Use Cases
September 3, 2025

8 best AI subtitle generators for 2025

In this article, we examine AI subtitle generators, including what they are, how they work, pros and cons, and the eight best AI subtitle generators to use in 2025.

Kelsey Foster
Growth
Kelsey Foster
Growth
Reviewed by
Ryan O'Connor
Senior Developer Educator
Ryan O'Connor
Senior Developer Educator
Table of contents

Standard video editing platforms provide basic video editing functions, like trimming and resizing, in an easy-to-use UI. Many platforms have added advanced AI-powered features—such as AI subtitle generators—that make it even easier to edit and publish a video. AI subtitle generators augment videos using state-of-the-art AI models that automatically add highly accurate subtitles to videos prior to publishing, a trend reflected in a recent Gallup study which found that 93% of Fortune 500 CHROs are using AI to improve business practices.

In this article, we examine AI subtitle generators more closely, including what they are, how they work, their business impact and ROI, industry applications, pros and cons, and the eight best AI subtitle generators to use in 2025.

What are AI subtitle generators?

AI subtitle generators are automated systems that convert spoken audio from videos into accurate text captions using speech recognition technology. These tools eliminate manual transcription work while ensuring videos meet accessibility requirements and improve search engine optimization.

Typically, AI subtitle generators follow a multi-step process:

  1. User uploads a video file.
  2. AI subtitle generator applies an AI model to auto-generate subtitles.
  3. User edits the subtitles for accuracy, where necessary.
  4. User changes the way the subtitles are displayed (style, animation, color, font, etc.).
  5. User exports the video with hardcoded subtitles.

Most of the AI subtitle generators listed in this article can also detect and transcribe videos across many global languages for even greater reach and accessibility.

How do AI subtitle generators work?

Most AI subtitle generators utilize state-of-the-art AI models for speech recognition to convert speech to text via a simple API. These speech recognition models are trained on large amounts of audio data to automate a previously manual process without sacrificing accuracy.

For example, AssemblyAI's Universal speech recognition model is trained on a massive dataset, enabling it to approach human-level performance on real-world audio data.

The AI subtitle generator then takes this data and outputs a transcription text that is displayed as the speaker speaks throughout the video. Under the hood, this generally works by converting the AI model's output transcript into an SRT or VTT file. As previously mentioned, users can also edit the subtitle text, change the font or size, add animations, or translate the transcription into multiple languages.

Business impact and ROI of AI subtitle generation

AI subtitle generation delivers measurable business value through cost reduction and expanded reach. Organizations typically see 75-90% cost savings compared to manual transcription services.

Metric Manual Process AI-Powered Process Improvement
Cost per minute $3-7 $0.30-0.70 80-90% reduction
Processing time 4-6x video length 1-2x video length 60-75% faster
Accuracy rate 95-99% 85-95% Comparable quality

This transformation creates value through:

  • Reduce operational costs: Eliminate the need for manual transcription services, freeing up budget for other initiatives.
  • Accelerate time to market: Generate subtitles in minutes rather than hours or days, enabling faster content publishing schedules.
  • Improve compliance and accessibility: Consistently add subtitles to all video content to meet federal accessibility laws like ADA, WCAG, and Section 504.
  • Expand audience reach: Capture viewers who watch videos on mute, particularly on social media platforms where most videos are watched without sound. According to viewer behavior data, 69% of people watch videos without sound in public places.
  • Enhance SEO performance: Make video content searchable and indexable by search engines, improving discoverability and organic discovery by allowing search engines to crawl the text for relevant keywords.
Slash Subtitling Costs With AI

Reduce spend by 80–90% versus manual transcription. Generate accurate transcripts for subtitles in minutes with AssemblyAI’s Speech-to-Text.

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Industry applications for AI subtitle generation

Different industries achieve specific ROI outcomes with AI subtitle generation:

  • Media and Entertainment: Production companies reduce post-production time by 60% using automated subtitling. Platforms like Veed build their competitive advantage on Speech AI capabilities.
  • Education and E-Learning: Universities achieve 100% accessibility compliance while reducing transcription budgets by 80%, partly to avoid high-profile legal cases related to uncaptioned online content. Companies like Jamworks demonstrate measurable learning outcome improvements.
  • Corporate Communications: Enterprises ensure consistent messaging across global teams while reducing training video production costs by 40-50%.
  • Marketing and Sales: Social media campaigns see higher engagement with properly subtitled content, and recent analysis suggests videos with captions are shared 15% more than those without. Sales analysis platforms like CallSource extract actionable insights from call recordings.

Pros and cons of using an AI subtitle generator

When evaluating whether or not to invest in an AI subtitle generator, there are several pros and cons to consider.

