about 3,000 credits a minute without a watermark) and rejected Runway clips are the usual overruns.\n\n**A face, or daily Gen-4.5, added quietly.** Lip-sync is a different workflow. [HeyGen](/tools/heygen) is the presenter. Kling's API has a separate avatar row that this page did not score. Standard's 52 seconds of Gen-4.5 can vanish in one test session. A weekly Gen-4.5 cadence is Max, outside the starter band once voice and CapCut are included.\n\n## Prompt stubs\n\nStarts only. They do not promise a look or a policy outcome.\n\nScript stub, for Claude, ChatGPT, or any external editor:\n\n```\nWrite a 150-word narration for one YouTube Short.\nUse spoken sentences and one specific story.\nMark a new shot every two or three sentences with [SHOT].\nDo not claim the images are real footage.\nNo medical, legal, or financial advice.\n```\n\nVisual stub, for a silent Kling or Seedance shot under ElevenLabs:\n\n```\n9:16, 5 seconds, no dialogue.\nOne concrete action in one location.\nNatural light, static camera, no on-screen text, no logos.\nThe scene is fictional.\n```\n\n## Next workflow\n\nPhone-readable captions, safe zones, and a cover that is not a clone of the last ten are [captions and covers](/workflow/captions-cover). License text, dubs, and the upload itself are [voice and publish](/workflow/voice-publish). A person holding a product moves to [UGC ads](/workflow/ugc-ads).\n\n## FAQ\n\n### Does TikTok need a different stack from a faceless YouTube channel?\n\nBuild it once: script, [ElevenLabs](/tools/elevenlabs), one shot model, [CapCut](/tools/capcut). YouTube then applies Partner Program tests and the AI-use toggle. TikTok requires a label on realistic AI media and may auto-label Content Credentials. Export 9:16 for Shorts and TikTok. A measured reframe time is **not observed**.\n\n### What is the monthly cost?\n\nThe worked sum on 2026-10-16 is $50.79 before tax for USD CapCut Pro, Creator, and Kling Standard, or $56.99 if Runway Standard monthly replaces Kling. **$35 to $90** reaches up through Kling Pro or Runway Pro monthly and stops before Ultra, ElevenLabs Pro, Runway Max, and the $700 API pack. Standard is still only 52 seconds of Gen-4.5. Kling's membership burn rate is **not observed**.\n\n### Are the free tiers enough to post commercially?\n\nThey are enough to test. Kling Basic blocks commercial use. The ElevenLabs commercial-license line starts at Starter, $6. Runway does not refill the 125 credits. CapCut's free export rules were **not observed**. A public week wants a paid voice and a paid picture plan.\n\n### Where do Claude and ChatGPT belong?\n\nIn the script step, off this site's tool list. We do not price chat plans. Hand the finished words to ElevenLabs. A transcript is not a video model.\n\n### Can AI shots alone get a channel rejected?\n\nThe page we opened does not treat the tool as the violation. It does treat repetitive catalogs, thin reuse, and AI personas posing as experts on health, law, finance, or politics as monetization problems. Realistic scenes still need the disclosure. Stop shipping near-duplicate narrations.\n\n### Is HeyGen part of this stack?\n\nOnly after a face becomes the point. [HeyGen](/tools/heygen) allows up to 3 videos a month on Free. Creator is $29, or $24 on the annual price, with 600 credits on the card. The faceless month stays on ElevenLabs, one shot plan, and CapCut.",
      "path": "/workflow/faceless"
    },
    {
      "verified_on": "2026-10-16",
      "related": [
        "captions-cover",
        "voice-publish",
        "faceless",
        "ugc-ads"
      ],
      "name": "Long-to-short",
      "summary": "A rights-cleared long video, a CapCut 9:16 cut with captions, and a publish step for YouTube Shorts, TikTok, and Reels.",
      "example": false,
      "audience": "Creators who already have a podcast, livestream, interview, course, or long YouTube video and need vertical clips",
      "recommended_path": [
        "Source",
        "CapCut highlight and 9:16",
        "Polish in CapCut",
        "Publish"
      ],
      "monthly_cost_note": "Trial is CapCut without Pro, with optional Opus Clip Free at $0 for 60 processing minutes. Free CapCut export rules were not observed. Default comfort verified 2026-10-16 is CapCut Pro at USD 19.99 with 1,200 credits in one region. Volume is Opus Clip Starter at $15 for 150 processing minutes. Volume plus that USD CapCut card is $34.99. Opus Clip Pro at $29 for 300 processing minutes plus that card is $48.99. Annual Opus dollar sticker was not observed. The help center states 3,600 minutes a year on Pro. A same-day yen CapCut open was JPY 2,700 with 800 credits and is not added to the USD sums. Klap, Vizard, Submagic, and Descript stickers are on /tools/klap, /tools/vizard, /tools/submagic, and /tools/descript, checked 2026-10-17, and are not in this sum. Assumes about 2–4 hours of source a week. No post count and no revenue figure.",
      "stages": [
        {
          "name": "Highlights",
          "when_to_switch": "Stay in CapCut when you already know the segment. Move to a batch clipper when the source is hours long and you want candidate verticals before the polish.",
          "alternatives": [
            "CapCut — default when the segment is known. Long-to-short control, 9:16, and auto captions. Button quota not observed. Free export rules not observed.",
            "Opus Clip Starter or Pro — not listed here. Starter $15 for 150 processing minutes. Pro $29 for 300 a month, and 3,600 a year on the help center. Annual dollar sticker not observed.",
            "Klap, Vizard, Submagic, or Descript — stickers on /tools/klap, /tools/vizard, /tools/submagic, and /tools/descript, checked 2026-10-17. Not in the cost table."
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "Captions",
          "when_to_switch": "Stay in CapCut for the hook line, the brand, and the cover frame. Open captions and covers when type or the safe zone still fails. Do not add a second caption subscription by default.",
          "alternatives": [
            "CapCut — default finish. Captions stay on the same timeline as the cut.",
            "Captions and covers — next workflow when type, the safe zone, or the cover still fails.",
            "Submagic — not a default buy. Sticker is on /tools/submagic, checked 2026-10-17. Not in the cost table."
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "Voice",
          "when_to_switch": "Keep the source audio. Open a voice plan only when the short needs a new narration.",
          "alternatives": [
            "Source audio — default. The long file already has the speaker.",
            "ElevenLabs — new narration only, then voice and publish. That plan stays out of the starter sum.",
            "No replacement speaker — a clipper caption track is text on the source, not a new voice."
