---
title: "Free AI Subtitle Generators in 2026"
slug: "free-ai-subtitle-generator"
description: "Five verified free ways to get SRT or VTT subtitles from video - AssemblyAI, Gladia, Speechmatics, Deepgram, Voxcribe - with free hours, formats and catches."
published: "2026-11-10"
updated: "2026-11-10"
verifiedAt: "2026-11-10"
canonical: "https://aifree.dev/learn/free-ai-subtitle-generator"
---

# Free AI Subtitle Generators in 2026

> Five verified free ways to get SRT or VTT subtitles from video - AssemblyAI, Gladia, Speechmatics, Deepgram, Voxcribe - with free hours, formats and catches.

- Time: 15 minutes
- You need: An account with the provider; none of the five asked for a card at sign-up when we verified them; For the four APIs: curl or a few lines of Python or JavaScript to upload the file and save the subtitle file; For captions burned into the video: a video editor (the guide names two with free plans)
- Last checked: 2026-11-10

## The short answer

5 offers in this guide are live today, 5 of them with no card required. Start with AssemblyAI Free Credits: $50 in free credits for speech-to-text, streaming, and voice agent APIs.

1. [AssemblyAI Free Credits](https://aifree.dev/offer/assemblyai-free-credits.md): $50 in free credits for speech-to-text, streaming, and voice agent APIs (verified 2026-10-12)
2. [Gladia Free Credits](https://aifree.dev/offer/gladia-free-credits.md): One-time €50 speech-to-text credit, valid one year, up to ~312 hours (verified 2026-10-12)
3. [Speechmatics $100 Free Credit](https://aifree.dev/offer/speechmatics-free-credit.md): $100 in Speechmatics speech-to-text and TTS credit, no card, valid 12 months (verified 2026-10-31)
4. [Deepgram Free $200 Credit](https://aifree.dev/offer/deepgram-free-credit.md): $200 in free credits for Deepgram speech-to-text and TTS, no card (verified 2026-10-12)
5. [Voxcribe Free Transcription](https://aifree.dev/offer/voxcribe-free-transcription.md): Free video and audio to text: 120 minutes a month

**Short answer:** no free tier in the catalog burns captions into your video. What is free is the subtitle file (SRT or VTT) you then load into YouTube, Premiere, DaVinci Resolve or any editor. For code, AssemblyAI's $50 credit covers about 333 hours on Universal-2, Gladia's EUR 50 about 312 hours and Speechmatics gives $100; each returns SRT or VTT. For one file in a browser, Voxcribe's free plan (120 minutes a month, first file with no sign-up) gives the timed transcript as TXT, but SRT and VTT are paid there.

Five verified offers in the catalog can produce subtitles from audio or video, in two shapes: **API credit** you spend down (AssemblyAI, Gladia, Speechmatics, Deepgram) and a **browser tool with a monthly allowance** (Voxcribe). Every number below was read on the vendor's own pricing or docs page on 2026-11-10. For the transcription side alone, see the [free speech-to-text API guide](https://aifree.dev/learn/free-speech-to-text-api).

## Compare the free subtitle generators

| Offer | Free allowance | What that buys | Subtitle formats | Card | Resets |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [AssemblyAI](https://aifree.dev/offer/assemblyai-free-credits) | $50 in credits | About 333 hours on Universal-2 ($0.15 an hour) or 238 hours on Universal-3.5 Pro ($0.21) | SRT and VTT export, with a characters-per-caption setting | No | One-time |
| [Gladia](https://aifree.dev/offer/gladia-free-credits) | EUR 50 | About 312 hours of async audio at EUR 0.16 an hour | SRT and VTT | No | One-time, valid one year |
| [Speechmatics](https://aifree.dev/offer/speechmatics-free-credit) | $100 | Priced from $0.12 an hour; 2 real-time sessions on Free | SRT through the transcript endpoint (format=srt) | No | One-time, valid 12 months |
| [Deepgram](https://aifree.dev/offer/deepgram-free-credit) | $200 | Pay-as-you-go afterwards; we quote no rate because the pricing table mixes streaming and pre-recorded | Docs have a WebVTT and SRT captions tutorial; the API returns JSON | No | One-time |
| [Voxcribe](https://aifree.dev/offer/voxcribe-free-transcription) | 120 minutes a month with a free account; first file up to 10 minutes with no sign-up | Browser transcript with timestamps; audio is extracted in your browser | TXT free; SRT, VTT and DOCX on paid plans | No | Monthly |

The hours column is our arithmetic from each vendor's published per-hour rate; the vendors state the credit and the rate, not the hours.

