Creator
$19/month
Billed monthly
For solo creators posting every week
500 credits every month
- Up to 250 AI images
- Up to 50 Studio exports, plus the first export of each project
- Up to 1.5 hours of AI voiceover
- Roll over up to 1,000 credits
Add text to video.
Pick a style. Set when it shows.
Put a hook, a title or a label on your clip, and choose when the words come and go.
Free: iMovie on iPhone or Mac, Edits on Android, Clipchamp, or FFmpeg. Studio is the paid route, with 9 social text styles, transitions and 4K export.
Add text in Studio
Studio opens on a tablet or computer, not a phone. Studio comes with plans from $19 a month, and each project's first export uses no credits.
- iPhone
- In iMovie, Apple's free app, open a movie project and tap the clip. Tap Titles, pick a style, then tap the sample title, tap Edit and type yours. Tap Done, the Share button, then Save Video.
- Android
- In Edits, Instagram's free app (also on iPhone), open a project, tap the text button at the bottom and type. Hold either end of the text clip to set how long it shows, then tap Next and Download.
Studio's 9 text styles. Pick one to restyle the clip.
- Mac
- In iMovie, open your movie and select Titles above the browser. Drag a title above the clip, double-click the sample text in the viewer, type, and click Apply. File > Share > File saves it.
- Windows or a browser
- In Clipchamp's free plan (the Windows app or app.clipchamp.com), drag a style from the Text tab onto the timeline above your video and type in the Text tab on the right. Drag its trim handles to set how long it shows. The free plan exports up to 1080p.
- FFmpeg
- Two tested commands, for outlined or boxed words: copy them below.
Steps from each maker's help page, checked November 5, 2026: Apple iMovie for iPhone, Instagram Edits, Apple iMovie for Mac, Microsoft Clipchamp, FFmpeg drawtext.
One clip, three lines of text.Each shows up when it's needed.
A hook for the first seconds, a label while the coffee pours, and a call to action at the end. Each is its own text layer with its own style, start, length and transition. Pick one to jump to it.
How to add text to a video.Four steps in Studio.
Studio runs in the browser on a computer or a tablet. Every plan includes it.
- 1
Add your video
Open Studio and drop your clip onto the timeline.
- 2
Press T and type
Add text puts a text layer in the middle of the frame, ready to type. Pasting text onto the canvas works too.
- 3
Pick a style, then adjust it
Choose one of the 9 styles under Presets. Then change the font (255 to pick from), size, color, case, outline, shadow and background, and drag the words into place.
- 4
Set the timing and export
Set Start and Duration, or drag the layer on the timeline. Add a transition in Effects. Export MP4 or WebM at 720p, 1080p or 4K.
On a computer, free?Two FFmpeg commands, tested.
FFmpeg is free and runs on Windows, Mac and Linux. Replace input.mp4 with your file, the words between the quotes with yours, and 1,4 with the seconds the text should show. The sound is copied as it is. Colons and apostrophes in the words need escaping, so leave them out. If FFmpeg says "Filter not found", your build has no drawtext: it needs one built with libfreetype and libharfbuzz.
White words with a black outline, from 1 to 4 seconds
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "drawtext=text='one slow pour':fontsize=h/14:fontcolor=white:borderw=5:bordercolor=black:x=(w-text_w)/2:y=h/4:enable='between(t,1,4)'" -c:a copy output.mp4
The same words on a dark box
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "drawtext=text='one slow pour':fontsize=h/14:fontcolor=white:box=1:[email protected]:boxborderw=16:x=(w-text_w)/2:y=h/4:enable='between(t,1,4)'" -c:a copy output.mp4
Can you still read it?Pick the footage. See every fix.
White text disappears on bright or busy footage. The same words, on three kinds of shot, with the four ways Studio's styles keep them readable.
Plain
Faint. White on a pale sky has little contrast.
White text, Shadows switched off.
Shadow
A little better, but a soft shadow can't lift white off a pale sky.
TikTok Classic: a soft shadow under the letters.