          ]
        }
      ],
      "slug": "long-to-short",
      "markdown": "# Long-to-short\n\nPeople who already have a podcast, a livestream replay, an interview, a course, or a long YouTube video use this path to ship vertical clips for YouTube Shorts, TikTok, and Reels. The export is a cut of source they have the right to distribute: a known segment, a 9:16 frame, captions, and a publish step.\n\nPlatforms: YouTube Shorts · TikTok · Reels\n\nPrices were checked on 2026-10-16 on the CapCut tool page and on Opus Clip's pricing page and help center. This page does not estimate views or revenue, and it does not estimate how many posts one hour of source becomes. A Google Trends score and a TikTok topic index for this workflow were not observed.\n\n## Who it is for\n\nYou already hold the long file. The working assumption is about two to four hours of that source a week. The speaker is a real person in the recording, or the recording is otherwise yours to cut. A narrated channel with no footage yet is the [faceless channel workflow](/workflow/faceless). A stock actor reading a product script is [UGC ads](/workflow/ugc-ads). This site lists no downloader. Bring a local file, or a download your own host already gives you. If you cannot name the file's rights, stop before the editor.\n\n## Recommended path\n\nFour steps. The clickable tools on this path are on this site. A batch clipper sits after the path as a volume option, with vendor URLs, because this directory has no Opus Clip tool page.\n\n### 1. Source\n\nUse only a long video you have the right to distribute. A podcast you host, a livestream you ran, an interview you commissioned, a course you own, or a YouTube video on your channel are the usual files. Someone else's upload, including a public link, stays off this path. A misleading cut of a real conversation can still break a platform rule after the rights question is settled. This site does not list a downloader, so the file arrives from your own export or from a download the host already gives you. Keep the original audio attached. Most clips speak with the voice that was in the room.\n\n### 2. Highlight and vertical cut · [CapCut](/tools/capcut)\n\n[CapCut](/tools/capcut) is this step when you already know which stretch matters. Import the file, run the long-video-to-short control or mark the in and out by hand, set the frame to 9:16, turn on auto captions, and look at the right and bottom of the frame before you export. CapCut is the editor here because the timeline, the reframe, and the captions stay in one project. The tool page already files it under long-to-short.\n\nA gap in the picture can spend Seedance credits that a paid CapCut plan already meters. The short itself should stay a cut of the source. What one press of the long-video-to-short control costs was **not observed**. Free export watermark, resolution, and caption quotas were **not observed** on 2026-10-16. The USD Pro card is one region. A CLP rendering the same day keeps the credit grants and changes the currency. A yen open the same day changes the currency and the credit grant. Pay the sticker checkout shows.\n\n### 3. Polish · [CapCut](/tools/capcut)\n\nStay in the same [CapCut](/tools/capcut) project for the hook line, a brand mark, and the cover frame. Read the captions against the audio. A wrong name or a dropped negative changes what the speaker said. A measured safe-zone inset in pixels was **not observed**. Watch the right edge and the bottom, where player chrome usually sits. Deeper type, safe-zone, and cover rules continue on [captions and covers](/workflow/captions-cover). A second caption subscription is not part of this stack. The pricing page did not print a cover-design spec, so the cover is a frame from this timeline.\n\n### 4. Publish\n\nUpload to YouTube Shorts, TikTok, or Reels. This step has no subscription on this page. A plain crop of a real conversation is not a generative actor ad. If the source already contains a realistic generated shot, follow that platform's disclosure page before the short goes up. Copyright and a misleading edit still apply to a crop. The policy section is the record from 2026-10-16. It is not a clearance.\n\n### Volume option, off the default path\n\nWhen the source is long and you want candidate verticals first, Opus Clip can cut candidates and captions, and CapCut still does the polish. Opus Clip is not listed on this site. Use https://www.opus.pro/ , https://www.opus.pro/pricing , and https://help.opus.pro/docs/article/plans-and-credits . There is no `/tools/opus-clip` page yet, so this workflow does not link one. [Klap](/tools/klap), [Vizard](/tools/vizard), and [Descript](/tools/descript) sit in the highlight stage only. [Submagic](/tools/submagic) is named there and again under captions, where it is not a default buy. Stickers for all four are on those tool pages, checked 2026-10-17, and they stay out of the sum. The default remains a segment you already know, finished on [CapCut](/tools/capcut).\n\nIf the long file still has to be recorded, [Riverside](/tools/riverside) is the record-and-clip option upstream of this cut. Its stickers are on that tool page, checked 2026-10-17, and they are not in this sum.\n\n## Monthly starter cost\n\nChecked 2026-10-16. Tax sits outside the quote. Assumption: about two to four hours of source a week, cut in CapCut, with Opus Clip only if you want a batch of candidates. The meter on Opus Clip, in the help center's words, is **processing minutes**: minutes of source you upload. This page does not convert that meter into a post count.\n\nTwo hours is 120 minutes. Four hours is 240 minutes. Uploading every minute of a week at the low end is already twice the Free grant of 60 processing minutes. A month at that pace can pass Starter's 150 and Pro's 300 if every source minute is uploaded. Upload the stretches you will actually cut.\n\n### Opus Clip\n\nFigures below are from https://www.opus.pro/pricing and https://help.opus.pro/docs/article/plans-and-credits on 2026-10-16. Opus Clip is not a tool page on this directory.\n\n| Plan | Pricing-page sticker | Allowance recorded with the help center |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Free | $0 | 60 processing minutes a month. The pricing table lists a watermark, a 3-day export limit, and a ceiling around 1080p. |\n| Starter | **$15/mo** | 150 processing minutes a month, no watermark, and publishing to YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. The help center says it is editable. |\n| Pro | **$29/mo** | 300 processing minutes a month. The help center states 3,600 minutes a year, 2 seats per pack up to 4, scheduling, and 100GB. |\n| Business | Custom | Contact sales. A public dollar price was **not observed**. |\n\nAn annual dollar sticker was **not observed** on the pricing page opened that day. This page does not copy a yearly dollar figure from other sites. Pro's monthly sticker is **$29**. The yearly minute line is the help center's 3,600. Checkout is the price.\n\n### CapCut\n\nFrom the [CapCut](/tools/capcut) tool page, same date, plus the yen Pro line recorded for this workflow. The subscription sticker is region-rendered.\n\n- Without Pro: cuts and captions. Free export rules were **not observed**.\n- Pro, one USD rendering: **USD 19.99** a month, 1,200 monthly AI credits, up to 240 seconds of Seedance 2.0 Mini at 720p or 600 seconds at 480p, premium templates, Pro features, and 1 TB of storage.\n- The same USD rendering: Ultra **USD 79** a month with 8,645 credits, up to 1,700 seconds at 720p or 4,300 seconds at 480p, and Teams **USD 12.49** a month per seat with 1,200 credits per seat. Those rows are not in the default sum.\n- A CLP rendering of the same URL: Pro CLP 29990 a month, Ultra CLP 71990 a month, Teams CLP 14995 a month per seat. Credit grants matched the USD card at 1,200 and 8,645. Do not add CLP to a USD total.\n- A yen open recorded for this workflow on the same day: Pro **JPY 2,700** a month with **800** monthly AI credits, not the 1,200 on the USD and CLP cards. Do not add yen to the USD total.\n\nSeedance 2.5 on the Pro card starts at $0.12 a second in the first month. Seedance 2.0 Mini at 480p starts at $0.007 a second in the first month. The rate after month one was **not observed**. Credits meter AI features. They do not pay the subscription. A long-to-short button quota was **not observed**. The Seedance 2.0 Mini second ceilings in the Pro bullet are a cutaway budget tied to the credit grant, not a separate monthly band, and not a price for that control. [Seedance](/tools/seedance) is a different bill outside this editor.\n\n### Bands\n\n| Band | What you pay for | Sticker |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Trial | CapCut without Pro. Opus Clip Free is optional. | Opus Clip **$0**. CapCut free rules **not observed**. |\n| Default on this site | CapCut Pro, USD card | **$19.99** for that USD rendering only |\n| Volume | Opus Clip Starter and CapCut without Pro | **$15**, plus a CapCut free export that was **not observed** |\n| Volume and polish | Opus Clip Starter and CapCut Pro, USD | **$15 + $19.99 = $34.99** |\n| Heavier scheduling | Opus Clip Pro and CapCut Pro, USD | **$29 + $19.99 = $48.99** |\n\nThe default row is CapCut Pro when checkout shows the USD card in the table. The recommended path can stay on CapCut without Pro, and free export rules were **not observed**. The two combined lines in the table are arithmetic on those stickers, not a bundle. [Klap](/tools/klap), [Vizard](/tools/vizard), [Submagic](/tools/submagic), and [Descript](/tools/descript) are not in this table. Their stickers are on those pages, checked 2026-10-17. Ultra at USD 79 is a step up when Pro's Seedance ceiling is the limit, not a requirement for cropping a conversation.\n\n## Staged alternatives\n\nMove when the limit in the stage is the one you hit. Prices repeat the 2026-10-16 check.\n\n### Highlights\n\nLeave manual marks when you no longer know where the short starts.\n\n- **CapCut.** Default when the segment is known. One timeline for the mark, the 9:16 frame, and the captions. The control's quota was **not observed**. Free export rules were **not observed**.\n- **Opus Clip Starter or Pro.** Not listed here. Use it when hours of source need candidate verticals. Starter is $15 for 150 processing minutes. Pro is $29 for 300 a month, with 3,600 a year on the help center. The annual dollar sticker was **not observed**. Vendor URLs only.\n- **[Klap](/tools/klap), [Vizard](/tools/vizard), [Submagic](/tools/submagic), or [Descript](/tools/descript).** Stickers are on those tool pages, checked 2026-10-17. They stay out of the cost table.\n\n### Captions\n\n- **CapCut.** Default finish. Hook text, brand, and the cover frame stay on the cut. Auto captions still need a read-through.\n- **[Captions and covers](/workflow/captions-cover).** Open this when type, the safe zone, or the cover still fails. It is the next workflow, not a second subscription in the sum.\n- **[Submagic](/tools/submagic).** Not a default buy. The sticker is on that tool page, checked 2026-10-17. It stays out of the cost table.