Compare

The best caption plugins for After Effects and Premiere

Nine ways to get animated captions inside Adobe, compared on the things that change your edit: which host they run in, what they leave on your timeline, how many looks they ship, how they transcribe, and how you pay.

Reviewed October 2026. We make MotionCaption. Every fact about another plugin was read on its own site.

The short answer

For After Effects, or for both hosts: MotionCaption or Captioneer. Both run in After Effects and Premiere and both sell a one-time licence. MotionCaption ships the larger ready-made library and adds cleanup tools. Captioneer lets you build your own MoGRT templates.
For automating the whole rough cut in Premiere or DaVinci Resolve: FireCut or AutoCut. Captions are one feature in a subscription that also cuts silences and edits podcasts.
For the lowest price in Premiere: Caption Plug, a one-time purchase, or Premiere's built-in captions, which cost nothing extra.
For traditional subtitles: Premiere's built-in captions.

Side by side

Nine options in one table

Where a vendor's site does not state something, the cell says so.

Plugin	Runs in	What lands on your timeline	Ready-made looks	Transcription	Price
MotionCaption	After Effects 2023+ and Premiere 2023+	Native text layers in After Effects, down to one layer per word. One MoGRT clip in Premiere that splits per caption.	330+ animated presets in After Effects, 80+ in Premiere, word by word	Its own. Local Whisper with no credits and no minute limit, or cloud AI at 1 credit per started minute. 99 languages.	$99 one-time (founding price until November 30, then $149). Optional Pro at $15 a month. 7-day free trial.
Captioneer	After Effects and Premiere, 2022+	MoGRT clips in Premiere. Text layers or Essential Graphics precomps in After Effects.	15+ caption styles, and you can use your own .mogrt files	Its own, local models saved on your machine. Unlimited captions. Whisper in 99+ supported languages.	$150 one-time with all future updates, or $15 a month. Two-week free trial.
SubMachine	Premiere 2022+. After Effects is used to edit or build templates.	MoGRT clips in Premiere	9 templates, word by word	Works from an SRT file. Its page names no transcription engine of its own.	$8 a month, $80 a year, or $150 perpetual. Free trial.
FireCut	Premiere 2022+ and DaVinci Resolve	Images on the timeline, which FireCut chooses over MoGRTs for quick previews	Caption templates and animations. Its site gives no count.	Its own, 50+ languages. Plans include a number of hours each month.	Subscription, with lifetime pricing on request. 7-day free trial.
AutoCut	Premiere (2023 to 2026) and DaVinci Resolve 18.6+	Word-by-word captions on your timeline. Its current help pages do not name the format.	Your own saved presets and community presets. Its site gives no count.	Its own, 80+ languages	Subscription only. Two-week free trial.
Caption Plug	Premiere	Transparent PNG sequences on a new video track, or an editable Premiere caption track	45 caption presets, word by word	Its own, a bundled local Whisper model that works offline	$14.99 one-time
CaptionX	Premiere. Its site also lists After Effects and DaVinci Resolve.	Captions on your Premiere timeline. Its site does not name the format.	8 caption styles	Its own, 100 supported languages, unlimited use on the paid plan	Subscription, $13.95 a month or $139 a year. Free to try.
Mister Horse Automatic Captions	Premiere 2025 or newer, inside Animation Composer	Animated captions in your sequence. Its page does not name the format.	131 items: 102 foundations and 29 styled looks	Uses Premiere's own transcript, with no minute limit	Part of the Mister Horse paid plan, $19.90 a month or $198 a year
Premiere's built-in captions	Premiere	A caption track, styled as a whole track	Fill, stroke and shadow styles you save and reuse. A Single Word layout shows one word at a time.	Speech to Text, built in, with language packs you download	Included with Premiere

MotionCaption

Runs in: After Effects 2023+ and Premiere 2023+
What lands on your timeline: Native text layers in After Effects, down to one layer per word. One MoGRT clip in Premiere that splits per caption.
Ready-made looks: 330+ animated presets in After Effects, 80+ in Premiere, word by word
Transcription: Its own. Local Whisper with no credits and no minute limit, or cloud AI at 1 credit per started minute. 99 languages.
Price: $99 one-time (founding price until November 30, then $149). Optional Pro at $15 a month. 7-day free trial.

Captioneer

Runs in: After Effects and Premiere, 2022+
What lands on your timeline: MoGRT clips in Premiere. Text layers or Essential Graphics precomps in After Effects.
Ready-made looks: 15+ caption styles, and you can use your own .mogrt files
Transcription: Its own, local models saved on your machine. Unlimited captions. Whisper in 99+ supported languages.
Price: $150 one-time with all future updates, or $15 a month. Two-week free trial.

