Kapwing vs Remotion
Kapwing and Remotion side by side, as of September 2026: what each one costs, what it's made for, and when smooth.video, a free animation tool that runs in your browser with no account, does the job instead.
- Free
- No signup
- No watermark
Kapwing vs Remotion at a glance
| Kapwing | Remotion | smooth.video | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free plan, then Pro from US$16 a month billed yearly | Free for individuals and companies of up to 3 people, then a company license | Free, no paid plan |
- Price
- KapwingFree plan, then Pro from US$16 a month billed yearly
- RemotionFree for individuals and companies of up to 3 people, then a company license
- smooth.videoFree, no paid plan
As of September 2026. Plans change, so check those of Kapwing and Remotion before you decide.
Kapwing
- Account
- Required to save a project
- Watermark
- On free plan exports
- Export resolution
- 720p on the free plan, 1080p and 4K on Pro
- Projects
- Deleted after 3 days on the free plan
- Where your files live
- In Kapwing's cloud
- AI subtitles, translation, dubbing
- Yes
- Real-time collaboration
- Yes
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.
Kapwing vs smooth.videoRemotion
- How you make a video
- React code
- What you need
- Node.js, a code editor and some React
- Rendering
- On your machine, a server or AWS Lambda
- Transparent video
- WebM or ProRes 4444
- Videos generated from data, at scale
- Yes
- AI assistants
- Agent skills and a Claude Code plugin
When Remotion fits better
You generate videos from data, personalize them for each user, render them on servers, embed a player in your app, or build your own video product. smooth.video has no API and no server rendering.
Remotion vs smooth.videoWhen 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.
You want one video, not ten thousand: you'd rather see it and drag things into place than write components, or the person making it doesn't code.
Open the editor- 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.
Start from a template
See all 203 templatesOpen one, change the words, export. Every element stays editable.
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.
Can I generate many videos from a spreadsheet?
Not automatically. A script or an AI assistant can write one .smooth file per row, but each one is opened and exported by hand in the editor.
Can an AI assistant make the video?
Yes. The whole format is published at smooth.video/llms.txt: point ChatGPT, Claude or another assistant at it, describe the animation, and open the file it gives you.
Do I need to install anything?
No. The editor and the export both run in your browser.
Or skip the decision.
smooth.video is free, opens in a tab and exports without a watermark. Try it while you compare.
Open the editor- Free
- No signup
- No watermark