Pros

  1. Accuracy: While some online video platforms like YouTube now have automatic subtitle generation built-in, the accuracy of such tools lags behind the state-of-the-art offered by top-tier AI subtitle generators. If you want your subtitles to be auto-generated at high accuracy, it's best to look for a third-party provider.
  2. Accessibility: Adding subtitles increases accessibility for all viewers, especially since nearly 85% of all viewers watch videos posted to social media platforms without sound.
  3. Searchability: By subtitling your video, you allow search engines to crawl the text of the video itself, increasing its organic search potential.
  4. Streamlined Workflow: If you're already performing post-production edits and enhancements to your video, it's a simple step to add subtitles through a video editing platform as well.

Cons

  1. Pricing: Some of the top AI subtitle generators come with a hefty price tag, especially if you are just planning to use the tool solely for adding subtitles to videos.
  2. Additional features: If you just need subtitles added to a video, you may not want to have to sift through the additional features offered by the platform to find what you need. As noted above, these additional features typically come with a higher price tag as well.
  3. Time: Adding subtitles through an AI subtitle generator is one additional step you have to take before uploading a video.

8 best AI subtitle generators for 2025

Now that we have examined what AI subtitles are and how they work, let's dive deeper into the best AI subtitle generators available today.

Tool Free Tier Starting Price Key Strength Best For
Veed 10 min video, 5 min subtitles $12/month 100+ languages Social media creators
Headliner 1 video, 10 min captions $7.99/month Audiogram creation Podcast producers
Descript Limited trial $12/month All-in-one editing Content teams
Kapwing 10 min/month $16/month Team collaboration Marketing teams
SubtitleBee Limited trial $19/month 120+ languages Global creators
Flixier 10 min/month $14/month Full editing suite Video producers
Media.io No subtitle feature $6.99/month 90 languages Budget-conscious users
Vidyo.AI 75 min/month $24/month Content repurposing Social media agencies

Veed

Veed is a video editing platform that users can use to add audio, add emojis and stickers, remove backgrounds, remove watermarks, add visual effects, dubb voices, and more.

Veed's auto subtitle generator automatically generates closed captions and adds them to videos in minutes, and can detect over 100 different languages and accents. The generator also lets users animate the subtitles and add highlights before downloading the subtitled video as a TEXT or SRT file.

Pricing

Users can create videos up to 10 minutes long and complete five minutes of subtitle generation for free. Additional video processing and translation can be purchased starting at $12 a month for the Lite plan, $29 a month for the Pro plan, and additional pricing options for enterprise needs.

Users can sign up for a free account here.

Headliner

Headliner is another online editing app designed to help creators promote podcasts, create audiograms, and caption videos. With Headliner's easy-to-use online interface, users can either choose to turn audio content into shareable videos via its audiogram function, or to adjust video clips with its online video editing tools, including captioning a video.

For audiograms, users can input a direct link to a podcast episode, choose a visual template to display, and add subtitles. Like Veed, users can also edit the subtitles themselves and change the way in which they are displayed.

Pricing

Users can get 1 unwatermarked video, 2 hours of transcription (audio/video) per month, and 10 minutes of video captioning per month for free. Headliner's basic plan includes up to 10 unwatermarked videos for $7.99 per month or users can choose to transcribe full episodes of up to 15 hours for $19.99 per month.

Users can sign up for a free account here.

Descript

Descript is an all-in-one podcast and video editing platform that offers features such as transcription, podcasting, screen recording, social clips and templates, overdub, studio sound, filler word removal, eye contact, and subtitles and captions.

Descript's subtitle and caption feature lets users transcribe podcasts and videos in minutes and then adjust font, color, positioning, background, and more. Transcriptions are offered in 22 languages and speakers can automatically be detected (also referred to as speaker diarization).

Pricing

Interested users can sign up for the Hobbyist plan at $12/month to unlock 10 transcription hours, the Creator plan at $24/month to unlock 30 transcription hours, or the Business plan at $40/month to unlock 40 transcription hours.

Users interested in trying Descript can sign up for free here.

Kapwing

Kapwing is a video creation platform designed to help teams produce and publish content faster. Kapwing offers a host of AI-powered tools, including text-to-speech, silence removal, AI video generation, document-to-video, background noise removal, AI image generation, and auto-subtitle generation.

With one click, Kapwing's auto-subtitle generation users can create accurate subtitles for videos. Users can then tailor the look and feel of the subtitle by editing fonts, adjusting backgrounds and opacity, and adding animated effects.

   Build Subtitles Into Your App

     Skip heavy editors. Use AssemblyAI’s API to generate accurate, time-stamped transcripts you can convert into captions across your workflow.

Sign up now


Pricing

Users can access up to 10 minutes of its auto subtitler per month for free. For $16 per month, this increases to 300 minutes and for $50 per month, this increases to 900 minutes.

Users can sign up to try Kapwing for free here.

SubtitleBee

SubtitleBee is a basic online platform for easily adding captions and subtitles to videos. SubtitleBee recognizes more than 120 languages to auto-generate subtitles, or subtitles can be translated into a different language via a "translate subtitles button." Users can also change the color, background, and font for subtitles to meet various aesthetic needs.

