A Subtitle Edit alternative that runs in your browser
Subtitle Edit is a free, open-source subtitle editor that you download and install on Windows, macOS or Linux, made for precise timing and hundreds of subtitle formats. Burncaps does a different part of the job in a browser tab, with nothing to install: it hears the words, times each one, and burns animated word-by-word captions into the video, or cuts a long recording into captioned clips. Free: 2 videos every 30 days, each with captions and up to 3 clips, no watermark, no sign-up. This comparison is written by Burncaps, a rival, from Subtitle Edit's own pages.
- Video never uploaded
- Free, no sign-up
- No watermark
- Nothing to install
Live preview, rendered on this page by the same engine that burns your video.
What Subtitle Edit is
Subtitle Edit calls itself "a free, open-source editor for video subtitles". It is released under the MIT licence, which names Nikolaj Olsson, and its FAQ says it is "completely free with no ads or limitations". Subtitle Edit 5, the current generation, is built with Avalonia UI so that it runs on Windows, Linux and macOS.
| What its own pages say | Subtitle Edit |
|---|---|
| Latest release | v5.3.0, published on GitHub on 14 October 2026; v5.4.0 test builds (release candidates) since 1 November 2026 |
| Windows | Windows 10 version 22H2 or newer: an installer, or a portable zip for x64 or ARM64; it offers to download libmpv and FFmpeg the first time a video feature needs them |
| macOS | macOS 12 or newer (14 or newer recommended), Apple silicon or Intel: a .dmg signed and notarised by Apple, with libmpv and FFmpeg inside |
| Linux | A Flatpak for any distribution, or native .tar.gz builds that need mpv and FFmpeg from the package manager |
| Price | Free, MIT licence, "no ads or limitations" |
| Privacy | An offline application that does not collect or send your subtitle or media files; optional online services, such as translation or speech to text, receive only what each request needs |
Read on 3 November 2026 in Subtitle Edit's GitHub repository (README and LICENSE), its releases and its documentation at subtitleedit.github.io/subtitleedit (Overview, FAQ, Speech to Text, Burn-In Subtitles, ASSA Apply Advanced Effects and Supported Formats). nikse.dk, the maker's own site, showed no readable text that day. Subtitle Edit is updated often, so its pages are the authority; we recheck these by 3 December 2026.
What Subtitle Edit is good at
Precise timing
A waveform and spectrogram to time each subtitle to the sound, visual sync and point sync, shot change detection, and tools to change the frame rate or speed. Its documentation lists 28 tools, from Bridge Gaps and Fix Common Errors to a Netflix error check, and six ways to synchronise.
Hundreds of formats
Its FAQ says it supports over 380 subtitle formats, from SRT, VTT and ASS to broadcast and disc formats, with batch conversion, OCR for subtitles stored as pictures (Blu-ray SUP, VobSub) and export to image-based formats.
Whisper inside
Video, then Speech to text, writes subtitles from the sound with Whisper engines (Whisper CPP, Faster Whisper XXL, CTranslate2, WhisperX and others, run on your own computer) or online services; the engines and models download on first use.
It also translates, spell checks, makes speech from subtitle text, animates ASS subtitles and burns subtitles into a video through FFmpeg, all listed in its documentation.
Where a browser tool differs
No install, more devices
Burncaps opens in a browser tab: nothing to download, unzip or set up. It works in Chrome on a Chromebook and on phones as well as on Windows and Mac. Subtitle Edit's pages list builds for Windows, macOS and Linux and name no ChromeOS, iPhone, Android or browser version.
Animated captions, ready made
Subtitle Edit can animate captions too: its ASSA tools add effects such as Word by word, Karaoke and Word flip 3D to an ASS subtitle, and it burns subtitles into a video through FFmpeg. In Burncaps the animation is where you start: pick one of 60 styles and each word lights up as it is said, timed from the speech, with nothing to set up. It can also reframe the video vertical, square or 4:5.
Clips from a long recording
Subtitle Edit can burn selected lines into a cut of the video, which you choose. Burncaps finds the moments worth posting in a recording up to three hours and gives them back as ranked, captioned 9:16 clips, with ums and long pauses cut.
Subtitle Edit facts from its Burn-In Subtitles and Overview pages, read on 3 November 2026. Burncaps facts from the product as it works today.
