SmartSub vs SyncWords
SmartSub
github.comSyncWords
syncwords.comSide by side
| Figure | SmartSub | SyncWords |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $135/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 14 |
| Spec score · AI Video Caption Generators | 9.0 (#6) | 8.8 (#12) |
| Automation | The repository README describes MCP and CLI automation with 111 tools and commands for media processing workflows. | The Live API supports programmatic service control, scheduling, webhooks, and multiple language outputs per call. |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| What it does | SmartSub combines video downloading, speech transcription, subtitle translation, proofreading, AI dubbing, voice cloning and subtitle rendering in one desktop application. | SyncWords provides cloud software for live translation, foreign subtitles, real-time AI voice dubbing, automatic transcription and closed-caption editing. |
Plans
SyncWords
- Standard — 60 hours$1,620 a year
- Standard — 500 hours$11,250 a year
- Advanced — 2,500 hours$37,500 a year
- Advanced — 9,000 hours$81,000 a year
- AI captions pay-as-you-go$30, paid once
- 60 hours / year — Standard$1,620 a year
- Standard tier — 60 hours / year$1,620 a year
- 500 hours / year — Standard$11,250 a year
- Standard tier — 500 hours / year$11,250 a year
- 2,500 hours / year — Advanced$37,500 a year
In their own words
SmartSub
SmartSub is an open-source desktop app for transcription, subtitle translation, proofreading, AI dubbing and video subtitle rendering. It runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, and is free with no local usage limits. For local processing, its maker says models process files on the user's computer, so those files do not leave the device. Transcription options include whisper.cpp, faster-whisper, FunASR, Qwen3-ASR and FireRedASR. Translation includes 20 services, including built-in free translation and integrations such as DeepSeek, Gemini and Ollama. The proofreading workspace offers video-synced editing, undo and redo, search and replace, and AI proofreading. SmartSub can generate speech from subtitle lines, align audio to the timeline and clone voices with ZipVoice, Volcengine or ElevenLabs. It can burn subtitles into video or package soft subtitles, preview styles and include dubbed audio. It also downloads videos from links using yt-dlp and lux, supporting more than 1,800 sites. Cloud transcription uploads audio to the configured provider endpoint; the README advises against using it for sensitive content.