OpusClip vs Descript vs Riverside for podcast clips
All three make podcast clips, but they are different tools: OpusClip is a clipper, Descript is an editor and Riverside is a recording studio. Here is what each starts from, how it picks clips, what clips cost there and what its free plan gives, each read from the company's own pages on 1 November 2026, with Burncaps, which we make, as a fourth column. Free: 2 videos every 30 days, each with captions and up to 3 clips, no watermark, no sign-up. Then try Captions + Clips free for 7 days, no card. Captions + Clips is $29 a month for unlimited clips and captions; Captions is $9.98 a month or $49 once.
- Read 1 Nov 2026
- Four tools, one table
- No minute meter here
Live preview, rendered on this page by the same engine that burns your video.
What each one is
OpusClip: a clipper
You upload a file or paste a link and OpusClip's AI picks the moments, reframes them to vertical, adds captions and, on paid plans, posts them for you. It counts credits: one credit is one minute of the video you import.
Descript: an editor
You edit video by editing its transcript like a document, with multitrack transcription on every plan. Create Clips pulls the number and length of clips you ask for out of a project. It counts media hours and AI credits, per person.
Riverside: a recording studio
You record remote guests, each on their own device in high quality, then edit. Magic Clips are made automatically from every recording or upload in a project, and its pricing page says they use no credits.
Burncaps is a fourth kind: a browser tool that takes a recording you already have and gives back ranked, captioned 9:16 clips, or the whole video captioned, without uploading the video. It does not record, edit an episode or post for you.
Side by side for podcast clips
| What matters | OpusClip | Descript | Riverside | Burncaps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starts from | A file upload, or a link (YouTube on every plan, more link sources on paid plans) | Media you import or record in Descript | A recording in its studio, or a file uploaded into a project | An MP4 or MOV file on your computer or phone, up to three hours and 10 GB |
| How clips are picked | Its AI picks moments across kinds of video | Create Clips: its AI picks the moments; you set how many and how long | AI highlights, each scored 70 to 99 against its batch | Stretches that start where a thought starts and end where the speaker finished a point, ranked by Claude from the transcript |
| Clips per recording | 16 to 25 from each 9 to 20 minute recording in our test | The number you ask for | Typically two for every five minutes of conversation, in sets | About one for every two minutes of talk, up to 30 |
| Captions | Yes, animated | Yes, from its transcript | Yes, animated and adjustable | Yes, animated word by word, 60 styles |
| Cheapest plan | Starter $15 (150 credits); Pro $29 for each 300 credits | Hobbyist $24 a person (10 media hours, 400 AI credits) | Left out: its own pages showed different prices | Free: 2 videos every 30 days, each with captions and up to 3 clips; unlimited clips: Captions + Clips, $29 a month |
| What is counted | Credits, one per minute imported | Media hours, and AI credits for clips at an unpublished rate | No credits for Magic Clips; uploads count against 15 hours a month on Pro | Only our speech service's hours, 20 in any 30 days |
| Free plan | Yes: 60 credits a month, watermarked, clips exportable for 3 days | Yes: 1 media hour a month, 720p, watermarked | Left out: its pricing page and its blog disagree | Yes: 2 videos every 30 days, each with captions and up to 3 clips, no watermark, no sign-up; then a 7-day trial with no card |
| Where video goes | Uploaded to its cloud | Into Descript (its pages do not say where it is processed) | Recorded or uploaded to its cloud | Stays in your browser; never uploaded |
| Records guests | No | Yes | Yes, each on their own device | No |
| Posts for you | Yes, on paid plans | Not stated on the pages we read | Yes, scheduled to several platforms | No: you get files |
Rival facts read on opus.pro, descript.com, riverside.com and each company's help centre on 1 November 2026, in US dollars, the cheapest plan with clips billed monthly; OpusClip's clip count is from our blind test of 1 November 2026, with its own settings left at their defaults. Burncaps' free plan is 2 videos every 30 days, each with captions and up to 3 clips; its trial is 7 days. English on a computer is heard on your own device without a limit, and clip finding has a safety limit for any 30 days, as on every plan. If a vendor's page has changed since, it is the authority.
Which to choose, by situation
| If you | Choose | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Record remote interviews and want clips without another tool | Riverside | Magic Clips are made from every recording, with no credits, in the account you record in |
| Edit whole episodes and want clips as a by-product | Descript | Editing by text, multitrack transcription and voice clones, with Create Clips in the same app |
| Work from YouTube links and want many clips posted on a schedule | OpusClip | Links, the most clips from a short video, and a scheduler on its Pro plan |
| Record anywhere and want ranked, captioned clips from the file | Burncaps | Any MP4 or MOV, clips that end where the speaker finished a point, video never uploaded |
| Clip five weekly shows for clients, about 20 hours a month | Compare the meters | OpusClip, four Pro packs at $116; Descript Creator, $35 a person; Burncaps Captions + Clips, $29 a month |
| Only need captions burned into videos | Burncaps Captions | $9.98 a month, or $49 once with no subscription; captioned videos only |
Descript vs Riverside, in two paragraphs
Riverside is where you record. Each guest is recorded on their own device, so the high-quality tracks do not depend on anyone's internet connection, and you edit the result in its editor. Magic Clips arrive with every recording: by its help centre, typically two for every five minutes of conversation, in one automatic set, with 2 more sets on its Pro, Grow and Webinar plans and 4 more on Business.
Descript is where you edit. You cut by editing the transcript, transcribe several speakers on separate tracks, retype a fluffed word with a voice clone on paid plans, and clean up the sound. It records too, but its strength is the edit. Create Clips makes the clips you ask for and spends AI credits, at a rate Descript does not publish. If you record and publish without much editing, Riverside covers more; if you rework every episode, Descript does.
