AI in practice
CapCut Pro Review: What It Costs and Why I Cancelled
I run my business in Germany. Monetary examples use euros unless another currency is stated.
My Conclusion in 60 Seconds
I paid for CapCut from June 2025 and cancelled it on October 20, 2026. In that time I paid CapCut €313.10 in total. My Mac holds 73 CapCut projects from July 7 to October 11, 2026, 46 of them from September alone.
CapCut fits if you edit yourself and need titles and captions fast. Pro is only worth it if a feature you really need sits in the paid plan. For me that changed once my AI started editing for me. It does that in DaVinci Resolve, not in CapCut.
What Is CapCut?
CapCut is a video editor. According to its privacy policy, it is provided by Bytedance Pte. Ltd. in Singapore. You use it as a phone app, as a desktop program or in the browser. Besides editing, it offers templates, effects, music and AI features such as automatic captions.
How I Used CapCut
My workflow was simple. I recorded videos on my Mac with OBS, a free program for screen and camera recording. OBS combined the camera and the image. In CapCut I then added titles, captions and small cuts.
The numbers come from the project files on my Mac. I only counted dates and lengths, no content. The result: 73 projects in just over three months. A typical project was about two and a half minutes long. A project is not the same as a published video, though. Some were tests or second versions.
One problem cost me time. Recordings from OBS stuttered in CapCut, even though the file reported 30 frames per second. The cause was the timestamps in the recording. What helped was a different OBS setting, the fragmented MP4 format, and if in doubt a copy with a constant frame rate. If your screen recordings stutter in CapCut, check the recording first, not the edit.
What CapCut Costs
The German CapCut pricing page currently lists these prices:
| Plan | Monthly | Yearly | For whom |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | €0 | €0 | getting started and simple edits |
| Pro | €23.99 | €199.99 | premium templates, more AI, 1 TB storage |
| Ultra | €68 | €779 | lots of AI video, more credits |
| Teams | €14.57 to €24 per seat | €120 per seat | several users with shared brand assets |
As of November 3, 2026, according to the CapCut pricing page for Germany. CapCut itself says these prices are for reference only. You see the binding price with taxes and offers after you sign in, and it varies by region. New users can try Pro free for 7 days, according to CapCut. Prices change: CapCut explains on a separate help page about price increases why existing subscriptions became more expensive.
This is what I paid myself, according to my bank statements:
| Period | Amount | Payment method |
|---|---|---|
| June 2025 | €109.99 | one payment via PayPal |
| April 2026 | €10.62 | PayPal |
| May to September 2026 | €17.93 to €18.23 per month | PayPal |
| October 2026 | €101.98 | two payments in US dollars directly to CapCut |
So my payments from May to September were below today’s list price of €23.99. My bank statement does not show which plan the October payments belong to. The €101.98 include €2.00 in foreign transaction fees. My advice: watch the billing closely on subscriptions in US dollars, because exchange rate and fees come on top of every payment.
Privacy for Business Owners
According to its privacy policy, CapCut stores data on servers in Malaysia, Singapore and the United States. For transfers to countries without an adequacy decision, CapCut relies on standard contractual clauses. By its own account, CapCut uses data, including input to its AI features, among other things to improve its technology and models.
For recordings with clients, employees or internal numbers, I would first check whether a data processing agreement is available. This is not legal advice. Clarify it with your data protection officer.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths:
- Titles, captions and cuts sit in one window. For my short videos that was enough.
- Free is enough for first tests. You do not have to buy anything to try it.
- With Pro, according to CapCut, you edit on phone, desktop and in the browser.
Weaknesses:
- The price is unclear until you sign in. My own payments changed several times.
- Pro features look normal in the editor. According to the CapCut help center, the purchase prompt sometimes appears only at export.
- The servers are outside the EU.
Why I Cancelled
In October 2026 I went through all my running subscriptions. For video, several tools were running at the same time, including CapCut and DaVinci Resolve Studio. Since mid-October I have edited my Shorts in DaVinci Resolve. There, Claude Code controls the cuts and adds the captions. My last CapCut project is from October 11, and I cancelled on October 20.
That does not mean CapCut is bad. It only means: a tool you hardly open anymore is not worth paying for.
Alternatives to CapCut
| Tool | Price | Strength | For whom |
|---|---|---|---|
| DaVinci Resolve | free, Studio one-time €245 in Germany | editing, color and audio in one program | anyone editing on a computer or wanting to automate |
| Shotcut | free, open source | runs on Windows, Mac and Linux | anyone who wants to edit locally without an account |
| Kdenlive | free, open source | runs on Linux, Windows and Mac | anyone looking for a free editor from the KDE project |
Prices checked on November 3, 2026. Of these, I have only used DaVinci Resolve Studio.
Who CapCut Pro Fits
CapCut Pro fits you if you edit several clips yourself every week and need a specific Pro feature. Test that first with Free and then for 7 days with Pro, always through to the finished export.
If you only edit a clip now and then, Free is enough. If you want to automate your videos with AI, look at DaVinci Resolve. And if your videos do not bring in customers yet, it is rarely the editor. How Reels turn into contacts is in Instagram Ads Cost. More of my tool reviews are in AI in business, for example my Plaud Note Pro review. Which other tools I use every day is listed in AI Tools for Solopreneurs.