Outline
Readable. The black edge draws every letter.
TikTok Outline: a thick black stroke.
Pill
Clearest. The dark pill makes its own background.
Dark Pill: black at 60% behind each line.
Words someone says?Auto captions types them for you.
In the Captions tab, press Auto captions. Studio listens to the clip and writes each word onto the timeline where it is said. On this review it got all 71 words right.
These captions use Clear Cut, one of 31 caption styles. Text layers are for what you write: hooks, titles and labels. Captions are for what is said. See the video caption generator.
Making it for YouTube?Swap the canvas to 16:9.
New projects start at 1080 by 1920, the 9:16 shape TikTok, Reels and Shorts use. Press Swap dimensions and the canvas turns 16:9, or type any width and height for a square post. This lower third is two text layers: the name in Instagram Caption, the role in Dark Pill.
Adding text uses no credits. Each project's first export is free. After that an export costs 10 credits, so the $19 Creator plan covers 50 a month.
Simple pricing that scales with you.
Pick the plan for how much you post. Every model on every plan. Unused credits roll over. Cancel anytime.
Pro
Most popular$49/month
Billed monthly
For creators posting daily across channels
1,300 credits every month
- Up to 650 AI images
- Up to 130 Studio exports, plus the first export of each project
- Up to 4 hours of AI voiceover
- Roll over up to 2,600 credits
Studio
$99/month
Billed monthly
For brands and production teams
2,700 credits every month
- Up to 1,350 AI images
- Up to 270 Studio exports, plus the first export of each project
- Up to 9 hours of AI voiceover
- Roll over up to 5,400 credits
Scale
$199/month
Billed monthly
For agencies running always-on content
5,500 credits every month
- Up to 2,750 AI images
- Up to 550 Studio exports, plus the first export of each project
- Up to 18 hours of AI voiceover
- Roll over up to 11,000 credits
Every plan includesEvery model, 90+ and countingReusable AI personasSceneform Studio editorCommercial usage rights
Want checkout, comparison tables, or a custom volume? See the full pricing page
Before you add text
For free, use the app you have: iMovie on iPhone or Mac, Edits on Android, Clipchamp on Windows or in a browser, or FFmpeg. In Studio, add your video, press T and type. Choose a style under Presets, set when the text starts and how long it stays, then export the video as MP4.
The free routes at the top of this page cost nothing: iMovie on iPhone and Mac, Edits on Android, Clipchamp's free plan, and FFmpeg. Studio comes with plans from $19 a month, and each project's first export uses no credits. Every plan includes commercial use and exports with no watermark.
Adding and styling text uses no credits. The first export of each project is free, and each export after that costs 10 credits. The $19 Creator plan has 500 credits a month.
Use iMovie: open a movie project, tap the clip, tap Titles and pick a style. Tap the sample title, tap Edit and type yours. To keep it on screen for the whole clip, tap More and turn on Full Clip Duration. For text you can start and stop anywhere, Edits lets you hold either end of a text clip to change how long it shows. Studio needs an iPad or a computer.
Make it in Studio, where new projects are already 9:16. Start from TikTok Classic or TikTok Outline, keep the words away from the bottom and the right edge where TikTok puts its buttons and caption, and upload the export.
Yes. Each text layer has a Start and a Duration. Drag the layer on the timeline to move it, or drag its edges to make it show longer or shorter.
Yes. In the Effects tab, give the text an entry, an exit or both: fade, slide in from any side, zoom or swirl. Movement adds a slow zoom, a pan or a livelier drift while it is on screen.
Yes, for speech. In the Captions tab, Auto captions writes what is said onto the timeline, word by word, in one of 31 caption styles. Titles and labels you type yourself.
No. A text layer sits on top of the footage and can't edit words filmed into the clip. You can cover them with a text style that has a background, or crop them out.
No. Here you put words on a video you already have. Text to video makes a new clip from a written prompt.
Your clip is ready.Give it the words.
Add text in Studio
Plans from $19 a month. Commercial use included.