Where Burncaps fits, honestly
What it does
Drop a recording up to three hours, from Zoom, StreamYard, Riverside, a camera or a phone. Burncaps cuts each clip to 9:16 on whoever is talking, two people too, removes ums and dead air, adds an opening card and captions, and sets the sound at -14 LUFS. The video never leaves your browser.
What it does not do
It does not record, edit a whole episode, take links from video sites, add b-roll or post to your accounts, and it stops at three hours. If you need those, one of the three above is the better buy.
What it costs, and why it pays
Free is 2 videos every 30 days, each with captions and up to 3 clips. Captions + Clips is $29 a month for unlimited clips, with no minute meter: the only hours counted are those of our speech service, 20 in any 30 days. At 20 hours of recordings a month, that is $29 against $116 for four of OpusClip's Pro packs billed monthly. In our blind test against OpusClip, a judge preferred our clip in 9 of 12 pairs; that page sets out the method and its limits.
Questions, answered plainly
Which is better for podcast clips: OpusClip, Descript or Riverside?
It depends on where your episode lives. If you record remote guests in Riverside, its Magic Clips are already there and use no credits. If you edit episodes in Descript, Create Clips is in the same app and spends AI credits. If you want the most clips from a link or a file and scheduled posting, OpusClip is built for it and counts every minute you import. If you record anywhere and want ranked, captioned clips from the file at a flat price, without uploading it, Burncaps Captions + Clips does that, and Free gives 2 videos every 30 days, each with captions and up to 3 clips.
Is Descript or Riverside better for podcasts?
They do different jobs. Riverside is where you record: each guest is recorded on their own device in high quality, then edited in its editor, and Magic Clips are made from every recording. Descript is where you edit by editing the transcript, with multitrack transcription, voice clones and sound clean-up; it can record too. If you record and publish with little editing, Riverside covers more; if you rework every episode, Descript does.
Is OpusClip better than Descript for clips?
For clips alone, OpusClip does more of the job for you: it picks the moments, reframes, captions and can schedule posts, and it takes links. Descript's Create Clips makes the number and length of clips you ask for inside an editor, which suits you if you also edit the episode there. OpusClip counts minutes imported; Descript counts media hours and AI credits per person (both read 1 November 2026).
Do OpusClip, Descript and Riverside upload my video?
OpusClip and Riverside work on video uploaded or recorded to their own cloud. Descript meters imported or recorded media processed in Descript, and its pages do not say where that processing happens. Burncaps makes the picture and the export in your browser; only the sound may go to our speech service (on a phone unless you switch it off, on a computer only if you choose it), and only the transcript, with its line timings, pause lengths and a word for how the voice moved, goes to our AI to find clips, check names or translate; Keep everything on this device stops it.
Which one is cheapest for podcast clips?
Billed monthly and read on 1 November 2026: for 2 recordings a month, Burncaps Free costs nothing (each with captions and up to 3 clips). For a few hours a month, OpusClip Starter at $15 is the smallest paid bill. At 10 hours, Descript Hobbyist at $24 while its AI credits last. At 20 hours, four OpusClip Pro packs cost $116 and Descript needs its Creator plan ($35 a person), while Burncaps Captions + Clips stays at $29 a month with no minute meter. Riverside's price is left out because its own pages showed different prices for the same plan.
Keep reading
Free AI clip generator · Is OpusClip free? · OpusClip review · Descript pricing · Riverside Magic Clips alternative · Riverside pricing · Podcast clip maker · OpusClip pricing · OpusClip alternative · Descript alternative · AI clip generator prices compared · Long video to Shorts · Captions + Clips · AI clipping without credits · Clips for agencies
Burncaps facts, checked 1 November 2026
What it is: a browser tool that burns animated word-by-word captions into a talking video, or finds the best moments of a talk, podcast or interview and gives them back as ranked, captioned 9:16 clips.
Price: free for 2 videos every 30 days, each one recording with its captioned video and up to 3 clips, no mark and no sign-up; then the free 7-day Captions + Clips trial, no card (your email only); then Captions + Clips, $29 a month, gives unlimited clips and captioned videos, or Captions, $9.98 a month or $49 once, gives unlimited captioned videos. Captions paid once is not a subscription.
Privacy: the video never leaves your browser. The sound goes only to our speech service, on a phone unless you switch it off, on a computer only if you choose it. Because the video never reaches us, we cannot keep it or train AI on it, and we train no AI on anything you make.
Files: MP4 or MOV in, MP4 out. Captions on the whole video: up to ten minutes. Clips: up to three hours, on a phone or a computer. SRT, VTT, ASS and text files are free without limit for recordings up to ten minutes; a longer recording, up to three hours, gives its script and those files (the first ten minutes free, all of it as one of your free videos, in the trial or with Captions + Clips or Captions) and its clips (every one found and shown before you sign up; up to 3 from each free video exported free, every one in the trial or with Captions + Clips).
Clips: about one clip for every two minutes of talk, up to 30, ranked, the ones we would post first circled, each showing the words it opens and ends on and the reason it was chosen; each cut to 9:16 with ums and dead air removed, an opening card and captions, framed on whoever is talking. Every clip of the whole recording is found and shown, free and with no sign-up; each free video exports up to 3 of them, and the 7-day trial and Captions + Clips export every clip, unlimited.
Languages and styles: captions in the language spoken, twelve Indian languages heard on your device, translation into 59 languages, 60 caption styles.
After it listens: correct any word (one click changes it everywhere), add or cut words, one to six words at a time, position, size, text and highlight colours, and names this browser remembers, all free and without listening again.
Made by: Jordan Labs Ltd, UK company no. 17358646.
Against other tools: sixteen caption tools compared, from the vendors' own pages.