\n\n### Voice\n\n- **Source audio.** Default. The long file already has the speaker. Captions follow that track.\n- **[ElevenLabs](/tools/elevenlabs).** A new narration only. Continue on [voice and publish](/workflow/voice-publish). That plan is not in the starter sum. This page does not restate its sticker.\n- **No replacement speaker.** A clipper's caption track is text on the source. It is not a new voice.\n\n## Where it fits\n\n- A podcast, livestream, interview, course, or long YouTube video you have the right to cut.\n- You can point at the segment, or you will upload a bounded stretch to a clipper and then polish in CapCut.\n- Delivery is a vertical file for YouTube Shorts, TikTok, or Reels, from a 9:16 timeline.\n- You will read the processing-minute grant before a batch, and you will pay the currency on the CapCut checkout.\n\n## Where it does not fit\n\n- There is no footage yet. Use the [faceless channel workflow](/workflow/faceless).\n- The job is a stock actor and a product claim. Use [UGC ads](/workflow/ugc-ads).\n- You want a view count, a revenue figure, or a formula that turns one episode into a month of posts.\n- Only captions remain, on a short someone already framed. That is [captions and covers](/workflow/captions-cover).\n- The file is a recording you found rather than one you can distribute.\n\n## Policy\n\nThis is not legal advice. It records the synthesis for this workflow on 2026-10-16.\n\nUse source you have the right to distribute. A misleading edit of a real conversation can still violate a platform rule. A title, a cut, or a caption that makes the speaker say something they did not say is still a problem when the master is yours.\n\nYouTube's AI disclosure page treats realistic generative AI as the required case. A plain crop follows that page. If the long file contains a realistic generated shot, or you add a realistic generated cutaway, handle disclosure on the platform page before upload. A crop plus burned-in captions of a real conversation is the ordinary case on this path.\n\nTikTok still expects a label when AI changes are heavy. A rule that clippers are exempt was **not observed**. A plain crop of a real speaker is not the generative actor ad on the UGC ads page. Copyright, a misleading edit, and disclosure stay separate. A watermark-free export clears none of them.\n\n## Pitfalls\n\n**A file you cannot distribute.** A public URL is not a license. Start from your own export.\n\n**Opus Clip Free treated as a clean master.** Free is $0 for 60 processing minutes. The pricing table lists a watermark, a 3-day export limit, and a ceiling around 1080p. Starter, at $15 for 150 processing minutes, is the row with no watermark.\n\n**Processing minutes read as finished Shorts.** The help center meters uploaded source. Sixty minutes is an hour of source, not sixty posts. The yearly Pro line is 3,600 minutes. The pricing page did not show an annual dollar sticker. Pro monthly remains $29 until checkout says otherwise.\n\n**A borrowed dollar.** [Klap](/tools/klap), [Vizard](/tools/vizard), [Submagic](/tools/submagic), and [Descript](/tools/descript) stickers are on those tool pages, checked 2026-10-17, and they are not copied into this sum. A yearly Opus figure from a comparison article is not the sticker. CapCut's USD 19.99 is one region. The CLP rendering keeps the 1,200-credit grant. The yen card at JPY 2,700 a month has 800 credits. Those are different checkouts.\n\n**A quota nobody printed.** Free CapCut export rules were **not observed**. The long-video-to-short control's allowance was **not observed**. Seedance seconds on Pro are a cutaway ceiling, 240 seconds at 720p or 600 at 480p, not proof that the crop button spends credits. The renewal per-second rate was **not observed**.\n\n## Next workflow\n\nType, safe zones, and a cover that still fail go to [captions and covers](/workflow/captions-cover). A new narration, or the license line on a voice plan, goes to [voice and publish](/workflow/voice-publish) and [ElevenLabs](/tools/elevenlabs). A channel that must invent the picture uses the [faceless channel workflow](/workflow/faceless). A product actor uses [UGC ads](/workflow/ugc-ads).\n\n## FAQ\n\n### Why is there no Opus Clip tool page?\n\nThis directory has not listed Opus Clip yet. The recommended path stays on [CapCut](/tools/capcut), which has a tool page and already names long-to-short. The volume option uses https://www.opus.pro/ , https://www.opus.pro/pricing , and https://help.opus.pro/docs/article/plans-and-credits . Prices below those links are from the vendor pages on 2026-10-16.\n\n### Does the free Opus Clip plan watermark the export?\n\nThe pricing table checked on 2026-10-16 lists a watermark on Free, plus a 3-day export limit and a ceiling around 1080p. The help center puts Free at 60 processing minutes a month. Starter, at $15 for 150 processing minutes, is the row that drops the watermark and names publishing to YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. The help center says it is editable.\n\n### Is CapCut enough without a clipper?\n\nYes, when you know the segment. Import, mark the range or use the long-video-to-short control, set 9:16, add captions, and polish in the same project. Add Opus Clip when you want candidates before that polish. CapCut's free export rules were **not observed**. The USD Pro rendering on the tool page is $19.99 with 1,200 monthly AI credits.\n\n### What is a processing minute?\n\nOpus Clip's help center uses processing minutes for minutes of source you upload. Free is 60 a month, Starter is 150, and Pro is 300, with 3,600 a year on that help article. It is not a count of exported Shorts. The weekly assumption here is two to four hours of source, which is 120 to 240 minutes, before you decide what to upload. The annual dollar price beside the 3,600-minute line was **not observed**.\n\n### How is this different from a faceless channel?\n\nThe [faceless channel workflow](/workflow/faceless) starts without camera footage: a script, a voice, and pictures you assemble or generate. Long-to-short starts with a long file you already have the right to cut, and it keeps that file's audio. The shared finish is [CapCut](/tools/capcut), then [captions and covers](/workflow/captions-cover) if type still fails. An actor reading a product script is [UGC ads](/workflow/ugc-ads). A new narrator is [voice and publish](/workflow/voice-publish).",
      "path": "/workflow/long-to-short"
    },
    {
      "verified_on": "2026-10-16",
      "related": [
        "faceless",
        "captions-cover",
        "voice-publish",
        "ai-avatar"
      ],
      "name": "AI UGC ads",
      "summary": "A human script, an AI-actor ad, captions, and a disclosure for vertical paid creatives on TikTok, YouTube, and Shorts.",
      "example": false,
      "audience": "Shops and app teams who need testable vertical actor ads, with a platform disclosure, from a product page they can stand behind",
      "recommended_path": [
        "Script",
        "Creatify actor ad",
        "CapCut captions and safe zones",
        "Publish and disclose"
      ],
      "monthly_cost_note": "Trial is Creatify Free at $0 (10 credits, capped at about 2 video ads or 20 image ads, with a watermark) plus CapCut without Pro. Free CapCut export rules were not observed. Commercial floor verified 2026-10-16: Creatify web Standard is $15 monthly, or $12 under the annual banner, for 55 credits. Adding one USD CapCut Pro rendering at $19.99 makes $34.99 before tax, and only when checkout shows that USD card. ElevenLabs Starter at $6 and Kling Standard at $8.80 after $6.99 are optional and stay out of the default sum. Web credit burn per button was not observed. Comparison articles that still print a $39 Starter are not the card opened that day. Assumes one English vertical spoken ad. No monthly ad count, because that burn rate was not observed.",
      "stages": [
        {
          "name": "Actor",
          "when_to_switch": "Leave the watermarked free grant when the file has to run as an ad. Leave Creatify for a long multilingual presenter, or for another URL-to-ad login whose checkout meter you accept.",
          "alternatives": [
            "Creatify Standard — default watermark-free URL-to-ad. $15 monthly or $12 under the annual banner, 55 credits. Web credits per button were not observed.",
            "HeyGen Creator — longer presenter or lip-sync translation. $29 monthly or $24 annual, 600 credits. Free allows up to 3 videos a month. Weaker default for paste-a-URL ads.",
            "Higgsfield Starter — other listed URL-to-ad login. $19 per month billed annually, 270 credits. Whether Marketing Studio spends that grant was not observed. Pay checkout."
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "Voice",
          "when_to_switch": "Stay inside the actor export when it already speaks. Buy a voice plan only if the track has to be replaced, and only from Starter upward for a branded publish.",
          "alternatives": [
            "ElevenLabs Free — drafts. 10,000 credits, about 10 minutes on the compare table. The commercial-license line is not on this card.",
            "ElevenLabs Starter — $6 after a first month at $1 through 18 October 2026. 30,000 credits, about 30 minutes on the compare table. Commercial-license line is on the card. The contract text was not opened.",
            "ElevenLabs Creator — $22 after a first month at $11. 121,000 credits, about 121 minutes on the compare table, when Starter minutes or a professional clone are the limit."
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "Product shots",
          "when_to_switch": "Add a shot plan only when the actor cannot hold the product. Leave Kling Basic before any paid placement. Basic output is not for commercial use.",
          "alternatives": [
            "Kling Standard — commercial membership. $6.99 then $8.80, 660 credits. Seconds per membership credit were not observed.",
            "Dreamina Seedance Basic or Standard — USD Basic $1.50 then $15 (banner through 23 October 2026), Standard $22 then $36. The page's own estimates are 19 and 48 ten-second videos. Do not add a yen card to this USD sum.",
            "Runway Standard — $15 monthly or $12 annual, 625 credits, 52 seconds of Gen-4.5. A shot in that login. The API product-ad recipe is a separate developer wallet."
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "Edit and captions",
          "when_to_switch": "Move to CapCut Pro when Seedance seconds inside the editor, or a paid export, are the limit. Another caption app is not part of this stack.",
          "alternatives": [
            "CapCut without Pro — cuts and captions. Watermark, resolution, and caption quotas on the free export were not observed.",
            "CapCut Pro — 1,200 monthly AI credits on the USD and CLP cards. USD 19.99 was one region. A yen open the same day was JPY 2,700 with 800 credits.",
            "CapCut Ultra — 8,645 monthly AI credits on the USD and CLP cards, at USD 79 in the USD rendering, when the Pro second ceiling is the limit."
