Overview

FrameQuery is a video-archive search tool that also connects discovery to review and post-production handoff. It is best suited to teams managing substantial footage who need to find moments across dialogue, people and image content, then move those results into editorial workflows.

Its strongest distinction is that searches on indexed footage run locally, including offline and without a per-query charge. The trade-off is that indexing still sends selected frames and extracted audio to cloud services, and the Free plan does not include indexing hours.

Key features

Search built around indexed footage

Indexing analyzes scene context, objects, faces, voices and speech, with speaker-separated transcripts. That gives production and archive teams more ways to locate a moment than metadata alone. Free users can search metadata, but face, voice and AI-tag search depend on indexed video, so those capabilities require a paid plan or another route to indexing.

Media and storage flexibility

Support for more than 50 formats, including R3D, BRAW, ProRes, H.264, H.265, MKV and MXF, makes FrameQuery relevant to mixed-format production archives. It can ingest local folders, S3, SMB, Dropbox and Google Drive, and supports sharing or backup through Drive, Dropbox and NAS. That range suits teams with existing storage arrangements, though it does not change the cloud processing involved in analysis.

Review and editorial handoff

The web review page combines frame-accurate comments and drawing annotations with approvals and side-by-side version comparison. Search results can be exported to Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, Avid and other NLE workflows through FCPXML, Premiere XML, EDL and LosslessCut formats. This makes FrameQuery more useful to teams that need search results to feed review or editing, rather than a standalone search utility.

Privacy and API status

Face and voice recognition run on-device, require explicit consent, and their biometric embeddings are excluded from shared indexes. Production connections use HTTPS, templates are encrypted on the device, and FrameQuery says footage is not used to train its own AI models. Still, selected frames and extracted audio go to cloud services for analysis and transcription, a meaningful consideration for sensitive footage.

The API is not yet available: its documented endpoints are planned and live requests are disabled. Developer API terms describe usage-based billing, but the route is not presently usable. The planned limits are 20 GB per upload, 12 hours of video per job and 100 clips per batch.

Pricing

The Free plan costs 0.00 USD per free and includes metadata search plus local, Drive and NAS sharing and backup, but no monthly indexing hours. It is useful for metadata-based discovery and sharing, not for trying the full AI search workflow on indexed footage.

Starter costs 19.00 USD per month, with monthly billing only. Its 10 hours of video per month and full AI analysis make it the entry point for individuals or small teams with modest indexing needs; it includes local index and search plus Drive or NAS sharing.

Pro costs 45.00 USD per month, billed $540/yr, with two months saved. It raises the monthly allowance to 50 hours and adds cloud-hosted sharing, 100 GB of cloud proxy storage, collaboration and review. This is the more complete fit for teams that need the review workflow and hosted sharing, rather than just local search.

Max costs 190.00 USD per month, billed $2280/yr, also with two months saved. Its 300 hours per month and 600 GB of cloud proxy storage target larger or more active archives, while retaining hosted sharing, collaboration and review.

Studio has custom pricing and includes 300+ hours of video, unlimited video hours, one-time archive processing, dedicated onboarding and priority support. Developer API is also custom pricing, on a pay-per-request, usage-based basis, with REST API access, programmatic indexing and webhook notifications. Since the API is not available yet, that plan is not a current option for teams seeking working API access.

Platforms

FrameQuery is offered for macOS, Windows and the web. API is also named as a platform, but the documented API is not currently available.

Who it's for

Production and post-production teams are the clearest fit, particularly those that need to search large or varied footage collections and carry findings into review and editing. Marketing teams, documentary filmmakers, corporate video groups, and news and broadcast users are also within its stated audience. It is less suitable for a team that needs a free allowance for AI indexing, or one that cannot send selected frames and audio to cloud services for analysis.

Pros and cons

Pros: Local, offline search without per-query costs is useful for repeated archive discovery after indexing.
Pros: Broad format support, multiple storage integrations and export formats connect archive search to existing media and editing workflows.
Pros: Frame-accurate comments, annotations, approvals and version comparison give teams review tools alongside search.
Cons: The Free plan has no indexing hours, limiting it to metadata search unless video is indexed another way.
Cons: Indexing sends selected frames and extracted audio to cloud services, which may not suit every sensitive-media workflow.
Cons: The API is planned rather than available, so developers cannot rely on it for current integrations.

Alternatives

Choose DISKO if a smaller free cloud allowance and screenwriting or shot-list tools are more important than FrameQuery's indexed AI search: its free plan includes 2 GB and review links, while its Pro plan is 12.00 USD per month.

Twelve Labs is worth considering for API- and web-oriented video indexing with a defined free allowance: its free plan includes 600 minutes of video, 90-day index access, up to 10 hours per index, 100 videos per index and five concurrent indexing tasks. ViSearch may suit buyers looking for a per-minute processing option; its free plan covers up to 20 minutes, and its Basic plan is 0.09 USD per minute.

Vivu offers a different metered entry point, with 20 indexing minutes and 50 search credits per month on its free plan. Moment Search is another option for Windows and macOS users. For a free web-based annotation tool, consider VGG Image Annotator; MomentSearch is also an option for users seeking a free tool across several platforms.

Deepgrip is a paid alternative with a free trial and a Starter plan at 399.00 USD per month, billed $4,788/year, with 200 indexed hours per month, 450 searches per month and five seats. For broader category browsing, see AI Video Search Tools and Video Annotation Software.

Verdict

FrameQuery is a strong fit for production and post-production teams that want local, no-per-query search tied to review and editing workflows. Its format and integration breadth gives those teams a practical path from archive discovery to editorial handoff. Look elsewhere if free AI indexing or a currently working API is essential, or if cloud analysis of selected frames and audio conflicts with your media requirements.

	Cinestar	FrameQuery
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Free trial	No	No
Paid from	Free	$19/mo
Open source	No	No
Platforms	Linux, macOS	api, macOS, Web, Windows
Visual search	Yes	—
Audio search	Yes	—
Multimodal search	Yes	—
Free plan	—	Yes
Paid from	—	19 /mo

Cinestar vs FrameQuery

Cinestar

FrameQuery