Side by side
SmartSub vs Whisper
Both stand on ai video caption generators. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.
Free plan Open source APILinuxMac+1
SmartSub combines subtitle creation, editing, dubbing, and rendering in a free desktop app. Use local processing for files you want to keep on-device; the maker advises against cloud transcription for sensitive content.
Visit SmartSub
Free plan Open source APILinuxMac+2
Whisper provides multilingual speech-processing capabilities as locally installable, MIT-licensed code and model weights. Performance varies by language, and the turbo model is not intended for translation.
Visit WhisperThe facts
| SmartSub | Whisper | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Runs on | API, Linux, Mac, Windows | API, Linux, Mac, Self-hosted, Windows |
| Lowest paid plan | Free or on request | See the plans |
| Plans published | 1 | 3 |
| Maker | Not published | Not published |
| Website | github.com | github.com |
| On ai video caption generators | #2 of 99 | #1 of 99 |
SmartSub: what it does well
- Free local processing has no usage limits.
- Offers five selectable transcription engines.
- Provides 20 translation services.
- Can render subtitles with dubbed audio.
- Supports Windows, macOS, and Linux.
What to know first
- Cloud transcription uploads audio to the configured provider.
- Cloud services may incur separate charges.
Whisper: what it does well
- Supports transcription, translation and language identification
- Includes six model sizes with different tradeoffs
- Code and weights are MIT-licensed
- Offers command-line and Python interfaces
- Exports TXT, VTT, SRT, TSV, JSON and JSONL
What to know first
- Requires ffmpeg for installation
- Rust may be needed if a prebuilt wheel is unavailable
- VRAM needs range from approximately 1 GB to 10 GB
- Turbo is not trained for translation
Alternatives to SmartSub Alternatives to Whisper The whole list