Side by side
| What matters | Burncaps | Subtitle Edit |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A browser tool for talking videos: captions burned in, subtitle files, and clips | A desktop subtitle editor for any subtitle work |
| Install | None: a browser tab | A download for Windows, macOS or Linux |
| Chromebook and phones | Yes, in the browser | Not listed on its pages |
| Price | Free: 2 videos every 30 days, each with captions and up to 3 clips, no watermark; subtitle files free without limit for recordings up to ten minutes; then a 7-day Captions + Clips trial, no card | Free, open source, no ads or limitations |
| Words from the sound | Heard on your device on a computer, or by our speech service (by default on a phone); every word timed | Whisper and other engines on your computer, or online services |
| Timing by hand | No waveform; correct any word, and shift or sync a subtitle file in the free SRT editor | Waveform, spectrogram, visual and point sync, shot changes |
| Subtitle formats | Writes SRT, VTT, ASS and text; the free converter reads SRT, VTT, SBV, ASS/SSA and text | Over 380, with OCR of image-based subtitles |
| Burned-in captions | 60 ready styles, each word lit as it is said, on a video up to ten minutes | Through FFmpeg, with the font, outline, shadow and box you set; ASSA tools add effects such as Word by word and Karaoke |
| Clips | Found for you in a recording up to three hours, ranked, each up to 3 minutes | A cut you choose, from selected lines |
| Where your video goes | Stays in your browser; the sound goes to our speech service only on a phone by default or when you choose it | Stays on your computer; online services only if you choose one |
Subtitle Edit column as read on its own pages on 3 November 2026 (sources above).
When to keep using Subtitle Edit
Films and series
Subtitling a feature film, a series or anything over three hours, frame by frame against the waveform, is what Subtitle Edit is built for. Burncaps is built for people talking to camera.
Formats and discs
Broadcast, cinema and disc formats, OCR of Blu-ray or DVD subtitles, and batch conversion of many files: Subtitle Edit does these, and Burncaps does not.
Fully offline
Once installed, with its speech engines downloaded, Subtitle Edit runs its core features on your computer without a network. Burncaps needs the page to load, and on a phone it sends the sound to our speech service unless you keep it on the phone.
How Burncaps does the caption job
- Drop the video. An MP4 or MOV up to ten minutes for captions on the whole video, or up to three hours for clips and subtitle files. It opens in the page and is never uploaded to us.
- Correct the words. The transcript opens as a script under the video. Click a word to fix it, and one click fixes it everywhere it was heard.
- Burn them in, or save a file. Pick one of 60 animated styles and export one MP4, or press SRT, VTT, ASS or Text for the words with their times.
Already have a subtitle file? The free SRT editor edits its words and times, shifts it and fixes drift in your browser, and burning subtitles into a video explains the burned-in route. No subtitles yet: the free SRT generator.
What it costs
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. Captions paid once is not a subscription.
Questions, answered plainly
Is there an online version of Subtitle Edit?
Its own pages, read on 3 November 2026, list downloads for Windows, macOS and Linux and no browser version. For captions in a browser with nothing to install, Burncaps hears the words, times each one and burns them into the video, or saves SRT, VTT, ASS or text files; its free SRT editor edits and syncs an existing subtitle file in the browser.
Does Subtitle Edit work on a Mac?
Yes, since Subtitle Edit 5. Its README and documentation, read on 3 November 2026, give macOS 12 or newer (14 or newer recommended), on Apple silicon or Intel, as a .dmg signed and notarised by Apple with libmpv and FFmpeg inside.
Is Subtitle Edit free?
Yes. It is released under the MIT licence, and its FAQ says it is completely free with no ads or limitations.
Does Subtitle Edit use Whisper?
Yes. Its Speech to text window (Video, then Speech to text) offers Whisper engines, among them Whisper CPP, Faster Whisper XXL, CTranslate2 and WhisperX, which run on your own computer, plus other local engines and online services. Its documentation says the engines and models download on first use.
Can Subtitle Edit burn subtitles into a video?
Yes. Video, then Generate video with burned-in subtitles, hardcodes them through FFmpeg, with the font, size, colours, outline, shadow and box you set, and its ASSA tools can add animated effects such as Word by word and Karaoke to an ASS subtitle. Burncaps starts from 60 ready-made styles where each word lights up as it is said, timed from the speech, with nothing to set up.
What does Burncaps do that Subtitle Edit does not?
It runs in a browser with nothing to install, including on a Chromebook or a phone; it gives 60 ready-made caption styles where each word lights up as it is said; it can reframe the video vertical, square or 4:5 with the frame following your face; and it finds the best moments of a recording up to three hours and cuts them into ranked, captioned clips. Subtitle Edit does far more with subtitle files themselves: timing by waveform, over 380 formats and OCR.
Is my video uploaded?
No. Burncaps opens the video in your browser and never receives it. On a computer, the sound is heard on your own device unless you choose our speech service; on a phone it goes to our speech service unless you keep it on the phone (short pieces of sound, never the picture, to Microsoft's speech recognition in the EU, which by Microsoft's terms for the service stores none of it).
Burncaps facts, checked 3 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.