          ]
        }
      ],
      "slug": "ugc-ads",
      "markdown": "# AI UGC ads\n\nShops and app teams use this path to ship a vertical actor ad for paid placement on TikTok, YouTube, and YouTube Shorts. The export is a short spoken spot: a checked script, an AI actor from a product link, captions that clear the player chrome, and a disclosure before upload.\n\nPlatforms: TikTok · YouTube · Shorts\n\nPaid social is the use case. Prices were checked 2026-10-16 on the linked tool pages and the vendor URLs below. Ad-account media spend was **not observed**. A comparison in that day's notes says Arcads, Creatify, and MakeUGC do not document an organic posting calendar, so this page does not add one.\n\n## Who it is for\n\nYou already have a product page and claims you can prove. The working script is about 40 to 80 spoken words, a genre length from a third-party step list, not a Creatify quota. A seconds-per-word rate was **not observed**. This site lists no script product. Narration with no actor is the [faceless channel workflow](/workflow/faceless). A specific person's likeness, with consent, is [AI avatar](/workflow/ai-avatar).\n\n## Recommended path\n\nFour steps. Product shots stay off the default sum.\n\n### 1. Script\n\nWrite claims the advertiser can prove. [Creatify](/tools/creatify) can draft from a product URL, and the feature index includes an AI script writer. Rewrite that draft. A review already on the page does not become the actor's line, and a customer's experience stays out unless a real customer had it. Regenerating the script spends credits. Manual text edits and a re-export are free. What one website script button spends was **not observed**. API AI Scripts is 1 credit per request, on the API subscription only. Claude and ChatGPT stay outside this directory.\n\n### 2. Actor ad · [Creatify](/tools/creatify)\n\nCreatify is this step because the job is a product link in and a vertical or square actor spot out. [HeyGen](/tools/heygen) is a presenter studio. [Runway](/tools/runway) is a shot and an editor. Free, checked 2026-10-16, is 10 credits a month, capped at about 2 video ads or 20 image ads, with a watermark. Standard is the first card with watermark removal, and it names Seedance 2.0 and Kling 3.0 Standard. Pro names Seedance 2.5, Veo 3.1, and Kling 3.0 Pro. A website button's credit integer was **not observed**. Read the in-app cost before you confirm.\n\nAPI Starter at docs.creatify.ai/billing is another subscription: $99 a month, 500 credits. URL to Video is 5 credits per 30 seconds. Aurora 2.0 at default 720p is 21 credits for 30 seconds. Those rows do not price the website button. A custom-avatar count on Standard was **not observed**. Cloning a specific person is [AI avatar](/workflow/ai-avatar), and only with consent.\n\n### 3. Captions and safe zones · [CapCut](/tools/capcut)\n\n[CapCut](/tools/capcut) burns captions and checks the right and bottom of a vertical frame. A measured pixel inset was **not observed**. CapCut does not generate the talking actor. Free export rules were **not observed**. USD, CLP, and yen stickers disagree, so pay checkout. Credits do not buy the subscription.\n\n### 4. Publish and disclose\n\nUpload only after the policy section has a matching label. This step has no subscription. YouTube Studio's control is on a help page that returned HTTP 200. TikTok Ads Manager clicks and Meta's Business Help self-serve path were **not observed**. Use the control the ad account shows. Captions or a cover that still fail go to [captions and covers](/workflow/captions-cover). An external voice goes to [voice and publish](/workflow/voice-publish).\n\n### Optional product shots\n\nOff the default sum, and only when the actor cannot hold the product. Use [Kling](/tools/kling) or [Seedance](/tools/seedance) — notes at [Kling](/models/kling) and [Seedance](/models/seedance) — or [Higgsfield](/tools/higgsfield) for the product shot, then return to CapCut. Kling Basic withholds commercial use. [Runway](/tools/runway) is one shot in that login. Its product-ad API recipes bill a separate developer wallet at $0.01 a credit. A shared balance with the consumer plan was **not observed**.\n\n## Monthly starter cost\n\nChecked 2026-10-16. Tax sits outside the quote. Assumptions: one English vertical spoken ad, actor from Creatify, captions in CapCut. No monthly ad count, because a website button's credit cost was **not observed**. API prices apply only on the API subscription. The default sum is Standard, plus CapCut Pro only in the currency on screen. Voice and product shots are extra. HeyGen, Higgsfield, Runway, and MakeUGC replace Creatify. Dreamina replaces a product-shot plan. None of them is added to the $15 floor.\n\n| Band | What you pay for | Sticker | What it is not |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Trial | Creatify Free, CapCut without Pro, disclosure | Creatify $0. CapCut free rules **not observed** | A watermark-free ad |\n| Commercial floor | Creatify Standard, monthly | **$15** (55 credits) | A $39 Starter. Annual banner shows $12 |\n| Floor + USD CapCut Pro | Floor plus the USD Pro card | **$34.99** before tax | CLP 29990 or JPY 2,700 added to $15 |\n| Optional voice | ElevenLabs Starter | **+$6** at renewal | Required when the actor file already speaks |\n| Optional product shots | Kling Standard renewal | **+$8.80** | Kling Basic at $0 |\n\nThe default is **$15**, or **$34.99** before tax when CapCut shows the USD Pro card. Both optional USD rows on top of that band come to $34.99 + $6 + $8.80 = $49.79 before tax. That figure is arithmetic, not a bundle. [ElevenLabs](/tools/elevenlabs) Starter is $1 for the first month, labeled until 18 October 2026, then $6. Kling's $6.99 becomes $8.80. Dreamina's first-month discount ends 23 October 2026. An external-audio control on Creatify's website was **not observed**.\n\n### Why articles still say $39\n\nFrom September 2026 through 14 October 2026, writeups still showed a web tier named Starter at $39 for 100 credits, and Pro at $99 or from $99. The notes name Relay (updated 13 October 2026), Synthesys (checked 2 October 2026), Futurepedia (updated 09/10/2026), ugcmcp (August 2026), and other comparison articles from the same pass.\n\nOn 16 October 2026, https://creatify.ai/pricing matched this site's Creatify page. The web tier is **Standard**, at $15 and $12, with 55 credits. Web Pro is $55 and $44, with 280 credits. API Starter at $99 for 500 credits, and API Pro at $299 for 2,000 credits, are the API subscription at docs.creatify.ai/billing. They are not web Standard or web Pro. Trust that vendor page, and the tool page, ahead of a comparison article.\n\n## Staged alternatives\n\n### Actor\n\nLeave Free when the file cannot carry a watermark.\n\n- **Creatify Standard.** Default URL-to-ad, and the first card with watermark removal. Step up to web Pro for a 10-minute duration cap or 1,500 actors.\n- **HeyGen Creator.** Longer presenter or lip-sync translation, including 175 languages and dialects on paid plans. $29 a month or $24 annual, 600 credits. Free allows up to 3 videos a month, at 1 minute. Those 600 credits are not an ad count.\n- **Higgsfield Starter.** Other URL-to-ad login with a tool page here. The pricing page names UGC and product ads. $19 a month billed annually, 270 credits. Plus is $47 billed annually beside $59, for 1,200 credits. A free-credit number was **not observed**. A Magic Hour article of 15 May 2026, rechecking the product page on 13 September 2026, calls Marketing Studio a URL-to-ad surface. Whether that surface spends the Starter grant was **not observed**. Pay checkout.\n\nMakeUGC is not listed on this site yet. https://makeugc.ai/pricing on 2026-10-16 showed monthly Starter $59 (500 credits, 300+ actors), Growth $79 (1,000 credits, 500+ actors), and Pro $149 (2,000–5,000 credits, 1,000+ actors). Quarterly display prices were $41 / $55 / $104. Annual display prices were $29 / $39 / $79. API and MCP sit on every plan and share the credit pool. Homepage $99 is a 24-hour Seedance 2.5 pass. $199 is a 72-hour pass. Neither number is the monthly fee.\n\nArcads is not listed on this site yet. https://www.arcads.ai/ showed free-trial copy and 1,000+ AI actors. arcads.ai/pricing returned 404. A public dollar price was **not observed**. A help-center credits article dated 30 July 2026 lists Starter at 8,000 credits and Creator at 16,000, without rollover, and says Pro, Scale, and Business can exceed the grant and can roll over. Third-party dollar guesses are not copied into the starter cost.\n\n### Voice\n\nBuy a voice plan only when the actor export is not the track you will run. The contract behind the commercial-license line was **not observed**.\n\n- **ElevenLabs Free.** Drafts. 10,000 credits, about 10 minutes on the compare table. The commercial-license line is not on this card.\n- **ElevenLabs Starter.** Commercial-license line and instant cloning. $6 after a first month at $1, labeled until 18 October 2026, for 30,000 credits (about 30 minutes on the compare table).\n- **ElevenLabs Creator.** $22 after a first month at $11, for 121,000 credits (about 121 minutes on the compare table), when Starter minutes or a professional clone are the limit.\n\n### Product shots\n\nLeave Kling Basic before any paid placement.\n\n- **Kling Standard.** Commercial use is on the paid card. $6.99 then $8.80, 660 credits. Seconds per membership credit were **not observed**. The $0.14 API unit does not convert into them.\n- **Dreamina on [Seedance](/tools/seedance).** USD Basic $1.50 then $15 (page estimate: 19 ten-second videos). USD Standard $22 then $36 (48). The first-month discount ends 23 October 2026. Seedance 2.5 from $0.04 a second is a separate floor, and that date is not printed on it. It is not CapCut Pro's first-month line from $0.12 a second (the later CapCut rate was **not observed**). Commercial use is not a blanket license. Keep yen cards out of this USD sum.\n- **Runway Standard.** $15 monthly or $12 annual, 625 credits, 52 seconds of Gen-4.5 at 12 credits a second. The developer recipe stays on the $0.01 wallet.\n\n### Edit and captions\n\n- **CapCut without Pro.** Cuts and captions. Export rules **not observed**.\n- **CapCut Pro.** 1,200 credits on the USD and CLP cards (USD 19.99 in one region; yen open JPY 2,700 and 800 credits). Up to 240 seconds of Seedance 2.0 Mini at 720p, or 600 at 480p.\n- **CapCut Ultra.** 8,645 credits on the USD and CLP cards (USD 79 in that USD rendering), up to 1,700 seconds at 720p, when Pro's ceiling is the limit. No second caption app.\n\n## Where it fits\n\n- Several paid hooks, each a claim you can prove.\n- A product URL or stills already exist, and a person edits the script first.