Cloud clipping tools meter your uploads, watermark the free tier, and charge every month. Clip Local does the same job locally: captioned 9:16 vertical clips, your branding, AI highlight picking. Free, unlimited, yours.
Windows 10/11 · Python + ffmpeg · readable code you can audit
Opus Clip and tools like it are genuinely clever, but the model is the problem: your footage uploads to their cloud, processing is metered in credits, the free tier watermarks your output, and the bill arrives every month whether you posted that week or not.
Here is the part they do not advertise: the pipeline is not magic. The captions are a subtitle file burned in with ffmpeg. The word-by-word karaoke effect is timestamp data from a speech model. The virality score is a language model reading your transcript. All of that runs fine on a normal Windows PC. Clip Local is that pipeline, published free, in plain Python you can read.
| Cloud clip tools | Clip Local | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Monthly subscription | $0, forever |
| Your footage | Uploads to their servers | Never leaves your PC |
| Processing limits | Credit / minute meters | Unlimited |
| Watermark | On free tier | Never |
| Karaoke captions | Yes | Yes, word-by-word |
| Brand colors + logo | Paid tiers | One config file |
| AI highlight picking | Yes | Yes, optional |
| Auditable code | No | Yes, it is yours |
Honest caveat: cloud tools win on zero-install convenience and team features. If you want unlimited clips, privacy, and no meter, local wins.
The software is free with no account and no trial clock. The paid options are human time, not the tool: a $97 remote Pro Setup, or a $497 branded pipeline install for businesses that want it wired to their posting workflow.
Yes. One command takes any video and produces vertical clips sized for TikTok, Reels, and Shorts, with captions burned in.
Yes, optionally. An AI reads the transcript and picks the strongest 30 to 60 second segments, the same technique behind commercial virality scores.
Purpose Built AI, a systems engineer's practice that rebuilds overpriced cloud tools as local software. Google "Purpose Built AI" to see the rest.
Part of the free Local Suite: Flow Local · Meet Local · Voice Local