Pricing

Users can access a free trial version of SubtitleBee for free with limited features. Additional packages start at $19 per month and increase to $129 per month, depending on the features and volume needed.

Users can sign up for SubtitleBee for free here.

Flixier

Flixier is a full-featured online video editing platform that helps users add audio, images, subtitles, and text to videos, as well as to perform video editing functions such as to blur, crop, cut, speed up/down, and more.

Flixier's subtitle generator tool automatically adds subtitles to videos within minutes. Users then have the option to edit the subtitle text, change the font, alter the subtitle timing, change the display location, and more.

Pricing

Users can expect up to 10 minutes of video per month for free. This increases to 300 minutes of video per month and 60 minutes of subtitles with the $14 pro plan. The business plan unlocks 600 minutes of videos and 180 minutes of subtitles at $29.99 per month.

Users can sign up for a free account here.

Media.io

Media.io is a platform for online video, audio, and image AI tools. With Media.io, users can enhance videos, remove watermarks, remove backgrounds, edit videos, add visual effects, change video color, and more.

Media.io's auto subtitle generator lets users create subtitles at high accuracy and translate subtitles in up to 90 different languages. Users can also change the font type, size, color, border, opacity, layout, and more.

Pricing

Pricing for Media.io's AI tools starts at $6.99 per month for its standard plan and $12.99 for its Premium plan, billed yearly. A free trial is offered for three AI tools, though subtitle generation is not supported.

Users can sign up for a free account here.

Vidyo.AI

Vidyo.AI is an AI-based content repurposing and video editing platform with features such as AI captions, content repurposing, video resizing, video clipping, auto video chapters, Alex Hormozi captions, scene change detection, and Grant Cardone captions.

Vidyo.AI's AI caption and subtitle generator can automatically select, edit, and caption top moments from a user's video. Users can also edit the captions based on the platform, format, and template requirements.

Pricing

Users can receive up to 75 minutes of video upload monthly for free. This increases to 150 minutes per month with the $24 Lite plan, with additional plans at $33/month (Essential), and $49/month (Growth).

Users can sign up for a free account here.

Implementation strategies for different organization types

Individual creators and small businesses

Online video editing platforms offer the fastest implementation path with zero coding required. Most creators can start generating subtitles within 24-48 hours of signup.

Success factors include:

  • Platform selection: Choose accuracy over features you won't use
  • Volume planning: Match subscription tiers to monthly video output
  • Quality workflows: Establish review processes for accuracy

Startups and development teams

The critical decision for tech-savvy teams is whether to build subtitle capabilities in-house or integrate a third-party API. Building competitive speech recognition models requires substantial resources and expertise that most startups can't justify. This sentiment is echoed in advice from founders, with one recommending to 'Use an AI provider for as long as possible. The technology is evolving quickly—you won't be able to keep pace with your own tech.'

Integrating with a specialized Speech AI API like AssemblyAI allows you to add highly accurate subtitling features to your application quickly. This approach scales with your growth while letting your team focus on your product's unique value proposition.

Enterprise organizations

Large enterprises need solutions that handle volume while meeting strict security and compliance requirements. An enterprise-grade API ensures consistent quality across thousands of videos while maintaining necessary certifications like SOC 2.

The implementation strategy should include clear governance policies, integration with existing DAM systems, and training programs to ensure adoption across teams.

Transform your video workflow with AI subtitle generation

AI-powered subtitles transform video production from a manual, time-intensive process into an automated workflow that delivers measurable business results. The technology has matured beyond basic transcription to provide enterprise-grade accuracy and reliability.

For organizations ready to build custom subtitling capabilities into their applications, dedicated Speech AI APIs provide the highest accuracy and most flexible integration options. Try our API for free to experience industry-leading speech-to-text accuracy that powers professional subtitle generation.

Frequently asked questions about AI subtitle generators

How accurate are AI subtitle generators compared to human transcription?

Advanced AI models achieve 85-95% accuracy, approaching human-level performance for clear audio. Specialized Speech AI platforms significantly outperform free tools that struggle with background noise and technical terminology.

Can AI subtitle generators handle multiple speakers in one video?

Yes, through speaker diarization technology that identifies who is speaking when. This feature works best with dedicated APIs rather than basic online tools.

What's the difference between burned-in subtitles and subtitle files?

Burned-in subtitles are permanently embedded in video (ideal for social media), while subtitle files (SRT/VTT) remain separate and can be toggled on/off. Most AI generators support both formats.

How much time does AI subtitle generation typically save?

Organizations reduce subtitle creation time by 60-75%, transforming hours of manual work into minutes of automated processing. This efficiency is critical, as a 2024 survey found that cost, performance, and accuracy are the top three factors teams consider when choosing an AI vendor.

Do AI subtitle generators work with languages other than English?

Most platforms support dozens of languages, with accuracy varying by language. Top-tier APIs provide the broadest support; for example, AssemblyAI's Universal model can automatically detect and transcribe 99 languages.

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Subtitles
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