SubMachine

Runs in: Premiere 2022+. After Effects is used to edit or build templates.
What lands on your timeline: MoGRT clips in Premiere
Ready-made looks: 9 templates, word by word
Transcription: Works from an SRT file. Its page names no transcription engine of its own.
Price: $8 a month, $80 a year, or $150 perpetual. Free trial.

FireCut

Runs in: Premiere 2022+ and DaVinci Resolve
What lands on your timeline: Images on the timeline, which FireCut chooses over MoGRTs for quick previews
Ready-made looks: Caption templates and animations. Its site gives no count.
Transcription: Its own, 50+ languages. Plans include a number of hours each month.
Price: Subscription, with lifetime pricing on request. 7-day free trial.

AutoCut

Runs in: Premiere (2023 to 2026) and DaVinci Resolve 18.6+
What lands on your timeline: Word-by-word captions on your timeline. Its current help pages do not name the format.
Ready-made looks: Your own saved presets and community presets. Its site gives no count.
Transcription: Its own, 80+ languages
Price: Subscription only. Two-week free trial.

Caption Plug

Runs in: Premiere
What lands on your timeline: Transparent PNG sequences on a new video track, or an editable Premiere caption track
Ready-made looks: 45 caption presets, word by word
Transcription: Its own, a bundled local Whisper model that works offline
Price: $14.99 one-time

CaptionX

Runs in: Premiere. Its site also lists After Effects and DaVinci Resolve.
What lands on your timeline: Captions on your Premiere timeline. Its site does not name the format.
Ready-made looks: 8 caption styles
Transcription: Its own, 100 supported languages, unlimited use on the paid plan
Price: Subscription, $13.95 a month or $139 a year. Free to try.

Mister Horse Automatic Captions

Runs in: Premiere 2025 or newer, inside Animation Composer
What lands on your timeline: Animated captions in your sequence. Its page does not name the format.
Ready-made looks: 131 items: 102 foundations and 29 styled looks
Transcription: Uses Premiere's own transcript, with no minute limit
Price: Part of the Mister Horse paid plan, $19.90 a month or $198 a year

Premiere's built-in captions

Runs in: Premiere
What lands on your timeline: A caption track, styled as a whole track
Ready-made looks: Fill, stroke and shadow styles you save and reuse. A Single Word layout shows one word at a time.
Transcription: Speech to Text, built in, with language packs you download
Price: Included with Premiere

The deciding question

What is left on your timeline

Every plugin here puts animated words on screen. They differ in what those words are made of, and that decides how you fix a typo the night before delivery.

Text layers in After Effects

The caption is an ordinary After Effects text layer. You change the font, animate it, add effects or write expressions with the tools you already use, and a typo is a text edit.

MotionCaption, Captioneer

MoGRT clips in Premiere

The caption is a Motion Graphics Template clip. The text stays live, and you change the properties the template publishes. MotionCaption puts the whole caption track on one clip and can split it per caption.

MotionCaption, Captioneer, SubMachine

Image clips

The caption is rendered to images or a PNG sequence on its own track. Playback is quick because there is nothing left to render. To change a word you go back to the plugin and generate that caption again.

FireCut, Caption Plug

A Premiere caption track

The caption lives on Premiere's own caption track. The text is editable in the Text panel and exports as a subtitle file. Styling applies to the track, with fill, stroke and shadow.

Premiere's built-in captions, Caption Plug

One by one

Each plugin, and who it suits

A short description of each, and the editor it fits best.

MotionCaption

Our plugin, so read this entry knowing that. It transcribes your audio, times every word, and builds animated captions in After Effects and Premiere. In After Effects the captions are native text layers. In Premiere they ride on one MoGRT clip that ships with the plugin and imports itself. The same panel also removes silences, filler words and repeated takes, retimes captions, and adds zooms, emojis and highlighted words.

Best for: Editors who work in After Effects, or in both hosts, and want a large library of animated looks plus the cleanup tools in one licence.

See the captions panel

Captioneer

A captions-only plugin for both hosts, built around Motion Graphics Templates. It ships 15+ styles and accepts your own .mogrt files, so a motion designer can build a caption system and reuse it. Transcription runs on local models with no credit system anywhere in the product.

Best for: Motion designers who want to build their own MoGRT caption templates and keep everything local.

Official site MotionCaption vs Captioneer

SubMachine

A Premiere tool that turns an SRT file into word-by-word animated captions on MoGRT templates. It ships 9 templates, and you edit or build templates in After Effects.

