Free AI clipper and free AI clipping tool: what the free plans actually give you
Searching for a free AI clipper can make “free” sound like a single offer. It is not: options range from a one-off trial to a monthly allowance of 75 minutes. This page puts 9 tools and deployment options into the same columns for creators making Shorts, Reels, and TikToks.
The figures come from vendors' own public pricing pages and supporting help pages, checked on 15 November 2026. We mark missing details “Not stated” rather than guessing, and identify disagreements between official pages below. This is a comparison of published plan terms, not an account of practical video-processing results.
Free plans are two different things
Monthly free allowance: Opus Clip, Vizard, quso.ai, 2short.ai, and OpenShorts Cloud list recurring allowances. Spikes Studio provides ongoing access to demo clips rather than a monthly allowance for your own uploads. OpenShorts self-hosted is ongoing MIT-licensed software with no allowance cap.
One-off trial or allowance: Klap offers one free video, once. LumiClip's current pricing lists 60 credits as a one-time allowance, despite monthly wording elsewhere on its site.
If you need an ongoing free allowance, neither Klap nor the LumiClip offer shown on its pricing page belongs on that list.
Every free plan side by side
Scroll horizontally to read all plan details. Tool names link to official sources.
| Tool | Free allowance | Max resolution on free | Watermark on free | Card needed | Key limits | Ongoing or one-off | First paid price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opus Clip | 60 credits a month | Up to 1080p | Yes | No | Not stated on the pricing page | Ongoing | $15/mo (150 credits) |
| Vizard | 60 credits a month | 720p | Yes | Not stated on the pricing page | Uploads up to 60 min / 1 GB; exports up to 10 min; storage expires after 3 days; 1 social account | Ongoing | Creator $29/mo, or $14.50/mo billed yearly ($174/yr) |
| quso.ai | 75 credits a month (1 credit ≈ 1 minute) | 720p | Yes | Not stated | Data kept 7 days; CutMagic only on your first 3 videos; free-tier publishing is TikTok only | Ongoing | Lite $29/mo, or $174/yr (≈$14.50/mo) |
| LumiClip | 60 credits, one-time (1 hour of video processing) | 720p, watermarked | Yes | No | Upload up to 1 hr / 1 GB; storage expires after 3 days; no social posting on free; no brand templates | One-off (no ongoing monthly allowance) | Starter $12.99/mo ($109.12 billed yearly, i.e. $9.09/mo); a one-time Try-Out pack of 150 credits costs $9.99 |
| 2short.ai | 30 minutes of AI video analysis a month — its own FAQ further down the same page says 15 (see the conflict section) | Not stated on the pricing page | Not stated on the pricing page | Not stated | View and export already generated short clips; only videos that already have captions; YouTube and public URLs only | Ongoing | Lite $9.90/mo |
| Spikes Studio | $0 access to demo clips only | 720p | Yes | No | Basic editor and auto-captions only; you cannot bring your own long video on the free plan | Ongoing | PRO+ $14.09/mo billed yearly |
| OpenShorts Cloud | First video free up to 60 minutes, then 20 minutes a month | Same as paid plans | Yes | No (Google sign-in) | Clips kept 7 days | Ongoing | Starter $12/mo (100 minutes) |
| OpenShorts self-hosted | No cap (your own hardware) | Same as your source | No | No account at all | Needs Docker and your own Gemini key or a local LLM | Ongoing (MIT licence) | $0 |
| Klap | One free video, once | Not stated | Not stated | No (trial) | No ongoing free plan | One-off trial | Basic $29/mo, or $14.50/mo billed yearly (100 clips) |
All figures read on each vendor's own public pricing page on 15 November 2026, with official help-page clarification where noted below. “Not stated” means the page was silent on that point, not that the answer is no.
How we built this table
We used each vendor's own public pricing page and, where clarification was needed, its own help pages. The reference date is 15 November 2026. The linked tool names lead to those pricing sources; the next section links the specific pages containing conflicting statements. This compares documented entitlements and restrictions, not clip quality or processing performance.
When an official page does not explicitly identify a condition, the cell says “Not stated.” We do not treat silence as permission, a missing watermark label as a promise of clean exports, or a missing card requirement as confirmation that no card is needed.
Allowances also use different units: credits, source-video minutes, analysis minutes, or clips. We preserve those units instead of forcing an unsupported conversion. Plans can change after publication. If your signup screen or the current vendor page differs, use the vendor's current terms and check before committing your source material.
Where the vendors' own pages disagree
Vizard: the Free feature list on its pricing page lists “No watermark.” Its help-center article dated 15 August 2025 says “exported videos will have a Vizard.ai watermark.” Both are Vizard's public pages. For the watermark cell, we use the explicit free-plan restriction in the help article.
