Captions Pricing 2026: Every Plan, Cost, and Hidden Limit

Captions pricing 2026 is harder to pin down than most creators expect. The app now sells credits, seats and AI usage tiers instead of one flat editing subscription, and official pages quote different numbers by region and platform. The sticker price is therefore a poor guide to what you will actually pay each month.

This guide breaks down every Captions plan, the credit costs behind each one, and the limits that inflate the real price. It also compares a direct subscription with Toolsurf’s $2/Day access, so you can match the spend to your publishing schedule instead of guessing.

Captions is officially branded Captions by Mirage, and it remains a mobile-first product aimed at short-form vertical video. Everything below reflects what official pages and app store listings showed at the time of writing (September 2026), with conflicts flagged rather than smoothed over.

Why Captions Pricing Looks Different in 2026

Captions began as a captioning tool and expanded into an AI creative studio for social video. The company behind it rebranded to Mirage previously and merged the app with Mirage Studio, which unified avatar creation and editing inside one product. In March 2026 the company raised $75 million in growth financing from General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund, and the app was updated to version 13.31.0 on August 21, 2026.

Two structural changes matter more than the marketing, because both explain why the price list looks less stable than it did a year ago.

The Pro Plan Was Renamed Basic

Captions renamed its entry paid tier from Pro to Basic, and official pages state that the features and the $9.99/month price stayed the same. Several independent trackers still publish the old Pro label, so the same tier appears under two different names depending on where you look.

Teams and Business Plans Were Retired

The current lineup is Max, Scale, Scale 2x and Scale 4x, and the older team tiers are gone. Existing Teams and Business customers can now add seats without the previous $40 per seat charge, and they can buy top-up credits separately when a month runs hot.

Prices Shift With Region and Platform

Official help pages state that prices vary by region and platform, and the published comparison tables reflect iOS plans. An Android-only Lite tier exists at $4.99/month, and it cannot be restored on iOS or desktop without a separate Basic, Max or Scale subscription.

Captions Pricing 2026: Every Plan in One Table

The table below shows the full lineup at the time of writing (September 2026). Seats and credits are listed where official pages publish them.

The Max row deserves a second look. The official English help center states that Max costs $29.99, while the official Spanish help center and the Mirage billing page list $24.99. An app store in-app purchase listing dated September 5, 2026 shows $29.99 for a monthly Max subscription.

That disagreement is not a reading error on your part. It reflects regional pricing and platform-level purchase rates, which is why two creators in different countries can be quoted different numbers for identical credits.

What You Get on Each Captions Tier

Headline prices only make sense next to the feature set. The real differences between tiers are about generative AI, not about captions or basic editing.

Free and Lite

The Free plan includes 60 to 200 lifetime credits depending on region, one caption template called Eclipse, and exports for Captions, Camera, Trim, Zoom, Sounds, Media, Voiceover, Transitions and Resize Video. Every other feature triggers an upgrade prompt. The Spanish-language official page lists the Free plan as watermark-free, while several third-party reviewers say free exports carry a Captions watermark, and that conflict remains unresolved.

Basic (Formerly Pro)

Basic costs $9.99/month, and official Spanish help pages list 200 credits that renew each month. It covers project creation, watermark-free exports, up to 2 AI Twins, AI Ads, Lipdub, AI Shorts, Reddit to Video, Script Generator, Camera and Teleprompter, Caption and Dub, plus AI editing tools such as Eye Contact, Denoise, Censor, Zoom, Voiceover, Title Card and Trim. One independent source notes that this tier’s AI credit count is not consistently published, so users can reach a limit inside the app without warning.

Max

Max includes 500 credits that renew monthly and everything from Free and Basic, plus Chat to Edit, AI Edit, Clips, Mirage-generated actors and up to 30 AI Twins. It allows up to two concurrent video generations and unlocks selectable models for AI-generated media, sound effects and music. That model list includes Flux 1.1 Pro, Luma Photon, Stable Diffusion 3.5, Ideogram 1.0, Google Imagen 3, OpenAI DALL-E 3 HD and OpenAI GPT-4o.