Best for: Premiere editors who already have an SRT and want a small set of MoGRT templates at a low monthly price.

Official site MotionCaption vs SubMachine

FireCut

An AI editing suite for Premiere and DaVinci Resolve. Captions are one feature beside silence removal, zoom cuts, B-roll, chapters, podcast multicam and automatic shorts. Its captions land as images, which FireCut says preview quickly and can still be edited from its panel.

Best for: Premiere or DaVinci Resolve editors who want one subscription that automates the whole rough cut.

Official site MotionCaption vs FireCut

AutoCut

An editing-automation plugin for Premiere and DaVinci Resolve. It cuts silences, switches podcast cameras, adds zooms and B-roll, finds viral clips, and generates word-by-word animated captions in 80+ languages.

Best for: Editors who want silence cutting, podcast editing and captions from one subscription, in Premiere or DaVinci Resolve.

Official site MotionCaption vs AutoCut

Caption Plug

A low-priced caption plugin for Premiere. A bundled local Whisper model transcribes offline, and the animated captions render as transparent PNG sequences on a new track. It can output a native Premiere caption track instead, where the text stays editable.

Best for: Premiere editors who want animated captions at the lowest one-time price.

Official site

CaptionX

A caption and subtitle tool with a Premiere plugin and a browser studio. It offers 8 caption styles, transcription in 100 supported languages, and extra tools such as a silence remover and a subtitle translator.

Best for: Editors who want subtitles in many languages and a browser option beside the plugin.

Official site

Mister Horse Automatic Captions

A caption pack inside Animation Composer, the Mister Horse plugin for Premiere. Premiere transcribes and the pack animates the result, with 131 items to preview before you apply one. It comes with the Mister Horse paid plan, which also includes thousands of other assets.

Best for: Premiere editors who already use Animation Composer and want captions in the same library.

Official site

Premiere's built-in captions

Premiere transcribes your sequence and creates a caption track with no extra purchase. You style the whole track with fill, stroke and shadow, save the style, and export subtitles in standard formats. For interviews, corporate work and traditional subtitles it often covers the whole job.

Best for: Traditional subtitles, and anyone who wants to try captions before buying a plugin.

Official site

Common questions

Choosing a caption plugin

The questions editors ask before they pick one.

What is the best caption plugin for After Effects?

Two of the plugins on this page run inside After Effects and document it in detail: MotionCaption and Captioneer. Both insert text layers there. MotionCaption ships 330+ animated presets and times every word. Captioneer ships 15+ styles and can insert Essential Graphics precomps. CaptionX also lists After Effects on its site. FireCut, AutoCut, SubMachine, Caption Plug and Mister Horse Automatic Captions are built for Premiere.

What is the best caption plugin for Premiere?

It depends on what you want left on the timeline. MotionCaption, Captioneer and SubMachine use MoGRT clips, where the text stays live. FireCut and Caption Plug render image clips, which play back quickly. Premiere's built-in captions use a caption track and cost nothing extra. MotionCaption ships 80+ looks on one MoGRT that installs itself, and Mister Horse lists 131 items for Premiere 2025 or newer.

Which caption plugins are a one-time purchase?

MotionCaption ($99 one-time (founding price until November 30, then $149)), Captioneer ($150), SubMachine ($150 perpetual) and Caption Plug ($14.99). AutoCut, CaptionX and Mister Horse Automatic Captions are subscriptions. FireCut is a subscription with lifetime pricing on request.

Which caption plugins transcribe with no minute limit?

MotionCaption, Captioneer and Caption Plug transcribe on your own machine with local models, so there is no per-minute charge. Mister Horse Automatic Captions uses Premiere's own transcript and does not meter minutes. CaptionX lists unlimited use on its paid plan. FireCut plans include a number of hours each month. MotionCaption also offers cloud transcription, which uses 1 credit per started minute and is optional.

Do I need a plugin, or are Premiere's built-in captions enough?

For traditional subtitles, interviews and corporate videos, the built-in captions are often enough. They transcribe, create a caption track, and style the whole track with fill, stroke and shadow. A plugin earns its price when you want animated word-by-word looks, ready-made styles, or captions inside After Effects.

Which caption plugins work in DaVinci Resolve?

FireCut and AutoCut both run in DaVinci Resolve as well as Premiere, and CaptionX lists DaVinci Resolve on its site. MotionCaption and Captioneer run in After Effects and Premiere.

How this page is kept: each plugin's hosts, output, style count, transcription and pricing model come from its own site, on the date above. Prices change, so check the vendor's page before you buy.

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