2short.ai: the Starter card on its pricing page lists “30 minutes of AI video analyzing per month.” The FAQ area further down that same page says “you get 15 minutes of AI video analysis.” The table preserves both amounts rather than choosing an allowance.
LumiClip: its pricing page says “60 credits (one-time),” while its homepage FAQ says users can “process videos up to 60 minutes per month.” The table follows the pricing card's one-time classification.
These are the vendors' published statements at our check; we do not settle which conflicting figure they intend. Read the current pages before registering. Pages change, and we will update this section at our next review.
The limit is usually not the minutes
Retention can end access before your allowance runs out. Vizard storage expires after 3 days; quso.ai and OpenShorts Cloud keep data or clips for 7 days. LumiClip's free storage also expires after 3 days. An unused processing balance does not extend those retention windows.
Upload and export limits are separate. Vizard accepts up to 60 minutes / 1 GB but limits free exports to 10 minutes. Spikes Studio's free offer is different again: you can work with demo clips, but cannot bring your own long video.
Among these hosted free plans, none explicitly promises watermark-free free-plan exports in the official plan information checked here. Vizard's help center specifies a watermark; the others state a watermark or leave it unspecified. Lower resolution is another restriction, not a substitute for a watermark guarantee.
The structural exception is OpenShorts self-hosted: MIT-licensed software, no watermark, and no allowance cap. The tradeoff is operating Docker with your own Gemini key or local LLM.
What a monthly allowance really means
Source-video minutes are not the number of clips you can publish. A 60-minute source can be a complete podcast episode or webinar; a 60-minute allowance may therefore cover that episode rather than a continuing stream of recordings. The practical question is how much source material you need to process each month.
quso.ai and LumiClip describe credits in relation to processing minutes, while 2short.ai measures AI analysis time. Do not read those balances as a promised number of finished clips, or assume every vendor uses an identical meter. LumiClip's free allowance is one-time, while 2short.ai lists a fixed monthly amount with conflicting figures; neither is an accumulating pool. Plan around the stated input allowance, retention, and export restrictions together.
Which free plan fits which job
- You want ongoing use without a software subscription. OpenShorts self-hosted has no allowance cap or watermark, but needs Docker and your own Gemini key or a local LLM.
- You want the largest stated recurring hosted allowance in this table. quso.ai lists 75 credits, approximately 75 minutes; Opus Clip and Vizard each list 60 credits.
- You need watermark-free output without paying for a plan. Choose OpenShorts self-hosted; none of these hosted free plans explicitly promises watermark-free exports in the official plan terms checked here.
- You want to try a single long recording. OpenShorts Cloud accepts a first free video up to 60 minutes; Klap also offers a one-off free video, without an ongoing free allowance.
- You do not want to upload your source material. Self-hosting is the option in this table that processes on your hardware; hosted options require submitting source material to their service.
- You only need to explore an editor using demonstration material. Spikes Studio provides free access to demo clips rather than processing your own long video.
FAQ
Is there a free AI clipper that never charges?
OpenShorts self-hosted has a $0 software price under the MIT licence and no allowance cap. It requires your own hardware, Docker, and a Gemini key or local LLM. That is different from a hosted free allowance: the hosted options in this table restrict processing, access, exports, or retention.
Which free AI clipper has no watermark?
OpenShorts self-hosted explicitly provides watermark-free output. Among the hosted free plans checked here, none explicitly promises watermark-free free-plan exports in its official plan information. Vizard's help center says its free exports carry a watermark. 2short.ai and Klap do not state a free-plan watermark entitlement, so we do not infer one.
Do free AI clipping tools need a credit card?
The listed offers for Opus Clip, LumiClip, Spikes Studio, OpenShorts Cloud, and Klap's trial do not require a card. OpenShorts Cloud uses Google sign-in; self-hosted OpenShorts requires no account. For Vizard, quso.ai, and 2short.ai, the relevant pricing information does not state a card requirement, so their entries remain “Not stated.”
How many minutes do free AI clippers give you each month?
quso.ai lists 75 credits, approximately 75 minutes. Opus Clip and Vizard list 60 credits monthly; OpenShorts Cloud provides 20 monthly minutes after its first-video offer. 2short.ai lists 30 analysis minutes but also mentions 15. LumiClip's 60 credits are one-time, Klap offers one free video, and Spikes Studio supplies demo access.
Is there a free AI clipping tool with no limit at all?
OpenShorts self-hosted has no software allowance cap and no watermark, with output resolution tied to your source. It runs on your own hardware and requires Docker plus a Gemini key or local LLM. That removes a hosted minute allowance; it does not mean the workflow runs without hardware requirements.