Simple pricing, honest gates
Free is deliberately the best in the category: a full editor with unlimited watermark-free 1080p exports. Pro sells capability — 4K/60 and formats — to people who genuinely need it.
Free
$0 forever, no account
- ✓ Full V1 editor: unlimited projects, unlimited length, all timeline tools, transitions, text styles, audio mixing
- ✓ 1080p30 H.264 export — no watermark, unlimited exports
- ✓ Audio-only (M4A/MP3) and PNG frame exports
- ✓ Offline PWA, local projects, autosave & crash recovery
- ✓ Commercial use included
Never gated — published list:
watermark-free output · 1080p export · export count · project count & length · timeline features · autosave/recovery · offline · commercial use
Pro
$9/mo · $69/yr
$69/yr ≈ $5.75/mo — 55% under CapCut Pro, with no meters at all.
- ✓ Everything in Free, plus:
- ✓ 4K / 1440p / 60fps export + higher bitrate ladder
- ✓ WebM/VP9 + GIF export
- ✓ Every V2/V3 feature as it ships — effects & keyframes, unlimited on-device captions, AI editing: no minutes, no credits
- ✓ Priority support; suite-bundle eligibility
Pro Lifetime
$119 once
- ✓ Everything in Pro, forever — including V2/V3 as they ship
- ✓ One payment — no renewal, silent or otherwise
- ✓ CapCut offers no lifetime at all; theirs is $180/yr
- ✓ 2 device activations, self-serve reset
| Editor | Paid price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| CapCut Pro | $19.99/mo | +100% price hike in 2025, no grace period; no lifetime option |
| Kapwing | $16–24/mo | Watermark + 720p on free |
| VEED | $19–30/mo | Per-seat + credits |
| Descript | $24–35/mo + credits | Metered "media minutes" — the 2025 bill-shock story |
| Clipforge Pro | $9 flat · $69/yr · $119 once | No meters, no credits, renewal reminder before every charge |
No watermarks, ever. Not on free, not on Pro, not on any format — stamping a logo on someone's work to force an upgrade is a server-cost recovery tactic, and we don't have server costs. No meters, ever. No export counts, no minutes, no credits — rendering and (as it ships) AI run on your hardware, so there is nothing for us to meter. Your projects live on your machine. Cancelling keeps every project and every export — unlike cloud editors, cancellation can't take your work hostage, because we never had it. And a 30-day no-questions refund on everything, with a reminder email before any renewal charge.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the free tier really free?
Because rendering costs us nothing. Cloud editors pay for every minute their servers encode, so their free tiers meter what hurts: resolution, watermarks, export counts. Clipforge renders on your hardware — a free user costs us roughly a static-page view, so free gets what costs us nothing: unlimited watermark-free 1080p.
What happens if I cancel Pro?
You keep Pro until the paid period ends, then the app keeps working on the free tier. Every project and every export stays yours — projects are stored on your machine, so there is nothing we could take away even if we wanted to. Only the Pro capabilities (4K/60, extra formats) switch off.
What's the refund policy?
30 days, no questions — email us and the money comes back, on subscriptions and lifetime alike. Subscriptions also get a renewal reminder email before any charge; no silent renewals, no retention tricks.
How does the 2-device limit work?
A license key activates on up to 2 devices at a time — a soft limit meant for one person's laptop and desktop, not a per-seat scheme. Swapping a device is self-serve: activate on the new machine and choose "replace oldest". Activation works offline for 30 days between checks.
What does "local" actually mean?
Your footage is read, edited, composited and encoded by your own device — it never uploads anywhere, and your projects live in your browser's private storage on your disk. The only network traffic is the page itself, an optional anonymous beacon, and license checks (a key + anonymous device hash, never file data). Verify it yourself in DevTools in 30 seconds.