\n- You will read Creatify's in-app credit cost before you confirm, and you will reject a broken pack shot.\n- Delivery is a vertical or square creative for TikTok, YouTube, or Shorts. One required shape for every ad account was **not observed**.\n\n## Where it does not fit\n\n- Narration and b-roll with no actor: [faceless channel workflow](/workflow/faceless).\n- A specific person's face or voice without consent: wait for [AI avatar](/workflow/ai-avatar).\n- The generated person is written as a real buyer, a real review, or a celebrity user.\n- You want an organic calendar, a return-on-ad-spend number, or a view or revenue estimate.\n- Only captions remain, on footage a person filmed: [captions and covers](/workflow/captions-cover).\n\n## Policy\n\nThis is not legal advice. It records pages and search returns from 2026-10-16. It does not clear an ad.\n\nAn AI actor who reads a brand script and introduces a product is delivering a brand message. A generated person presented as a real customer, describing a use they did not have, is a testimonial. The fake-review rule is about that second job. A realistic picture or voice can still require a platform label. A label does not repair an invented buyer.\n\nThe FTC press release of 14 August 2024, https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/08/federal-trade-commission-announces-final-rule-banning-fake-reviews-testimonials , was read from a search return that day. A direct fetch returned 404, so this is not a saved HTML file. The return says the final rule bans fake consumer reviews, testimonials, and celebrity testimonials, including a person who does not exist. It names AI-generated fake reviews, and it covers someone who did not have the experience. Effect is 60 days after Federal Register publication. The Q&A of 8 November 2024, https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/consumer-reviews-testimonials-rule-questions-answers , says the rule is effective 21 October 2024 and that staff guidance is not a safe harbor. On 22 December 2025 both https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2025/12/warning-letter-or-ten-businesses-comply-ftcs-consumer-review-rule and https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/12/ftc-warns-10-companies-about-possible-violations-agencys-new-consumer-review-rule state a civil-penalty maximum of **$53,088 per violation**. Endorsement Guides and Disclosures 101 returned 404 and are not quoted.\n\nYouTube returned HTTP 200 at https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/14328491?hl=en . Disclose realistic generative AI at upload when a real person appears to say or do what they did not, real-event footage is altered, a realistic scene that did not occur is generated, or generated music is the subject. The control is YouTube Studio, then Attributes, then AI use, then Yes or No. Photoreal results can get a player label. Disclosure itself does not limit audience or monetization eligibility. YouTube's own tools, C2PA, or an internal detector can label without the toggle. Cloning your own voice for narration is an example that does not require disclosure. A stock actor is not that example. A photoreal actor ad of a product scene that was never filmed is the realistic-scene case on that page.\n\nMeta's February 2025 post returned HTTP 200: https://about.fb.com/news/2025/02/gen-ai-transparency-metas-ads-products/ . \"About this ad\" will include \"AI info\" for Meta's own generative tools, and Meta is starting to detect third-party AI with industry-standard signals. Photorealistic people from Meta's own tools are labeled beside Sponsored. Minor edits without a photorealistic person go unlabeled on that post. The Business Help self-disclosure path, for some regions and for political and social-issue ads, returned HTTP 400 and existed only as a search summary. Those clicks are **not observed**.\n\nTikTok's 19 September 2023 newsroom post, read in full for this page's research, requires a label on realistic AI images, audio, and video. The ads-policy help page was only a title in that pass. A search summary says significantly modified or fully generated assets need an AIGC label or a clear statement, that a missing disclosure can be rejected, and that a public figure's likeness without permission in a misleading context is prohibited. The Ads Manager checkbox path was only in that summary. The clicks are **not observed**.\n\nClone only a person who has agreed. An Arcads homepage answer on actor consent was not saved, so it is not quoted. Statutes that appeared only inside comparison articles were **not observed** as primary text and are not restated as rules.\n\n## Pitfalls\n\n**A $39 price treated as live.** The web card on 2026-10-16 is Standard at $15 or $12. API Starter at $99 is another subscription. Comparison articles were still printing $39 for 100 credits.\n\n**Kling Basic on a live ad.** Basic withholds commercial use. A cutaway you will place comes from a paid Kling card, Dreamina under its terms, consumer Runway, or credits inside paid CapCut or Creatify.\n\n**The actor written as a customer.** A generated person who describes buying the product is testifying to an experience they did not have. Size, material, and price, stated as the brand, are a different sentence.\n\n**No label on a realistic file.** YouTube's Studio path, TikTok's realistic-AI label, and Meta's February 2025 labels are above. Ads Manager clicks and Meta Business Help clicks were **not observed**. Use the control the ad account shows.\n\n**API math, or a warped pack shot.** Five API credits per 30 seconds do not turn 55 web credits into an ad count. Do not place a file whose product is bent. Cut in a product shot instead.\n\n## Next workflow\n\nNarration without an actor stays on the [faceless channel workflow](/workflow/faceless). A consented likeness moves to [AI avatar](/workflow/ai-avatar). Type, safe zones, and covers that still fail are [captions and covers](/workflow/captions-cover). An external voice or the license line is [voice and publish](/workflow/voice-publish). Optional b-roll is [Kling](/models/kling) or [Seedance](/models/seedance).\n\n## FAQ\n\n### How much is Creatify, in one number?\n\n**$15** a month for web Standard, or **$12** on the annual banner, for 55 credits, checked 2026-10-16. The $39 article tier, the $99 API Starter, and API Pro at $299 are separated in the cost section above. Website credits per button were **not observed**.\n\n### Why is there no Arcads dollar price?\n\narcads.ai/pricing returned 404, and a public dollar price was **not observed**. The 30 July 2026 article names credit grants, not dollars. Arcads is not listed on this site yet. MakeUGC is the same gap. Its $99 and $199 homepage figures are Seedance 2.5 day passes, not the monthly sticker quoted above.\n\n### Is an AI actor reading our script a fake review?\n\nProvable product facts in a brand script are a brand message. A generated person presented as a real customer, describing an experience they did not have, is the testimonial case in Policy, including the August 2024 search return on AI-generated fake reviews. This is not legal advice.\n\n### Can the free plan run as a live ad?\n\nCreatify Free is about 2 watermarked videos a month. Watermark removal starts on Standard. CapCut's free export rules were **not observed**, and Kling Basic withholds commercial use. A placement on this path starts at Standard, with a disclosure.\n\n### Is MakeUGC's $99 the monthly plan?\n\nNo. Monthly Starter on 2026-10-16 is $59. Homepage $99 is a 24-hour Seedance 2.5 pass, and $199 is 72 hours. Neither pass is an extra line on the $15 floor.",
      "path": "/workflow/ugc-ads"
    },
    {
      "verified_on": "2026-10-16",
      "related": [
        "faceless",
        "captions-cover",
        "ai-avatar",
        "ugc-ads"
      ],
      "name": "Voice and publish",
      "summary": "A checked script, an ElevenLabs voice, an optional CapCut picture, and a disclosure for narration, dubbing, or your own cloned voice on YouTube, TikTok, and Shorts.",
      "example": false,
      "audience": "Creators whose paid bottleneck is the voice track: a faceless narration, a translation dub, or a clone of their own voice, and who do not need a face by default",
      "recommended_path": [
        "Script",
        "ElevenLabs voice",
        "CapCut picture (optional)",
        "Publish and disclose"
      ],
      "monthly_cost_note": "Trial is ElevenLabs Free at $0 for 10,000 credits, about 10 minutes on the compare table, with no commercial-license line. CapCut without Pro is optional and only when a picture is needed. Free CapCut watermark, resolution, and caption quotas were not observed. Commercial floor verified 2026-10-16 is ElevenLabs Starter at $6 after a first month at $1, labeled until 18 October 2026, for 30,000 credits, about 30 minutes on the compare table. The commercial-license line is on that card. The contract text was not opened. Adding one USD CapCut Pro rendering at $19.99 makes $6 + $19.99 = $25.99 before tax, and only when checkout shows that USD card. CLP Pro the same day was CLP 29990 and kept the 1,200-credit grant. Yen Pro on the faceless page, not on the CapCut tool page, was JPY 2,700 with 800 credits. Neither region sticker is added to the dollar sum. Creator at $22 after a first month at $11 is the professional-clone card and replaces the $6 floor. It is not added on top of Starter. Pro at $99, Scale at $299, and Business at $990 stay off these bands. Assumes one English narration or one dub of a source you can distribute, 9:16 when the picture is a Short or a TikTok and 16:9 when the YouTube video is long. No post count, because burn depends on the model and the mode. No view or revenue figure.",
      "stages": [
        {
          "name": "Voice",
          "when_to_switch": "Leave Free when a branded publish needs the commercial-license line. Leave Starter when compare-table minutes or a professional clone are the limit. Creator replaces Starter. Do not add the two stickers.",
          "alternatives": [
            "ElevenLabs Free — drafts. $0, 10,000 credits, about 10 minutes on the compare table. No rollover. The commercial-license line is not on this card.",
            "ElevenLabs Starter — commercial floor. $6 after a first month at $1, labeled until 18 October 2026. 30,000 credits, about 30 minutes. Commercial-license line and instant voice cloning. The contract text was not opened.",
            "ElevenLabs Creator — professional clone. $22 after a first month at $11. 121,000 credits, about 121 minutes on the compare table. Replaces Starter. It is not $6 plus $22."