Scale, Scale 2x, Scale 4x and Enterprise

Scale costs $69.99/month with 1,400 credits, three times the AI usage and faster generations, and it can expand to 2x or 4x when the limit is reached. Scale 2x costs $139.99/month with 2,800 credits, and Scale 4x costs $279.99/month with 5,600 credits, with seats rising from three to four and five. Enterprise is quoted by sales and includes bulk credit discounts, custom seats, a dedicated account management team, training-data exclusion, onboarding and priority training, and early beta access. SOC 2 Type 2 compliance is claimed for the platform.

Monthly vs Annual Billing on Captions

Annual billing exists, but the official pages reviewed in August 2026 do not publish fixed annual dollar amounts. Captions states only that yearly billing carries an automatic discount compared with twelve monthly payments. Website monthly plans are non-refundable, and subscriptions renew automatically until you cancel in Settings, then Billing, then Manage Plan, then Cancel Subscription.

Independent trackers estimate annual savings of roughly 15 to 20 percent, which is a reasonable planning figure rather than an official one. If a fixed annual price matters to your budget, treat any published percentage as an estimate and confirm the number inside your own account before committing.

Credits Are the Real Price of Captions

Credits are consumed per action, per model, per second and per actor, so two creators on the same plan can extract very different value from it. The published consumption rates below show why a headline price hides the true cost of a finished video.

Unused credits do not accumulate indefinitely either. Rollover is capped at three times the monthly allowance, which means a Max subscriber can hold a maximum of 1,500 credits before the rest expires.

That cap is the detail casual buyers miss most often. A plan that looks generous on paper can feel tight once actor regeneration and multi-second video generation become part of a normal week.

Hidden Costs and Limits Beyond the Sticker Price

Beyond the plan table, captions pricing 2026 includes several costs and constraints that surface after you subscribe rather than before.

• Website monthly plans are non-refundable, so a plan that does not fit your workflow cannot be reclaimed.
• Reviewers report being billed after cancelling, because the app cancellation and the Stripe subscription may each need handling.
• The Free plan has no monthly generative AI credits, which makes AI features impossible to evaluate before paying.
• Published comparisons reflect iOS plans, so Android and desktop users may see different features, formats, duration limits and resolutions.
• API access is billed separately at $0.15 per minute for AI video captions and $0.15 per second for Mirage Avatar X generation.
• One tracker cites a Trustpilot rating of 3.9 out of 5 across 213 reviews, which hints at mixed billing experiences.
• Review summaries note that the subscription feels expensive for casual creators and hobbyist users.
• AI Eye Contact correction occasionally looks unnatural, and every AI feature needs a stable internet connection.
• The platform is designed for short-form vertical video rather than long-form or documentary pacing.

Is Captions Pricing 2026 Worth Paying For?

Captions is worth the money when you produce short-form talking-head video weekly and use the AI features that start at Max. Automatic captions in more than 100 languages, word-by-word styling, eye-contact correction and lip-synced dubbing replace several separate tools for that specific job. The value collapses if you mainly need trimming, resizing and a caption template, because the Free plan already covers that ground.

The honest test is credits per month rather than dollars per month. Estimate how many AI-generated clips, avatar regenerations and chat edits you will run, then compare that number against the 500 credits included with Max.

It also pays to examine the subscription model itself before committing to a year of renewals. A practical comparison of group buy vs individual subscription economics explains why many creators now mix both approaches instead of paying full price for every tool in their stack.

How Toolsurf’s $2/Day Access Compares

Toolsurf sells group buy access to premium SaaS tools through 1-Click Cloud Access in the browser. Members open a tool without installing anything and pay $2/Day instead of a recurring monthly subscription. Toolsurf advertises 99.9% uptime and zero browser extension setup, which keeps the workflow light on shared or borrowed machines.

For anyone who edits in bursts, the difference is straightforward. A Captions subscription renews whether you publish or not, while Toolsurf charges only for the days you log in. Creators who want that arrangement can review how a Captions group buy works before committing to a monthly plan.

Cheaper Alternatives for Short-Form Editing

Captions is not the cheapest way to cut a vertical video, and it does not try to be. If your workflow is mostly trimming, resizing, adding captions and applying a template, a general editor covers it for far less. Many creators keep one AI tool for avatars and dubbing, then handle the actual cutting somewhere cheaper.

CapCut is the common second tool for that job, and CapCut Pro account access costs a fraction of a Captions Scale plan. Pairing a low-cost editor with occasional AI access usually beats upgrading to a tier you will never fill with credits.

