Captions and covers

Editors 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.

Platforms: YouTube · TikTok · Shorts

The 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.

Who it is for

You 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. Choosing the segment inside a podcast, a livestream, or a long YouTube video is long-to-short. A script, a voice, and shots, with no footage yet, is the faceless channel workflow. A product-URL actor is UGC ads. A consented presenter is AI avatar. Those paths send the file here when type, the safe zone, or the cover still fails. CapCut is the default editor on that handoff. Submagic stays an optional upload, with no tool page and no place in the starter sum.

Recommended path

Four steps.

1. Import

Bring a file you have the right to post. A filmed vertical, an export from HeyGen or Creatify, or a short from 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.

Keep the original audio. These captions are words on that track. A wrong name, or a missing negative, changes what the person said.

2. Captions · CapCut

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.

https://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.

3. Cover and safe zone · CapCut

Stay in the same 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.

4. Export and publish

Export 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, UGC ads, or the faceless channel workflow. Captions do not cancel that label. A replacement voice goes to voice and publish. A recut goes to long-to-short.

Optional animated captions

Off the default sum. Submagic returns animated captions from an upload. The sticker is on 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.

Monthly starter cost

Checked 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, Captions, and Kapwing live on those tool pages, checked 2026-10-17.

CapCut

USD and CLP stickers are from the 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, long-to-short, UGC ads, and AI avatar.

Card	Sticker on 2026-10-16	Monthly AI credits
Pro, USD rendering	USD 19.99 a month	1,200
Pro, CLP rendering	CLP 29990 a month	1,200 (same grant as the USD card)
Pro, yen open	JPY 2,700 a month	800 (not the 1,200 grant)
Ultra, USD rendering	USD 79 a month	8,645 on the USD and CLP cards
Teams, USD rendering	USD 12.49 a month per seat	1,200 per seat on that card

The 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.

The 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.

Without Pro, you can still cut and preview. The Apr 3, 2026 help page is the export caveat. Other free-export rules were not observed.

Submagic, optional

https://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.

Plan	Monthly	What the page listed	Yearly display
Starter	$19 per member	45 credits, listed as 15 videos, 2 minutes	$12
Pro	$39 per member	120 credits, listed as 40 videos, 5 minutes	$23
Business	$69 per member	300 credits, listed as 100 videos, 30 minutes	$41

The 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.

Opus Clip, only as a recut

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.

Bands

Band	What you pay for	Sticker	What it is not
Trial	CapCut without Pro	Free-export detail not observed, aside from the Pro-element caveat	A promise that auto captions export
Commercial default	CapCut Pro, USD card	USD 19.99 a month	CLP 29990 or JPY 2,700 added to $19.99
Optional animation	Submagic Starter, alone	$19 per member a month	The default on this path
Arithmetic only	USD Pro plus Submagic Starter	$19.99 + $19 = $38.99 before tax	A bundle, a Teams seat, Ultra, or a yen card

The 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.

Staged alternatives

Move when the limit named here is the one you hit. Prices stay in the tables above.

Captions

Leave the unpaid editor when the export asks for Pro.

• CapCut without Pro. Preview and a read-through. Auto captions can include Pro-only functionality. Other free-export rules were not observed.
• CapCut Pro. Default paid finish. Pay the currency on screen. The credit grant is not a count of captioned Shorts.
• Submagic Starter. Animated captions on a file that is already cut. Off the USD default unless you subscribe.

Cover

• CapCut cover frame. Default still from this timeline. A cover-design spec was not observed on the pricing page.
• CapCut title sticker. The hook, clear of the right edge and the bottom. A pixel inset was not observed.
• VEED, Captions, or Kapwing. Prices live on those tool pages, checked 2026-10-17. They stay off this sum.

Optional polish

• CapCut on the same timeline. Highlight, hook, and a brand mark. Credit spend per caption was not observed.
• 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.
• Opus Clip. Recut a long master on long-to-short, then bring the short back for the cover.

Where it fits

• A filmed vertical, an avatar export, a UGC actor file, or a short already cut, and the missing piece is type.
• You will read caption lines against the audio, including names and negatives.
• You will judge the right edge and the bottom in the player. This page has no pixel inset to copy.
• Delivery is YouTube, TikTok, or Shorts, and any AI label follows the workflow that made the picture.

Where it does not fit

• There is no footage yet. Use the faceless channel workflow.
• The long file still needs a highlight and a 9:16 cut. Use long-to-short.
• The track has to be replaced, dubbed, or licensed on its own. Use voice and publish.
• The job is a new presenter or a product-URL actor. Use AI avatar or UGC ads, then return for type.
• You want a view count, a revenue figure, or a rising-search claim. None of that was observed.

Policy

This is not legal advice. It records the caption finish checked on 2026-10-16. It does not clear an upload.

Use 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.

The faceless channel workflow records a reading of https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/14328491 : captions do not, by themselves, require the AI-use toggle. 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.

Pitfalls

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.

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.

A second subscription by habit. Submagic is optional and per member. Opus Clip, at $15 and $29 a month on long-to-short, meters a recut. A short that is already cut does not need it for type. VEED, Captions, and Kapwing prices live on those tool pages, checked 2026-10-17, and stay off this sum.

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.

Next workflow

A highlight cut goes to long-to-short. A new narration or a license line goes to voice and publish and ElevenLabs. Building the picture is the faceless channel workflow, UGC ads, or AI avatar. Each of those already points here when the type fails.

FAQ

Does CapCut without Pro export auto captions?

Not 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.

What is the starter month, in one number?

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.

When is Submagic the add-on?

When 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, checked 2026-10-17, and it is not inside the USD 19.99. Check the safe zone on the file that comes back.

Where do Opus Clip and the other names fit?

Opus Clip is a recut of a long source. Long-to-short records Starter at $15 a month and Pro at $29 a month. VEED, Captions, and Kapwing prices live on those tool pages, checked 2026-10-17. They stay off this sum.

What safe-zone inset should I use?

A 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.

Do burned-in captions need their own AI disclosure?

On 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 or UGC ads. A TikTok exemption for captions alone was not observed.