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "Optional picture",
          "when_to_switch": "Skip CapCut when the export is podcast-style audio with no captions and no frame. Open Pro when a picture or burned captions are required and the free export is not enough. Watermark, resolution, and caption quotas on that export were not observed. Move to Ultra only when the Seedance second ceiling is the limit. Do not add CLP or yen to the USD sum. Yen Pro on the faceless page is 800 credits, not the 1,200 on the USD and CLP cards.",
          "alternatives": [
            "CapCut without Pro — cuts and captions when you do need a frame. Watermark, resolution, and caption quotas on the free export were not observed.",
            "CapCut Pro — USD 19.99 in one region, 1,200 monthly AI credits. CLP Pro is CLP 29990 and keeps that 1,200 grant. Yen Pro on the faceless page is JPY 2,700 with 800 credits. Pay the checkout currency. Credits do not buy the plan.",
            "CapCut Ultra — USD 79 in the USD rendering, 8,645 monthly AI credits, when Pro's Seedance ceiling is the limit. Replaces Pro. Stays out of the $25.99 sum. Yen Ultra on the faceless page is JPY 12,600 with 13,821 credits, not 8,645."
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "Publish",
          "when_to_switch": "This step has no plan. On YouTube, your own cloned narration is a help-page example that need not use the toggle. A realistic face still does. On the faceless reading, TikTok requires a label for realistic AI images, audio, and video. Move to captions and covers when the words on screen still fail.",
          "alternatives": [
            "YouTube own-voice narration — help-page example that need not be disclosed. A realistic AI face is a different upload and goes to AI avatar.",
            "TikTok label — faceless reading: realistic AI images, audio, and video require a label. Fully generated or heavily edited AI is encouraged. A template ID was not observed. Ads Manager clicks were not observed.",
            "Captions and covers — type, safe zone, or cover still failing. No second subscription on this page. A measured pixel inset was not observed."
          ]
        }
      ],
      "slug": "voice-publish",
      "markdown": "# Voice and publish\n\nCreators use this path when the paid bottleneck is the voice. The export is a script a person can stand behind, an [ElevenLabs](/tools/elevenlabs) narration, dub, or clone of their own voice, an optional picture in [CapCut](/tools/capcut), and a disclosure check before the file goes to YouTube, TikTok, or YouTube Shorts.\n\nPlatforms: YouTube · TikTok · Shorts\n\nThis is the voice track and a light publish finish. The full generate stack, with a shot plan in the monthly sum, stays on the [faceless channel workflow](/workflow/faceless). A face stays on [AI avatar](/workflow/ai-avatar). ElevenLabs and CapCut stickers below are the ones on those tool pages, verified 2026-10-16. HeyGen dollars, where they appear, are the reading already on [AI avatar](/workflow/ai-avatar). This page does not estimate views or revenue. Search Console volume was **not observed**. A Google Trends index was not exported, so relative interest was **not observed**. TikTok Creative Center was not opened while signed in, so a topic score, an ad-library count, and any voiceover template ID were **not observed**. Noted queries in that pass were `elevenlabs youtube`, `ai voiceover shorts`, `text to speech tiktok`, and `voice clone commercial use`. Competitor lists in the same pass were vendor pages and \"best AI voice\" roundups. [Murf](/tools/murf) is listed, verified 2026-10-17, and its sticker stays on that page, out of this sum. PlayHT and Speechify are still not listed. play.ht closed the connection and speechify.com returned a bot challenge on 2026-10-17, so those prices are **not observed**.\n\n## Who it is for\n\nYou already have a narration job, or you are about to have one, and the line you expect to pay is the voice. A faceless narration, a translation dub of a source you can distribute, or a clone of your own voice all land here. You do not need a default face. A seconds-per-word rate was **not observed**. This site lists no script product. Write the words in any editor, then start paying at the voice. Someone else's upload is not a dubbing source.\n\n## Recommended path\n\nFour steps. The picture stays optional. The plan ladder lives in the cost section. Each step names the tool, the job, and why it is in the path.\n\n### 1. Script\n\nWrite sentences you can stand behind. ElevenLabs reads them. It does not decide them. A draft from a chat product is still your edit before it becomes audio. Regenerating speech spends credits. The FAQ on the ElevenLabs pricing page, as the tool page records it, puts V2 multilingual text to speech at about 1 credit per character, so a rewrite is a new character count, not a free pass. Flash and Turbo on the API can cost 0.5 to 1 credit per character. What one website button spends above that rate was **not observed**. A full credit table for Eleven v3 and Eleven v4 was **not observed**. The pricing page names Eleven v4 as a current emotive model and lists v4 and v3 on the compare table. Treat 1 credit per character as the V2 multilingual figure, not as every model.\n\nFor a Short or a TikTok, write the length you will actually publish. The ElevenLabs tool page uses a 30-second Shorts narration as a small slice of the Creator grant. That sentence is an illustration of scale. It is not a quota, and it is not a words-per-minute rate. A dub starts from a source you can distribute, in the language you are leaving, not from a transcript of a video you do not hold.\n\n### 2. Voice · [ElevenLabs](/tools/elevenlabs)\n\n[ElevenLabs](/tools/elevenlabs) is this step because the job is the track: text to speech, an instant or professional clone, or a dub. It does not generate the picture this directory publishes. [CapCut](/tools/capcut) premium text to speech is a separate credit on CapCut's help pages, and it does not replace a cloned ElevenLabs voice. [HeyGen](/tools/heygen) includes voices because its product is a person on screen. Use it when you need a mouth. Which HeyGen plans accept an external audio file was **not observed** on the AI avatar page. If you do not need a mouth, skip HeyGen and keep the ElevenLabs track.\n\nThe tool page's source is [elevenlabs.io/pricing](https://elevenlabs.io/pricing), monthly view, checked 2026-10-16. A separate API price page at elevenlabs.io/pricing/api was **not observed**. Do not mix an older characters-per-dollar screenshot into these stickers.\n\nFree is the draft card. It has no commercial-license line and no rollover, and it lists 3 studio projects. Starter is the first card with that line, plus instant voice cloning, music commercial use, dubbing studio, image and video, and 20 studio projects. The image-and-video row is not the picture on this path. The tool page says ElevenLabs does not generate the frame this directory publishes. Budget the renewal in the cost table, not the first-month price. The license agreement was not opened, so the exact commercial grant is **not observed**. The plan-card label is the line. It is not a paraphrase of the contract. Creator is the card that adds professional voice cloning, and it replaces Starter. It is not a second subscription on top of the floor.\n\nCredits are one pool, so a music bed competes with the read. Dubbing rates, rollover, and the plans above Creator are in the cost section. A single-request credit cap was **not observed**. It depends on free versus paid.\n\n### 3. Picture (optional) · [CapCut](/tools/capcut)\n\nSkip this step when the export is podcast-style audio and you are not burning captions or assembling a frame. There is no CapCut line on that export.\n\nOpen [CapCut](/tools/capcut) when the voice still has to become a YouTube video, a TikTok, or a Short: trim, reframe to 9:16, burn captions, export. Keep 16:9 when the YouTube video is long. ElevenLabs stops at the track. The timeline is why CapCut is the optional picture. A measured pixel inset was **not observed**. Type, a safe zone, or a cover that still fails continues on [captions and covers](/workflow/captions-cover). The pricing page did not print a cover spec.\n\nThe CapCut tool page, checked 2026-10-16, does not print a free-tier limit table. Watermark, resolution, and caption quotas on a free export were **not observed** there. [Captions and covers](/workflow/captions-cover) records a help note dated Apr 3, 2026: auto captions can include Pro-only functionality, a Standard user may preview, and an export that contains Pro elements requires Pro. Standard is not a paid tier on the tool page. This page did not re-open that help article. Credits pay for advanced AI use, including premium text to speech, and they cannot buy the plan. A credit integer for that CapCut speech was **not observed**.\n\nStickers, grants, and Seedance ceilings are in the cost section. Pay the currency on screen. Do not add a CLP or yen card to the voice floor. [Seedance](/models/seedance) is the model family on the paid card. A shot under every sentence belongs on the [faceless channel workflow](/workflow/faceless).