## Which one to pick

- **Most free subtitle hours:** AssemblyAI ($50, 333 hours on Universal-2) or Gladia (EUR 50, 312 hours). Both export SRT and VTT directly.
- **No code:** Voxcribe for the transcript, then fix it in a text editor and time it yourself, or pay for its SRT. A free SRT without code needs an editor: [Kapwing](https://www.kapwing.com/pricing) (auto-subtitling up to 10 minutes on its 10 free credits, 720p exports up to 4 minutes, with a Kapwing watermark) or [Descript](https://www.descript.com/pricing) (60 media minutes a month, 720p export; watermark-free export is paid). Neither is in the catalog.
- **Voiceover and video around it:** the [free AI voice generator guide](https://aifree.dev/learn/free-ai-voice-generator), the [free AI video generator guide](https://aifree.dev/learn/free-ai-video-generator) and the [free AI video tools hub](https://aifree.dev/free-ai-video-tools).
- **Editing the text of a video:** [free Descript alternatives](https://aifree.dev/compare/free-descript-alternatives) compares the free transcription services.

## Steps

1. Export the audio track (MP3 or WAV) from your video; it uploads faster and costs the same as the video.
2. Sign up at AssemblyAI or Gladia, copy the API key and upload the file. In AssemblyAI, transcribe, then call the subtitles export (in the Python SDK, export_subtitles_srt with chars_per_caption=32 for readable lines). In Gladia, turn on the subtitles option and fetch the SRT or VTT.
3. At Speechmatics, request the transcript with format=srt on the transcript endpoint.
4. Open the SRT in your editor or upload it to YouTube, read it once for names and numbers, and fix them.
5. Keep captions short, two lines at most, so they stay readable on a phone.

## Limits and the catch

- **AssemblyAI:** the $50 credit is spent down by usage and does not refill; after it, pay-as-you-go applies.
- **Gladia:** the EUR 50 expires one year after sign-up and does not refill.
- **Speechmatics:** the $100 is valid 12 months and does not refill; Free allows 2 concurrent real-time sessions.
- **Deepgram:** the $200 is one-time credit; its docs show a WebVTT and SRT captions tutorial but the API itself returns JSON, so test the caption step before you rely on it.
- **Voxcribe:** SRT, VTT and DOCX are paid (plans from $9 a month, or a one-time 300-minute pack for $5).
- **Accuracy:** automatic subtitles need a read-through; names, numbers and overlapping speakers are where they go wrong.
- **Free tiers change.** Offers are re-checked monthly; the verified date on each offer page is the day we last confirmed it. The [free AI audio tools hub](https://aifree.dev/free-ai-audio-tools) lists every transcription offer we track.

## Offers in this guide

| Offer | Free part | Who can claim | Card | Ends | Checked |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [AssemblyAI Free Credits](https://aifree.dev/offer/assemblyai-free-credits.md) | $50 | Anyone | No card | No end date | 2026-10-12 |
| [Gladia Free Credits](https://aifree.dev/offer/gladia-free-credits.md) | Free credits | Anyone | No card | No end date | 2026-10-12 |
| [Speechmatics $100 Free Credit](https://aifree.dev/offer/speechmatics-free-credit.md) | $100 | Anyone | No card | No end date | 2026-10-31 |
| [Deepgram Free $200 Credit](https://aifree.dev/offer/deepgram-free-credit.md) | $200 | Anyone | No card | No end date | 2026-10-12 |
| [Voxcribe Free Transcription](https://aifree.dev/offer/voxcribe-free-transcription.md) | 120 minutes/month | Anyone | No card | No end date | Not yet |

## Frequently asked questions

### What is the best free AI subtitle generator?

For a free SRT file with code, AssemblyAI ($50 credit, about 333 hours on Universal-2) or Gladia (EUR 50, about 312 hours). Both export SRT and VTT. Without code, Kapwing’s free plan auto-subtitles up to 10 minutes but exports with a watermark.

### How do I get an SRT file for free?

Upload the audio to a speech-to-text API with free credits (AssemblyAI, Gladia and Speechmatics all return SRT) and save the result as a .srt file. Voxcribe’s free plan exports TXT only; its SRT and VTT are on paid plans.

### Can I burn subtitles into a video for free?

Not with the APIs, which return a subtitle file. A video editor does the burn-in: Kapwing’s free plan exports 720p up to 4 minutes with a Kapwing watermark, and Descript’s free plan exports at 720p with watermark-free export on paid plans.

### How many free hours of subtitles do I get?

About 333 hours at AssemblyAI on Universal-2, about 312 at Gladia, and 120 minutes a month at Voxcribe. Speechmatics gives $100 and Deepgram $200 in credit. The hour counts are our arithmetic from the published per-hour rates.

### Do free subtitle credits expire?

Gladia’s EUR 50 expires one year after sign-up and Speechmatics’ $100 after 12 months, and neither refills. Voxcribe’s 120 minutes refill each month.

## Sources

- https://www.assemblyai.com/pricing
- https://www.assemblyai.com/docs/api-reference/transcripts/get-subtitles
- https://www.gladia.io/pricing
- https://docs.gladia.io/chapters/pre-recorded-stt/features/subtitles
- https://www.speechmatics.com/pricing
- https://docs.speechmatics.com/speech-to-text/batch/output
- https://deepgram.com/pricing
- https://voxcribe.net/
- https://www.kapwing.com/pricing
- https://www.descript.com/pricing

HTML page: https://aifree.dev/learn/free-ai-subtitle-generator