Pros & Cons of Captions in 2026

Who Should Use Captions in 2026?

Mobile-First Solo Creators

If you film on a phone and publish vertical clips several times a week, Captions is built around your workflow. The mobile app handles captioning, trimming and export without a desktop step, and the Free plan is enough to test the basics before you pay. Max becomes the tier to budget for once AI features enter your process.

Founders, Coaches and Creators Who Avoid the Camera

AI Twins, the Script Generator and lip-synced dubbing let you publish without filming every video yourself. Basic supports up to 2 AI Twins while Max supports up to 30, which is a large jump for anyone producing content in volume. This group gets the clearest return from a paid tier.

Small Teams and Agencies Sharing a Calendar

Scale includes 3 seats, Scale 2x includes 4 and Scale 4x includes 5, so a small team can share credits under one billing relationship. Agencies that also need corporate explainer avatars often run a second platform alongside it, and a Synthesia AI avatar group buy is a common pairing for that type of work. Seat counts change the per-person math considerably when comparing tiers.

Budget-Conscious Occasional Creators

If you post once or twice a month, the paid tiers rarely pay for themselves. Non-refundable monthly billing and credit caps punish irregular schedules, and the Free plan’s lifetime credits run out quickly. A pay-per-day access model or a cheaper editing tool fits sporadic publishing far better than a subscription that renews through quiet months.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) – Captions in 2026

How much does Captions cost per month in 2026?

At the time of writing (September 2026), Basic costs $9.99/month, Max is listed at $24.99 or $29.99 depending on the official page, and Scale costs $69.99/month. Scale 2x is $139.99/month and Scale 4x is $279.99/month. The Android-only Lite tier costs $4.99/month, and the Free plan costs nothing. Prices vary by region and platform.

Is there a free version of Captions?

Yes. The Free plan includes 60 to 200 lifetime credits depending on region, one caption template called Eclipse, and exports for basic features such as Captions, Camera, Trim, Zoom, Sounds, Transitions and Resize Video. It has no monthly generative AI allowance, so AI tools stay locked. Third-party reviewers say free exports carry a watermark, while the Spanish-language official page says they do not.

Why do official sources list different prices for the Max plan?

The official English help center states that Max costs $29.99, while the official Spanish help center and the Mirage billing page list $24.99. An app store listing dated September 5, 2026 shows $29.99 for a monthly Max subscription. The difference reflects regional pricing and platform-level in-app purchase rates rather than a temporary promotional discount.

Does Captions offer annual billing?

Yes, annual billing exists and carries an automatic discount compared with twelve monthly payments. The official pages reviewed in August 2026 do not publish fixed annual dollar amounts, so the exact saving cannot be calculated in advance. Independent trackers estimate a 15 to 20 percent discount, but treat that as an estimate rather than a published price.

What are Captions credits, and how quickly do they run out?

Credits pay for generative AI actions. Prompt to Video consumes 16 credits per 6 seconds of output, AI Creator, AI Ads and AI Skits consume 1 credit per second, an AI Edit costs 10 to 40 credits, and regenerating an actor costs 40 credits. Max includes 500 credits per month, so heavy AI use hits the limit faster than the headline number suggests.

Can I cancel a Captions subscription and get a refund?

Cancellation runs through Settings, then Billing, then Manage Plan, then Cancel Subscription. Website monthly plans are non-refundable, so a plan that does not suit you cannot be reclaimed. Reviewers also report being billed for months after attempting to cancel, because the in-app cancellation and the Stripe subscription may need to be handled separately.

Is Captions worth paying for if I only post occasionally?

Usually not. The paid tiers make sense when you produce short-form video weekly and use AI features that start at Max. Occasional creators often find that the Free plan’s lifetime credits run out quickly and that a non-refundable monthly subscription costs more than the content it produces. A pay-per-day model or a cheaper editing tool fits irregular schedules better.

How does Toolsurf’s $2/Day access compare with a Captions subscription?

Toolsurf charges $2/Day for 1-Click Cloud Access to premium tools in the browser, with 99.9% uptime and no browser extension to install. A Captions subscription renews monthly whether you publish or not, and monthly website plans are non-refundable. Toolsurf suits creators who work in bursts, while a direct subscription suits teams producing content every single day.

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