\n\n### 4. Publish and disclose\n\nUpload after the label matches the file. This step has no subscription. This is not legal advice. The labels below are the ones already recorded on the [faceless channel workflow](/workflow/faceless), [AI avatar](/workflow/ai-avatar), and [UGC ads](/workflow/ugc-ads). This page did not re-fetch the HTML. They do not clear an upload.\n\nThe YouTube help page those workflows cite, https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/14328491?hl=en , is the page whose examples include cloning your own voice for narration among the items that do not require disclosure. The same reading lists non-realistic scenes, script or title help, and captions on that side of the line. The control they name is YouTube Studio, then Attributes, then AI use, then Yes or No. A realistic AI face is not the narration example. A photoreal avatar, including a consented twin, still uses the AI-use control, and that file belongs on [AI avatar](/workflow/ai-avatar). Photoreal b-roll of a fictional event still uses the toggle even when the narrator is your own clone. A mixed file still discloses the realistic part. On that help page, as those workflows record it, disclosure itself does not limit audience or monetization eligibility.\n\nOn the faceless workflow's reading, TikTok requires a label for realistic AI images, audio, and video, and it encourages one for fully generated or heavily edited AI. That heavily edited case is what this path means by a significant AI change. [AI avatar](/workflow/ai-avatar) cites the 19 September 2023 newsroom post for the realistic-media label and does not treat an Ads Manager checkbox as observed. This page does not add a template ID. A signed-in Creative Center topic score was **not observed**.\n\nA voice that is not yours is not the YouTube narration example. Another person's face or voice, without agreement, is the refusal already stated on [AI avatar](/workflow/ai-avatar). A label does not replace that agreement. Instant cloning is the Starter card. Professional cloning is the Creator card. What those two labels require in sample length was **not observed** beyond the card text.\n\n## Monthly starter cost\n\nChecked against the tool pages dated 2026-10-16. Tax sits outside the quote. Assumption: one English narration, or one dub of a source you can distribute, voice from ElevenLabs. If there is a picture, Shorts and TikTok use 9:16 and a long YouTube video can stay 16:9. Compare-table minutes wear a tilde. No post count, because a character-to-video conversion depends on script length and on which model you run, and a single-request credit cap was **not observed**. No view or revenue figure. HeyGen, Ultra, Teams, ElevenLabs Pro, Scale, and Business are not in the four bands.\n\n| Band | What you pay for | Sticker | What it is not |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Draft | ElevenLabs Free. CapCut only if you choose a picture, and then without Pro | **$0**. 10,000 credits, about 10 minutes. Free watermark, resolution, and caption quota **not observed** | A commercial-license line, or rollover |\n| Commercial floor | ElevenLabs Starter, monthly renewal | **$6** (30,000 credits, about 30 minutes). First month **$1**, labeled until 18 October 2026 | The $1 as the plan price. The contract text was **not observed** |\n| Floor + USD CapCut Pro | Starter renewal plus the USD Pro card | **$6 + $19.99 = $25.99** before tax | CLP 29990, or JPY 2,700, added to $6 |\n| Professional clone | ElevenLabs Creator, monthly renewal | **$22** (121,000 credits, about 121 minutes). First month **$11** | $6 plus $22. Creator replaces Starter |\n\nThe default branded month is **$6**. It is **$25.99** before tax when you also need a picture and CapCut shows the USD Pro card. In the Starter promo month the voice side is $1, so the same USD card is $1 + $19.99 = $20.99 before tax for that month only, then $25.99. CapCut's $19.99 is not a first-month subscription discount.\n\nCreator replaces the $6 floor when the professional clone, or the compare-table minutes, are the limit. Creator plus the same USD card is $22 + $19.99 = $41.99 before tax, or $11 + $19.99 = $30.99 in Creator's first month. Both figures are arithmetic, not a fifth band, and not a bundle. Do not add them to $25.99. That would count Starter and Creator together.\n\nThe tool page's other rendering is CLP Pro 29990, Ultra 71990, and Teams 14995 per seat, with the same grants as USD: 1,200 on Pro and Teams, 8,645 on Ultra. Pay CLP beside the ElevenLabs dollar. Do not fold it into $25.99. The tool page prints no yen. The [faceless channel workflow](/workflow/faceless) records a same-day yen open: Pro JPY 2,700 with 800 credits, Ultra JPY 12,600 with 13,821, and the 2-seat Teams card JPY 1,295 per seat with 800. Long-to-short, UGC ads, and AI avatar print that same yen Pro sticker. Leave every yen sticker out of the dollar sum. Do not read 8,645 as the yen Ultra grant. USD Ultra at $79 replaces Pro when the second ceiling is the limit. USD Teams at $12.49 per seat is the shared editor. Neither is the voice floor.\n\nPro's Seedance 2.0 Mini ceiling is up to 240 seconds at 720p or 600 seconds at 480p. Ultra's is up to 1,700 seconds at 720p or 4,300 at 480p. Those ceilings are tied to the grant. They are not a narration, and they are not a promise that every prompt returns at that length. First-month lines on the Pro card, and on the Teams card per seat, start at Seedance 2.5 from $0.12 a second and Seedance 2.0 Mini at 480p from $0.007 a second. Ultra's first-month lines are Seedance 2.5 from $0.18 a second and Seedance 2.0 Mini at 480p from $0.009 a second. The rate after month one was **not observed**. Storage is stated as 1 TB on the tool page for Pro, Ultra, and Teams. A 1 TB line on the yen card was **not observed**. A public CapCut API and an official MCP endpoint were **not observed**. The Teams card said a signed-in visitor could save up to 80 percent. That discount was not itemized, so the saved amount is **not observed**.\n\nDubbing does not inherit the compare-table minutes. Those minutes match the text-to-speech estimate. A music bed is about 900 credits a minute on the pricing FAQ, so it spends the same pool as the read. Watermarked automatic dubbing is 2,000 credits a minute. Clean automatic dubbing is 3,000. The tool page's worked example is about 40 minutes of that clean mode on the Creator grant. The same rate against the 30,000-credit Starter grant is 10 minutes. That 10 is arithmetic from the FAQ rate and the grant, not a separate vendor sentence. Dubbing Studio is 5,000 with a watermark and 10,000 without. Extra minutes on the compare table were about $0.20 on Starter and about $0.18 on Creator. Across the whole table the extra-minute figures were about $0.36, $0.20, $0.18, $0.17, $0.17, and $0.17. A top-up pack price was **not observed**. Top-up credits are a separate balance and are not under the rollover cap.\n\nPaid rollover lasts up to two months, up to 2 times the monthly quota, so the balance can reach at most 3 times the monthly quota while you stay on that paid plan and do not downgrade or cancel. Downgrading or canceling forfeits unused credits at the end of the cycle. Free does not roll.\n\nAbove Creator, Pro is $99 for 600,000 credits. The card lists 44.1 kHz PCM via the API. 192 kbps is on that card and, on the compare table, from Creator upward. The 192 kbps row is not the definition of a professional clone. The compare table's minute estimates continue at about 600, 1,800, and 6,000 on Pro, Scale, and Business. Scale is $299 for 1,800,000 credits, with 3 seats and 3 professional voice clones. Business is $990 for 6,000,000 credits, with 10 seats, 10 professional voice clones, and low-latency text to speech as low as 5 cents a minute. Enterprise is custom. A public Enterprise dollar price was **not observed**. The API dollar table was **not observed**, so no per-character API dollar is in this sum. Pro replaces a cheaper voice card. It is not added to $6. An official hosted MCP server at https://api.elevenlabs.io/v1/mcp can return speech audio as a short-lived download link. Dubbing, music, and speech to text were not in the MCP tool list that was read.\n\nAnnual billing, from the FAQ, is 10 months' price. The equivalent monthly figures are $5 for Starter, $18.33 for Creator, $82.50 for Pro, $249.17 for Scale, and $825 for Business. Those are FAQ figures, not a checkout this directory completed. CapCut's annual sticker was **not observed**, so those equivalents stay off the $25.99 line. The compare table, not the FAQ, lists 74 languages on each column, custom voice slots of 3, 10, 30, 160, 660, and 2,200, and audio quality of 128 kbps at 44.1 kHz on Free and Starter, with 128 and 192 kbps at 44.1 kHz from Creator upward. Sample length for either clone label was **not observed**.\n\n## Staged alternatives\n\nMove when the limit named here is the one you hit. Dollar stickers stay in the cost section. Each stage has three alternatives.\n\n### Voice\n\nLeave Free before a branded publish. The commercial-license line starts on Starter, and the contract behind it was **not observed**.\n\n- **ElevenLabs Free.** Drafts. No rollover and no commercial-license line.\n- **ElevenLabs Starter.** The commercial floor. Instant voice cloning and dubbing studio start here. A clean automatic dub is a much shorter slice than the compare-table text-to-speech minutes.\n- **ElevenLabs Creator.** Replaces Starter for a professional clone, or when the Starter minutes run out. It is not Starter plus Creator. Sample-length rules for the clone were **not observed**.