A free alternative to Kapwing

Kapwing is an online video editor for teams: AI subtitles, translation and dubbing, a stock library, brand kits and real-time collaboration. On its free plan, exports are 720p with a watermark, 4 minutes per video, and projects are deleted after 3 days. smooth.video focuses on animation and is free outright: no watermark, any resolution, and projects that never expire, saved as .smooth files on your computer.

Open the editor

Free
No signup
No watermark

The Call to action template, playing live. Open it in the editor

smooth.video vs Kapwing

	smooth.video	Kapwing
Price	Free, no paid plan	Free plan, then Pro from US$16 a month billed yearly
Account	Not needed	Required to save a project
Watermark	Never	On free plan exports
Export resolution	Any size, 4K included	720p on the free plan, 1080p and 4K on Pro
Projects	Unlimited, saved as .smooth files on your computer	Deleted after 3 days on the free plan
Where your files live	On your computer	In Kapwing's cloud
AI subtitles, translation, dubbing	No	Yes
Real-time collaboration	No	Yes

Price: smooth.videoFree, no paid plan; KapwingFree plan, then Pro from US$16 a month billed yearly
Account: smooth.videoNot needed; KapwingRequired to save a project
Watermark: smooth.videoNever; KapwingOn free plan exports
Export resolution: smooth.videoAny size, 4K included; Kapwing720p on the free plan, 1080p and 4K on Pro
Projects: smooth.videoUnlimited, saved as .smooth files on your computer; KapwingDeleted after 3 days on the free plan
Where your files live: smooth.videoOn your computer; KapwingIn Kapwing's cloud
AI subtitles, translation, dubbing: smooth.videoNo; KapwingYes
Real-time collaboration: smooth.videoNo; KapwingYes

Kapwing as of September 2026. Plans change, so check theirs before you decide.

When smooth.video fits better

You're making the animated pieces of a video, like titles, lower thirds, logo stings or animated stats, want them at full quality without a watermark, and don't need a team workspace.

When Kapwing fits better

You edit talking videos and need subtitles, translations or dubbing in many languages, or several people edit and comment in the same project. smooth.video has no subtitle generator and no shared workspace.

How it works

Open smooth.video. No account, nothing to install.
Start from a template or an empty canvas, and animate text, images, shapes and video on the timeline.
Export an MP4, a GIF or a transparent WebM, at any size and without a watermark.

Start from a template

See all 203 templates

Open one, change the words, export. Every element stays editable.

Logo reveal

1080×1080

A name that pops into place

Bold statement

1080×1920

Three lines, one point

Count-up stat

1080×1080

A number that climbs

Lower third

1920×1080

Name and title, on cue

Quote card

1200×630

A line worth sharing

Product drop

1080×1350

An announcement that lands

Free, full stop: No plan, no trial, no credits, no export limit.
No account: Open the page and the editor is already there.
Nothing is uploaded: Your files are read and rendered by your own browser.
No watermark: Every export is clean, at any size, 4K included.

Questions

Does smooth.video generate subtitles?

No. You can type captions as text elements and time them on the timeline, but nothing is transcribed automatically.

How long are my projects kept?

As long as you keep the files. The editor autosaves the project you're working on in your browser; save it as a .smooth file to keep it on your computer and reopen it later, on any machine.

Is there a watermark?

No, never.

Try it before you settle on Kapwing.

It opens in a tab, works without an account, and exports without a watermark.