\n\nPro is the PCM and larger-grant card. Scale and Business are the seat cards. Enterprise has no public dollar on the extract. None of those four is the floor.\n\n### Optional picture\n\n- **Skip CapCut.** Podcast-style audio, no captions, no frame. The month stays on the voice card.\n- **CapCut without Pro.** Cuts and captions when a frame is required. Watermark, resolution, and a caption quota were **not observed**. An export that contains Pro elements is the captions-and-covers caveat in the picture step.\n- **CapCut Pro.** The USD picture line in the $25.99 band. CLP and yen Pro are the same job in other currencies. Do not add the cards.\n\nUltra replaces Pro when the Seedance second ceiling is the limit. It stays out of $25.99. Teams is a shared draft, not a second narrator. No second caption app sits on this path. CapCut's own premium text to speech does not replace the ElevenLabs clone.\n\n### Publish\n\n- **YouTube, own-voice narration.** The help-page example that need not use the AI-use toggle. Script help and captions sit on that same example list. A realistic face, or photoreal footage of a scene that was not filmed, still uses the control.\n- **TikTok.** On the faceless reading, realistic AI images, audio, and video require a label, and fully generated or heavily edited AI is encouraged. No template ID was observed. Ads Manager clicks were **not observed**.\n- **Captions and covers.** When the track is fine and the type, the safe zone, or the cover is not. That handoff adds no voice charge.\n\n## Where it fits\n\n- The paid line is the voice: text to speech, a dub, or a clone of your own voice, from a script you can stand behind.\n- You will publish under a brand only after you have read the commercial-license line on Starter, and you will keep Free for drafts. The contract text was **not observed**, so the card label is as far as this page goes.\n- The picture is optional. A podcast-style audio export skips CapCut. A Short, a TikTok, or a narrated YouTube video opens CapCut for the frame and the captions.\n- You will price a dub at the per-minute dubbing rates in the cost section, not at the compare-table text-to-speech minutes.\n- Delivery is YouTube, TikTok, or Shorts, with the disclosure split in the publish step: own-voice narration on one side, a realistic face on the other.\n\n## Where it does not fit\n\n- A talking face, a photo avatar, or a Digital Twin. That is [AI avatar](/workflow/ai-avatar) and [HeyGen](/tools/heygen). Audio import into HeyGen was **not observed** by plan.\n- A product URL in and a vertical actor ad out. That is [UGC ads](/workflow/ugc-ads).\n- Shots under every sentence, plus the voice, as one monthly stack. That is the [faceless channel workflow](/workflow/faceless). This page does not add a generator sticker.\n- Only captions remain, on a file that already has the right voice. That is [captions and covers](/workflow/captions-cover).\n- The job is to find highlights in a long file you already have the right to cut, and to keep that recording's speaker. That is [long-to-short](/workflow/long-to-short).\n- The voice or the face is someone else's, without agreement. The YouTube narration example is your own voice. A label does not replace agreement.\n- You want a view estimate, a revenue estimate, a Trends index, or a TikTok template ID. Those were **not observed**.\n- You want a Murf, PlayHT, or Speechify dollar. [Murf](/tools/murf) has that sticker, verified 2026-10-17. PlayHT and Speechify are still not listed. play.ht closed the connection and speechify.com returned a bot challenge on 2026-10-17, so those two prices are **not observed**.\n\n## Pitfalls\n\n**The $1 treated as the plan.** Starter's first month is a promo in front of the renewal. Creator's first month is the same kind of teaser. Annual FAQ equivalents are not the monthly band. CapCut's USD Pro sticker is the subscription in the region that showed it, not a $1 add-on. The numbers are in the cost table.\n\n**A Free voice on a branded publish.** The commercial-license line starts on Starter. The contract was not opened. Keep Free for drafts. Do not paraphrase a license the card does not print.\n\n**CLP or yen folded into $25.99.** The USD picture month is Starter's renewal plus the USD Pro card. CLP keeps the 1,200-credit grant. Yen Pro, from the faceless page, changes the grant to 800. Ultra's USD card replaces Pro. It does not sit on top of the floor as a second editor.\n\n**Dubbing priced as narration.** Compare-table minutes are text-to-speech estimates. Clean automatic dubbing spends the shared pool much faster, and a music bed spends the same pool. Rejected takes spend it again. The per-minute rows are in the cost section.\n\n**The narration example applied to a face.** YouTube's skip-disclosure example is your own voice for narration. A realistic AI face is a different case. Photoreal b-roll of a scene that was not filmed still uses the AI-use control. On the faceless reading, TikTok requires a label on realistic AI media.\n\n**HeyGen, or CapCut speech, added quietly.** On the AI avatar page, HeyGen Creator is $29 a month, or $24 per month if paid annually, with 600 credits that are not a minute count. Free is up to 3 videos a month at 1 minute. Which plans accept external audio was **not observed**, so those dollars stay out of $6 and out of $25.99. CapCut premium text to speech does not replace the clone you are paying ElevenLabs for.\n\n## Next workflow\n\nPhone-readable captions, safe zones, and a cover that still fail go to [captions and covers](/workflow/captions-cover). A shot under the narration, as part of the monthly stack, goes to the [faceless channel workflow](/workflow/faceless). A consented face goes to [AI avatar](/workflow/ai-avatar) and [HeyGen](/tools/heygen). Confirm audio input on that plan before you assume the ElevenLabs file drops in. A product-URL actor ad goes to [UGC ads](/workflow/ugc-ads). A long file you will only cut, keeping its speaker, goes to [long-to-short](/workflow/long-to-short).\n\n## FAQ\n\n### How much is the starter month, in one number?\n\n**$6** for ElevenLabs Starter at renewal, or **$25.99** before tax when the USD CapCut Pro card is on the same month. Both were on the tool pages dated 2026-10-16. Creator replaces Starter. It is not added to $6. The first-month promo and the rest of the ladder are in the cost table.\n\n### Is the $1 price the plan?\n\nNo. The card showed $1 for the first month and $6 as the price, labeled until 18 October 2026. Budget the renewal. A later open may not show the $1. CapCut has no matching first-month subscription price on the tool page. Its Seedance per-second lines are first-month rates, and the renewal rate was **not observed**. Annual equivalents are FAQ figures in the cost section, not this band.\n\n### Does my own voice clone skip YouTube's AI disclosure?\n\nFor narration, yes. Cloning your own voice is on the help page's list of examples that need not be disclosed. The page is https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/14328491?hl=en , as already used on the sibling workflows. This page did not re-fetch it. The control is in the publish step. A realistic AI face is not that example. On the faceless reading, TikTok still requires a label on realistic AI images, audio, and video.\n\n### Can the free plan publish under a brand?\n\nUse Free to hear a voice. It has no commercial-license line. A branded publish on this path starts at Starter, where the line is printed. The contract text was **not observed**. Paid credits can roll for up to two months, inside the cap in the cost section, and downgrading or canceling forfeits what is left.\n\n### How much dubbing is in the Creator grant?\n\nAbout 40 minutes of clean automatic dubbing, which is the tool page's worked example for the Creator grant. Compare-table minutes are the text-to-speech estimate, not that mode. The other per-minute rows, and the 74-language count, are in the cost section. That language count is not a promise that every dubbing mode matches the narration rate.\n\n### Do I add the CLP or yen CapCut sticker to $25.99?\n\nNo. $25.99 is the USD pair only. CLP Pro keeps the 1,200-credit grant. Yen Pro on the faceless page is 800 credits, not that grant. Pay each checkout in its own currency. The stickers, including Ultra, are in the cost section. Ultra is not a line on the voice floor.\n\n### Can I drop this track into HeyGen?\n\n**Not observed.** The AI avatar page says HeyGen's comparison had an audio-input row, and which plans include it was not a clear yes or no. HeyGen is the mouth, not the default. Its Free and Creator stickers stay off $6 and off $25.99. If the avatar plan will not take the file, publish HeyGen's voice on [AI avatar](/workflow/ai-avatar), or publish the ElevenLabs track with no face.\n\n### Does the hosted MCP replace a dub?\n\nNo. The official server at https://api.elevenlabs.io/v1/mcp can generate speech audio as a short-lived download link. Dubbing, music, and speech to text were not in the tool list that was read. Dubbing stays on the subscription, at the per-minute rates in the cost section. The API dollar table was **not observed**. PCM at 44.1 kHz via the API is a Pro card feature, and that plan replaces a cheaper voice card.",
      "path": "/workflow/voice-publish"
    }
  ]
}